Check out the new forum nav!

We heard from a lot of people that the top of the forum page was taking up too much space, and that the drop down box of forums was cumbersome to use. So we've got a new way to navigate through the forums that's cleaner, faster, and more compact.. check it out, IMHO it's cool! click on 'more forums' in the forum nav to try it.

There's a lot of other enhancements and fixes... here's the list:

• Complete redesign of forum jump tool:  Previously, the forum jump tool was limited to a simple drop down menu of the forum and sub-forum listings to allow users to move from forum to forum from any thread or forum page.  The new tool includes all of this same functionality, now housed in a slick nested inline menu.  To access the tool, users will click the "More Forums" button at either the top or bottom of the page.
• Consolidation of forum navigation tools:  This release includes design enhancements to the forum navigation tools at the top and bottom of forum and thread pages.  These design changes are a result of a usability study performed in the last weeks.  The condensed tools move the content of the page up to display more content above the fold.
• Additional displays of "Where to Buy" modules for product-related content: "Where to Buy" modules with affiliate links will now display on Wiki pages, thread pages, and review pages where relevant.  In addition to providing utility to the user base when browsing product-related content, it will increase the number of affiliate links displayed to help increase site monetization.
• Ability for PayPal integration:  This enhancement allows for smooth use of PayPal for premium membership functionality within the platform.  When premium services and memberships, or special "supporter-only" deals are established, there is a well-integrated means for users to contribute money and be automatically placed into the appropriate groups and removed when their memberships expire.
• Enhancements to the newsletter email system
• New greeting for logged in users:  The content in the greeting module on the home page for logged in users has been enhanced to display the most recent content on the site.
• New display for email verification checks:  When a user has not verified their email address, they are presented with a message on site.  The design of this module has been enhanced.
• New display for timed messages to spur user participation:  Various timed messages are displayed on a per-user basis to encourage participation.  The design of these modules have been enhanced.
• Last post date added to thread search results: On search pages, the last post date will now display for thread results along with reply count and start date.
• Icons enhanced on product owners pages
• Bug - FCK editor scroll bar cannot be dragged to move (IE8 only):  The FCK editor in IE8 had a partially unusable scroll bar on inline quick replies which could not be dragged up or down.  This bug has been resolved.
• Bug - Cannot move past inline smilies in FCK editor (IE8 only): When inserting smilies into the editor, users could not click past the smilie in IE8.  This bug has been resolved.
• Bug - Issues embedding and editing embedded links in FCK editor (IE8 only):  When embedding or editing embedded links there was a bug causing the tool to get stuck.  This bug has been resolved.
• Bug - "Please wait" barber poll getting stuck when submitting PMs with missing required content:  With this bug, when a user submitted a private message without specifying a recipient or a subject line, the "Please wait" barber poll would get stuck on the page.  This bug has been resolved.
• Bug - Inconsistent behavior with image ordering on product pages: With this bug, there were occasional problems with changing the primary image on a product page.  This bug has been resolved.
• Bug - when editing My List, drop down was not pulling custom labels for Own It, Want It, Had It status:  Previously, the status drop down menu did not reflect any custom labeling.  The menu will now reflect the appropriate labels attached to the parent category.
• Bug - issues publishing to Facebook feed from the full page editor/Advanced Reply have been resolved

 
Edited by benjamink - 9/10/09 at 11:50am

Awesome Benjamin!  Has the bug where line feeds did not set right during posts from an iPhone get squashed too?

Sam

Count me as one forum member who strongly dislikes the new "more forums" feature.  I much preferred the drop-down menu, as it was faster to navigate

Wow.  I hate this.  Really hate this.

Has anyone else also noticed that traffic on HTF seems to be like a ghost town in comparison to before? I mean, we can go almost a day and two or three posts in the freaking TV forum..   which used to be very high traffic.

The loss of the forum jump, which is one of the things most of us really complained was missing is ridiculous.  I don't know how we can go from a clear understanding that it was required, add it, and now ditch it. 

It took me a while to realize the "more forums" was there, in fact, it took this thread.  Which means lots of people will miss it.  The fact that something occupies space isn't always a bad thing, it makes it easy as heck to find.  This is not easy to find, and it's hidden in that damn tiny text.

It's in like 6 point arial.

Can I ask how many people asked for this feature??

And did no one realize this means when you get to the bottom of a thread, you have to scroll all the way back to the top and click the forum name to go back to a refreshed root of the forum, whereas before that nice drop down list just mean you hit "go" and it was right at the bottom of every thread ???????????

Thanks for the feedback, we were also thinking it could be larger.

On the other hand, it's one of those features that once you find it, you'll never need to look again... and it's in a pretty standard place to look for nav, wouldn't you agree?

The more forums link is still available at the bottom of every thread... just below the last post.

B

Yeah, I really don't like the new navigation system at all. The drop-down menu was a lot more convenient; did it really take up that much space that it was too distracting/cumbersome? The new navigation is a lot more awkward and like Matt, I couldn't even find it at first.

The issue we addressed was giving the forums themselves more space and visibility on the page. it's hard to compare without seeing the two next to each other... but it's about 20% further up the page now! that's actually a lot on a laptop. Perhaps we should have made it more visible to begin with, i can see that, but it's one of those things that once you know where it is, you don't need it to be big anymore, and then it just ends up taking up space. it's always a tradeoff.

Is there any way that it can be an option to have the full header (or at least just the drop-down menu) if you want it? I'll be honest, I can tell that the posts are higher up which is cool, and I really don't remember all the things that were removed so I don't miss them...but I do miss the drop-down menu to navigate. It was a lot more convenient and preferable.

Thanks, Sam! In terms of the iphone bug, i'll check and see what's up with that. if it did not appear in the list, though, then it wasn't fixed in this release.

 I'll give it a fair chance but I have to tell you that my first impression is one of serious dislike.  I appreciate you trying address the users comments but this is a huge step back, IMO.

I was really open to the new forum software but I have to admit that I spend less time here than I did before the switch.

I'd be interested to know in what way do you find this menu to be less convenient than the drop down? What sort of computer are you using/screen size etc.?

I also really miss the dropdown nav. Certainly, the popup is better than nothing, but the pulldown menu could be on the right side of the same line and not add any additional header space.

Or, as a compromise, keep the popup menu on the top and restore the pulldown menu at the bottom.

+1

Had no idea this had been implemented - I came to this sub-forum because I thought the dropdown box disappearing was an IE8 bug (normally I read this at work on a different browser).

All the various forums I visit have a dropdown box for navigating between sub-forums, and there's a reason for that - it works, it's simple and people are used to it. Click once, scroll to desired sub-forum, click again. With this new system, it's click once, navigate down to correct top-level forum, navigate across in a straight line to correct sub-forum (and hope your mouse doesn't move up or down slightly as otherwise you're in the wrong top-level forum), then click again.

Can you not simply give users a choice as to the means of forum navigation? Include the code for a dropdown box for those that want, and not for those that don't?

I prefer the new "More Forums" link. Frankly I thought the combo box was cumbersome. It worked, but there are too many items in it meaning there was a lot of scrolling to find what you want. The link text should be larger, though.

I'm on a Compaq, 1024 x 768, using Firefox. The drop-down was simple; I just had to click and quickly scroll. With this menu, I need to first make sure I'm not accidentally clicking the "All New Posts" button but then weave around looking to find the right section. I rarely venture outside the Entertainment and Media forums so it's definitely less convenient.

There are a few basic issues:

1. The link the "More Forums" link is tiny. I know that's the point, but I spend a good twenty seconds or so hunting around for it.
2. It's only on the top. After reading a thread, I often would use the dropdown menu at the bottom to navigate directly to a different forum.
3. It takes functionality away from the scroll button on my mouse. Yes, the dropdown menu was long. But with the scroll wheel, I could get to any forum in about a second. The new forum nav lacks any comparable functionality.
4. More clicks. The dropdown menu required only one click: click on the menu, scroll with the wheel until you find the forum you want, then stop scrolling and the forum will load. The new forum nav operates like the Windows 95 start menu: First you click on "More Forums" (ie. Start button) then you click on the group of forums (ie. Programs) which can be confusing if you haven't memorized what group the forum you want is in, and then finally you click on the link to the forum itself.
   If minimizing use of window real estate is the foremost objective, there's really no way around this though, I suppoose.
5. Intuitive quality. When the new forum design launched, the drop down menu was the single feature I most wanted back. When it was gone, I felt lost. When it came back, it made the forums seem connected again. While the new navigation is certainly better than having nothing at the top, I'm still back to feeling lost.

Even though I only seem to come here to bitch about changes, I do appreciate the time and effort you guys are putting into this. Thanks for working so hard.

I clearly see it at both the top and bottom. And once I'm in the forum nav box, the scroll wheel on my mouse works still works to switch among forums.

Personally I don't have a strong preference for either form of navigation, but I do know that a lot of people were complaining about wasted space.

I don't like it.

I suggested no pop ups for avatars and added that most people here would complain about anything that pops up in the survey.

My 'awsome' should not be construed as an endorsement of the more forums option, it is not, I dislike it as much as the other posters inthe thread and want to see the forum jump return, like they do. BTW the new thing gets cut off by the bottom of a window when scrolled all the way down, making it double annoying. Here goes nothing, trying to post two seperate paragraphs from an iPhone. Wish us luck!

Nope, that's still broken too. Htf remains useless from an iPhone posting perspective. Edit: though remarkably you can now edit your posts from an iPhone, but they still look terrible with no line spacing...

Ditto. I really enjoy this place and I'm certainly not going to leave on account of a less-than-desirable forum navigation system. But my mind is programmed to just look for the drop-down menu; even when I remember it's not there anymore, I still end up scrolling down out of habit. The lack of the drop-down was my only real complaint when HTF upgraded to this software.

Edit: I don't know if it's ironic, funny, or sad that immediately after posting this I scrolled down looking for the drop-down menu. And will probably do the same thing after this edit goes through.

Btw this is how more forums looks on an iPhone: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59504749@N00/3907616865

Unfortunately, changing away from the "mark forums read" button to the text hyperlink, now there's no certain way to know if it took the command, or if it got lost in the ether.  (it used to go from "mark forums read" to "all forums read" or something like that; a feedback response.)  

Also, I can't say that the navigation changes were intuitive; my thought sequence included:

(a) roll-back to older version
(b) change of script-server, with the navigation bar now being blocked by script-block,
(c) and then check in here to figure out what happened. 

I haven't had the chance to use it "for real," but it's not something I'd have ever gone looking for that way..

Leo Kerr

I try not to be a complainer but removing the drop down boxes was a huge mistake in my opinion.  It was very easy to use; this new method is cumbersome.

Frankly, I've tried to get used to the new look of HTF and it's not working for me.  There still is too much wasted space and the posting area is too narrow. 

Someone above posted about the drop off in posting.  I believe it.  HTF used to be a joy to read and participate in. Not it is a chore. My own posting has dropped off considerably because I just don't frequent it as much.

Again, I don't want to be seen as a complainer, but clearly I'm not alone with some of my concerns here.

To say that this new forum nav feature is in some way easier than the former drop-down jump option is laughable. The text is so small you can barely find it, first of all, then you have to make multiple choices to get where you want to go. With the drop down you just click the drop arrow, then click the forum you want. Clean, simple, and easy.

When the forum first converted to this new format, everyone was clamoring for Parker to bring back the drop-down jump menu.  I find it extremely hard to believe anybody was really asking for it to go away again.

I vote on this so-called "improvement".

The "more forums" nav is so small and non-descript that a person doesn't even see it. I actually thought a bug had surfaced when the forum jump disappeared. The nav pop up is a little more cumbersome, because you have to scroll to the right to get to the next level. The pop-up disappears If your mouse wanders just a bit off track. I suppose I can get used to this new method but the forum jump drop down seemed to work just fine and seemed quicker. However, like it or not the only constant is change.

If the "more forums" nav is kept then something needs to be done to make the option more visible. Perhaps a radio button of some type?

Edit: The old forum drop down also allowed you to just click and go back to the list of updated threads in the current forum. This method doesn't allow you to do that. Now, to backtrack you have to open the pop-up, navigate to movies and then click, It is definitely more awkward and time consuming.

Its kind of ironic that when I saw the mock-ups that were being shown to members along with a survey about the proposed changes I was ambivalent.  Now that I have used it for today I actually prefer it.  It seemed like with the drop down box I was always reading the forums at the top and bottom of the list and it was a long way to scroll between them.  My wheel mouse works with this menu too and I find that I can get to where I want to go more quickly.  I do agree that we could do something to make the menu stand out a bit more.  While I realize not everyone likes the change, the vast majority of the members we showed the mock up to did.  For those who don't, I ask that you give it a chance.

I think the new nav will work fine once I get used to it. Two recommendations though:

1. The original button needs to stand out more. ( bigger, different color, or a "button" look.) 
2. The horizontal movement from the "forums" column to the "sub forums" column is too far. On my 1280x800 wide-screen, I have to move the mouse 1.5" - 2" horizontally in a 1/4" tall space. I tend to fall off and end up in another forum sub category.

I like this feature because I don't need to scroll through all the forums that I do not read. Is there anyway that the Nav feature can be added to the Home page?

I don't know if I was in the group that saw this or not.  If I was it certainly did not stand out enough to show what it would be like under real world use, did not hint at the disaster it would be on an iPhone, and did not show how it its completely useless if you are in windowed mode and scrolled down to the bottom of that window and see that it gets cut off when that happens.  I'll give it more time to sink in but I don't see it moving from #totalfail to #win for me, it might go to the category of #begrudginglyaccept but that would be about it.

Edit:  here's a picture of what i mean about the cutoff annoyance too:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kadath/3908870747/

I also do not like that the silly pop up stays up if you change your mind and do not jump to another forum but instead go to edit a post or add a reply...
Sam