New Website!

[slothpomba]

Hopefully faster will actually happen! It's always been painfully slow.

I miss the unread and updated buttons, its way harder to find new content and make new posts otherwise. This seems to be in the works though.

I dont like the persistent header at all. I get it makes business sense to kind of constantly push the other bits of the site but just like banner ads on website, people will learn to ignore it eventually (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banner_blindness). Since people will ignore even after the first few times, i dont really particularly like the fact it steals the 20% of my entire screen space and cuts things off.

I realise in almost any IT project, any change will bring dislike from the users. Right now i dont like the new colour scheme, its kinda harder to demarcate signatures and the different boards. That said, i'm getting used to it slowly already so thats maybe not so bad.

Finally, next time there is a major disruption advanced notice would be good. For a major website to unexpectedly black out for an entire week is kind of unprofessional and has the potential to damage the user base. Imagine if facebook, reddit or the commonwealth bank went dark for a week with no explanation. I understand it was perhaps mentioned on facebook but not everyone uses that and it apparently made it sound like it was only for a few hours. Of course, it's kind of the low point of the study season (as low as you can get) but still.

The rest of the other new features sounds good!!

[IndefatigableLover]

Adding onto Slothpomba's suggestion:
I reckon in regards to the header could have an "auto-hide" feature (similar to the taskbar on Windows).

Overall, it's a really slick design though the colour scheme is pretty "bright" I have to say xD

[brenden]

Hopefully faster will actually happen! It's always been painfully slow.

I miss the unread and updated buttons, its way harder to find new content and make new posts otherwise. This seems to be in the works though.

I dont like the persistent header at all. I get it makes business sense to kind of constantly push the other bits of the site but just like banner ads on website, people will learn to ignore it eventually (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banner_blindness). Since people will ignore even after the first few times, i dont really particularly like the fact it steals the 20% of my entire screen space and cuts things off.

I realise in almost any IT project, any change will bring dislike from the users. Right now i dont like the new colour scheme, its kinda harder to demarcate signatures and the different boards. That said, i'm getting used to it slowly already so thats maybe not so bad.

Finally, next time there is a major disruption advanced notice would be good. For a major website to unexpectedly black out for an entire week is kind of unprofessional and has the potential to damage the user base. Imagine if facebook, reddit or the commonwealth bank went dark for a week with no explanation. I understand it was perhaps mentioned on facebook but not everyone uses that and it apparently made it sound like it was only for a few hours. Of course, it's kind of the low point of the study season (as low as you can get) but still.

The rest of the other new features sounds good!!

It was actually scheduled maintenance for a few hours that turned into longer when things went to shit
We definitely didn't intend for it to be down for so long, which is why there was no advanced notice.

Sounds like the header is copping a bad wrap. It's actually not for business, but for navigability (so you don't have to scroll the whole way up to start navigating again), but it looks like it's just annoying, so it will probably go (at least judging by the theme of the feedback that's come in so far).

Faster will definitely happen --- once this annoying server bug thing goes away, it will be quite fast. It's actually been faster since the site went down a week ago (server change), but not as noticeable if it wasn't pointed out.

When you say "updated" buttons - do you just mean replies to threads you've posted in?

Adding onto Slothpomba's suggestion:
I reckon in regards to the header could have an "auto-hide" feature (similar to the taskbar on Windows).

Overall, it's a really slick design though the colour scheme is pretty "bright" I have to say xD

Auto-hide sounds pretty cool. I'll definitely raise the idea!

[slothpomba]

I dont know if its intended but the link to IRC/Chat seems to have also disappeared (as just pointed out to us by a new user in chat who found it through a really convoluted way).

[brenden]

This is the second error I've seen (refreshed the first error when posting before I could copy the error code thing). This error was when I tried loading the unread posts page:
Unknown storage engine 'InnoDB'

Also I feel the header is too big for my liking. Would be better if it was thinner. Forgot to mention that I love the new quote box thing

EDIT: Got the first error when I tried posting this. Funnily enough it still posts but a refresh is needed and it takes me back to the reply page with what I've typed still inside.
Fatal error: require_once(): Failed opening required '/home/atarnotes/global/scripts/conf.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/insm/public_html/forum/Sources/Post.php on line 1930

EDIT 2: Would like to mention on the mobile site (and when the window is compressed) where the header compresses into one icon, unread posts don't appear under forums

Thanks heaps!! Working on Error 1, Error 2 is very interesting -- will definitely fix it up!

I dont know if its intended but the link to IRC/Chat seems to have also disappeared (as just pointed out to us by a new user in chat who found it through a really convoluted way).

So it has. Unintentional... It was intended to stay (you'll know I'm an old-time freak user of the chat ), but not sure where the icon went. Was definitely on the test site. Thanks for posting!

[IndefatigableLover]

Auto-hide sounds pretty cool. I'll definitely raise the idea!

Nice!

Also, I'm not too sure if you want this in public eyes but on the homepage under "Latest Discussions", you can see threads being posted in which are closed off (E.g Re: Veteran mods / new natmods) so that may want to be changed in case guests stumble across it and think the site is "faulty" if they can't access certain boards which are off-limits to them

[brenden]

Nice!

Also, I'm not too sure if you want this in public eyes but on the homepage under "Latest Discussions", you can see threads being posted in which are closed off (E.g Re: Veteran mods / new natmods) so that may want to be changed in case guests stumble across it and think the site is "faulty" if they can't access certain boards which are off-limits to them

Hahaha definitely unintentional, definitely in my bug.docx!

[Zealous]

The site looks good - a lot more modern and flat, and almost has a Windows Phone feel to it. Just noticed some things animate also which is pretty cool.

Just a few points:
- I really liked having links bold when they were unread. That was the way I used to find unread posts in specific areas.
- Is there a way to expand and contract certain forum sections (such as Announcements or National Education) on the main page?  There used to be a little "-" button but I think that's gone.
- Nitpicky stuff: I feel like the padding between certain elements is a bit small. Like the whole site has been squished together a lot. The transition (vertical padding) between someone's post to their signature is good, but then from their signature to the next post feels a little cramped. Also, there's slight inconsistency in the fonts - but those are just minor things and I'm being picky.

Edit: Did get an error posting this but I think that's been mentioned. Other than that it's all good!

[Aaron]

This is a design issue more than anything.. seems that the height between some posts is a bit short. If you look to the left of the posts the two posts included in the screenshot are REAALLY close to each other.

image

Probably not of the highest priority but definitely something to look at in due course. Other than that, I quite like it!

EDIT: I got an error as well when I first tried to post this: Fatal error: require_once(): Failed opening required '/home/atarnotes/global/scripts/conf.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/insm/public_html/forum/Sources/Post.php on line 1930

[brenden]

The site looks good - a lot more modern and flat, and almost has a Windows Phone feel to it. Just noticed some things animate also which is pretty cool.

Just a few points:
- I really liked having links bold when they were unread. That was the way I used to find unread posts in specific areas.
- Is there a way to expand and contract certain forum sections (such as Announcements or National Education) on the main page?  There used to be a little "-" button but I think that's gone.
- Nitpicky stuff: I feel like the padding between certain elements is a bit small. Like the whole site has been squished together a lot. The transition (vertical padding) between someone's post to their signature is good, but then from their signature to the next post feels a little cramped. Also, there's slight inconsistency in the fonts - but those are just minor things and I'm being picky.

Edit: Did get an error posting this but I think that's been mentioned. Other than that it's all good!

Thanks heaps for feedback.

On the bold thing - could you elaborate? I can't remember what you're referring to about the old site compared to the new site.

Expanding thing: will fix.

Nitpicky stuff: Just noticed the padding issue after sloth's post. Added to the bug doc!

This is a design issue more than anything.. seems that the height between some posts is a bit short. If you look to the left of the posts the two posts included in the screenshot are REAALLY close to each other.

image

Probably not of the highest priority but definitely something to look at in due course. Other than that, I quite like it!

EDIT: I got an error as well when I first tried to post this: Fatal error: require_once(): Failed opening required '/home/atarnotes/global/scripts/conf.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/insm/public_html/forum/Sources/Post.php on line 1930

Yep, this is what I added. Perfect demonstration image. Thanks heaps everyone. Hopefully you'll see some changes being made daily!

[brenden]

Alright guys, I'm off to bed. Please keep leaving feedback and bug finds! (Someone just pointed out that when you hover over a textfield, the border goes away, and the border comes back when you move your cursor away --- super awesome bug find). Lots of work for AN tomorrow!

[chasej]

this is just me personally, but the site is so white it feels like light is blasting in my face. maybe that's just because I got a shock when I saw the new site though.

[Daniel15]

I'm seeing PHP errors on the home page:

Warning: session_start(): open(/tmp/sess_8227a2a12f63eaf087b5f8de01d1ee7c, O_RDWR) failed: Permission denied (13) in /home/insm/public_html/wordpress/wp-content/themes/atarnotes/functions.php on line 430

Warning: session_start(): Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /home/insm/public_html/wordpress/wp-content/themes/atarnotes/functions.php:430) in /home/insm/public_html/wordpress/wp-content/themes/atarnotes/functions.php on line 430

Also the blue header on forum posts seems to be animated, it starts very tall and animates smaller. 

[Jawnle]

Would you ever consider having an online "chat" feature whether it be 1 on 1 or a group chat? I guess that devalues the forum kind of feel but communication would be faster.

Just a thought

[Daniel15]

Would you ever consider having an online "chat" feature whether it be 1 on 1 or a group chat? I guess that devalues the forum kind of feel but communication would be faster.

Just a thought

A chat feature already exists, we have an IRC channel, #atarnotes (and #vce) on FreeNode . You can use https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.freenode.net/atarnotes if you don't have an IRC program installed. There's also the page at http://www.atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?action=chat that I set up back when I worked on ATAR Notes (many years ago) but KiwiIRC is better.