Hi guys,

Would like to hear some contructive feedback regarding the design of the eBlah! Discussion Network.

Specifically, could you tell us your thoughts on:

1. Is the grey background too well... grey, do you prefer crisp white backgrounds on your discussion pages, or alternatively some wacky neon colour  

2. Is the regular type in the posts too small?

3. Are you a fan of Smilies? Should we have more or less?

Thanks guys - any feedback on these specific questions would be appreciated, and feel free to shout at me if you don't like something else here.

cheers.

Hey devman, its pretty good as it is........main thing, it opens pretty fast.........I belong to a forum in the UK, its pretty good and I have been a member for 2 years.........but one bad point, it takes so long to unload every page.........even on broadband.....
Keep up the good work........

Cheers Lawnbowler,

Speed was an important issue in setting up the new eBlah!. Nothing worse than waiting around for a long discussion page to open - I know just what you go through!

Thanks for the feedback - keep it coming mate

i reckon its pretty good .. fast loading and the grey doesnt bother me at all ... i reckon its good as is .. and yea some extra smilies would be good  

Thanks Ablett,

Yep, everyone seems to like the old Smilies, so we'll order some more in. We need something to express 'extremely hungry mood'.  

Hi,

The grey is OK'ish .... well ok it IS a bit dull. Personally I like Blue - I think because it highlights rather than blends in with so much of the white on the screen

& getting picky now... but the type in the Message section (here) and especially in the 'Thread Summary" is a wee bit small .... pffft maybe I need reading glasses tho!!

Cheers
D

Thanks D for the suggestions, and welcome to eBlah!

I actually agree with you regarding both points - I think there is a wee bit too much grey. Also, I think in some areas the type is a wee bit small for reading.

Don't worry, I'm putting all these suggestions into a priority file - expect to see them implemented soon!  

Cheers again.

The grey is easier on the eyes than stark white, but a series of very pale other colours would work just as well. The blue in the thread header, for example, is fine too.

Appreciate the simplicity of it all too. The lack of bells and whistles (including humungous graphics and other associated whizzbangery) means it's a fast load.

I don't mind the text size so much, but that's owing to my own pc settings rather than the board settings, I imagine.  

I agree with the present colour scheme.  But you could include a heaver and/or different coloured line to more easily distinguish between posts in the reply screen.

Is there a quick reply feature that, I think, was on the older version of eblah?  If there is I can't find it in my personal preference setup.

BTW, good to see the old eblah resurrected.  Once the word gets around we should see all the old faces back again ...I hope - where are ya all boils and goils.

I like it. It's quick, very quick. I saw in the CP there was a skin changer, or something like that. All good

Yeah, some new smilies would be good, I see these too often on MSN

Hi Antman,

Some fantastic suggestions there!

1. In regards to the TV forum, we actually structured our previous forum in that fashion, splitting up TV shows into specific categories and then into threads 'by program name'.

Most of the feedback we received from that style of presentation was negative - users much preferred to have everything in one place so that they could easily and quickly scan the discussions.

I personally prefer your way, where it's all neat and tidy. BUT the concensus at the moment is for the current layout. We'll see how it goes in terms of neatness and future feedback!

2. A debate forum could be a great idea. Do you mean we should setup a time and place for such a debate on eBlah!? Some might say that the current news threads are continuous debates that never end   But your suggestion has merrit. Perhaps when the readership builds up, this could be a big draw card.

3. I can see that the 'Say Hi!' forum is going to be popular We'll keep an eye on it.

4. More smilies on the way!

Hope this helps, and thanks again Antman you're a champ.

I don't mind the grey, and although I haven't really been on the 'old' forums much, I am a regular forum user and agree with others about loading times- the faster the better!

I would like the font slightly bigger, too... perhaps the same size as in AirPrang's sig? (But maybe I'm just getting old, too!)

Oh, and yes, a good range of Smileys are a must in a forum!  

Quoted Text

....Would like to hear some contructive feedback regarding the design of the eBlah! Discussion Network....

Cool!

I like the layout as it is now. Readable and user-friendly. Has that distinct feel to other forums.

This site is almost impossible to negotiate. Maybe I'm just stoopid? Can't figure out how to post a thought.
  How about some help on how to use this site.
From;
Real movie and couch potato.

I thought it would be easier if things that only needed one post or a few posts of dialouge between Devman and us had it's own thread instead of having tons of them over time.


Can I suggest that Guest users don't have access to the private messaging system please.  It made it easy for me to get spam just now.  I haven't seen the rest of the forum to know if it's happened there too, but just to let you know that it's happened in the private message system.  I deleted the message without thinking first that it might be the only place the IP address might be saved, sorry about that.

I'm sure the PM system was just overlooked and wasn't turned off, but also concerning guest posting can I make a suggestion that we disable it altogether and just allow them to read.  The forum wasn't requiring email verification when I signed up so I don't see a worry with people's spam filters and so forth.  I feel that it can be confusing when a guest is participating because I'm taking their word for who they are after a second post when someone else could have come along and decided to play games or another member can abuse the guest posting feature in topics that are emotionally charged.

These are probably huge asks, but I almost forgot.  The first I suggested in another thread.
The buttons that add bb code to text when it is highlighted, they do not work in Firefox.  Can you take a look on site of whoever makes the forum and see if there is a crossbrowser add on for this.  The smileys don't work perfectly in either but well enough.
The second thing is if there is something that can be added similar to what vbulletin where unread posts are marked with an additional graphic indicator.  It makes finding where I left off much easier.