New Responsive Design for DCUM

[Anonymous]

I like the new design on my phone, it is easier to read and looks better. I prefer the legacy for my computer and tablet because the new format looks wonky. I am not going to go out of my way to use the legacy site.

[Anonymous]

Love the new design!

[Anonymous]

I love it, too. One request:in most recent, is there anyway to see the date the original post was made?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I love it, too. One request:in most recent, is there anyway to see the date the original post was made?

The date is provided for larger devices. On smaller devices, the problem that I face is that most users want to see as many topics in the recent topic list as possible. Adding a line for the date would increase each topic entry by one line which would reduce that number of threads visible at one time. So, I have to balance the value of the date of the first post against the interest in seeing as many topics as possible. At the moment, I've gone with number of threads.

[Anonymous]

I hate it on my laptop. There is a lot of empty space on the righthand side and not as much fills the page, so more clicking to the next page and more scrolling.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I hate it on my laptop. There is a lot of empty space on the righthand side and not as much fills the page, so more clicking to the next page and more scrolling.

The design expands as your browser width increases. If it is not doing that for you, something is wrong with your browser. There may be extra white space on the right if an ad failed to load, but otherwise should be normal. The length of the Recent Topics, the list of threads on a forum page, and the number of posts per page are all done by number of entries not length of the text. So you shouldn't be clicking to the next page any more than in the past.

[Anonymous]

On my laptop the font is bigger so I have to scroll more. I like the old version better.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely love it. It's so much cleaner. It's easy for me to expand the page on my computer if necessary but so much better to not have to do it on my phone.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:On my laptop the font is bigger so I have to scroll more. I like the old version better.

It looks like you are using Chrome in which case it is very easy to change this. Follow these instructions:

support.google.com/chrome/answer/96810

Chrome saves this on a per site basis. So changing it for DCUM doesn't require that you change it for eery site.

[Anonymous]

The quote button is in the wrong place. It should be at the bottom of the post that you want to quote. Usability nightmare.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:The quote button is in the wrong place. It should be at the bottom of the post that you want to quote. Usability nightmare.

It's been in the same place for 15 years. But, today it is a nightmare I guess.

[Anonymous]

Would it be possible to have headings at the top of each post like the old design? If I'm interrupted or have been away from the computer, I don't always remember the subject of the post when I return. It's a bit tedious to have to keep scrolling to the top of the page to remember. I also think it looked better than the blank space that's there now. Thanks!

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Would it be possible to have headings at the top of each post like the old design? If I'm interrupted or have been away from the computer, I don't always remember the subject of the post when I return. It's a bit tedious to have to keep scrolling to the top of the page to remember. I also think it looked better than the blank space that's there now. Thanks!

The subject is there in the desktop design. For phones, it is similar to my issue above about the date of the last post. Users have expressed a desire to see as much of a message's text as possible. On a phone, adding the subject line to each message would add at least one line to each post, allowing fewer posts to be see at once. Personally, I agree with you and would sacrifice text for the subject, but I think we are in the minority. For iPads, I may experiment with adding the subject line back in.

[Anonymous]

Overlap with ad and forum topic.
On the iPad when I enter a topic page the ad blocks the topic subject.

So top of the page below the DC Urban Mom logo but above the forum Index >>relationship. When the ad appears the ad box will cover relationship.

[Anonymous]

Count me as one of the people that sees this layout as an improvement. I am in the camp that showing less information would be better, particularly on smaller viewports.

People will slowly get used to it. Modern website design favors legibility over cramming as much information into the screen as possible. See Gmail and its "comfortable" vs. "compact" layout. This helps with accessibility and general readability.

One thing I would vote for is to de-emphasize user information, since 99% of the posts are from Anonymous users, it takes up valuable real estate.

The same goes for "Subject" which I have never seen someone change on a reply, but I suppose it's possible. Perhaps only show it if it is not the same as the subject of the OP?

Now I sound like "that guy", but other suggestions:

Make the "report" just the icon with proper tags (aria/title/alt) to make it accessible

I would actually make the post icons (like the little sheet of paper next to the date) larger to coincide with the font size.

Use something for relative date. You might have to throw something like moment.js on top and transform things on the frontend, depending on the forum software you use, but I prefer that representation of the date, personally (again, see: Gmail)

I have thoughts on the forum list as well, but I will stop here because it seems like I don't appreciate the work that has been done, and I do. Great step forward and I can actually use the site on mobile now!