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
#3 is huge for me
just guessing as to what you have read or haven't is a pain
I think old version was much better. Sorry, just being honest.
The title has CONSTRUCTIVE in all caps. What makes the old site better in your opinion?
Everything.......except the banner.
Can’t upvote you, but know that I would if I could. +1
I don't think we'll truly know which one is better until we have a major event - if the new site can handle the traffic and not crash out, then it is hands down better - regardless of what it looks like.
Stop thinking about old things. The old site stopped crashing the moment they moved it to a new server farm last year.
Agree, as of right now, I prefer the old version.
I agree completely!
The compactness of the old site is mainly what I miss
Agree 100%. There are 3 things I want to get to: 1) new front page content, 2) my account to check any replies to my comments and 3) new posts on the board. With the old format it was easy to get to all three, the first 2 were right there at the top, you just had to scroll down a little past the diaries (which are sometimes of great interest). With the new format 1) you have to work past a bunch of pictures to find new content, 2) I don't even know how to get to my account except by using an old link and 3) you have to open a new tab for the Mgoboard. After a week of familiarization I'm not feeling the love for this experiment.
Came here to write something similar: I think currently there is too much white space. I would like to have more content available on the screen, and I think it can be done without making things cluttered.
I have said it numerous times and will say it again - get rid of the indented replies and use a quote feature instead. It makes it far easier to read.
Syd, i have seen you and a few others mention this. can you do a copy/paste of what that might look like? i can't picture it and maybe it would be a crowd favorite if others got to see it.
Check the 247 forums. They use it and it works very well.
I just tried a couple. says i'd have to be a member. not a member.
Excellent life choice, xm
No please don't do this! I hate that style. Replies to comments are not near the comments they are replying to and long comments repeated in the quote take up too much space when reading on mobile. Horrible.
How is this difficult to read? This is taken from the 247 UM forum. It's far and away better than awful indented replies. Every post in a thread is on the same indent. It's easier to read.
It takes up so much unnecessary space. IMO Reddit has comment sections figured out better than anything I've ever seen. Every step further from that is a step in the wrong direction.
Speaking of unnecessary space, this column of comments takes up like 20% of my screen.
I think comments could be wider and still have ad space on the sides.
Too much space. OK, man...
It's difficult to read for all the reasons I already said. It's 7 lines of space for 1 line of comment. And what are the other replies to energyblue1's post? You have no idea because they could be anywhere. That's a horrible method.
Why do you need to see all of the replies at one time? Once people start replying to all of those posts, it gets even harder to read. The posts are all over the place. You can't tell who is replying to who anyway.
If I read a comment and decide to reply to it, I want to know if someone else has already replied to it. What if they said the same exact thing? Then I'm just spamming the board with redundant nonsense. Or maybe someone else's comment makes more sense to reply to in the subthread rather than the first comment. With the quote style reply, there could be hundreds of replies elsewhere and there's no actual communication.
Why does the reply need to be near the original comment when the quote is in that post? You can see what they are responding to because the text is right there. I don't get why people prefer the Pandora's Box style of reply as opposed to an actual quote function.
Because you can't see what other replies were made to that same comment. You could get 100 nearly identical replies spread out all over the thread.
The vast white space is blinding and takes up a lot of real estate.
Less empty spacing between / within the text, and a slightly muted background would help a lot.
This is an epidemic with modern web design. Need to find ways to be more compact. The old site was slightly bad but this new one is way worse.
This. I can fit 2.5 comments max on my screen.
Also, the front page is cluttered in a way that distracts from the writing.
I posted this below first, but I think it should be here:
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.
They should maximize revenue and sell ad space in the area underneath the avatar picture and to the left of the text.
They could do it on every single comment. Then they could have dating sites for every single county in the world . . .
"Date Kyrgyzstan women!"
I have no problem with them showing ads. I kind of expected it.
Agreed. The right rail message board and diary take up way to much room with all of the white space. I want to scan to see if anything is new and go on with my day. (and be back 30 minutes later)
I love how this website is becoming physically painful to read.
STRONGLY agree. I am a firm believer that white space can be used effectively to aid readability. But as it stands now, the site is almost unreadable -- and I don't think this is a "getting used to the new layout" issue. If I have the site open on my desktop computer, and the comments are unnecessarily hard to read because the text is so tiny, and at the same time even with the browser window maximized I can only fit three comments (at only two sentences each!) on the screen, then there is a serious problem with the presentation.
If the site is hard to read, then people are going to stop reading it.
This can't be a hard fix, right? Adjusting spacing and fonts? (Is "skin" still the right word?) Is that asking too much?
This is my first time earnestly using the site since the changeover - not fully digging it yet, but that could change.
I access it almost entirely from mobile phone these days and the mobile version of the site does not show the board threads immediately. I have to go to the mgoboard tab, select board, and scroll through the list to see what is there - which is a pain and doesn't let me easily move to another thread. It works by choosing "load desktop site?, but I would prefer not having to change my browser settings just to come here.
Thanks for your help on the mobile w/o knowing it - see my question below. By the time I got finished with my post yours was right above mine. And I would like the sig lines back as well.
You don’t need to scroll down to find the board. Tap the menu button at the top-left of the home page and select “MGoBoard.”
There is a post about 5 lines down - “How to get an icon for MGoBoard for your IPhone” - that shows exactly how to do this. Still a little hokey but it works. — (Not meant to be snarky btw)
Android, not I phone
Please bring back a mobile app. So much better experience. Quick and easy to scroll thru new posts.
Also, can we get our signature lines back?
Maybe I am doing something wrong or I missed it, but I don't see the Diaries or Message Board on my i-Phone. Is this an easy fix or still coming?
Diaries are all the way at the bottom, but yeah, wish forum topics are right on the front page like before in chronological order. It was way easier to drop in and see if there was any breaking news.
I read less without the app.
Getting to the board takes too many clicks now
Yup and this is true for anyone who thinks their web link is a good replacement for an app.
I just have one bookmark (favorite, whatever you call it) to the board, click that one link and BOOM, there it is.
Me as well. The board is most of my MGoBlog experience and it is a pain to get to. I would also like to see the person who started the threads name on the main page. If I’m just skimming, I like to know if certain people post info. Overall, an app would solve most of my issues. I do think they will get far less clicks without an app. I have no idea if that matters to Brian and co. I know I will visit way less without seeing the app logo on my front page. I also think it all looks great on desktop, I just never view the site that way.
When we do major software point releases for customers, we publish Release Notes that say what is changed and how to handle the change.
MGoBlog needs "3.0 Release Notes".
Perhaps update the FAQ's to address the major changes and how to handle them now.
For example, I still have not figured out how to post a Google Image without having to download it as a file to my laptop, then upload it to MGoBlog. it's a big pain in the ass.
Is that the way it works now, or am I just lacking the proper instructions to have it link directly to the GIS link address like it used to? I'm in the dark.
That kind of stuff.