Feedback on the new site

I'm viewing this on a 19in Monitor at 1280x1024. I would assume this would be an average display and resolution. I also have a 24in 1920x1080 dell and the site is tiny in it like jhoare says, but even on the 19in at 1280x1024 there is about 3inches wasted space either side. Does the site really need to cater for those few with 14in monitors at 800x600??

Iceinspace has similar formatting with the layout of the frames, ie, banner across the top and menu at the side but its obviously been designed with 1280x1024 in mind because it fills my screen.

As the layout stands at the moment its not a major annoyance when posting text as it just means more scrolling in the vertical. However I recently posted some 640x480 images which are not large image sizes by any means and fit within a post on any other forum I have ever frequented in the last 7 or 8 years without introducing horizontal scrollbars. In the current size forum frame they necessitate scrollbars which means having to use the scrollbar to view the full text on all posts in any tread containing 640x480 image sizes and above.

So my question is, do we really need to cater for 14in 800x600 monitor owners?? I would not expect the site to be maximised for 22-24in widescreen owners but I would have thought that 17-20in 1280x1024 was pretty much the average/standard resolution these days and the site should be designed around that res.

If it stays as it is, I think the admins may have to introduce a new size rule for image posting. ie. only thumbnails linking to the full size image opening in another window.

You kind of need to cater for as many people as possible. For example, I am on a 15.4 inch screen laptop 5 days a week, and on this screen, I have less than an inch of space either side of the main table-top-down format.

We're thinking about creating a second overall template for forum use to maximise screen depth like we were used to in the old boards fashion. It will just take a little time from our work schedules to come up with it.

Again, it is only from feedback that we know what quirks exist, so thanks for posting back guys.

Seanie.

Seanie, et al --

Thanks for following up on these issues. It is appreciated.

Cheers,
-- Jeff.

coupple of things guys i dont like on the new site:

1. scrollbars. if a post or image goes outside the bounds of the white/grey center portion of the screen, a horizontal scrollbar is created. this means you cant just scroll with the mouse wheel or down arrow, you have more work to do to read a post. i know its not a lot of work for me to scroll, but its a small thing thats quite irritating in long posts.

2. Admin posts. Please dont take this as me asking ot be in the admin group as i really dont want to, but lately, a lot of the links to posts on the mainpage are by people in the admin group for people in the admin group. generally, il click on the links here to see whats going on. it gets annoying when half the links i click on just bring up a little icon of the admin group but thats it. is there some way that admins can communicate without posting up messages that most users cant even see?

Please take those points as constructive criticism, as thats how they are intended and i do like many elements of the new site.

Let me preface this by saying I both appreciate and understand the time and effort the web team are putting into the new format site but,

If I am to be honest and feedback was asked for,
I find the message board embedded into the site both
visually unattractive and also difficult to use.

Personally, the rest of the site I can deal with but
I really just wish the boards were the same.

The only question I would like you to answer is:
Is it possible to keep your new design for the site and
just link to the boards like we used to?

I have to agree with Frank, it's not criticism, just an observation.
Can I ask what has been the posts made per day and threads started per day since the update? On average, it seems to me that the site has come to a grinding halt since the update.