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As you can tell
I quite like the simplicity of it actually.
So on mobile you like the fact that thread titles are truncated, regardless of whether your device has space to display them, and you cannot jump/see the last post on a thread?
I could spin up a better forum than the STW running gear in an afternoon, with all the features everyone's asked for.
Agreed. STW need to pull their finger out.
I could spin up a better forum than the STW running gear in an afternoon, with all the features everyone's asked for
Wonder why it's taken so long, then. Better forum would mean more ad revenue and more subscribers, and bring more to the magazine. Unless, of course, more page clicks get more ad revenue.
Nah, I don't get that, I just don't understand that you'd make a change, not fix it (four months later) and not back it out.
FWIW, I don't get that either.
Wonder why it's taken so long, then.
Because AIUI it's Not That Simple.
So on mobile you like the fact that thread titles are truncated, regardless of whether your device has space to display them, and you cannot jump/see the last post on a thread?
Couldn't give a shit about mobiles.
I always thought a website design meant 'we're going to shoehorn all the adverts we can into this forum because that's the only income we have to keep the mag afloat',so what you moaning about?
Couldn't give a shit about mobiles.
I see.
It's utterly shit in so many ways.
You now can't even zoom after requesting the desk top site on iPad!
Even on the latest Pro the text is so small it's easier to use the bloody phone.
In fact I think it's rendering the same size on a 5" and 10" screen.
I really don't GAS about the fact I'm using AdBlocker anymore.
I'd pay to watch the staff being buggered by Satan before I ever pay a subscription to here again.
The "update" and the response from those who get paid by subscribers just goes to show where their priorities lay.
Someone should delete the part in the Classifieds about "this forum is run for free, if you do well on a sale...."
It's utterly shit in so many ways.
You now can't even zoom after requesting the desk top site on iPad!
Even on the latest Pro the text is so small it's easier to use the bloody phone.
In fact I think it's rendering the same size on a 5" and 10" screen.
I can zoom in fine on the ipad Pro, the text is a little small I can read it but it is small.
Its a bit like IKEA. The end product is good but they make getting it as hard as possible.
Someone should delete the part in the Classifieds about "this forum is run for free, if you do well on a sale...."
Provided free to use as in they don't charge you. It's correct so doesn't need deleted.
Could someone who is responsible for the forum let us know if the issues will be fixed , if so when , or we have to put up with it?
How about a poll on the front page?
A. Stick with current format.
B. Go back to old.
Apparently they can't go back to the old, so no option for that.
How does The Grit.cx site pay for itself? Is that a better experience? If so, should we all move over there?
Having taken a look, I'd like to remove my last suggestion...
How does The Grit.cx site pay for itself? Is that a better experience?
I find the forums work/look a lot better on mobile than STW, but it's far from an active forum. I always assumed STW is very much propping up grit.cx financially...
Zoom on the Pro DOES NOT work in either mobile or desktop site.
In fact it isnt returning the desktop site - its locking it out.
Thats on Chrome and Adblocker.
Only Safari will zoom but it is not the desktop version
The people on here are good people and to be exploited in this way
FFS get a grip. Having to spend 3 seconds doing an extra click in no way constitutes 'exploitation'.
Lets form a union, organise and collectively bargain
I've mentioned it before, but maybe the solution is to open-source the forum code so that the all the moaners in here who can do better could chip in. I don't know how high up the priority list the forum is but would think given their limited resources and having a magazine to run they've probably got bigger and better things to do than helping to facilitiate arguments over brexit or Jeremy Corbyn.
If they said it's to create extra money, I'd say fair enough.
I've had to put prices up in my shop thanks to the flag wavers. It happens.
To take something that worked just fine and ruin it and not sort it out seems conterproductive.
Should I really be looking at buying a new tablet just so that I can read this forum?
I feel like quite a lot of these posts are parodies, but I can't tell which... and I reckon if I read the thread twice I'd come to different conclusions about which are real and which are ridiculously over the top joke posts.
Stop oppressing us, Northwind!
Zoom on the Pro DOES NOT work in either mobile or desktop site.
In fact it isnt returning the desktop site - its locking it out.
Thats on Chrome and Adblocker.
Only Safari will zoom but it is not the desktop version
So Zoom works.
If it helps when I use my mobile it pisses me off too and wish it worked better.
No Drac - zoom does not "work" - I don't use safari as its full of bugs and this site is the worst for them.
Its unusable on safari.
So zoom still does not work.
The fact that it is not displaying the desktop site site regardless of requesting it is the cause for that.
It needs fixing - its a joke.
As explained way, way above in this thread - there's no "desktop site". What your browser displays depends on the resolution, typically width, of the device you are using to view the site.
There's no point asking for it because it doesn't exist.
No Drac - zoom does not "work" - I don't use safari as its full of bugs and this site is the worst for them.
Its unusable on safari.
Zoom works in Safari and I've no other issues. Seems it's bugs in Chrome.
How about a poll on the front page?
If only I could see the polls - not seen on chromebook
If only I could see the polls - not seen on chromebook
Racist.
Well theres something very wrong with the settings in the background then because its displaying appallingly on iPad and as many have said - the zoom is refusing to work in anything other than Safari.
Well theres something very wrong with the settings in the background then because its displaying appallingly on iPad
I'm not being obtuse here but I don't get any display problems?
[quote=Drac ]If only I could see the polls - not seen on chromebook
Racist.
just re checked I can actually see them
just re checked I can actually see them
I take my comment back.
Is anyone else on android having bother with how the site loads? When the page is loading the posts take a long time to load, and if, for example, I've opened chrome and a page is refreshing from a previous browser session it takes an eternity for me to be able to tap any links to get me back to the forum.
Tapping until the whole page has loaded doesn't produce a response. Which is pretty annoying, to the point where if I'm on a vaguely poor internet connection (i.e. not 4g, and to be honest it doesn't really work on our rural home wifi) it's almost unuseable.
I take my comment back.
Rescindist.
On Safari - Chain Reaction banners top, middle, etc full screen.
other ads jumpin at top.
Zoom works as the text is small but at least you can make it bigger.
Chrome - same banners, adverts, etc except the text is almost half the size.
No way of forcing zoom, no way of making text bigger - its unusable without Eddie the Eagles glasses.
Adblocker -(because lets face it waiting for all that crap above to load BEFORE you can log in, view anything, etc is ridiculous) is the same as Chrome just without the stupid banners and annoying flashing ads.
Laggy, no zoom, etc.
To take something that worked just fine and ruin it and not sort it out seems conterproductive.
From what Mark's said previously on this thread it sounds to me like their hand was forced, and they had to quickly meet some external criteria or other. (I don't know this for sure, just the impression I got from reading here.)
On Safari - Chain Reaction banners top, middle, etc full screen.
other ads jumpin at top.
Zoom works as the text is small but at least you can make it bigger.
Ah! I don't get those.
[quote=hammyuk said]
Adblocker
[img] 
[/img]
I logged out to see those banners.
They weren't full screen on mine. 😕
allthepies - I've been open about why, etc.
When this place is usable and stable again I'll consider renewing the "P" - until then I won't for all the many reasons we've all tried to get across in this thread.
Other than removing the ads - the "P" gives no benefit down here - none of the partners, discounts, etc are either close or worthwhile, reading one review a day instead of all, etc doesn't make me want to pay again when its a total ballache to use this place.
No other site or forum has this issue and many are run by individuals not a bloody publishing house and magazine.
Forum software is available off the shelf for free that make this place look like the ****up it is - like something a 12yr old did for homework not a supposedly professional, linked internet presence.
Lets be honest - its not the magazine bringing people here - its this forum and its online presence bringing people to the magazine.
No other site or forum has this issue and many are run by individuals not a bloody publishing house and magazine.
And that's the difference. if I had nothing better to do I could knock up a forum in an afternoon (and indeed, I have in the past). But to make it do all the behind-the-scenes stuff STW does would take [i]months,[/i] and that's before I've even considered the task of migrating all the existing forum content and users to a new platform, or finding the time to do it in between the care and feeding of the existing site's content which is probably a full-time job on its own.
A hobbyist forum is simple, but I bet that very few of your bedroom coders are going to be jacking in their jobs from the proceeds any time soon. As Scotroutes posted on the previous page, read Mark's comments [url= http://grit.cx/forum/topic/new-site-theme#post-22054 ]here[/url].
I don't know where you get the idea that it's run by some mighty conglomerate "publishing house" - someone (you?) said the same thing earlier on. It's a couple of guys trying to scratch out a living out of a cycling magazine, I don't exactly know how many people GoFar employ but I'd be surprised if it's in double figures.
As for what brings people here, you and I both can only speculate.
I understand your frustrations, I really do, and I sympathise. But I think you have an over-simplistic view of the scope of work here.
I think one thing to investigate is why some people are having problems accessing the site on mobile/tablet and others aren't.
I've just checked on my phone (iPhone 5 running an old version of iOS) and the forums are fine. The only thing I have problem with is that the thread listing shows number of posts rather than the last post link. No point in zoom as the thread is displayed full screen.
Cue several petulant "It doesn't work for me" posts without actually saying what is, in their eyes, wrong 😉
allthepies - I've been open about why, etc.
You're not breaking the rules by saying you use one.
I think one thing to investigate is why some people are having problems accessing the site on mobile/tablet and others aren't.
agree there
Some people complaining about it not working on Chromebook. It works perfectly fine on my Chromebook. Including the polls. No random sized text.
Only issue I have is on mobile (Nexus 5, Android whatever the latest marshmallow version is for that phone, with stock Chrome) is that the title gets truncated and there's no link to either the most recent post or the last page if it's multi-page thread. Otherwise it's just fine, readable sized text, unlike the old format that needed zoom to make the ads fall outside of the viewing area, and make font size readable.
But I do, ahem, have plugins that make dodgy tracking go away, which tends to have the side effect of making commercial advertising not show up 😉
PS it was exactly 2 weeks that it remembered my login too, which I think is exactly what is expected? (think that was another thread though).
From what Mark's said previously on this thread it sounds to me like their hand was forced
I don't know the background to exactly why the site was changed or the technical background details, but what I do know is that a responsive design is a no-brainer, but the trouble is that it's not a trivial exercise to test it against all the different device and browser combinations and with limited resources (is it 1 or 2 web devs?) it's going to take a while to iron out all the issues. It's all very well saying 'just turn on the old one', but there will almost certainly be (as Mark has confirmed I think) integrations with other software and other requirements which make that impossible. Quite frankly with the resources STW has I'm surprised they manage to keep this show on the road at all, so they're doing an excellent job IMO.