Gathering CONSTRUCTIVE Comments About MGoBlog 3.0
Mates,
So this might be a good time to start gathering constructive comments about the new site. I get the feeling that transferring an entire blog from one platform to another is difficult, in the same way referring is difficult - We all want to complain but we'd be a lot less whiny if we were the ones tasked to do it and we had some experience doing so. Also remember that undoubtedly there has been a significant drop in user traffic this week and I'm sure Brian isn't digging that one bit since its no guarantee that it'll all come back.
I'm about as computer savvy as my cattle and my comments here will reflect that. You coding and computer whizzes should wade in with suggestions and comments though. This might be better as a diary, or mod deleted, or me sent to Bolivia, but in the spirit of constructive commentary lets see what we can put together for the computer crew:
1. For OP's, an Edit function would be helpful. Also think the old visible up vote/down vote for OPs would be good to come back. Lastly, how about any avatar picture for the posting OP.
2. For regular posts, Edit function and the old style up/down vote where both totals showed, not just a 'net' total.
3. Some form of easily visible notation of 'new' posts in any one thread. Makes for much quicker processing of lots of info, convenient when scrolling, etc.
4. Along the same lines, can we get a 'track' function back?
5. If you are on a user's posting history and you want to see where a specific comment is in a thread, when you click on that comment it takes you the top of the thread, not the comment itself.
6. What are the differences with the yellow lines or brackets in replies to OP's, and the dark ones? There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to them but I'm slow, so maybe there is one and I've missed it.
7. The banner pictures are: Robo-Chase + blind Trekkie + Tron with a hockey helmet. How about swapping those out for one of a million more inspiring possibilities of past or present players, the Big House, celebrations, campus pictures, muppets, or just about anything else?
Blaze away with hot takes. I've tried to be gentle about it b/c it would not be surprising if behind the scenes there is crying and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and I don't want to make it worse.
Hope you are all having a great summer weekend.
XM
We also publish a list of known anomalies, and some idea of how / when they will be addressed.
People will generally be reasonably patient if they at least know that you know and acknowledge issues, and intend to address them.
Otherwise everyone is in the dark about if certain things will ever be addressed, or are even acknowledged as an issue.
For example, as far as I know now, editing comments will never be addressed and I'm an idiot for even asking. I'm in the dark.
Love this idea. Would upvote if I could.
I, too would upvote this if I had not lost that ability with the site upgrade (another thing that is extremely frustrating to me).
If we know that they know that there are issues and that there is a plan to address them, it decreases worry/anxiety and makes it easier to be patient with the process. I think we all know (at least conceptually) that it's a big thing to upgrade the site and it's expected that stuff won't be perfect and there will be issues...but if nothing is acknowledged by the MgoBlog staff, then I think the automatic assumption is that our concerns are just seen as bitching and moaning about "changes" rather than real and valid critical feedback.
If there is one thing on this thread that the Staff considers, I hope that it is this - publish a list of known issues and anomalies and even a rough estimate of how/when they should be addressed.
Lacks soul.
I'd appreciate it if there was an explanation of how many points I'll need to upvote/downvote again. That makes the experience a lot more enjoyable. If this is explained somewhere, I've missed it.
Totally agree. I was wondering the same. Tried to browse through other threads but didn't really see anything specific about it.
I don't even see the upvote/downvote options or arrows or anything
A way to access your profile without posting a comment would be nice. Just make the "Welcome [name]" in the top right clickable.
I wish the voting numbers were more salient. Rather than read through 120 comments I like to quick scan for the 'best takes' as it were. Sites that have the best comments rise to the top would also solve this problem.
Second the point about a ton of (seemingly wasted) white space.
Default viewing order within threads as newest post first, not oldest.
Or at least a way to set it in your profile choices (if I could actually find my profile choices), and then have it persist.
Right now it only holds for the page you are on. As soon as you go to another page or another thread, you are back to the default oldest-first view.
I don’t understand why you want that.
If you're revisiting a thread and just want to see the latest posts, it's better than scrolling all the way down.
There just needs to be more sort options in general. We need a sort by score so people giving actual useful info (i.e. UMBig) aren't buried under 100 posts of people arguing over stupid crap.
My biggest comment would be to front page the board, even if at the expense of diaries. Esp on mobile it takes a lot of clicks to get to it.
But, great work all.
This is important. The diaries have far less turnover than the board, so the board should be in the more convenient spot for accessing. Furthermore, the diaries are generally high quality, so I'll go out of my way to see new ones. I think the site designers think in terms of quality = priority, which is understandable but wrong IMO. They should consider that for board users, the vast majority of time and navigation is spent looking for new posts and comments on the MGoBoard.
I really don't understand why people think it's a long process to get to the board. Tap the menu button at the top-left of the site, press MGoBoard. It's really simple.
Regarding diaries, I rarely read those. The board is where the most current and relevant information is (usually).
- Editing posts would be nice.
- Restricting images to those uploaded to the site seems needlessly complicated; you aren't likely to have too many externally-hosted images disappear on you, and having to re-upload them seems like a big waste of time and cost/space for MGoBlog.
- There is a LOT of wasted space in the comments. Even on high-density screens, you only see 6-8 comments per page. It makes following conversations more difficult.
- In that same vein, putting threads closer together would be great. After you go 2-3 layers down, it's hard to follow the conversation.
- Show total votes, not net.
The site is an improvement in some ways, but I was always someone who liked the older design and was worried a new layout would lead to a lot of web 3.0 decisions that make it a tad nicer on mobile at the expense of weaker overall experience.
It's not really better for mobile devices, and it's way worse for non-mobile.
The apps were much better experience for me, but the mobile experience in browser wasn't great for a lot of people, and maintaining effectively two versions of the site wasn't all that efficient. So I get the move. But this particular design is just...it's not great.
The HD app was very readable, it had no avatar picture, no vote totals, join date, etc, just the name. This design has more info but it ends up making everything stretched out longer, more scrolling. I would think it's possible to fix the mobile experience without the app, really.
1. WAY, way, way too much white space; terribly inefficient use of screen real estate. I know this is make it more usable for mobile devices, but it's too much- really slows down use of the site and...
2. Too many clicks to get places that used to take less or no clicks. Used to be able to see maybe 30 board threads on the main page with zero clicks. Now takes two clicks and scrolling to review the same info.
3. Not enough board threads show on main page. Banner alone now takes up have the vertical space on a 24" monitor.
4. Does not render properly on IE. Insert usual whinging from the peanut gallery about IE here, but still, I'm not alone in using IE. This is not as big a deal as the first three, but I feel obliged to use another browser just for this site and that's not good.
On the up side, it looks like maybe we can upload images now? Haven't tried and the UI looks a bit over-complicated, but certainly less so that the previous version. And the site is FAST now. But has to be because see #2 above.
The fact they dumped the mobile part is the saddest part as I bet most here use the mobile app more then the site. It seems like way to many steps to just find what your looking for.
I miss the the mobile App!
I especially love the totally retro type in the banner. Looks like it was generated in MS Paint.
I posted this in the There Are... thread yesterday, but I figure that it's probably more fitting here:
I just want to add on to this a little bit. I'm only a lurker, but I can't stand the update. That's not to say that it's all bad (in particular the collapsible threads are a nice touch), but there are so many issues that I have.
First of all, how little information/content is actually presented any time that you're anywhere on the site. If I'm reading the forums, I'm lucky to see maybe one and a half posts at a time. That shouldn't be the case as somebody browsing on a desktop! If you're on the main page, you have to scroll down for an eternity to get to the board on the side. I understand that they want to emphasize the diaries and main posts, but if I'm being honest, the board is where I spend 95% of my time on this site. It used to be so easy to get to on the old site, I hardly had to scroll at all.
Then, any time that I look at a post, the date makes the first line of that post get cut off. It looks awful. Why not just add in another line so that they're all uniform?
Next, how much endless bright white space that there is. It genuinely gives me a headache to look at for prolonged periods of time. I very much so miss the offsetting blue on the old site. It made it not torture to look at.
The shrunken avatars are also pretty annoying. I really wish that they'd be enlarged to be in line with how they used to be. They seem like an afterthought at this point, rather than jumping out.
I can understand the disallowing hotlinking images aspect, in terms of security, but it the complete lack of communication when they went ahead and did so (and communication in general) is pretty bad. I've seen a lot of people confused over that.
Accessing the site on my phone is similarly tough to navigate. It's very unresponsive and takes a lot longer to load, even on my home wifi. Trying to jump around on it is just painful, and I'm pretty sure that mobile was the emphasis.
I understand that this was a huge undertaking for everybody, and probably sucks for them to hear people complaining about it after how long they've been working on it. Having said that, I think that it's important to keep the feedback honest. It really reminds me of a generic though worse SBNation website at this point. I don't think that this is a kneejerk "I HATE CHANGE" reaction that people are having, either. I think that they need to make some real tweaks. I acknowledge that it's ungrateful and probably something that they don't want to hear, but that's how I feel.
"the complete lack of communication when they went ahead and did so (and communication in general) is pretty bad. I've seen a lot of people confused over that."
Brian generally likes to be the mysterious-man-behind-the-curtain on this blog that only reveals himself occasionally, at the unannounced time and place of his choosing, and then disappears.
But now is not the time for that. Now is the time to let everyone know what has changed, how to handle it, what is known to be broken, how that will be handled, etc.
Feel free to over-explain. Feel free to dumb it down. Feel free to post it more than once, in more than one place until us rubes get it. No need to be too cool for school in this situation.
Collapsible threads are nice, but even once you've collapsed them, they still take up a ton of space.
I'm unable to upvote/downvote and make posts. That's really my only criticism right now.
The "new post" button request is the big one for me. Going into a thread multiple times, I just want to see the new posts I haven't read yet.
And yeah, I agree with the banner. I'm glad someone else said it. I realize MGoBlog can get a little quirky but this doesn't look cool, it just looks cheesy. We can do better than that.
I'm a 99% phone user, so these are all phone-use comments.
1. There is a huge amount of empty space on the thread comments. One single-line comment fills up the entire screen because of all the blank space. This makes me want to leave.
2. Getting to the site at all is 100x more difficult now with no app. For as much time as I used to spend cruising mgoblog once here, my lizard brain cannot handle browsing through the internet every time I decide to come back, so I unconsciously give up and don't come at all. Really would like an app again.
3. Burying the actual link to mgoboard is a slight annoyance. It's like the general setup gives every aspect of the site identical importance, but clearly the board is the thing that people come back all day for, aside from front page content. The site should have respected this hierarchy of importance to the users.
4. Scrolling up and down the screen to just find the button to post a comment is a bit of a drag.
All of these are seemingly minor and silly, but they do each move my needle incrementally toward "don't bother" instead of even further toward "reason to wake up"
I like that the site is mobile friendly but I do miss the app. I find that I’m having to re-log in more often.
Sometimes it says i've already upvoted a comment when I haven't. There are two instances of this in this thread even though this is my first read through.
Yep, same here . I was very confused at first
re: the banner
I'm pretty sure blind trekkie is Xavier Simpson and Tron is Quinn Hughes. I personally love the banner.
I think the banner is a wink to the long overdue site update. Let's take a look at the future but the pop culture references are from the '80s and '90s. Terminator, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Tron. Look at this great new, fast, futuristic site that could have been built years ago.
I haven’t read stuff that closely since this all launched and so maybe it’s already been said , but is there any kind of timeline to if and when an App will be launched ? I know it’s not many extra steps to go to the mobile user friendly site via the google or internet browser app, but I find myself coming to mgoblog less than I used to once
I agree. At least half my usage comes from the mobile app - I'm waiting for that to launch.
The edit function would help me a lot because i make a ton of mistakes. I also hit save too soon before I have all my thoughts written down.
The interface on a computer is actually OK. The big problem I'm having is with the iPhone version. I have checked the blog less from my phone. I stopped using the work computer to check the blog because I don't want to get fired. Let's just say, I visit the blog A LOT.
Can we have an MGoBlog 3.0 "How to" link somewhere prominent and easy to access that tells us:
- How to do functions in 3.0 that have changed from 2.0 (like posting a Youtube video for example)
- How to do new 3.0 functions that we might be confused by, or not aware of.
I just realized something when following this thread. If I click on "page 2" of the comments then hit refresh, it brings me back to page one. It's not like the old site where the other pages had a different URL after you click on them, so it instead just brings you back to the initial page.
Also, when I was trying to sign in again to report this, I have no idea what's going on. I'm only able to actually sign in on the front page. Further, if I try to use my browser saved login, it doesn't work the first time. I have to manually copy and paste my password, as well as type my username (rather than my email) before the email and password combination actually works. I'm pasting my saved login's password, too, so I know that I'm using the right email and password the first time. I have absolutely no idea why it doesn't work at first, but it doesn't.
Agree M-Dog! I'd also like to know how many point you need to up/downvote or create new threads. I think you also mentioned updating the FAQ. Either of those things would be helpful. Right now I can't vote but I can still create a post or a diary entry. That seems backwards to me.
Yeah, that's a good example. Is that an anomaly to be addressed, or is that just the way it works now?
Nobody really knows.
If you knew, you'd probably chill and sit tight until it is addressed, or just deal with a new policy if that is what it is.
So why not just tell people what is going on?
Communication fixes more problems than coders ever will! But, instead of communicating, the owner and his minions have gone silent. This is really poor form when changing the site like they have. Not all change is bad - there is plenty good about this update! But there is also plenty wrong. Personally, I don't think HUEL did a very good job of earning their money. But I have no idea if that's even true - because no communication about what we should have expected, experienced, or regretted.
Communicate, people!!!
I think the avatar picture location is an issue with me. It seems like it is inside of the leftmost column by itself, then all text begins in the next column to the right. This wastes all of the space below the avatar, which is especially an issue on mobile. This narrows the remaining text box size and bunches up the body of text to have more narrower rows and more white space on the sides.
Not sure if the avatar picture could placed in the first space inside of the same row with the name, then allow the message text to wrap below the picture in the next row. This would create more space at the top of each post but less space below that top row, more efficient, less scrolling, etc.
Don't forget to give credit where it is due and let them know what upgrades you like and appreciate. I think HUEL did a good job with the design and layout, excess whitespace aside.
On mobile particularly, it's very nice to finally have a mobile/touch optimized layout.
Mobile friendly layouts are based off of maximizing efficiency of space and minimizing scrolling when not reading. I would say they failed pretty badly at both of those.
Not the best:
- Typography and white-space across the board needs some serious designer TLC.
- The banner + nav takes up literally half my screen space. I know the banner is cool and all, but I value content more and would much prefer the shrunken version (after scrolling) to stay like that all the time.
- The other half of my screen are highlighted articles (right under the nav bar) that I've already read that do not include the latest post. I literally can't see the latest post until I scroll quite a bit. If Beilein had taken the Pistons job I'd have no freakin' clue.
- Also hidden: diaries and board posts. If you cut the highlighted boxes to 3, shrunk them a bit, you could then bring up the sidebar to be visible -- but then it'd only show the HTTV ad, so what would that even matter right?
- The main content areas and the comments bother the hell out of me. Why are the shadows there different than the sidebar shadows? Why aren't they squared off with a slight color so I know where content begins and ends? Why is it so wide and so close to the sidebar areas?
Not the worst:
- Haven't used it much, but the mobile version is obviously a big step up (though it still has the main issue of hiding most recent posts).
- Site is much better technically speaking. Much faster.
- The main MGoBoard page works better.
- The nav bar (after you scroll down with the logo) is really sweet looking (even if that logo is about 30% too large. And I noticed the nice, subtle CSS animations in certain places.
- The design sense is on the right track at least. Good font choices. Stripes on sidebar are a nice compliment. The site just needs a LOT of tweaking and tightening, IMO.
I don't like the indented replies. Line spacing is too large. Too much scrolling.
Widen the left and right margins of the posts. There's like four inches of wasted blank space on the left hand side (on my monitor). And the right side with the MGoBoard topics listing is like eight inches wide. Widening the text field will significantly reduce scrolling. Yes it makes for longer left to right reading but I guess I like a more compact (up/down) post.
All in all it's an improvement.
The amount of white space on this site is intolerable. I would rather see advertising than white space!
MGoBoard should be above Diaries (which rarely change). Or Diaries could be on the left and MGoBoard on the right.
I miss the retro look of the old site. The new site unfortunately looks like every other site (e.g., Eleven Warriors).
Still--change is difficult, and I appreciate all the effort that has undoubtedly gone into 3.0!