General Cycling Discussion - Forum update! What do you think?

Feedback / Comments?
What do you want me to change?
What do you like?
What do you hate?
Find any errors / bugs?

Im going to bed, its 4 am... this update took 3hrs longer then i wanted it too, hehe.

Wow Joe....

You have been a busy boy!!:)

I'll have a butchers through and let you know if I find any bugs...

Rich

Great job joe!!!!

Hi Joe,

I was wondering if your site has the capability to run a chat page for currently logged on memebers?

Would this take alot of programming?

Cheers matey

Rich ;)

Joe, I think it looks awesome! I like the chat mode idea, but just a practical note. Could you tone down the BikeForums header a bit, I don't want my boss to get kick my butt for viewing BikeForums, when it is obviously a priority! ;)

Like that log in,at the top of the page, saves one from having to scroll down the page.

neat!!!!!!

Steve33 (aka windwalker2k) :)

Joe,

Everything looks great. I have to second Alpha's recommendation on toning down the BikeForums Header. Maybe you could have two versions...one for at home and one for work. :p

I completely agree to make the Bike Forums header MUCH smaller. Everything else looks fantastic.

Great job!

Marcy

Oh yeah, one more thing:

Is it possible to leave the BF header out once you have logged on or to just show the header on the main page. Every time I look at a different discussion topic or post a message, the header appears again. I just want to make sure no one at work gets caught :D

Thanks again Joe!

Joe,

The changes are outstanding!! I really like the looks of it, but I too must agree with the others about the size of the header. I work at a "help desk" and my supervisor sits close to me and the large header is a dead giveaway that I am not on the phone with a customer.
I like the smilies and formatting tools being on the same page I am typing on. Great job!!

Ron

Nice work Joe.
Your effort is commendable, and I appreciate your enthusiasm to get information out to more people. We appreciate the tireless effort put into this site for the benefit of other's. WAY TO GO JOE!

:D

I guess this is the same as in the old version, but I'm just more on the lookout for things because of the revision. But I'm bothered by the space "Report this post to a moderator" takes up at the bottom of each space. I agree that there should be a mechanism for easily doing that, but out of all the posts I've read on the forum, I've only seen one or two that possibly merited reporting. So maybe if you could make that more discreet....

Thanks for all the work and long hours. Please don't lose so much sleep you get fired and have to abandon the Forum, because there's probably nobody else in the world that would be willing to take it over! (Also please don't get a better job, for the same reason! :D)

Too Cool Joe!!
I'm sure everyone appreciates the work you've put into this. It looks just great. Now take a day off and ride, ride, ride!!! :p

I can change the header for ya. I have been thinking about a live chat for quite some time, yes it is posible, i'll try to find out more information today. Jon, on the last version the "report this thread to moderator" was a button called "warn", I'll make another warn and IP button that match the current style asap.

Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming.

Well, Joe I will tell you once again what a great job you've done. I posted in another thread before reading this one.

Everything looks great...:thumbup:

This place is like a drug addiction. I need a smaller Bike Forums banner at the top so I can get my fix at work without getting busted. :D

Am I the only one who thinks that if BikeForums went under, the productivity of the world would greatly increase? Keep it going, Joe...this is way more fun than work!!! :beer:

Originally posted by Joe Gardner
[...] I'll make another warn and IP button that match the current style asap.


One quick question: What is the "IP" button? I've been afraid to push one to find out.

One quick suggestion: Could you not have the "edit/delete" button except on posts by the person viewing? It's meaningless on the others, except for you (the administrator), and you probably have another way of accessing anyway....

Thanks-- :thumbup:

Joe,

You're the man. This site is outta site. I truthfully think the banner looks great...It's just my boss won't think so. I think the solution is to go STEALTH mode. It seems fitting for bikers, because we're always in stealth mode aren't we.

I must concur with Jon. We've gotta protect your job too!

Better than ever Joe!

The only thing I was wondering about was if I can make the font smaller, or is it fixed. Each post seems to take up more room on the screen than before. But that's picking nits!
:thumbup:

Originally posted by aerobat
Each post seems to take up more room on the screen than before.

Could this be something to do with how your browser is interpreting something that got changed? I use IE 5.5 and the font and space consumed seem the same as before. But I've seen other sites that made changes that my browser obviously had trouble with....

Thanks Jon, I solved the problem(?) by using my own preferences on Netscape.

I hope this site works fully in netscape, netscape is very hard to to design for with so many tables. Im still trying to come up with a new header / logo for the forums, if anyone is good at that, feel free to give suggestions, im horible at graphics. Fubar, i think you were the one who requested the spell checker back, sadly i was using spellchecker.net and they have closed up shop for the free spell checker. They now charge $50 for each 1000 times used, i dont have the money to offer that, it would add another $135 or so to my monthly bill. However, i have some plans i'll introduce in the next few weeks, hopefully we can get the spell check back.

Misspelled words don't bother me--it's the meaning that matters. Sometimes people I correspond with misspell the same words the same way time after time, and it's like hearing their voice, I like it!

Wow!, this is suppadoppa Joe! :cool:

Toolfreak!!!

That is one scarey photo my man!!!

He he..good to see what people look like...I might change my avitar for a photo of me *now that's scarey!!!* :D

Rich

Im sory two here aboot the spel chekker. Pardin me iff my poests ar a litlle hard too reed. I hav ben atennding my Hooked on Phonics Anonymus meeting, but i thinnk the affliccshun is going two bee hardr to overcome then i thoughght.:D

Originally posted by Ba-Dg-Er


It's gotta be better than my picture....

Talking about your picture...did you fix that in the Who are you thread? It wasn't showing up the last time I checked it.

Sorry to hear that the spell checker is no more because I was a frequent user. I guess I'll just have to work on my spelling now.

Once again Joe, great job you've done :thumbup:

Joe,

Your site redesign does look... and work... very good indeed.

Do be careful, though... if some of our respective employers ever saw this, and realised what we could do IF we had the desire... Well, they'd have men like you redesigning widget inventory pages, customer databases, etc... All of those things that we come here to forget about.

If anyone in a position of authority ever does see this, try my line:

"My son did this. He's twelve. Good, huh?"

Originally posted by Steele-Bike
I hav ben atennding my Hooked on Phonics Anonymus meeting, but i thinnk the affliccshun is going two bee hardr to overcome then i thoughght.:D
Kurage! Dose 12-step porgams rekwire dedikashun an comitmunt, but the rezultz ar wurth it.

Ok, i have been playing around a bit more, and think i have found the new look for the forums, please drop by http://www.bikeforums.net/test/ and tell me if anything needs changing, i'll change the button colors from the light blue to the new darker blue when i have some free time.

Done!

As far as i know, the forum is fully updated :) As you can see, there are a few more changes, the top links to your profile, calendar, member list ect have changed to text links, as have the profile, PM, email, website ect at the bottom of each post. I have also changed the base colors. however did stay with the known blue white grey black layout. I also made the forum logo alot smaller for thoes of you who visit from work.... Enjoy.

I also moved the "report this post to a moderator" and the IP link to the bottom of each post via Jon's reccomendation.

The new look is loading considerably faster for me, and I don't think it's just the time of day (I'll have to test it next Tuesday around 3:30, always the most congested time in this region, probably due to stock market closings). I suspect the simplified graphics are quicker to load, which is GREAT.

One thing bothers me, and that's the little white bar at the very bottom of the curved white area. It looks like a mistake.

And I still wonder what "IP" means. I looked in the FAQ and couldn't find it. I know if you tell me what it is I'll probably want to shoot myself (perhaps with my Zefal pump--see Ranger's story on separate thread).

:o

Jon, for more info on IP's, visit http://consumer.net/IPpaper.asp

Your IP address is 64.197.198.118. Your host name is: A020-0626.KSCY.splitrock.net With this information, and the time of the post i can find out who you are, and where you are connecting to the site from. If a user comes to the forums and spams, i can also ban that user by there IP address.

I'll try to find a better location for this IP link :)

The size of each page on the forum has also been sized down, the main page went from 55K down to 36K, forum display pages went from 70K down to under 60K, so all pages should load alot faster now.

Thanks for the IP explanation, Joe! And since it wasn't something I already knew, I don't feel stupid, and can avoid shooting myself with the Zefal--for the time being. :D

Originally posted by Ba-Dg-Er
JonR - Can you please tell me how you would accomplish a task such as that?
Ranger gave his account getting shot by his Zefal pump, in the thread about the Topeak pumps. I've had my Zefal pop off the valve every time I've used it, so I don't doubt it has this capability.

Things look great, Joe! I've been having a little trouble keeping up to the posts lately, and then as someone else mentioned, I log on and there's even a couple more forums!

Anyway, I love it and keep up the good work!!!
:thumbup:

Joe
Youre doing a great job here, and I'd like to add my thanks.

On a typographic note, try removing some of the underlining of text such as thread subject and author; it may help the clarity of the layout. Give it a try and see what people think.

Thanks
Michael.