All right, the first time I tried uploading a Photobucket image on this new forum it tossed me OFF the forum. Let's see if this works:
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. This is PROGRESS?
YUCK, BERGIE!!!
AND FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD FIX IT SO THAT WHEN WE POST ON MULTIPLE PAGES WE DON'T GET THROWN BACK TO THE BLOODY FIRST PAGE, ALL THE TIME.
DANG, GUYS, WE MAY BE YOUR GUESTS, BUT AT LEAST TRY AND BE A HOST!!!
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Hum, a test.
I am OK with change when I see a reason or a benefit from it. We will see in do time. Figures I worked at getting better with my spelling, NOW THERE IS SPELL CHECK!
Need to look into fire fox as well.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
Kenfolk I'll have to get used to the new format. Had a little angst trying to get my "identity" back.
I'll have to get used to the new format. Had a little angst trying to get my "identity" back.
I feel like someone just broke into my home and rearranged all my furniture and repainted everything. I'll be bumping into things for weeks...There's a new Welcome smiley-Let's try a picture.I hate change...(Google spell check works fine with it)
Now I need to figure out what the "select tags" and "reply to" buttons are for.And LOOK at all that extra add space! We'll have to ask Graig how much he's shelling out for that 1/32 page add.Need to figure out how to post enlargable pictures too. Seems that there is a built in spell check now!
da_krautSeems the Active Topics and My Topics functions do not exist. A real shame and certainly do hope that they get added
"My topics" (now called "My Discussions") and "Active Topics" (now called "Active") can now be found in the right hand margin on the forum front page (http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/).
Smile, Stein
Hello,
trying out this new look of the forum pages. Spend a while trying to look for all the posts I participated in but no luck. Seems the Active Topics and My Topics functions do not exist. A real shame and certainly do hope that they get added.
Change is supposed to be good and it is in our human nature to resist change. It will take a while to get used to the new look of the site but certainly hope that over the next few months the rest of the kinks will be worked out.
Glad to see it back up and running.
Frank
"If you need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm."
Well, it's sure different. I think I'll like it ok though. Gotta try posting a photo.
Jarrell
I'm sure the reason I don't like it is the fact that I'm not use to it. I do miss the color of the thread changing colors after I've read it. I also don't like how little the actual dialogue area is. There has got to be something that they can do to use more of the screen. I may actually have to use my new 52 inch TV as a computer screen. Here I thought that I would never want to do that!
Wow...go away for a day and look what happens... It's quite buzy looking but it shows up fine in Firefox 3...It's going to take some getting used to...the jury is out on this one....
Bob Berger, C.O.O. N-ovation & Northwestern R.R. My patio layout....SEE IT HERE
There's no place like ~/ ;)
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
rs2mike Also How do I find my past posts I have some good stuff i want to go back and reference it.
Also How do I find my past posts I have some good stuff i want to go back and reference it.
Looks like Kalmbach's computer staff better check if old posts need to be reindexed or some such thing to be searchable - I only get posts from the last couple of days when searching for posts by myself, too. Both when I click on my name to the left of a post I have made and then click on my post count, and when I do a straight search in the new search box to the righ of the columns of posts.
Edit3: Bergie just posted in another thread that it will take about 24 hours for all old posts to be indexed - they should be back by Friday sometime.
A very preliminary evaluation of new format: doesn't feel like an improvement for me as a user. Most things that worked reasonably well in the old format can still be done, but most things seems to be more convoluted for the user - you have to scroll and click way more to do the stuff that was fairly easy to do with the old user interface.
Like checking if there is any new posts in any threads in any trains.com forum I have been taking part in, like quoting another user when replying (in both cases a simple one-click approach on top of the page has been replaced by a process that involves a lot more scrolling and multiple clicks),
Edit: I found a list of "my discussions" - in plain view on the right margin of the main forum front page (http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/). Looks like it will show the last 10-15 or so threads you have taken part in. No idea how it will show things when you get a couple of hundred threads you have taken part in - I expect there will be a "more" link at the bottom.
And I found an explanation of why the quote functionality was changed - you can now highlight just the part of the the text you want to quote before hitting "quote" and only that part gets quoted, not the whole post. Will perhaps make it a little easier for people who struggled with quoting when replying. Or not - since these people probably won't figure out on their own that you can highlight a part of the text before clocking "quote", either :-)
Oh well, times change, and we must change with them. No doubt more shortcuts and functionality will become apparent over time.
But I still suspect I will miss the old format, which had a pretty good user interface for a web forum, as opposed to the new format, which so far gets a C - it gets the job done, but in a rather mediocre way.
Edit2: found a slightly improved feature. You still can chose sort order "newest to oldest" (instead of the default "oldest to newest") in the drop down box at top of a thread.
Forum software now seem to remember your choice for that thread - so if you return to that thread, you see the posts sorted in the order "newest to oldest" - allowing you to quickly see if there is anything new in threads you follow.
Setting only seems to preserved in the context of the current browser session, though. Doesn't seem to be preserved if you close your browser and restart it.
Still - a potensially nice feature if you like to leave a web browser open with the trains.com forums. As I recall it, you had to click "last" or choose "newest to oldest" every time you returned to a thread to see the latest posts in the old forum.
And then another little onion - when I paste text way down in a post, focus is returned to the top of my text again, instead of being left where I pasted text.
Text marker is still at the right place - if I continue typing focus returns to where it belongs. But it is disconcerning to feel that you lost what you just pasted.
Poor user interface design. Not Kalmbach's fault - but the people who designed the forum software ought to get a swift kick in the posterior for such little annoyances. Haven't they tried to use their own software ?
Grin, Stein
It's an interesting and different format, but not very friendly. Advertising money getting short? And what's with the underlining in the thread list? I suppose I'll get used to it, but I can't say it's very nice....
---
Gary M. Collins gmcrailgNOSPAM@gmail.com
===================================
"Common Sense, Ain't!" -- G. M. Collins
http://fhn.site90.net
I just want to know:
Is this new format DCC compatible?
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
I still get white boxes with red x's where all the stuff at the top of the page should be. What gives
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)
One thing I would like to see changed is that after you post to a thread it would be nice if the software took you back to the same page as your post, not to the first page of the thread.
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
I like the new look, and I find it easier on the eyes. The beige expanse is gone, and the built-in Firefox spellchecker works with this software.
I'm not crazy about the thread/ad space ratio though, and I notice there's no additional sub-categories, like a tutorial section. Oh well.
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted
I'm an oldfolk tryin' ta see if I can still post.
Won't be mad if this works.
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
C'mon now Tom, I didn't say you were old.
I posted a test Photobucket and it worked fine for me. (i'm using IE 7)
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
Now, now, I'm an Old Folks, and I'm not having a cow, LOL!
But I just tried to post a photo from my Photobucket account to see if that still worked the same way, and it threw me completely out of the Forum. Is there going to be a new trick to this--AGAIN????
Cool, looks great , I like, nice job.
Of course the old folks are having a cow.
No complaints here. I like it.
THE SOUTHERN SERVES THE SOUTH.
vsmithI dont like the new layout at all, but then I dont own it. Too much wasted space, between the big clump on the right and the name block on the left there sure aint much room left to type in. Its VERY hard on the eyes. I think there will a bit of tweeking in the weeks to come
I dont like the new layout at all, but then I dont own it.
Too much wasted space, between the big clump on the right and the name block on the left there sure aint much room left to type in.
Its VERY hard on the eyes.
I think there will a bit of tweeking in the weeks to come
I agree 100%! Change for the sake of change is seldom an improvement. And what I see here is not even close to an improvement. Hard to read and just full of wasted space. I agree they should fire who ever did this (Hope that is not you Bergie....) Hopefully somebody at Kalmbach will make some changes to redo this abomination. The worst thing is that when you reply, you find yourself way back at the begining of the thread. That is a pain!
Yup, works fine for me. I like some of the features that may help some folks get answers to their questions even if the post falls off the first or second page.
Rick Keil
Have fun with your trains
Overall, the site has a more modern feel, with the big difference being the use of darker Web 2.0 style gradients and drop shadows.
The organization feels better, although all the ad buttons and mini-dialogs on the right do make the page look pretty busy. As long as we don't get dancing girls or animated critters in the ads on the right we should be good!
All-in-all, a nice upgrade Bergie and gang - congrats!
Joe Fugate Modeling the 1980s SP Siskiyou Line in southern Oregon
Whoa! I got lost in the woods and it took me six hours to get here. I still can't find the restroom. You all have a good day. Hear?
Lee
I miss them also.
I'm reserving judgement on the new look until I have used it awhile. But, wow it sure is different.
Enjoy
Paul
One more test. It does seem to be slow.
Testing 1,2,3... The site is kind of bloated on the graphics but I do like everything handy.
Peter