5 5
pchapman

What do you think of the new dropzone.com format?

Recommended Posts

On 3/8/2019 at 1:25 PM, fanya said:

have you made a 2nd theme yet that won't burn my retinas out if I browse for more than 60 seconds?

I logged in on my phone a week or so ago ... I now 100% understand why people were complaining; too much white space and more.

If I log onto my credit union website, it starts mobile (from main page, not when using bookmark), but gives the option to use the "desktop site." (Have seen this on many other sites as well.) - I despise the current mobile setup, and there needs to be a similar desktop option. Won't use it otherwise. 

I used to use DZ on my phone a good deal (but pretty much only posted on desktop - pain in the ass).  I can still use BJ on my phone, but this new design is not good.  Too much scrolling.  Can't zoom out or in like on BASE Jumper. (Without logging back in, forget the other stuff).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 minute ago, dmcoco84 said:

When are my sent messages going to be restored?

New website has totally screwed up PMs.

Honest Opinion:

I don't like how sent and received messages (were setup on DZ) are setup on BASE Jumper; NEVER HAVE.  I was hoping the new website would be better... it's far, far worse. (Not Counting, all my sent messages being gone.)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, dmcoco84 said:

Quoting needs to be fixed.  If I hit quote, everything in BV's post should be quoted; like it currently is on BASE Jumper.

This new setup and the plus sign thing is terrible. -- Again, don't mind visual changes, but the functionality currently is horrible.

So you're saying everything should be quoted, including the content quoted by the user responding to it, that you're responding to? I see that when I hit quote on your post, it didn't include my previous post that you quoted.

I dunno... sometimes I thought that was overdone on the old format. There were times, when you'd see as many as 15 quoted posts because some of us thought it was hilarious. I'm thinking the mods got tired of that repetitiveness... (shrugs)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 minutes ago, BillyVance said:

So you're saying everything should be quoted, including the content quoted by the user responding to it, that you're responding to? I see that when I hit quote on your post, it didn't include my previous post that you quoted.

I dunno... sometimes I thought that was overdone on the old format. There were times, when you'd see as many as 15 quoted posts because some of us thought it was hilarious. I'm thinking the mods got tired of that repetitiveness... (shrugs)

It should work like BJ works, right now. As DZ used to work. Otherwise, the functionality has been changed.

Well, that can be addressed. It's not a problem on basejumper.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, dmcoco84 said:

Quoting needs to be fixed.  If I hit quote, everything in BV's post should be quoted; like it currently is on BASE Jumper.

This new setup and the plus sign thing is terrible. -- Again, don't mind visual changes, but the functionality currently is horrible.

When I hit Quote it copied everything in your post - what is it not getting from yours when you quote? Also have you tried the highlight quote yet? Select the text and it pops up and lets you selectively quote with out needing to do a copy/paste.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, dmcoco84 said:

It should work like BJ works, right now. As DZ used to work. Otherwise, the functionality has been changed.

Well, that can be addressed. It's not a problem on basejumper.

This type of quoting only works when you use a threaded model instead of a flat posting model like the new forums use. In this case all the posts are in a single thread and not branching off each other to form 30 separate branches off the starting post.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
(edited)
4 minutes ago, PhreeZone said:

When I hit Quote it copied everything in your post - what is it not getting from yours when you quote? Also have you tried the highlight quote yet? Select the text and it pops up and lets you selectively quote with out needing to do a copy/paste.

What he meant is the Quote copies the content of the post written by the poster you're responding to, but it doesn't include the content THAT poster responded to. I think, anyway.

ETA, ah, you posted while I was typing... I get it now...

Edited by BillyVance

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
26 minutes ago, BillyVance said:

So you're saying everything should be quoted, including the content quoted by the user responding to it, that you're responding to? I see that when I hit quote on your post, it didn't include my previous post that you quoted.

I dunno... sometimes I thought that was overdone on the old format. There were times, when you'd see as many as 15 quoted posts because some of us thought it was hilarious. I'm thinking the mods got tired of that repetitiveness... (shrugs)

Here, Billy... quote this post.  Look at how stupid it looks!

See how it looks? Pain in the ass to fix it.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 minutes ago, PhreeZone said:

This type of quoting only works when you use a threaded model instead of a flat posting model like the new forums use. In this case all the posts are in a single thread and not branching off each other to form 30 separate branches off the starting post.

Hm,

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
(edited)

 

15 minutes ago, PhreeZone said:
2 hours ago, dmcoco84 said:

Quoting needs to be fixed.  If I hit quote, everything in BV's post should be quoted; like it currently is on BASE Jumper.

This new setup and the plus sign thing is terrible. -- Again, don't mind visual changes, but the functionality currently is horrible.

When I hit Quote it copied everything in your post - what is it not getting from yours when you quote? Also have you tried the highlight quote yet? Select the text and it pops up and lets you selectively quote with out needing to do a copy/paste.

I think what he's talking about is multiple quotes within the reply post. The copy/paste function from top to bottom and "Highlight Quote" will do the multiple quotes. 

 

Edited by BIGUN

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
17 minutes ago, PhreeZone said:
2 hours ago, dmcoco84 said:

Quoting needs to be fixed.  If I hit quote, everything in BV's post should be quoted; like it currently is on BASE Jumper.

This new setup and the plus sign thing is terrible. -- Again, don't mind visual changes, but the functionality currently is horrible.

When I hit Quote it copied everything in your post - what is it not getting from yours when you quote? Also have you tried the highlight quote yet? Select the text and it pops up and lets you selectively quote with out needing to do a copy/paste.

Alright, well, that's actually pretty interesting.

I guess I would get in the habit of doing/using that; but seems weird that within this layout, of a shorter window with my name in it (above).... shouldn't my first example still be fixed?

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 minute ago, roostnureye said:

im not a fan, ill probably spend a lot less time on here now. it was never "broken" it worked just fine

Agreed. -- I'm concerned if this is done to basejumper, everyone will go back to blinc, or say fuck it all.

If the search function gets fucked on BJ, the site will have no purpose.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, BIGUN said:

 

I think what he's talking about is multiple quotes within the reply post. The copy/paste function from top to bottom and "Highlight Quote" will do the multiple quotes. 

 

That's what the "plus sign" is for. I've seen it called "multi-quote" on other forums. You click on the "+" for each post you want to quote, then on the little box lower right when you have all the ones you want to quote selected.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 minutes ago, wolfriverjoe said:
4 hours ago, BIGUN said:

 

I think what he's talking about is multiple quotes within the reply post. The copy/paste function from top to bottom and "Highlight Quote" will do the multiple quotes. 

 

That's what the "plus sign" is for. I've seen it called "multi-quote" on other forums. You click on the "+" for each post you want to quote, then on the little box lower right when you have all the ones you want to quote selected. 

Yeah ... That's annoying. Shouldn't have to go back up to BIGUN's post to quote it; but as can be seen, don't have to.

Partial Fix. -- Have all three (fix my first example), and people do what they like best.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
17 hours ago, roostnureye said:

im not a fan, ill probably spend a lot less time on here now. it was never "broken" it worked just fine

With due respect, the old site may not have been broken to the front end user. But that is hardly an accurate picture to paint. The framework was defunct, the CMS we used had shut down 10 years ago and offered no more support. Meaning we could have stuck on the old system, but also then risked user security in the process. Not only that but it also meant that we could never make any additions or changes to the site because nothing was being supported any longer. There is a long list of reasons why a change of CMS was not only good, but essential.

People saying they find it harder to access on mobile than the old site makes little sense, considering the new site is built with mobile in mind and actually allows you to view a page without having to zoom in and out like on the old one. The new site is certainly more mobile friendly in terms of how the page is viewed.

Again, if people have problems or suggestions, with valuable feedback changes can be made. But complaints without any feedback of what feels strange or off, provides no help.

Take screenshots, use MS paint or something to point out where issues lie and we'll happily try and work out fixes if there are legitimate issues.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
13 hours ago, dmcoco84 said:

Yeah ... That's annoying. Shouldn't have to go back up to BIGUN's post to quote it; but as can be seen, don't have to.

Partial Fix. -- Have all three (fix my first example), and people do what they like best.

I agree, the quote system isn't working as we'd like. We've reached out to the content management system asking for clarification on whether this is something that can be changed or if it's a core part of the system and if the latter, why they chose this method of doing things.

We are going to work at trying to get this resolve and to retain quotes that are nested inside of a post, as we can definitely see why it would be hard to track a conversation where quotes are being omitted.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, Administrator said:

I agree, the quote system isn't working as we'd like. We've reached out to the content management system asking for clarification on whether this is something that can be changed or if it's a core part of the system and if the latter, why they chose this method of doing things.

We are going to work at trying to get this resolve and to retain quotes that are nested inside of a post, as we can definitely see why it would be hard to track a conversation where quotes are being omitted.

Grazie!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, Administrator said:

With due respect, the old site may not have been broken to the front end user. But that is hardly an accurate picture to paint. The framework was defunct, the CMS we used had shut down 10 years ago and offered no more support. Meaning we could have stuck on the old system, but also then risked user security in the process. Not only that but it also meant that we could never make any additions or changes to the site because nothing was being supported any longer. There is a long list of reasons why a change of CMS was not only good, but essential.

Would it be possible, to make/keep the back end changes that were essential (along with the desired visual changes: title bar, main page, ads and so on), but keep the look, functionality and BBCode setup WITHIN threads? 

5 hours ago, Administrator said:

People saying they find it harder to access on mobile than the old site makes little sense, considering the new site is built with mobile in mind and actually allows you to view a page without having to zoom in and out like on the old one. The new site is certainly more mobile friendly in terms of how the page is viewed.

Again... many sites have the ability to toggle between the two; desktop/mobile.  I have overall disliked how websites are setup with "mobile", and I'm sorry to say, but this isn't any better.  The way that DZ used to be on my phone, is EXACTLY how basejumper is right now. (Needs a mix of the two.)

Without making further changes... there is still a ton of scrolling, and its not good.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The CMS that runs the back end controls everything including how its seen on the front end. Think of it like a car - you can't take the body panels off a Corolla and put them on a F150 with out so much work that its just not cost effective and even if you could there would be huge issues in taking it to the shop (developers) to get an update for it. Dropzone (and Basejumper) used a platform that was really outdated and was full of holes. It failed to implement a lot of new coding standards and had no flexibility to it. Once again think of a webpage that was originally designed for Internet Explorer 4 and then compare it to a site designed to run on the latest version of Chrome - massive difference in what the site can do and the functionality needed to make it work. When the last version of DZ was built Javascript was still new and being used everywhere - now days its all HTML5 and other new standards and if you do Javascript its just a recipe for the site to be hacked. The Highlight "Quote" feature could never be done under the old framework as an example. Compared to a lot of other forums this is still slightly behind but is a massive catch up to where forum design is going.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 hours ago, dmcoco84 said:

Would it be possible, to make/keep the back end changes that were essential (along with the desired visual changes: title bar, main page, ads and so on), but keep the look, functionality and BBCode setup WITHIN threads? 

Again... many sites have the ability to toggle between the two; desktop/mobile.  I have overall disliked how websites are setup with "mobile", and I'm sorry to say, but this isn't any better.  The way that DZ used to be on my phone, is EXACTLY how basejumper is right now. (Needs a mix of the two.)

Without making further changes... there is still a ton of scrolling, and its not good.

I hear your grievance, but technology will tend to move along with the tech approach that the industry leaders are using. You want users to feel familiar with the methodology. Do you use social media? Facebook, Instagram, Twitter... They're all based on a scroll-heavy model. It's how you navigate. So modern technology will follow that approach in order to keep the style familiar to the user's general habits. For instance, if all the large sites implemented side-scrolling approaches, other companies would too, in order to keep people in a familiar space. 

Scrolling is the easiest and most used action on our phones. If you can point out particular cases where excessive scrolling can be avoided (excessive padding or line issues), if you pointed that out we could look at removing it. But we don't notice any of these issues when trying to locate them and it all feels pretty standard for forum apps.

It is possible for us to implement tapatalk to this forum, tapatalk is a mobile application where users can link their forums to and it has an older appearance, but offers things like push notifications on the forums, and if one is looking for an older design look. That may be an option - we'd just need to install it. But we'd first need to see enough demand for doing so.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 3/12/2019 at 5:44 AM, Administrator said:

With due respect, the old site may not have been broken to the front end user. But that is hardly an accurate picture to paint. The framework was defunct, the CMS we used had shut down 10 years ago and offered no more support. Meaning we could have stuck on the old system, but also then risked user security in the process. Not only that but it also meant that we could never make any additions or changes to the site because nothing was being supported any longer. There is a long list of reasons why a change of CMS was not only good, but essential.

People saying they find it harder to access on mobile than the old site makes little sense, considering the new site is built with mobile in mind and actually allows you to view a page without having to zoom in and out like on the old one. The new site is certainly more mobile friendly in terms of how the page is viewed.

Again, if people have problems or suggestions, with valuable feedback changes can be made. But complaints without any feedback of what feels strange or off, provides no help.

Take screenshots, use MS paint or something to point out where issues lie and we'll happily try and work out fixes if there are legitimate issues.

What are the user numbers looking like on the back end?

 

Maybe it's just me, but it looks like a whole bunch of people who I've not seen around here in ages have been posting more after the update.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

5 5