Here's what folks think.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/d...9198890141510/page/1

I AGREE ITS HARD TO NAVIGATE BUT I WILL GET USED TO THAT IN TIME. CHANGE IS GOOD I THINK. NEVER KNEW HOW TO POST pictures, now maby ill give it a try.

Bill

I tend to agree with you.  Although I'm sure once I get more familiar with it the old forum will fade away, I found this so far to be less intuitive for navigating.  

The additional features will probably help more folks but I think the layout still has a lot to be desired.  All things being equal though as I said the more we use it the less we may notice.  This layout at least for me is very "busy".

But it's not my playground. With any change it takes some getting used to.  Let's see if some of the suggestions can get implemented and hopefully the look and feel can get back a bit to how it was.  OGR has gone through a great deal of work to try to make a better forum so maybe in the end that's what we'll get.

I appreciate all the hard work that's been done and whats ahead.  IMO though the forum has a lot less feel to it and more "stuff" in the way of on screen content.

So let's see where it goes.  Tweaking is good.

Well, as far as forums go, the old one was even a little bit off from the "standard".  But this new one is just something from a whole different planet.  I've been a member of many forums for at least 10 or more years now, and this is by far the weirdest thing I've ever seen.  I can see how the web designers are trying to emulate facebook.  Only problem is this is not a social network or blog site.  It's a place to talk about a very specific subject matter.

Here are my favorite forums and you'll notice they are all a very standard layout and operate much the same way:

honda-tech.com

tl.acurazine.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=93

www.piloteers.org/forums/

tamiyaclub.com/forum/

I can tell they are working on making it a bit more conventional and there still a bit to be done.  Until then, this forum is going to be painful for those of us that frequent many sites on the internet and not just this one.

I get the feeling of being cramped, like in a closet or something. Everything is hidden. I hope they can fix the entries so the name of the thread starter is shown.

Works for me! A day or two and it will seem normal.

Gentlemen,

   I do like the new forum except I would like to have the thread pictures bigger,

shrinking eveything up kind of limits what you can see.

PCRR/Dave

Too many threads started about "how do you like the new forum".  Gee just look and add on to the one already posted instead of starting another one. 

TEX

Steve

No kidding! Oops!

Pete

In a word, I just don't like it, I saw nothing needing updating. This means I will try to read here less, because of confusion of using.

Sorry for my ineptness.

Rod

Text appears and disappears as I move my mouse. Lost my patience and am going home for the day. Try again tomorrow

I dont care for it myself. I would of rather left the original, and added the photo option to download photos from your documents.

it's only the first day...got to give it a chance...but i miss the old forum...not happy with the facebook look,...just my opinion...

I'd like to get rid of the huge white space to the right of the compressed forum text!  Why not let the text expand to the size of the browser window like it used to here and does in all other forums?

I went through the nine pages of answers and replys. I signed out and in. But I still cant figure out how to distinguish from topics I have read and want to return to.

There is an icon on the right of the page to mark all topics as read, but nothing to show unread. It looks like its stuck on 'read'. I might not even be able to find an answer to this post.

There's a NEW >> on the right side.

The top post is new, the bottom one has been marked read.

this is a question i have also. I don't want to be opening threads I have already read and i would like to go back to ones that i have read the day before, which my browser always kept  high lighted so i knew which ones they were and I also would like to know the starter of the thread  like the old form had 

the other thing  is you could find out the posts a certain member made by clicking on his name and then click on posts he made in  the other forum. you can not  do that now even when you made the post, you better remember just where is was on you may never find it again  

I'm with you Bill.  My first impressions:  I don't think the photo posting and the thread survival features are worth the clumsy user interface, the reduced number of posts / page, the extra clicking and scrolling, and general learning curve.  I think the older format was much cleaner, IMO.

George

So far, not so much.

Mort

I do miss the link that used to be at the bottom of the page to get you back to the FORUMS selection.  Now you have to scroll back up to the top of the page.  Posting pictures is remarkedly easier...

Marty

This is a known problem. You need to update your browser and get the latest Java updates.

Still tweaking...

So Far not so much. I'm not exactly sure what advantage it was to go to a new format? I suppose I'll try to get use to it or not use it as often.

Well, I like the fact that the white space it gone, that's great!

Rich,

Thanks for working to get the white-space problem fixed so quickly! I noticed the fix while responding on another thread.  That fix alone will go a LONG way to helping folks get acclimated to the new forum!

David

Feels a little better now.  Personally now I would like to see the threads centered on the page and the Recent Posts window and Sponsor window jammed to the right.

Keep tweaking.  It's starting to "feel" better.

I see that the white space issue was able to get resolved - thanks for doing that.

As far as liking it or not.  Being able to post pictures so easily is worth it to me.  I am one who hates change so it will take a while for me to acclimate to the new look.  But I am sure I will.  I do appreciate OGR spending the time and money to try and make the forum better.  As with everything, some will like it and some will  not.

Thanks,

Ed

Advantages? How about these for starters:

1. Permanent archiving - nor more post deletions when they are 6 months old.
2. No more convoluted process to post pictures. Now it is 6 mouse clicks and no need for flickr, shutterbug or any other photo hosting service.
3. Calendar of Events - not in heavy use yet, but it's coming.
4. Private Messaging - is coming for future Premium Members
5. OGR Digital Edition - also coming here in a few months for premium members
6. Chat Events - we will have special guests from the industry on board to answer your questions. Coming for future Premium Members.

Patience, Grasshopper.

Hey Rich,

Thanks for doing a great job to make the forum pleasant for all of us. I am grateful for your efforts.

What's up with the avatar pictures? Is it possible to display the names of the members signed in at the top, like what we had before? Please try to remove those "empty heads" avatar pictures to the right. Put a nice picture of the 765 instead if possible or how about the video for next OGR run preview there. One great thing about coming to the forum is to see all the signed in members at the same time and that prompts one to look out for the post of the signed in members. Besides, I need to see that Hot Water and Farmer Bill are signed in before I post anything 

Also what happened to the viewing of the most recent posts of a forumite? 

One more thing, I liked your avatar picture better when you were wearing the yellow gloves at the helm of the 765, that's your signature look. Why did you put on the tie and the white shirt? 

Thanks for the great job in transitioning us to a new forum!

Prairie

Hey wadddaya know, looking less cramped already!

Ahh..looking much better without all that excess white space!

It's a major change and will take some getting used to. I think in a few weeks it will feel real comfortable and I won't even remember the old forum format.

The white shirt is my Pilot shot. I'll go back to Eliot's 765 shot. 

With regard to the Premium Memberships, I can't say a whole lot about them yet. They are coming, but I want to be sure we've got this new forum up and running well first. I also have a LOT of behind-the-scenes work to before we will be ready to launch the Premium side of the site.

I too am not so quick to give up the ghost, but I find the new forum "busy" and less appealing.  I have another personal reason for not liking it, but it's neither here nor there to how everyone else views this new format.  I think I could be spending a lot less time here, and over time, perhaps lose interest to come back at all.

But it's early.

To be honest I like it! When i was on the other forum i could not post pictures to save my life but this is so easy, even I can do it.. Easy to navigate also. It will take some time to find out all you can do but it will be well worth it also. BTW what is the Premium member all about? Will it be a paid option? What will be the advantages? Nice job Rich and the whole OGR team.

I totally agree...

SHOULD HAVE LEFT IT ALONE! WILL BE SPENDING LITTLE OR NO TIME ON FORUM ANY LONGER UNTIL SOMETHING ELSE IS DONE!!!!!!

quote:

"BTW what is the Premium member all about?"

A Rich explained it to me, the Premium option will be announced at a future date, after the forum is fully up to speed and any minor glitches attended to.

Well...that's really helpful. 

I liked the old forum better. It seemed more streamlined and easy to navigate. I also don't like that the threads don't show the author, only the poster's avatar, if there is one.

Be patient Rich! Just wait for the next batch of o-guage stuff to be delivered, or at the very least the spring catalogs. Then folks will have other things to gripe about than "the new forum".

I still see that large white space to the left.Why is it that every time a forum change is made it is for the worse?The new format is more difficult to use.But of course they will say that they cannot admit they are wrong and change it back to a more usable format!

I really like it here, and not for the reasons listed above. This new forum stuff is exciting. It makes me wonder of the possibilities that a site like this has to offer. 

This site is better than ever because its headed FORWARD. This site is about sharing a wealth of knowledge about model trains with each other. Its as great as it was when I joined 2 years ago. It'll be even better 2 years from now. It will still be good if "I dont visit as often" as others have expressed. The show MUST go on!!!! When I signed up two years ago I NEVER thought to myself ONCE...... WOW, this forum is designed so nice that Ill come here ALL the time. NO! It was more like....... I cant believe theres that much knowledge about TRAINS in one place

I didnt come here for any other reason than to learn about trains. I certainly didnt come here for any of the things that SO many feel as if were missing. I came here for TRAINS!!! Sure.... the way we share about the information may have changed. Or maybe theres some changes in navigation, or presentation that I personally dont agree with. But we still have the opportunity to share with each other. About TRAINS!!! I just like to try to stay open-minded. 

And I can tell you this..... I wont be the white space thats to big, or the topic list, or the recent post column on the right that will keep me from coming here.....   It will be the NEGATIVITY!!!!!!

I see no white space on either side now that they fixed the big one on the right.

Not a fan yet....different - it's almost too much like my work email...

Bye.

Navigation is fast.

Not all information is displayed on the screen at the same time in some areas.

This means that not as many topics can be reviewed as quickly.

The added features are wonderful, making the forum much friendlier when using the new features.

Mike

Are you positive about that?

It will be the NEGATIVITY!!!!!!

Some just have a one track mind.....   I couldn't help myself.

i wasnt happy with the change,but i need to accept it ,since its not going to change back just for me.......i resist change,have lived in the same house for33years,same employer for 41yrs,married 42yrs.-jim

I usually do not embrace change easily but in this instance I seem to have adapted very quickly.  The forum obviously looks different but the same information is still here and the great thing is it will remain here for a heck of a lot longer than six months and that is a GOOD thing. 

The photo posting was a little tricky at first largely because I had become so conditioned to utilizing JCStudios Inc and because of a compatibility problem due to the fact I was using Internet Explorer as my browser.  I'm now using Firefox and you know what, I'm not only NOT having compatibility problems posting photos but my computer is working a lot faster as well.  Actually, I think the whole experience has been kind of neat and educational.  I'm no computer geek but my institutionalized knowledge regarding computer operations increases dramatically every time a change like this occurs and that is also a GOOD thing.  I want to thank Rich for his foresight, patience and the time he has spent providing assistance to all of us who needed it.    

Louis, to be honest with you... with the exception of one or two posts where some folks were blatantly RUDE about their critiques, many of us who've been here for a LONG time want to see this forum to continue being the best place it can be to share great model train information.

When you're in the business of being a creative professional, you learn quickly to be thick-skinned about people's feedback that isn't 100% in line with yours.  And you also learn to take those constructive critiques in stride to help make your products and services better.

I've witnessed magazine subscriptions and ad revenues come to shocking declines in a few isolated instances because presentation elements were changed too dramatically, and subscribers and advertisers acted accordingly.  And I wouldn't want to see that happen here.

Please don't equate constructive criticism for NEGATIVITY.  Some of the changes made to the new OGR forum format in the last few hours are indeed moving in a FORWARD direction.  The initial Hoopla (no pun intended) format we saw 24 hours ago was a step BACKWARD from what we had, IMHO of course.  Technically, the migration was superb... and very likely the result of much hard work in the planning process.  Now the presentation-level tweaking can continue as we've seen today, 'cause we ALL want this place to be the best!

David

All that was needed was to make adding pictures easier. Now we have this to deal with. Oh well change is a foregone conclussion I guess. I hope all the wrinkles are worked out soon. 

GG1GUYY

Sounds Great Dave! I just like it here and buy saying that I like it I didnt want to be considered as one of those described above.

Then again....I guess it doesnt mater though. The best description of me is TRAIN ADDICT! 

Im just trying to keep a positive attitude going is all.

Other than that.... Thanks again bud!

And I'll beat that this is THE reason for the change...$$$

Until now, I have been viewing it on my little netbook at home, but here at my office I have a 27" iMac and I must say the usability and general appearance is terrific.

I like it.  The change will take a little getting use to but I don't think it will be long before it will be like old hat, but better than before.  I appreciate OGR's efforts to make the forum the fest it can be.  Thanks, Bill B.  

I like the new format. It is a bit harder to navigate than the old forum but its bright and attractive looking. The only thing that I would like to see are more posts/threads listed on each web page.

OK, I have one more constructive comment. It would be nice if the new-post bar on the right would take you to the LAST post on the thread, or at least give you the option. That way, you can use it to see which threads (that you have already read) have new content without having to go back to the main forum page--and clicking on the thread will take you right to the new content so you can quickly catch up on what you have missed.

It will take some time to get used to where all the new buttons are but I like they way the new forum is set up. I think it's easier to find where I want to go with a drop down screen at the top and if there is a post I see that I missed earlier I can just look to the right and click on it...Change is sometimes hard to do but you have to be willing to change with it to make it work.

All this huffing and puffing about not coming back to the forum or wanting it back the old way well guess what it aint gonna happen so get used to it.

Well initially it was a bit of a pill to take, but like most things in my life, I will adjust as necessary and make the most of it. There's some good features, but mostly as long as we continue to get good info about trains I'm good.

Bob

Oy, I still have a lot of white space.

To me, the old forum had the quaintness of a Model T. And was about as sophisticated. Especially the photo upload process. C'mon, we love to see photos, but I often didn't post any because it was such a hassle. So I like that change.

Things like the "cramped" look because of the sidebar to the right can be fixed or eliminated (I vote for the latter).

But why is my face all fuzzy?

Every forum has its pros & cons in regards to layout, this one is no different. So far IMO the pervious OGR forum layout was better than this one.

I'm not so sure. But then, again, I'm an old guy and I get used to doing things a certain way.  Right now I don't like it at all.  Every time I open the forum I have to enter all those numbers that were given to me.  Maybe my daughter can set up something that I can just hit a key and get right into the forum.  But right now I'm a bit stymied and I'll just have to fight my way in. 

I guess that I agree with the member who said, "Why come up with all these new things when the old form worked just fine.

I really hope that I can learn the new "system" because I really love this forum and get most of my information about models, real trains and "what's happening, right here.

Paul Fischer.

Really like the new photo viewing options. Don't have any photos to post at this time so I can only assume it will be eaiser to post images.

Charlie

Personally I love the look of the new forum. I was actually never a fan of the old forum. To me the old forum was antiquated and looked like it was years behind the times. I think this is a huge improvement. 

Thanks to everyone involved in the upgrade. You did a great job. 

..Gromet

This new Forum, and the one that preceded it, are both better than what I could log on prior to Summer 2000. As a result of the OGR 2000 Forum I got a brand new computer, didn't know how to use it and couldn't type and generally viewed it and the phone company as the enemy.

My son initially logged me on, my then 6 year old Grand Daughter critqued my puter skills[or lack of] and I just lurked and....learned. I learned a bunch about o-gauge trains and a piddling amount about the computer.

I never really thought a lot about learning to post photos of my stuff---after all I could see it every day. What fascinated me was the photos of other layouts and the work of scratch and kit builders and scenery composers. Lot of ideas and projects to lean on and even copy. 

I am gonna enjoy learning my way around this new opportunity and may even post a photo sometime. But all in all, for me, it will be a heck of a lot easier to negotiate than it was the first time around. And, I may learn a thing or two about trains!  

Dewey, that is the most uplifting post I've read since we launched this thing. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Now get your granddaughter in there with you and she'll have you posting pictures in no time! 

It's also great to put a face with the name. Nice Avatar.

I'm on enough forums that have changed, updated not to get too carried away with my comments, but I do have one.

I prefer to see the name of the person starting the thread rather than the photo.  Being new here I was getting accustomed to following threads started by a few individuals.  The pics really throw me for a loop!

And 1 more! I liked seeing where everyone lived!!

i still have the white space?

i could do without the pictures on the left side and the recent posts.  the recent posts are at the top of the forum anyway.  i'm not sure how it looks/acts on other people's machines but as you scroll down, you can almost here the click as each line displays.  i'm sure the posting of vids and pictures will be better, but right now, it kind of hurts my eyes.

Well, the background does alternate, just not enough to really notice.  Just improving the contrast will do the trick here.  Note in the clip below the messages do have different contrast, it just needs to be a bit more pronounced.

I never use forum spell checkers, I'm much rather have that function performed locally with my browser.  It's much faster that way, and it puts less of a load on the forum servers as well.  It's a win-win for everyone.

I really don't like the facebook "picture" aspect at all.  It's actually kinda creepy... I would rather see the persons handle and where they are from again.

I agree with this comment, also seems slower right now as all the background information loaded.  I use the forum for information sharing so anything that is beyond that is not important to me.  G

I believe you could get rid of the "Likes".  It's such a Facebook thing, and not too many seem to want to use it.

Bring back "total views" instead.  It showed user interest betterr than "Likes".

Rich, I have a suggestion I don't think has been noticed before.  When you are at the end of reading the replies on a post, there is no link to the particular forum you are on to take you back to the home page for that forum.  You have to scroll back to the top to do so.

It would be convenient to have that link at the bottom of the page also.

thanks

Agreed, the likes is useless to me and facebookish as well.

BEST SUGGESTIONS SO FAR !!!

HATE IT

I think the new forum is great. I rearly like changes

I have backgrounds here on the desktop by none noticeable on my iphone.  Anyone else have this issue?

Clean up white space???  There is still a large white space on the right hand side...about a quarter width of the page!  What am I missing here?

No problem here.  Using Safari on the iPhone, the backgrounds are the same as on my desktops (one Mac Pro and one Mac Mini -- both viewing with Firefox).  Using the OGR app on the iPhone, its a bit different though.  Individual posts all have the same white background, but they're well delineated since each post sits inside a box with rounded corners.  And each of those boxes sits on what appears to be an overall black background.

I could see using the iPhone briefly to browse here for something quick.  But it would drive me nuts trying to type much on small devices like the iPhone.

The iPad is very workable using straight Safari.  I don't recommend using the iPhone app on the iPad, 'cause the 2X option only enlarges the pixel layout of the iPhone on the iPad's screen -- so text and graphics have lots of jagged edges.  Much better to use straight Safari with the iPad, IMHO.

David

old eyes like the bigger print.

For those more technical minded - Users and devices are going more mobile every day.  All you have to do is go into a Starbucks, airport, sporting event, restaurant and people are on their phones and iPads (tablets).  Desktop computers are only going to be seen in places that people need them for specific use - i.e. engineering, video production, but the average end user will be on a laptop, tablet or smart phone.

If you have an old desktop running windows XP you will be faced with the problem that soon, no matter what you do to try and keep your machine working - it will just not be compatible with new software, operating systems and web browsers.  Windows has already said that they are not supporting flash in their mobile operating system software; they said in a statement that browser plugins are not the future.  Adobe is no longer developing Flash for mobile Browsers.  Computing is changing and like it always has from when I had my first computer in 1987.  All computer companies worth anything understand the shift to mobile devices and they are adapting.

The change here is going to be better in the long run, it will ensure that the hobby has a place to share ideas.  Those that are having a hard time adapting to the change can call customer support on their rotary phone 

My dad is 74, he has an iPhone and a laptop and he does good many days and struggles other days, but he never gives up and is willing to try the new stuff.  Is he techno-tarded?  Sure, but he does really good for his generation.  One of the more fun times with him was showing him how to call my daughter on Skype, my parents love that they can talk to her via video call on the computer while she is away in college.

I look at these thing like cars.  I can drive any car you put infront of me.  Are all the dash board controls the same in every car? Is the key in the same place in every car?  how about the AC controls or radio?  No.  Do I care?  Do I get in a car and say I wont drive it because the radio knob is different?  No.  I just get in and drive.  So I just think of the Forum like I just got a new car - that it will take a few days to learn all about it.

If you have not seen the videos I made to navigate and use the Forum check them out:

Part I - Setting up you profile and preferences

Part II - Navigating the Forums

Part III - Using the Post Editor

A couple more to follow on photo uploads and video.

Everything on the right hand side needs to go. It takes up too much space. The "Watch this topic" box needs to be a blank default.

I applaud trying to make something better, but so far the new forum seems "jammed" -  too much stuff crammed into a small space, "over-busy" - too much going on at one time and I don't find it relaxing to view.

This forum  contains a lot of useless clutter with way too many personal pictures trying to grab the viewers attention. Sort-of-like a busy downtown street garishly vying  for your attention.

From the moment I saw the large white void on the right, I thought the new forum screen now resembles a highway scene. The wide open space on the right looks like prime real-estate, for future advertizing.

If you are into posting pictures, this forum seems to make that task fairly easy.

The new forum also seems way more laborious and convoluted.

No axe to grind, just my honest opinion. If you have some flexibility to change things... I would.

I wouldn't leave the forum because I don't like it, but it could be much better.

My advice, the posting section/viewing screen is your"drive-in movie screen", your bread and butter. Make the screen as big and clutter-free as possible.

Nowadays, people want big screens for their entertainment viewing.

You lost considerable ability to immediately grab a seasoned viewers attention, the moment the forum appears. The old forum instantly gave veterans a lot of easy-to-read what's-going-on type information, at a glace; and this forum doesn't do that.

I know it's hard to take criticism, even if it's constructive. 

lowen

Nobody cares what I think...but, I agree with all the "crowded, cramped, and jammed" comments.  This format will make me come back here much less. I don't know if I'll pay for whatever is coming in the "Premium Forum Member" class.

This is just another example of Facebook ruling the world.

And while I am thinking about it...all that clutter on the right side is completely unnecessary...recent posts...and the photos...don't need it...what's the point?  This thread is down here at the bottom and there seems to be miles and miles of unused white space on the right side before one even gets back to the unnecessary photos and "recent posts."  Use that space to widen this thread area.

I'll go along with the above.

John

It's like a new pair of shoes, at first they hurt, but as you walk with them, they eventually break in and feel better.

For those who are having trouble adjusting, read this book -

Seems to me that a premium member would be a member who subscribes to OGR, much as CTT has their content for subscribers only.

Still on the fence about the new format.  Will have to play with it more to decide, although its a mute point anyway.  I haven't had any of the problems (like unwanted e-mails) that some folks have. 

To me, the permanent archiving is a definate plus!  There are a lot of very good technical posts that previously would be lost.  Quite honestly, I likely won't use the new picture feature, as I've become quite comfortable with Photobucket. 

Jim

I have large monitors, yet when I go to the Main three rail forum, all I see are the stickied posts at the top. Maybe they can be consolidated a bit.

The new forum is just fine with me now that some of the initial issues have been corrected.  The webmaster has done a marvelous job addressing the concerns of the masses here and his work should be applauded.

^^^ To our webmaster.

I see over the past few days you've been able to expand the text box to at least reach across to the advertisements which is a great improvement.

There are two things that Would be great in my eyes to improve, but im not sure if your able to do it and other may disagree with me.

1. We really need to know the name of the thread starter in the forum. Ive been on here for awhile and have grown to know many names here, but i cant seem to match names to avatars so I have no clue who is the thread starter. Plus add in the fact that people change their avatars from time to time and its gets really confussing.

2. Now that youve been able to expand the text area, is it at all possible to expand posted pictures to fill the width of the screen as well so I dont have to click on each individual picture to get a good look at it?

Thanks for your time,

---Joe

I've read that book. Fascinating reading.

Gentlemen,

On the old forum, after an entry was read, the text heading turned purple and stayed that way.  On the new forum, I have to move the cursor over each entry.  If one has been read, it will change color but only while the cursor is present.  When the cursor is moved away, the color reverts to black.  Is there a way to recapture the old more permanent change of color?

Thanks,

Joe S

The HOME key on your keyboard will instantly take you to the top of the page.

I'm working on adding links to the bottom of the page.

That's very helpful, Ralph. Thanks a lot.

I love this new look!!!  Much better than the old forum.  I think it's much easier to navigate IMHO.  Kevin.

Answers...

1) A good point that has been mentioned by many. I will submit this to Hoopla as a suggestion because this is not something I can change within my admin control panel.

2) The pictures that appear within the text area of a thread will be sized down to fit the posting area. Clicking on the picture opens a new window where you can see the image full size. That's the way it works.

I like the challenge of adjusting to it, now that I've put some time aside to do so. The picture posting convenience was a breeze, once I copied the procedure down and followed it on my first attempt.

Frank M.

Well, it certainly is differant. Will take a bit getting used to. I really like the posting picture feature. Much easier.

Ahh, a year from now we'll be saying how we would never go back to the old way. I know some of us old farts don't like change, sometimes we wonder why change at all, well, there is an old saying, "to stand still is to move backwards". 

And although I am not very computer savy, I applaud Rich for making the changes. I, like many others look to it as a learning expiereance. I'm looking forward to being "forum savy"

Sounds good.

As others have mentioned it would be good to see what can be done about highlighting threads you have read with the magenta color. It really does make it easier to quickly check back with the topics you are interested in. Its funny that I can see the highlighted magenta in the forums and 3-rail links at the top of the tread, but it doesnt work anywhere else on the page.

Is there any chance more more personal customization? A way to controll how many posts we see per thread or how many thread topics on the main page?  Any chance these will be available to premium members.

If you care to share, is there any certain reason you decided to go with this format instead of something like vBulletin? I am not knocking your choice or anything, and i do love that you have brought us an update, expesially for those that have had a hard time with pictures and such in the past.

Thanks for your time, and all the hard work youve been doing to make all of us whiners happy over the past few days.

And I love that posts will be archived forever now. Very often i research something way in advance. And when i would go pack to search for the old thread again that I had started it would be gone. This is a major improvemnt as many will come to realize in due time.

---Joe

I just took the time to look over the forums and some of the posts.
It appears most people are acclimating after a few days.
Again, a work in progress. We may all be surprised after a week of tweaking.
I have to remember to uncheck that Watch this topic button before I hit Submit.
Maybe that will be changed in a week also! 
Greg

V-Bulletin could not guarantee that we could import all the data from the Eve platform into V-Bulletin. That was enough for me right there. We could not risk losing any of that information and then have to start all over.

We would have to host v-Bulletin on our own web server. Hoopla is hosted at a huge server farm in Seattle with full redundancy, hourly backups, diesel backup generators, T3 lines, etc. Our web server is in an excellent place with a great company, but they are not that big.

I believe we could be hoop-la's biggest clients and with ours and Rich's input hoop-la will get better.  Hoop-la seems open to some of the suggestions Rich has already made.

We are not the biggest, but we're probably in the top 5 to 10.

However, we may the most ACTIVE forum they have! We have had as many as 440 people on here at one time. We are routinely in the 300's and into the 400's in the evenings. It's about 10:30 pm EST now and we are still at 350 on line.

Too bad.  I use vBulletin daily on one of my professional forums, and I can say hands down that most folks here would have found the migration to very much be hand-in-a-glove from the former OGR forum (as far as user-interface experience that is).  But you're understandably looking at things with other criteria in mind as well.

David

Since this seems to be the most appropriate thread for commenting on the new forum format, I'll put my 2 cents in. My only criticism right now is the narrowness of the text area due to the various blocks (sponsors, recent posts, online now) on the right. Why not just go with the sponsor blocks as before (alternating at the top of the forum page display), and reposition the other stuff so the forum text can extend all the way across the screen. Also less scrolling involved when the replies take up less vertical space.   

Actually, a consideration in publication design--online or elsewhere--is what is known as "optimum line length," which impacts readability and the ability of a reader's eyes to transition from one line to the next.  That optimum line length is largely based on font selection and size.  If lines stretched all the way across the screen area, they likely would be harder to read and follow, especially in paragraph form.  Seems to me that what we have now is just about the max as far as these readability factors are concerned.

it's getting better each day as I use it am finding my way around again.

with the help from a few here have found ways to get back to top of page 

so a learning curve.

posting photos hands down a pleasant experience even from my Iphone!

only change and this is on hoop.la the app for iphone is missing features if 1 or more pages of posts not shown or to jump to last post. am sure theres more so I usually view at work via safari on iphone.

lastly today I made it onto the members online showing my photo alas no brass band LOL!

a big thank you to Rich and beta folks for getting this up and running now if only our problem riddled at times layouts could be fixed\ remodeled with a mouse click!

have a great day all,

$oo

Now I know why I seldom went on the other magazines forum

Will premium members pay or will they just need to subscribe to OGR? It might give people an extra nudge to subscribe either electronically or to the snail mail version.

Jerry, if you do not have your browser window maximized (filling the whole screen) try that. If you are not running it maximized and prefer not to run it that way, click and drag the side of the browser window to make it larger horizontally. The text area will enlarge with your window, thus making it wider.

If neither one of those solutions helps, it may be related to monitor size and your display resolution settings. Look around page 11 in the "Questions? Problems?" thread. There was a discussion about this problem there.

When we are ready to launch the Premium Memberships, we'll give you all the details about it. It is a ways off yet and we're not ready for to launch it now. I have a lot of work to do in-house before we'll be ready to launch. We still have some decisions to make about what we can include in the Premium Membership.

We are thinking of calling it the "First Class Pass." What do you think about that name? Got something better?

$oo Line

Is this what you are asking about?  On the iPhone app there is a little gear looking icon in the very upper right corner just below where the battery level icon is when you are in the OGR iPhone App.  If you click that you get this screen

The third option down is jump to last reply.

I'm sure that you know this but the new forum doesn't work as well as it did in the iPhone browser. Now I know I can download an app but apps require switching from my browser surfing of other pages and forums. If I have to have an app for every website forum it gets a little ridiculous.  Now I can read posts in the browser, it just isn't as good as the old forum in the normal browser mode. Yes - I know what your going to say - why would I need to surf anywhere but OGR forum

It's not going to change, but the more I see of it the less I like it.

I'm getting used to it.  This weekend's photo fun has to be the largest ever, likely due to the ease of uploading photos now.

Curt

My first post via my new iMac, and the forum looks just fine! 

So, I see you got everything hooked up ok.  

Curt

Took a bit of time to get everything going and I still have some software to load (I've been away from the Mac environment for about eight years or so), but I do LOVE this new toy!

Not a big fan of this new Forum. The ease of flow through posts and searches for post of certain people etc. The ocular congestion is yet another topic. I was on the old Forum for almost 10 years, it was fine for me.

I guess i'll struggle along and adapt or just be here a little less.

SAM 

the forum is getting better, they are listening and improving!! thank you webmaster. the search function to find a members post is doable if you can figure it out, it could be a lot better, definitely room for improvement keep up the good work.

Rich,

I am a dairy farmer in WNY. When our spreader breaks down, (it never breaks when it's empty), that's annoying. It might even be difficult. If it's so cold the loader won't start so we can feed cows, that's irritating. White space and scrolling on a free forum? I think I can handle that. I use Firefox and Thunderbird and I got all your emails. I logged on the first day with no problem and I get no spam, period. I look forward to all posts from you and Allan because I know they will make sense. Keep up the good work and thanks for it all.

John

Thank you, John. You sound like a very pragmatic guy. Firefox and Thunderbird...hard to go wrong there. I use them both every day.

Glad you are enjoying the new forum.

Rich,

I just had a chance to get on the new site yesterday, and you have done some nice work getting it to where it is.  It says a lot that you have already made updates with respect to feedback that has been provided.  Overall it's a great step forward and clearly a change for the better.  I like the previous postings regarding the "Who Moved My Cheese" book, one of my favorites.  Nice job. . keep up the good work.

Jim

Still gives me a headache. Costing me more in asprin already. Just don't like the layout and color. Way too much white wasted space.

GG1GUYY

Rod:

In the upper right hand corner of the posts you make, there are several small icons two of which allow you to either trash the post (a small garbage can) or to edit it (a pencil and a piece of paper).  You have to move your cursor over the upper right hand corner before these will appear, however.

Curt

Overall the new format is just fine and bound to get better. Three things I notice that I'd personally love to see tweaked or improved, though.

One is the dropdown menus that appear at the slightest touch of the mouse pointer. Is it possible to make them highlight the item in the menu bar on rollover, but expand only when it's clicked. Right now, the "rollover" behavior activates too easily. (Honestly, this is an old, old web design beef of mine; I've always disliked it on other sites.)

There are fewer posts on a single page, which means more scrolling and clicking, in part because the row height for each post heading is bigger; don't know if this can be tweaked, but it might be better if it was just a touch more "dense" to enable quick visual scanning of the page.

The last is readability. I can't put my finger on why, though. May be it's a typeface thing, maybe the gray shading isn't quite right -- I really can't put my finger on it. But it's much harder on my eyes than the old forum. If there were a user option to select some basic typeface/background options, it might help.

One excellent feature, turned on by default, is the option to strip information embedded in uploaded photos. Modern cameras, especially cellphone cameras, capture a lot of information in hidden meta-data embedded in photos, and most folks don't even know it's there. It's nice for photo organizer software, but not always good to go leaking out onto the internet. Taking that information out is a great feature in the forum software.

Rich,

I've not found an equivalent "printer friendly" format function - or is that a function of my browser?  I found that function handy in saving threads to a pdf format.

Thank you for all your efforts.

Dave

In Firefox the Print function works fine as-is on these pages.

Wish it were faster than the old forum rather than slower.

I can't imagine the work and effort it must take to keep any forum up, much less get a new platform established. Most people; especially older ones are a creature of habit. I am the worst one of all, and God only knows how mad I get when someone messes with my cheese. But eventually, I learn the new course and feast on the prize at the end.

I've grown to enjoy the OGR rail forum more so than I do Facebook. And even better is that I get it all for free!

To each of you who make this forum possible, I tip my glass to you!

Kenny

Thank you very much, Kenny.

Tom, I think the Hoopla tech guys are still tweaking the server setup for this forum. We surprised them a bit with the level of activity here. When they get things fine-tuned a bit more, I think you'll see the speed pick up a bit more. This is a LOT faster than it was the first night. The server actually crashed for a few minutes that first night!

Try downloading "Google Chrome" for your web browser.  For me it runs about 3 times faster than FireFox or Internet Explorer.  It's more simplistic and takes a little getting used to.  Definitely worth a try.

https://www.google.com/chrome?&brand=CHMB&utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-sk&utm_medium=ha

That is something that kind of bugs me, too.  I prefer, and am less distracted by, menu bars that require a click to view the drop downs.

I do not think it is the browser. I have an IMac G4 about 8 years old. Works the same on Safari or Firefox. Problem is the animated ads that have to be loaded and reloaded ,every time the page is changed. With this computer it is 5 to 10 seconds on every reload. This was not a problem on the old Forum. I will now have to install more software to block the animation. I already have software that disables Flash unless it is clicked on but the ads are some other format. On my wife's new Apple the pages load instantly with the Firefox browser. Not every viewer has the most up to date computer and browser so I think a lot of them will be left behind and Forum participation will wane.

The flash ads on the side (not the top) are very distracting as they are seen out of the corner of the eye when posts are read.

The drop down menu is like a gunfighter in a western with a hair trigger,annoying but no big deal. Probably a kid used to video games could outdraw it. 

Dale H 

Forum is still getting better all the time.  Only a couple things I would recommend enhancing...

- When you click a topic from the "Recent Posts" column on the right, it should take you to that specific post, instead of the beginning of the thread. Especially on multi-page threads

- Allow pictures to display their natural resolution.  Especially linked images.  I do really like the idea of the "quoted" pictures being reduced in size though.  This makes quotes more obvious.

- If we cannot display images in their natural resolution, perhaps add the option to click on linked images and expand them (just like uploaded images).  You'll notice all the members with professional photographs of items (especially the 2rl forum) use linked images from places like photobucket.  It's a shame everyone is missing out on the full image.

I agree that the "Recent Topics" links should take you to the last page in the thread. This has been suggested to the Tech people at Hoopla. I cannot change this.

There is no way to allow images to appear full size within the thread. They have to be re-sized down to fit the posting area. If images are uploaded via this site, then the re-sized image appears within the thread and the full-sized image can be seen by clicking on it.

If the images posted here are images linked from another site, there is no way to bring them in at full size. Because the image file is stored elsewhere and not on this server, we have no way to alter the file to change the size.

The solution is to encourage everyone to post their images directly on this server and not use linked images any more. The people that are posting linked images are using a process that is much more difficult than using the process built in to this forum. And since they are linked images and not hosted here, they cannot take advantage of all the features this forum has to offer.

That's odd.  The file is being altered as it's being displayed.  If you right click on any of these images and view them in a new browser tab, they still display at full resolution (ie: 1024x768).

When the same image is displayed here, Hoopla re-sizes it to the old narrow post width of 600x450.  I would think this has to be some setting within Hoopla about how images are displayed. 

I'm sorry to say I agree 100% with Bill Pierce's (the original poster) assessment. I find the new format much harder to navigate, and, like Bill, I also am visiting less because the Forum now has become much more cumbersome to use.

There's far less information presented on each page, which necessitates a lot more time spent scrolling and moving around, and makes gathering information far more confusing.

Besides this large problem, there are many smaller things that irritate, such as not having sellers' names posted with the Buy-Sell ads anymore. I would be pleased to see a return to the old format, with the exception of the improvements in posting pictures. That was the single biggest problem with the old format.

One poster here said "change is good." Such a blanket statement is terribly erroneous. Many times change is anything but good.

If I post my photos from Photobucket, as I have been so far, they do not expand, open in another tab.

I think that's what Rich was saying, they have no control over that, because the pictures are only 640x480, they don't get any bigger.

Your photos are being resized from 640x480 down to 600x450 when you post them here.  For you the size difference is not that obvious, but for other peoples images it can be substantial.  If you right-click on the image and select "open in new tab" (an option on firefox and chrome), the image will come up in original resolution of 640x480.

Here try it with one of mine.  It's photobucket size is 1024x768, but Hoopla is displaying it as 600x450.  Notice it's the exact same as the quote width above.  Now right click on this image and select "Open image in new tab" (if your browser has that feature):

I'm telling ya, it's not a Photobucket issue, it's just how Hooplah is still trying to make SOME things still fit in the original "narrow" post width. 

What I was saying was, the photos I post from Photobucket are 640x480. I use Photobucket to post on forums, that is the norm on most forums. So those pics would not get substantially larger. But I do sort of see what you're saying. Maybe Hoopla has no "control" because the photos are links and not the actual upload.

Of course they could copy all those pics and repost them for us.

You really should think about switching your pics to be 1024x768.  Especially with your legendary modeling and photography skills.  In fact, I would say that 1024 will be obsolete soon for internet images with even current monitor technology. My 2 year old work monitors are 1920x1200 and I have two of them making a 3840x1200 desktop  (which I understand is kinda crazy big compared to the norm).  The pictures on this site look like tiny post cards sometimes... 

It's definitely Hoopla that re-sizes the images.  And I'm pretty sure it has to do with them fitting everything into that original narrow format.  Perhaps the web designers are just not aware of it yet. 

My pics are 3072x2304, that's just not what I post on forums.

I haven't taken any new pics since the changeover.

All this trouble with photos could be eliminated if you would upload your pictures DIRECTLY HERE instead of linking them from other photo hosting sites. Then all the features this forum has to offer will be available when viewing the images.

I just uploaded some photos.  I found it very easy to do.  So far that advantage make me give it a thumbs up.

I think that if you want to link photos you will be fine.  There are some reasons you will want to link form a outside source.  I host Photos on FLICKR for other reasons - There are O Gauge groups there that share photos etc.  However, the upload feature here is very nice and there is no need to host offsite and link here, unless you are using those services for other things like I mentioned above or if you participate on sites like J&C.  

Upload here first, use the other Photo hosting site as you have in the past.  The Video below will show you how to do both, plus give you greater control over the display sizes of your photo. 

Ok, just for the heck of it.

But now if you want to share that same photo again in another thread 6 months or two years from now, you need to upload it again.  Hopefully you have your photo album on the computer your using at that time you need it (for those of us that post from more than one terminal).  And now you need to dig through your hard-drive or backup CDs to find the image.  Or worse......dig up this old thread and save the image and re-upload it.  You see it's just not practical for advance internet uses.

I understand that the photo upload feature makes it easy for members and novices with all it's "features".  But it's just not the way the internet works.  Having your own online photo library makes a lot more sense.

Please ask the Hoopla folks to allow linked images to display at their native size.  PLEAAAAASE

please please please please...

please?

How do I like the new forum, I don't.

Somethings are bugging the heck out of me, other things are better.  I'm at 40% liking it. 

Not being able to post videos and have it work is a big downer.

Some of the questions and suggestions I've posted and others are being looked at by Rich and I thank him.  I hope with time things will get better. Just have to work the kinks out.

I think the new forum is great.  It's still has a simple aesthetic layout.  Navigating from one forum to the next is easier than ever.  I've noticed several improvements in the layout/page format since the launch that have things going in the right direction.  I've done enough web design to appreciate the amount of work that's gone into this change.  Your efforts are much appreciated.

Getting used to it, still prefer the old format.

When viewing the list of posts can you show the OP instead of just the last reply?

Can the recent posts and onlione now be moved to the top/bottom so the posts can use max width?

Change is good but not in this case.I will try to learn it  but not as fast as the old fromat.That seemed user friendly this doesn't.