DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

FF_, please grow a sense of humor. As an IT executive with nearly 20 years experience I can tell you that this is nowhere near the suck you think it is. We are also 1.5 days into a rollout where we're still gathering opinion and documenting issues so please don't think we're not listening. We have a thread soliciting feedback which you and many others have replied to with your opinion. We have an annoucement up asking for feedback from all the members of this forum. What else do you want? Hint - I'm not going to hold your hand and tell you everything will be OK .

I leave the real estate questions to Ethan who decides on the advertising on the sidebar of the forum. It's his decision if the real estate needs to be taken up by advertising to support CL and keep it running for all of us to enjoy. You are not being asked to pay for this site and anything in the red comes out of his pocket. I ask that we respect his decision.

amf1932

I'm using the 'America Online 9.0 Security Edition' browser, but when I use 'Internet Explorer' the Smilies links work. This really becomes a real PITA, since I have to shift the browser to IE whenever I want to post to CL.
BTW: They worked on either browsers before this new upgrade!

vraa

iTrader: (2)

Okay I'm not sure what happened, but it's looking a lot better now. No more wasted space on the right. I guess it was the banner (for some reason it doesn't show up for me).

However in the main forum listing page, it still shows up as wasted space, but that's okay for me because I don't browse those much. Hell, no one does, they spend all their time in individual threads.

I love the speed btw, nice job!

mikal

I say CL should do a paid membership option. Somthing like 1 time fee of $20?

Paid members = NO side advertisements.
Non Paid Members will get the side advertisements..

UberNoob

heres the screenshot of the forum from my comp running at 1600x1200

im hoping to see that the top can be expandable all the way horizontally to match the forum's width

i would recommend the tiny black/grey background image on the right of the sparco ad to expand and same goes for the part on the left of the CL logo

i see that it does expand a bit for a smaller resolution but most ppl run big resolutions now
1600x1200 isnt uncommon
not to mention widescreen LCDs!

btw, wheres the basic/advanced radio buttons for reply page?

i dont like the window popping up when i want to insert image tags, not very flexible

is it in profile only?

and how about increase text box window for the reply box where im typing this message...

i like the forum updates for the quote and edit though
good job on that

UberNoob

wont work that great, adblock blocks away all the ads

plus many of us actually dont mind the ads
but of course only a poll can tell about the public's interest on this idea
good idea though but i just dont think the ads are invasive enuf that i want to pay to avoid them

unlike howardforums and so on

javyLSU

iTrader: (21)

Amen. Most other forums I've been on have a "text only" or "mobile" version for PDA's & smartphones... I would LOVE this feature!

New look is very nice, but I'll add my vote to the "right side banner kills the whole deal" comments.

Javier

mikal

How about those on work computers with 15" LCD screens. I spend a majority of my time at work browsing CL. It sucks to have to use the left and right scroll just to read the threads when people post pictures that streatches the table width.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

UN, you should be able to do everything you did in the last version as far as post /edits.

Up at the top right next to the *new* spell check you'll see a little up and down to increase the text size and decrease it.

Pop up windows I ususally use so I don't know how to turn them off - but suspect if you just use the quick reply they won't popup. May also be an option you can toggle off by not using the standard editor https://www.clublexus.com/forums/pro...do=editoptions Edit - nope didn't work. I'll keep looking.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Javier,

Which forums have this so I can check them out on my blackberry please.

mikal

Dave, tryout wap.howardforums.com

It's so easy to browse that forum with my Treo

XeroK00L

How about ClubLexus?
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/lexus-forums/

Basically every vBulletin comes built-in with this mode.

mikal

thanks! lol

EDIT: well, only problem with that is you cant reply.
on wap.howardforums.com you can reply with your smartphone/pda.

ff_

Ignoring the advertising, which I understand is a necessary "evil", the layout and content of the entire header is a rolling trainwreck. For example, look at the brushed metal frame around the forum section, which itself wastes 3/4" of vertical space, and for absolutely no reason. What purpose could that frame possibily serve? That's my point.

Remember, users don't come to the site to look at advertising, menu systems, frames, and buttons. They come here to participate in forums, read Lexus news, be a part of a community. Anything that detracts from that experience is just noise.

I actually couldn't care less about the banner on the right. It's not in my way.

A well designed and prepared site (even a not-so-well one) is tested and cleaned up, and ready for production before ever getting to that point. It's put up in a "playground" for people to test out and comment on, and after a reasonable number of iterations, approved for roll to production. I work in IT as well, as a programmer, and releasing something like this to a production environment would cost me my job.

My suggestions would be as follows. I'm not the definitive source for web design, but I can contribute what I think makes more sense. (Sorry if I'm blunt here, that's just my style).
1) Keep the advertising in the header, but incorporate it into the site navigation/menu. Everything should fit into a vertical space of no more than 2".
2) Dump the brushed metal frame. It serves no purpose, and it makes the site look like something straight out of 1993.
3) Make the menu system in the header smaller, so that it takes up less real estate. The buttons are too wide, and too tall. And can do without the "blue LED" images directly below them. Again, serves no purpose, and looks like something directly out of 1993.
4) Keep it simple.

Here's something that I whipped together to illustrate what I'm talking about. Simple, clean, attractive. It keeps all of the ancillary user needs in a nice, small space, leaving the bulk of the screen for what the actually came to the site to view: the forums. Feel free to critique my mock-up as well.

XeroK00L

Good point. vBulletin's archive mode is actually intended for search engines not humans, and therefore very limited in features. Hopefully vBulletin will soon come out with a solution for this.