Crochetville's new format

[mamarose22]

I realize that the new format is supposed to be better than before, however, I liked the before better.

I have some visual problems (as does many older people) and the very pale blue print is difficult to read.  Also, I don't get email notifications anymore for any of my subscribed threads.  If it wasn't for a PM I received I would never have realized that Crochetville was back up.  Also there no longer is a Bookmarks section.  I'm hoping this site may probably still make some minor adjustments.

[Tampa Doll]

I am slowly getting use to the site, but some of the very small print is hard to read.

 

I am not overly happy with the way the Birthday's are.  It was so much easier the other way, along with the smilies.

 

But overall, I am getting use to it and I am having fun finding the new stuff.

[Skoggy]

The only thing that bugs me is the "Facebook"esque Like thing. I don't particularily like it. I prefer to read that someone likes something or something I've said rather than just get a little notification.

[mattenylou]

I miss having the poster's home location under their name, also I wish our names could be just a bit bolder above each post. I may have to get a tune-up on my eyeballs soon, I'm finding many things to be very 'pale'.

 

One **great* thing I found by accident today was that funny little upside down lightbulb thingy - up on the top right corner of every page next to the 'view new content'--- that's an index to the whole site, makes it easy to get around instead of using the back button over and over or trying to hunt around.. it's all right there, try it!

 

I like having that column on the left side for choosing to look at the new things posted since I was here last, but BEST of ALL.... I can easily see the "Items I Participated in"... to remind myself I'm still a "thread killer" ...lol.!

[Empress Busy Bee]

For those of you that are having a hard time seeing; click the CTRL button on your keyboard and AT THE SAME TIME click the +/= button.  It will increase the size of any page you are on.  You can click it a few times until you are happy.  To make it smaller again; click CTRL button and the -/_ button.  It will zoom your page back out.

 

Hope that helps some.

[Empress Busy Bee]

The only thing that bugs me is the "Facebook"esque Like thing. I don't particularily like it. I prefer to read that someone likes something or something I've said rather than just get a little notification.

I like it.  Not everyone wants to reply so maybe this will let them let you know they liked what you said. 

[RoseRed]

Skoggy - I liked your post cuz I agree

 

It just seems like you can't get away from that anymore now-a-days.

 

I had also mentioned that some of the small and pale print is hard to read.  I'm pretty sure that that can be fixed or changed.  I think they're working on the technical stuff like making sure it all works right first. 

 

It's a big change but like a lot of things with computers (think of how Microsoft forces you to upgrade operating systems by refusing to support them) sometimes you have change with the times or leave yourself open to security risks. 

[Amy]

I realize that the new format is supposed to be better than before, however, I liked the before better.

I have some visual problems (as does many older people) and the very pale blue print is difficult to read.  Also, I don't get email notifications anymore for any of my subscribed threads.  If it wasn't for a PM I received I would never have realized that Crochetville was back up.  Also there no longer is a Bookmarks section.  I'm hoping this site may probably still make some minor adjustments.

 

I'm going to start a Suggestion Box thread where everyone can let us know what might make things work a little better for them. I'm sure we'll get a lot of conflicting suggestions, so I'm just warning you now we won't be able to accommodate everyone, as hard as we'll try!   

 

Some of the fonts are displaying quite small, and Donna's going to check into how easy it might be to make some a bit bigger. She'll also tweak some colors where it's easy to do so.

 

We're working on the subscribed threads email notification issue. We have a support ticket in with the software mfg.

 

We'll be fixing things and tweaking things as we get input from our members.

[Amy]

I am slowly getting use to the site, but some of the very small print is hard to read.

 

I am not overly happy with the way the Birthday's are.  It was so much easier the other way, along with the smilies.

 

But overall, I am getting use to it and I am having fun finding the new stuff.

 

I'm not really happy with the birthday situation either. For one thing, it's displaying everyone's birthday and actual age, and some people may have chosen to keep that private on the old site.

 

I'm trying to find a plug-in of some kind that might allow us to filter the birthdays so they only display people who have been on the forum in the past (X) number of days as well as not display the age. So far, I haven't found anything. And the software doesn't give me a built-in way to change things.

 

If I can't find anything to make the actual age private, I may end up having to disable the birthday feature, just because of privacy concerns. If the birthdays have to go away, what does everyone think about displaying forum anniversaries instead (based on your join date)?

[Amy]

It's a big change but like a lot of things with computers (think of how Microsoft forces you to upgrade operating systems by refusing to support them) sometimes you have change with the times or leave yourself open to security risks. 

 

Yeah, the vBulletin situation is just like what Microsoft does. It was update (and we didn't like their update choices), move to a new system, or stay with the old and get invaded by spammers and hackers in the not-too-distant future.

 

It's actually understandable from the software manufacturer's perspective. They simply can't afford to devote a lot of resources to outdated systems. It happens with older versions of browsers, too.

 

Yes, we're still fixing some technical issues and getting ready to introduce an exciting new feature.

 

Also, before we do too much cosmetic tweaking, we want to get input from the members so we can get a good idea of what would work best for most people. So check out the Suggestion Box folder for a thread I'm about to start asking for everyone's input. And give us your ideas!

[ArtMama]

I have been super busy with my dad and have not had a chance to check things out much around here. But so far I think it looks very pretty. I appreciate all the hard work that you put into this site! Thank you!

[pinkroses]

well ; here is my 2 cents worth ; I don't care for it either

I too  have a hard time  finding things ; and seeing it .

i too think it is to much like face book; but ; I do

like facebook, ha

[Tampa Doll]

Thank you Amy for your answers.  I am sure there are bugs to be worked out.  It is like anything new.  Hey before you know it, we will be crusing around this place like we have been here forever, with a smile on our faces.  

[katyallen815]

I'm not really happy with the birthday situation either. For one thing, it's displaying everyone's birthday and actual age, and some people may have chosen to keep that private on the old site.

 

I'm trying to find a plug-in of some kind that might allow us to filter the birthdays so they only display people who have been on the forum in the past (X) number of days as well as not display the age. So far, I haven't found anything. And the software doesn't give me a built-in way to change things.

 

If I can't find anything to make the actual age private, I may end up having to disable the birthday feature, just because of privacy concerns. If the birthdays have to go away, what does everyone think about displaying forum anniversaries instead (based on your join date)?

I didn't like that part either, as I chose to keep that private as well, but can't find that option either. the anniversary idea, is a good one, Id do that willingly!

[darski]

I freely admit that I am not open to change but the new format doesn't do anything better than (or even = to) the old format.

 

I don't get any notices for threads I have started or responded in but I get those annoying "notification' that are utterly meaningless as I have no access to whatever is 'noticed'.

 

The only things I hate more than avatars are those idiot ghost avatars  (Insert barf smilie here) so I had to insert an avatar to no earthly purpose.

 

I'n just wondering if we can now load PDF's in this wonderful new software as I don't see any way to post patterns in the new format with pics.

 

And now I find that even our beloved smilies have been sabotaged.

 

and my FF spellchecker has been disabled... good thinking that.  The only thing that would have made this change a perfect disaster would be if it were connected to Blogger.

[mattenylou]

Is it possible to have the feature where the first sentence or two shows in a smaller box as we hover over the title of a topic? Sometimes the titles are so vague, it's hard to remember what they were about. Often posts are similar and If they haven't made it to the first (new) page for several days that first line may give a clue who wrote it and what it's about.

 

Amy, Do you know what I'm trying to explain? I'm having a hard time trying to figure our how to describe this and i have no idea what it's called.... maybe I'll try googling "hovering over posts title, popup box" and try to figure out what to call it (or maybe my meds have kicked in and I should just go to bed)

[Amy]

How to Fix Notifications

I may be able to help with the notification problem. This system has so much more flexibility and capability than the vBulletin notification system. Go up to the white arrow by your name in the black bar at the top of any page. Select My Settings. When the page refreshes, select Notification Options from the left-hand nav bar. There's a huge list of things you can select to receive notifications for. You can set it to get notifications through our mobile app, through email, through an inline notice here when you're logged in to the forum, or even no notice at all.

 

Avatars

If you don't want a picture avatar, you could use Microsoft Paint to make a little square with text on top of it that says: I hate avatars or No avatars for me or something else funny.

 

Some people love having the avatars show all over the place. Others don't like it at all. Unfortunately, there's only one group of people we're going to be able to please with this one.

 

Adding Photos and PDFs to a Thread

You can load PDFs to your regular threads, in exactly the same way you would add photos. Instead of adding the photos from within your icon tray in a post, just scroll down to the bottom of your browser page. (You may need to click the More Options button underneath your text entry screen.) There's a paper clip labeled Attach Files. Just select your PDF or any photos you want to upload. They'll all appear, and they'll have a little tag next to them labeled "Insert into Post" or something like that. Just position your cursor where you want whichever file (PDF or photo) to appear in the post, then click the appropriate Insert button.

 

Sshhhh, don't tell anyone, but over the next couple of days we hope to make an announcement for a much, much better way to add patterns that have PDFs. Everybody is going to love this option. It makes it so much easier to add patterns. (But it only works for patterns in PDF format.)

 

Smilies

Unfortunately, we are just as disappointed as everyone else with the smilies. That is one thing that we don't think IPS does very well at all. We simply don't have a good way to organize them like we did back on vBulletin, where they appeared in nicely categorized areas. Donna is doing her best to reorganize them efficiently, where the most often used ones appear first in the little box at the bottom of the text entry box. But we have over 300 smilies, and it's a very clunky mechanism, so it's going to take her some time. We really don't need all 300 smilies, so we're going to do some major pruning. The good news is that if we get rid of a smilie that people are actually using, all you have to do is ask for it back, and we can quickly and easily put it back. The smilies will eventually be organized nicely, although instead of appearing in groups, it looks like all we're going to get is a long tall list of them, one by one.

 

IPS is much, much more than just forums, and they just don't seem to think smilies are a very important factor for the majority of their customers. So we'll do our best to make the smilies work for us.If you click on the smilie in a reply toolbar, you'll see that Donna's already done a good job of getting some of the most popular smilies to appear in the first display row. So it's getting better!

[Amy]

Is it possible to have the feature where the first sentence or two shows in a smaller box as we hover over the title of a topic? Sometimes the titles are so vague, it's hard to remember what they were about. Often posts are similar and If they haven't made it to the first (new) page for several days that first line may give a clue who wrote it and what it's about.

 

I'm glad to have happy news: yes, this feature is available right now. It just works a bit differently. Just hover your cursor over the open area to the right of a thread's title. You'll see a little arrow pop up. Click it.

 

It will give you a preview of the first post and possibly some of the second post in a pop up window. There's a little x to click when you're through looking at the preview.

[mattenylou]

 

I'm glad to have happy news: yes, this feature is available right now. It just works a bit differently. Just hover your cursor over the open area to the right of a thread's title. You'll see a little arrow pop up. Click it.

 

It will give you a preview of the first post and possibly some of the second post in a pop up window. There's a little x to click when you're through looking at the preview.

Wow, is there a limit to the number of times I can press that "like" button for this one? Thanks!

[Charis]

 

I'm glad to have happy news: yes, this feature is available right now. It just works a bit differently. Just hover your cursor over the open area to the right of a thread's title. You'll see a little arrow pop up. Click it.

 

It will give you a preview of the first post and possibly some of the second post in a pop up window. There's a little x to click when you're through looking at the preview.

 

 

I noticed that and thought it was awesome!!

[FrLopLady]

 

I'm glad to have happy news: yes, this feature is available right now. It just works a bit differently. Just hover your cursor over the open area to the right of a thread's title. You'll see a little arrow pop up. Click it.

 

It will give you a preview of the first post and possibly some of the second post in a pop up window. There's a little x to click when you're through looking at the preview.

not quite the same.   It is then just as easy (for me) to open the post and just right click and go back.  I do miss the hover window or whatever it was called

[Miss Crochet]

I'm not 100% keen either. I think the new design is quite fresh and modern and some of the ideas are implemented well, but I do find it a bit harder to work with. Even with the font size increased up twice, I still find myself squinting (and, for the record, I'm only in my 30s, so the ol' eyes have a few years in them yet). I think there's a contrast between the 'busyness' of the small writing on the left (there seems to be a lot more explanatory text under the titles than before, or maybe it just seems that way) and the big chunk of white space on the right.

 

If constructive criticism is wanted, then I would say that an increase in the standard font size would be great: expanding the text column (if necessary sacrificing some of the dead space on the right-hand side ... the calendar is nice, but not really necessary, for example) to allow for the increase; and using a black font, rather than grey, for the information under the titles.

[Amy]

If constructive criticism is wanted, then I would say that an increase in the standard font size would be great: expanding the text column (if necessary sacrificing some of the dead space on the right-hand side ... the calendar is nice, but not really necessary, for example) to allow for the increase; and using a black font, rather than grey, for the information under the titles.

 

Constructive criticism is definitely wanted. We won't be able to take all of it, but we definitely want to hear everyone's suggestions. And we'll implement as much as we can.

 

The forum sidebar is here to stay. We're going to need it for some of the new features we'll eventually be introducing. It will have a definite purpose then.

 

Is it the font size in posts or in other areas of the forum that's a problem? The default font size is showing at a wonderful size for me. And yes, my eyes are getting older, too, and I frequently have to resort to reading glasses on top of my regular glasses to be able to read some sites when my eyes are tired or in low lighting.

 

If everyone can tell me exactly which fonts are a problem for you and why, I'd appreciate it. Like: within a post, I have a hard time seeing the faded print below an avatar; the font size is also too small.  OR The default font size within posts is too difficult to see because it shows very small for me. OR The default font size of the quoted posts is too small.

[darski]

Thank you Amy for your responses.  A member of my Ygroup puts all my patterns into PDF formt (mine are not so successful ) so I will try to add a PDF and see how this old dog* does with some new tricks.

 

*guess we all have something in common with  W ... it seems our dog is gone too

[mattenylou]

Amy's quote from above, """If everyone can tell me exactly which fonts are a problem for you and why, I'd appreciate it. Like: within a post, I have a hard time seeing the faded print below an avatar; the font size is also too small.  OR The default font size within posts is too difficult to see because it shows very small for me. OR The default font size of the quoted posts is too small."""

 

Amy, Sorry. I didn't want to quote all of your above post, so I just clipped a part of it... I find it hard to read THIS PART, right here, in the posts. I especially find it hard when I'm trying to edit a post I'm typing, it's hard to see because the letters are so close together. I noticed when I increased the font size to 18pts it got bolder without me asking it to, this is the default font which seems squished very close together

 

I just noticed today that it said "report" near the Multiquote and Quote buttons.... that font is very pale, not that I'd ever report anything probably, but I think that is a very pale font , but it does show darker when you drag your mouse over that post. The ones under our Avatars are pale, but those don't get lost like the pale lettering that is showing on the Main page, "started by" especially seems pale, but is okay for me but may not be for someone else.

 

I would like to see our names just a bit darker, above the avatar, I think they are getting lost, or indent them so they are directly over the pic... just an idea, for what it's worth.

 

Funny thing, I know my eyesight is bad, I'm always going for tune-ups, a couple of weeks ago Tom and I were in the Kitchen, and he said, "I wonder how much snow we'll get?"...I said " It's not going to snow!", while looking out the window...he answered "It's snowing out right now!!"....I didn't even see it, couldn't see it, even tho it was right there, just on the other side of the glass. Amy, I know you can't cater to those of us with problems with our eyesight, just want you to know I appreciate what you do to make it easier for us with visual problems to get around the "Ville without causing havoc to everyone else. Thanks!