HQ Forums Upgrade - July 2010

[jtownjohn]

The unread button is working. I think the issue was that I didn't realize that I needed to log in on the new system. Don't remember that I needed to do that on the old system, but everything seems to be working now and all is right in the world of the forums.

[Patioboater]

It looks to me -- and I could be wrong here -- as if that "first unread" button now takes you to the first unread post on that specific computer. That feature used to keep track of your readings across computers. I notice it because I tend to access the site from a few different computers -- home, work, and my iPod Touch. (If I had to guess, I would guess that means the new software tracks "first unread" by cookie now, instead of holding that information with your account on the server, but that's really just a guess.)

I've noticed a new oddity the week -- the pull-down menus on the top toolbar ("Quick links", "BaseballHQ Tools", etc.) don't seem to display the options on my work computer, which runs IE 8.0 on WindowsXP. These menus are displaying correctly on my home computer (IE 8.0 on Windows Vista) and on Safari my iPod Touch.

Never mind. I went in and re-checked this today, and I just wasn't signed in on this computer. I must've just not signed back in after the last mini-release to fix a few bugs.

I signed in and it's working just fine. It's also tracking my read/unread without trouble.

Sorry about the false alarms. All is well.

[MikeK@HQ]

Happy to hear everything is back to normal! :-)

[MikeK@HQ]

I've noticed a new oddity the week -- the pull-down menus on the top toolbar ("Quick links", "BaseballHQ Tools", etc.) don't seem to display the options on my work computer, which runs IE 8.0 on WindowsXP. These menus are displaying correctly on my home computer (IE 8.0 on Windows Vista) and on Safari my iPod Touch.

Yikes... can't really say what to expect with any mobile phone browsing -- I'd expect we'd see quirks like drop downs not working and such.

[Patioboater]

Yikes... can't really say what to expect with any mobile phone browsing -- I'd expect we'd see quirks like drop downs not working and such.

Just to be clear, it was my work computer that seemed to have that issue, but the problem there was really that I wasn't signed in. (I suppose there is a wee UI enhancement that could be made ... either greying out the options or kicking out an error message that says something like "You must be signed in to view this feature." when you click on something that won't work if you're not signed in.)

Actually, the HQ site works quite well on Safari on my iPod Touch when I access it that way. And I know a lot of other folks read it via iPhone. (Circle360 was a notorious iPhone reader of the Forums.)

[Red]

It's been 5 weeks since the upgrade. As far as I can see nothing has changed since the upgrade drastically changed the look and feel of the forum. The current look reminds me of USENET from the early 90's. Are there any plans to get the forum back to the look and feel of what we had before the upgrade?

Today's monthly email reminded us that GOLD-4's will be renewing at end of season. I'll probably be back regardless, but if nothing is going to happen to improve the look and feel of the forum, I'll probably cancel my GOLD-4 and go with a regular subscription.

[RAY@HQ]

Red,

I think it's unfair to say that nothing has changed since the upgrade. If you review this thread, I think we've addressed the majority of the issues that people have raised. The 2nd/minor upgrade dealt with a lot of the ongoing issues like the subscribed thread titles not showing, etc. We've adjusted the fonts more than once in search of a good clean look.

The exact look/feel isn't going back to the way it was, as it's not supported in this new version. I think we reached a point where we needed to stop fussing with it and let it take root a little bit. I think most people have adapted reasonably well to it. There's certainly plenty of controls we do have at our disposal about what to change, but I'm not sure I can say exactly "it would be better if we did X". If you have suggestions, please post them... like I said, I think this thread shows that we've been receptive to that sort of feedback.

[Red]

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess the answer is that it's been fixed as much as HQ is going to fix it.

[jbluestone]

I personally love the update, i find it much cleaner, and easier to navigate, and the features are much better.