New Layout

My cent and a half.

Compared to the old, if it worked, why fix it?
Being able to embed videos is a nice touch. Perhaps there are other new features ?
Otherwise the new layout seems unnecessarily complicated and cluttered. The envelope icons are difficult to differentiate. All that info about who is the originator of a thread seems more than I need to know and clutters the index page.
I would just as soon get the old layout, but keep the new features.
How about some explanation as to what is new? It would have been nice to have been alerted that this change was coming. LogIn today was a bit daunting.

I agree.....

VB4 is complete trash and a waste of time....

I leave ANY SITE that puts this trash on thier site...... The icons/smilies are disgusting,its slower.. Basically COLOURLESS GARBAGE!!

NO REASON TO PUT THIS CRAP ON ANY SITE!!!!!!! -- WHEN WHAT WAS HERE WAS MUCH BETTER!!!!!!

Well ill write another one off...... IT AMAZES ME PEOPLE DO NOT VALUE QUALITY ANYMORE,THEY THINK THIS IS BETTER.... Totally sickening.......


Truly sad......

Jim - it shouldn't take you or anyone else more than a few minutes to figure things out.

I'm not sure how any sort of advanced notice would have helped... Guess we could have pointed you to a sister site that was upgraded before VDR was and let you get some practice in.

This upgrade has been planned for a really long time.. New servers/new back end software... the whole enchilada...

We'll be tweaking the colors a little to tone them down...

Very nice looking board :)

The new layout looks great! :)

I would make the text boxes when you login, and also the search box at the top a little bigger.

Looks OK to me.

The search index is being rebuilt so it may be a day or two before that's fully functional. Some of us have also suggested that the navigation and posting etc buttons be modified a bit in shape and/or color to stand out a bit better.. maybe lighter in color and/or shaded or 3D.

One more positive vote here, really prefer this to the old scheme. :)

Sorry but I don't care for it. I don't come here often but anytime I've needed help I always got it here. I still expect the same great advice but I liked being able to see all the latest posts on one page in the old format. Sometimes I would find the answer to my question in those posts before I even asked it. I could always go to any section with the index of different topics on the left side of the page.

Looks great. Thanks!

I like it....
Just have to get used to it.... like anything else.
Thanks,
Dave

I'm with Welshjim in general and specifically the differentiation of the envelopes. My poor eyesight probably doesn't help (and I'm sure there are others) but I got along just fine without them--don't see a real advantage to them. Much preferred the previous site but will learn to live with this. Virtual Dr. is not the only site that makes dubious "improvements".

And, as is noted in another thread, things are now much slower than before.
I wish someone would tell us what the new features are to help us swallow the new disadvantages.
(How I hate those envelope icons. And the Last Post column is too narrow to accomodate all the info. The time stamp is often cut off. No way I can see to widen.)

It isn't the site itself that has changed, but is an upgrade to the VBulletin software that runs the site. We need to keep it up to date, because it helps to keep the site visible in search engines. Like any software upgrade, some folks love the changes, and others hate them. But there isn't much we can do about it, the changes to Vbulletin are what they are. Better to make the change and keep us from dropping of the search engines, IMO.

Hopefully we can get any minor tweaks made, though, so please let us know what else you think is wrong. And things should speed up again once the re-indexing is done.

I hear what you say about the site/VBulletin software. It is what it is and I'm not averse to change. I just ignore the changes I don't like and I'm using it pretty much as I always did. They can mail those envelopes off to Mars. The biggest problem is the loss of speed but you say that may come back. If so I don't have any real problem with it. If not I'll still use the site as it has about the best experts and technical help available.

SuperSparks--
"Hopefully we can get any minor tweaks made, though, so please let us know what else you think is wrong."
As mentioned, those envelope icons are hard to distinguish and the timestamp of the Last Post column is cut off.

I posted elsewhere that the site does seem faster today.

A screen capture of what you are seeing might be helpful on the cut off date/time. It may be another item affected by the browser window size.

jdc2000--the problem can be overcome by decreasing the width of the Favorites panel on the left and by using my HOSTS file to eliminate advertisements on the right of the screen. The attached screenshot still does not decrease the width of the Favorites panel, but does eliminate ads. The problem is that the word "yesterday" is too much for the width allocated to the Last Post column.
And, Good Grief, the procedure for attaching a screenshot is much more complicated with the new "Layout" I really do not need to be first presented with a window with all the screenshots I posted in the past. Just allow me to see "Add Files" and "Browse" for the new Screenshot. And how I do Delete unwanted screenshots from the past?
Attachment 10639

And how do I most easily see today's posts including those I posted? These are now not included in the New Posts window.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Welshjim

The problem is that the word "yesterday" is too much for the width allocated to the Last Post column.

---

Set your browser's text size to default, and then your browser's window width to at least 1010 pixels:

http://www.SpywareDrGuide.com/Virtua...ut_1010_01.gif
(Click image)

You can go back to old style attachment management by clicking settings> general settings and scroll to the bottom of the page to select Enhanced Attachment Uploading> off.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Welshjim

And how I do Delete unwanted screenshots from the past?

---

SETTINGS link->Attachments place a check make in the attachment and then click the delete button.. Pretty much the same way its always been done.

Why are the links :
Private Messages
FAQ
Calendar
Community
Forum Actions
Quick Links

only on the page displaying the posts in an individual thread? It is a nuisance to have to enter a thread before being able to access Quick Links|Today's Posts, for example.

Can't imagine what's going on there--all those items are on my main page also.

dneilson--Thanks for the response. They are not on the page I use to access VDr. It is the New Posts page.
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/search.php?do=getnew
The bar there has
New Posts
New Group Messages
New Events
Mark Forums Read

I do not know what you mean by "main page". But indeed http://discussions.virtualdr.com/ has the links missing in the New Posts page.

The "What's New" link was fixed this morning to show ALL posts made within the past 24hours.

Jim - you'll have to go somewhere else besides the New Posts/What's New function to see the links you mentioned.... Then you can go back to the What's New..

Steve R Jones--Thanks.
So "What's New" will now function as Quick Links|Today's Posts?

If not, perhaps I do not understand your last post. What I want is to be able to go back to VDr later in a day after I visited but closed out in the AM, and still be able to see all the posts in the last 24 hours. Now, when I enter http://discussions.virtualdr.com/search.php?do=getnew , the posts I have made that day do not show. That was true in the earlier version, but I could access Quick Links|Today's Posts on that page and see my posts as well as all others.

A corollary question is why the links at the top of http://discussions.virtualdr.com/search.php?do=getnew are different from those at the top of http://discussions.virtualdr.com/ or the top within any thread.

Steve R Jones--"So "What's New" will now function as Quick Links|Today's Posts?" Yes. Great!
So you do not have to answer that question or comment on my second paragraph above.
Sorry to have bothered you, but I had to wait a few hours after my last visit to test that out.

But I still would like comment on the third paragraph
"A corollary question is why the links at the top of http://discussions.virtualdr.com/search.php?do=getnew are different from those at the top of http://discussions.virtualdr.com/ or the top within any thread? "
The links
New Posts
New Group Messages
New Events
Mark Forums Read
seem a strange bunch.

We are now seeing the full url for each section.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Welshjim

What I want is to be able to go back to VDr later in a day after I visited but closed out in the AM, and still be able to see all the posts in the last 24 hours. Now, when I enter http://discussions.virtualdr.com/search.php?do=getnew , the posts I have made that day do not show.

---

Try:

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/search.php?do=getdaily

instead.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Welshjim

Steve R Jones--"So "What's New" will now function as Quick Links|
But I still would like comment on the third paragraph
"A corollary question is why the links at the top of http://discussions.virtualdr.com/search.php?do=getnew are different from those at the top of http://discussions.virtualdr.com/ or the top within any thread? "
The links
New Posts
New Group Messages
New Events
Mark Forums Read
seem a strange bunch.

---

The answer to "Why" is because you're in a different area of the site and the other links you would like to see aren't available.

You're in the What's New section and are given the options to see either NEW posts - or New Groups or New Events.

Steve R Jones--Thanks for bearing with me and providing answers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Welshjim

Why are the links :
Private Messages
FAQ
Calendar
Community
Forum Actions
Quick Links

only on the page displaying the posts in an individual thread? It is a nuisance to have to enter a thread before being able to access Quick Links|Today's Posts, for example.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Welshjim

"A corollary question is why the links at the top of http://discussions.virtualdr.com/search.php?do=getnew are different from those at the top of http://discussions.virtualdr.com/ or the top within any thread? "

---

Jim, for whatever's it's worth, my most used forum bookmarks are organized in a "Forums" folder on Firefox's Bookmarks Toolbar like so:

http://www.SpywareDrGuide.com/Virtua...okmarks_01.gif
(Click image for larger View)


This second shot simply shows some of the hidden URLs:

http://www.SpywareDrGuide.com/Virtua...okmarks_02.gif
(Click image for larger View)

As you can see, this makes it easy to get the forum page I want to see next no matter what page I'm currently viewing. I'm not forced to wade around in Forum pages trying to find the link I need next.

Another cool option you can see in the first image is that Firefox has the "Open All in Tabs". Click that and all your favorite pages for that particular forum are opened and ready to go.

By the way, all of the URLs that I had before the vBulletin upgrade(s) still work.

Works for me ... :)

I've been using something similar to that for years. I have many folders set up under Bookmarks, Daily-Ecycle-Financial-Shopping and others. The Daily folder has all the sites I go to every day including the Virtual Dr. pages I use. The Shopping folder has all the stores I buy things from locally and on line. The Financial folder has a couple of Banks, the Stock Market, my Mutual Fund and IRA etc. This makes it extremely fast to get anywhere I want without a mile and a half long Bookmark list. All my URL's before the upgrade still work also.

Yep, do the same here in IE for most of my Shopping, Financial sites.

Just because I'm curious (nosey), would you tell me why you use IE rather than Firefox?

Hmmm... Laziness?. :)

1) I keep Firefox locked down pretty tight, (noscript, adblock, ghostery, flashblock, etc.).

2) I know the vast majority of sites are designed to work with Internet Explorer.

Fair enough. Firefox is said to be more secure and seems to be a bit faster which is why I use it. I can't remember the last time I found a site that required IE only. That could be due to the different type of sites we each go to. Personal preference is a big part of it also. Thanx for the reply.

No problem. :)

I'm quite sure many of the Shopping, Financial, etc. sites I use would work in Firefox but, I'd have to do some altering to allow it to show the pages as intended. I find it much easier to simply load IE. Like I said, "Laziness?". :D