Adios Amigos(as)!
 

I’m not going to be browsing around the Bike Forums that much anymore. The roll out of the new design and the way it was handled really put me off. Things like not having the “last” page of popular threads, searching, and general clunkiness of the new features bothered me. I’ve let my feelings known to the administrators but it looks like its full speed ahead to them.

I pretty much spent most of my time here and the commuting forum. This subforum is much more like a family, though, with the friendliness and smallness. Hence, the need for a goodbye. I’ll probably still google for bike repair and upgrade advice and the bike forums archive threads “should” come up so I’ll use that.

I’ve been more productive at work since I don’t click on the BF in the morning and the afternoon(ha-ha). I’ll still be biking and you can still catch up with my goings-on in my blog:

http://utilitycyclist.blogspot.com/

Stay well, keep riding, and Happy Thanksgiving!

I agree. I feel disoriented just posting this...ugh.

yes. i heard both of you. same thing here. this is a simple case of you shouldn't fix it when it's not broken.....

Sorry someone tripped up your walker guys. Jeez, you guys sound so old.

I feel for everyone who dislike changes in layouts... but I also realised one thing after using the 'net for so long. People will complain for a while, but after a while, they will get used to it so much so that if you put them back to the old interface, they'll start complaining again! This was what happened in many places, especially evident in Facebook. When they changed their interface, you could see so many groups petitioning against it, but they just petered out and totally died after people got used to it.

It's just a matter of time to get used to it... patience. I don't hate the new interface - true, it is rather weird at first, but I have come to appreciate its very modern look to it. Perhaps I got used to changes online.

It's more than just feeling old... the new format grabs all the space at the top forcing much scrolling before the first new post can be seen. And facebook - look at the resistance the users put up when changes were proposed, and that is a rather younger user group isn't it?

Paid members (yes I am) don't get ads so don't get all that space lost to advertising. You didn't hear this from me, but plugins for Firefox like AdBlocker and FlashBlocker will reclaim that space (to an extent) because it doesn't display the ads.

As a full-time web-designer by day I welcome the overall upgrade. As people are saying - a change is disorientating and some things - esp. search - still need some work (As does the letterspacing in the logo but that's another issue altogether) but we'll all get used to it. I think it's a shame a change in format is enough to alienate users to the point of not participating anymore. It's the message not the medium right kids?
:)

I don't think the ads are taking any more space than before - it is the message introducing the new format that takes all the space. I assume that that will go away in a week or two.

The only thing I don't like is that the quick navigation button at the bottom doesn't quickly navigate back to the folding bikes thread list, it pops up a selection of forums. But the Top button is nice.

Anybody figured out the color coding of the envelop icons on the left side of this page?

http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdispl...-Folding-Bikes

Kam

Son, I wish you to get to old age.

Kam

Sorry to see you go. I have to agree with much of what you are saying. My problem with the change is not so much in the new interface or look. In fact I have to say that the new linterface has a more modern feel, and look, but that comes at a price to those of us who are accessing the internet using dial up. It takes much longer to load the pages. In fact, sometimes it won't load at all, and I give up frustrated, and go elsewhere. I think this new interface is more resource "hungry" than the old one.

Good luck to you.

Edward Wong III
Qile Duo 5 Speed 20" Folder

The older interface worked better in many instances, so this change just for the sake of change is highly questionable. In fact I can't think of just one item where the new if is better. Sure we'll get used to it... but in the mean time something which actually worked better is gone. It's plain silly.

Just a note from someone who works as a web developer: You'll notice that the block above says "We've been involved in an upgrade to the cutting edge with vBulletin.". This forum looks to be using a pretty standard installation of a 3rd party software (VBulletin). That likely means that these changes are largely in the hands of the developers of VBulletin. However there are almost always good reasons to upgrade: Aside from the new features that new software provides there are often more important reasons such as security, performance and compatibility with changes in server technology (eg more recent versions of the PHP programming language on which this runs).

Remember also that "new features" may be features that make the maintenance of boards like this much easier. I'm sure most of you will have seen how forums can be brought down by poor management and/or spam build up. You only have to join a few Google Groups to see how quickly this can happen.

If only it was as simple as "if it ain't broke..." unfortunately web technology is just not that static. Even if you refuse to change, other elements around you will and sooner or later you will run into trouble. Trust me, us web developers suffer as much as you users do, just as we think ...ah that's sorted... one link in the chain changes and off we go again!

I tried to print some helpful advice I spotted on this forum. It came out mostly a garbled mess with the photographs superimposed over each other with the text showed on top of all that mess. It never happened when this Website was using the older form I had to copy the important stuff the old fashioned way-by hand. If the site is not easy to use or understand, people rightly can and will go somewhere else. The main goal here or anywhere else online or even offline is to not only attract, but also keep it's visitors.

I will continue to read about your experiences, even if you go elsewhere. I have bookmarked your Blog on my personal computer & in my Links section on World Of Folding Bicycles. And have a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!

Hey everyone, this new Bike Forums format has begun to load as fast on my computer as the old one. Remember that I complained that the new format was taking so much longer to load on my machine. I wonder if there was a change in either my computer or their system?

Edward Wong III
Qile Duo 5 Speed 20" Folder

Compare these 2 screenshots which I had left over in my Opera start screen: Guess which one is using screen real estate better with the same elements displayed.
Attachment 126912

My major gripe with the new format is the inability to get to the last page of a long thread directly from the forum. I'm hoping that they will fix that.

Speedo

I work with another good sized board that uses VB. The bulk of the changes between vB3.xx and vB4.0 are in the back room with some stuff on the front. The other board I am with has chosen to wait because vB4 is still beta.

Aaron:)

I don't know if this is a new feature or not, but I found that if you scroll over the date or time of the last post, you can go to the last post in the thread.