I can't help it. I HATE this format

[Leslie]

And Drew, I know you did so much work, and I am trying to adjust, and THANK YOU, but daggnabbit, it HATE HATE HATE  :verdict: this new Wiener Writings Format.  Can I make some cranky suggestions?

There are a lot of "junk" icons crowding up this screen.  This screen looks like a cross-dresser at Mardis Gras.

I particularly hate the "viewed" column. I liked the old format 'cause there was no junk. (well, the banners, but no one paid them any attention.) It's pretty sad to post something that you think is important, read that 14 have viewed it--but no one bothered to write anything. :-(

Then there is the issue of the posts getting bumped to the top whenever someone replies to it.  Hate that.  Used to be, I could FIND an old post--right where I "left" it.

Also hate that all the posts are in one thread, if you want to comment to someone who posted, your comment goes to the bottom.  Part of the fun at the OLD WW was the cross-talk,  but which you could ignore if ya wanted to.

And the font.  Could it BE smaller????   :crazyeyes: The beige background doesn't make it any easier to read, lemme tell ya that.  I actually measured the screen, and the message section was less than a third of the total area.  TOO (expletive) SMALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plain and Simple the old format was, could we maybe make that work for us?????????? 

I miss my old "friend".

[Krista]

Leslie, I appreciate the fact that you actually TRIED this board and gave it a few weeks before commenting.  Drew has indeed worked very hard and I think we all recognize that (I hope we all do).  You raise some valid points. 

One thing to note though is that some things you consider cons of this board format, others may consider to be pros.

-I like the viewed column.  If no one has replied to my post, I at least like to see if people have read it or not.  (In one instance, I actually changed the title of a post I made that was not getting read, and was able to see a lot more hits to it after the change.)

-I like that posts get bumped up when replied to.  That way we know when someone posts to a thread that may have occured initially 3 weeks ago.  On the old board format, if someone added to a thread that was  2-3 weeks old, chances are that most people never saw it.  We can continue to have discussions on the topic without rehashing what was already said more easily this way, in my opinion.  I do know there are others who feel the way you do about this point though.

-I like that posts are all in one thread because it is easy to read without clicking on 20 different pages to read a whole thread - but you are right it does make it more difficult to carry on "rabbit trail" discussions that we are as a community are prone to partaking in.  I too would prefer it if we could find a way for a thread to be opened, but for responses to be stair-stepped on levels and inserted under the post they are replying to.  I don't know if this is possible or not though.

I agree - the font is a bit small for my preferred viewing  and would prefer it if the default font was size 11 or 12 as opposed to size 10.  Again, I don't know if this is possible to change or not - or if others agree with that point.

While I can see how people would miss certain things about the old format, one thing I know I like about the change, is how many posters who have been absent awhile, have posted a few times to say hello.

[Leslie]

How'd ya get the FONT SO BIG??????????????  THAT WAS EXCELLENT

[Krista]

Code Select Expand

[size=11pt]type your message here[/size]

using the code above around my message changed the font size to 11. 


This is 18.

This is 11.

This is 14.


You get the idea (in 12).

[Shumard4]

It would be nice if it was bigger and you didn't have to change it every time.

[Leslie]

  Both ends?!?!?

Why does the code still show up?

[Krista]

It needs to be in this order:

Code Select Expand

[size=12pt]type your message here[/size]

You can also type your message, then highlight it and click on the button above the message box that has a capital "A" with an up and down arrow beside it.  That will place the code around the text for you.  Like this

Code Select Expand

[size=10pt]blah blah blah[/size]

Then all you have to do is change the 10 to be whatever number you'd prefer

[Ruth in MT]

Can you tell that eLlIe and I are   members of the new site ???????

[Leslie]

Like this?????????

YAY!

[drew]

And Drew, I know you did so much work, and I am trying to adjust, and THANK YOU, but daggnabbit, it HATE HATE HATE  :verdict: this new Wiener Writings Format.  Can I make some cranky suggestions?

There are a lot of "junk" icons crowding up this screen.  This screen looks like a cross-dresser at Mardis Gras.

I particularly hate the "viewed" column. I liked the old format 'cause there was no junk. (well, the banners, but no one paid them any attention.) It's pretty sad to post something that you think is important, read that 14 have viewed it--but no one bothered to write anything. :-(

Is the "Views" column the only "junk" you see? This is all a matter of personal taste, and I'm sorry to say it is physically impossible for me to make absolutely everything about the site layout a personal preference in the profile that can be changed. Eventually the back end code would get so bloated parsing individual options for people that the site would be slow and nearly unusable. If I start adding custom profile settings for one person where do I draw the line for the next person that asks? 

Then there is the issue of the posts getting bumped to the top whenever someone replies to it.  Hate that.  Used to be, I could FIND an old post--right where I "left" it.

This feature is intentional on the part of the forum developers, it helps generate more discussion in threads that have been posted to. Imagine if you "Left" a post for 3 weeks as Krista described, and came back to it to add followup details. If the thread was not bumped to the top your new details wouldn't be known to the group because your update would be buried on page 15 of the topic area. Once we have significantly more threads you would end up in a situation where every person who read the topic area would have to go through EVERY single page to see if there were new threads on any of the 20, 30, 40+ etc. pages of topics. You see my point, that static thread ordering is not a good long term sorting method. It leads to threads that stay stale despite someone adding new info to them.  :thumb:

Also hate that all the posts are in one thread, if you want to comment to someone who posted, your comment goes to the bottom.  Part of the fun at the OLD WW was the cross-talk,  but which you could ignore if ya wanted to.

You have two options to make it clear who you are replying to. You can quote their message, as I've done with yours, or you can click the "Post Reply" button at the top of there post as opposed to the "Reply" button at the top and bottom of the page.  :thumb: Again all replies on one page is a time saving feature, consider having to open 30+ pages of replies just to read the flow of conversation on some threads as opposed to opening a single page and being able to see the entire conversation, along with the ability to see who replied to whom provided by the features I described above.

And the font.  Could it BE smaller????   :crazyeyes: The beige background doesn't make it any easier to read, lemme tell ya that.  I actually measured the screen, and the message section was less than a third of the total area.  TOO (expletive) SMALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have altered the style of the site to use slightly larger fonts by default. The risk you run when increasing the font too much is you start to have pages who's layout is difficult to maintain. Things as a whole start getting too big and start pushing things around the page and can eventually make it hard to navigate or make sense of. If the new style is still not enough for you you might consider increasing the default font size of your browser, or switching to the Firefox browser that has an extension that will allow you to tweak the site style to your liking without affecting others on the site. If you want more info on this please send me a PM. :thumb:

Plain and Simple the old format was, could we maybe make that work for us??????????

I'm not sure what you meant here, maybe a typo or a forgotten word, could you elaborate? 

I miss my old "friend".

I'm sorry you are so disappointed, I will try to accommodate as many features/gripes as I possibly can. This site is run as a gift/favor to the WW community not my fulltime job. I work on features/etc. as I have time.

P.S. I apologize if I came off strong or offensive in this post, that was not my intent, I simply wanted to offer perspective from the point of view of the forum software developers and a person who is working to enhance the default feature set provided by them. Many things can be tweaked/enhanced/fixed, but some we'll just have to learn to work around for the time being unless we can convince them to restructure their code. And now I shall get off my 

[Rich]

Well as my grandad used to say "you can't please everybody."  I recall people complaining about features of the other board.  Drew, you've done a great job.  Fix what you can and don't worry about the rest.  As you say, it is impossible to customize the board for each member. (but there are a lot of customization features in your browser - font size for example). IMHO the content is more important than the container anyway.

[Barb]

WE are all individuals and each have our individual likes and dislikes.  I like the simplicity of the old board, but am pleased at the turnout to the new board and the dormant posters that are now posting !!!

I love all the little "adds" to this board - the smileys, the map, the calender and the easy chat........

I am not a fan of the fact that a replied message pops to the top of the list......I am missing some posts because I am not scrolling down far enough.  I have been very busy at work, so I can't spend as much time as I would like....catching up is a b**ch  !!!!!

I think the majority of us still pop into the old board just to see if anyone has been there.  That board is not going away although it may be consolidated into one board at some time or another.  Feel free to go there and post !

Our new board is a work in progress - Drew has done a lot to customize it to what we want......within his limitations.  And I am sure he will continue to make the changes that are possible.

The main thing is that we keep in touch with each other and share in the joy of being owned by those little doglets that have captured our  's !!!!

[Dottiesdoxies]

Hey Drew, I am with Rich.........there are many different personalities and likes and dislikes of people on this board.....you will never please everyone!  For me I love the format!  Keep up the good work and thank you for all the trouble you go through to please us!   :scratch: I sometimes can't figure people out!  Don't    over it!  I didn't really like the old format, but it was there and the people were worth talking to so I used it!  Thank you again!

[Leslie]

Well, Drew you certainly did a lot of work on this.  :hello2:  I too apologize if I came off as offensive. I'm sorry .

Maybe having the new font defaulted at 12 pt will enable me to live with the other features.  I never meant to attack you personally, I just have a very strong feelings here.  I am a straight-shooten b****h and I like things SIMPLE and user-friendly.  But whatever the group as a whole wants, I will accept as I have too many dear friends on this board to leave.:

I hope as I get to know you better I can include you in that long list of wiener friends!

[drew]

No worries, I didn't take your comments personally.  :thumb: The rating system has been removed so that cleared some clutter from the display. I'll also be adding a column for "Start Date" and allow people to sort by that column so that should alleviate that concern as well I hope. These won't be completed for a couple days, but they are on my list.