I see we have a new skin …

[mrfoo]

… and probably back end, which I'm sure has taken an age to get online, time taken over the holiday period by our tireless host. Thanks, man.

Now that's over, can I be the first one to complain?

Now, I'm sure the new skin is all mobile-compliant, and all that, and I'm probably the only person in the entire world who doesn't do all their browsing via mobile phone, but could we possibly have a usable-on-relatively-low-powered-computer skin available? I'm fairly sure phpBB still has a usable stock skin. Pretty please?

Issues I have with this skin :

1 - javascript / canvas powered eye candy header background. Very pretty, but adds nothing to the experience and sucks up cycles like you wouldn't believe. It's grinding my machine into the floor to the point where I have to slow down my typing or get misse keystrokes. I can adblock it out, but ...

2 - Wasting 1/3 of vertical space on telling me who I am. That "profile" block needs to go, stat. I know who I am, and there's a page header drop down giving me pretty much instant access to everything in the profile block.

3 - The thread displays (main page, section overview, etc) don't show the last posting date on threads. That's a usablity loss right there, especially given that ...

4 - Hilighting the stuff that has new posts is not terribly wonderful, the green tick really doesn't show up against the background, at least for my ageing eyes.

5 - The default font size is hyooooge. I'm running on a 1366x768 laptop screen.

Thanks again, PCGUY, and happy new year. I'm off to play with my lathe.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

we do!

Some valid comments, particularly regarded the "wasted" space, but to me that seems to be an improvement over the past.

I wonder what happens when we embed large images...



edit: nicely resized! sweet.

[PCGUY]

… and probably back end, which I'm sure has taken an age to get online, time taken over the holiday period by our tireless host. Thanks, man.

Now that's over, can I be the first one to complain?

Now, I'm sure the new skin is all mobile-compliant, and all that, and I'm probably the only person in the entire world who doesn't do all their browsing via mobile phone, but could we possibly have a usable-on-relatively-low-powered-computer skin available? I'm fairly sure phpBB still has a usable stock skin. Pretty please?

Issues I have with this skin :

1 - javascript / canvas powered eye candy header background. Very pretty, but adds nothing to the experience and sucks up cycles like you wouldn't believe. It's grinding my machine into the floor to the point where I have to slow down my typing or get misse keystrokes. I can adblock it out, but ...

2 - Wasting 1/3 of vertical space on telling me who I am. That "profile" block needs to go, stat. I know who I am, and there's a page header drop down giving me pretty much instant access to everything in the profile block.

3 - The thread displays (main page, section overview, etc) don't show the last posting date on threads. That's a usablity loss right there, especially given that ...

4 - Hilighting the stuff that has new posts is not terribly wonderful, the green tick really doesn't show up against the background, at least for my ageing eyes.

5 - The default font size is hyooooge. I'm running on a 1366x768 laptop screen.

Thanks again, PCGUY, and happy new year. I'm off to play with my lathe.

One big advantage with this upgrade is that we now have the (easier) ability to provide alternate skins. Some people like dark themes, some people like light. No matter what the default will not satisfy everyone. It is indeed more mobile friendly and is designed for modern computers/phones. If viewing SpudFiles on a potato, your results may vary the header may not do well on older systems. The last SpudFiles design was intened for older systems and smaller screens, which is probably more suited for you.

Don't fear, more work is to come. SF is far more "modular" now, which means we won't be kept stuck locked on old forum software & layouts for years on end. It was incredibly painful in the past to change things, as SF has historically had lots of customization. This new modular approach will keep us future oriented. The space on the right has future plans, but much of the space is for an ad placement - and if you block ads it will appear to be a lot of wasted space. Have to pay the bills somehow!

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

How do we stop being automatically subscribed to threads we reply to? I don't want to get an e-mail for every reply...

[PCGUY]

How do we stop being automatically subscribed to threads we reply to? I don't want to get an e-mail for every reply...

Uncheck "Notify me when a reply is posted" when making your post. This is NOT available in the quick reply menu, you must click "reply".

You can also control the default for this in your User Control Panel (upper/right side, click your username and click User Control Panel).

[mrfoo]

How do we stop being automatically subscribed to threads we reply to? I don't want to get an e-mail for every reply...

Board preferences > Posting defaults > notify on reply by default

It was incredibly painful in the past to change things, as SF has historically had lots of customization. This new modular approach will keep us future oriented.

Oh, man, I can sympathise with that.

if you block ads it will appear to be a lot of wasted space. Have to pay the bills somehow!

Woops. Busted!

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Thanks gents!

just testing the censor feature: the new layout is fucking awesome!

[jrrdw]

Now, I'm sure the new skin is all mobile-compliant, and all that, and I'm probably the only person in the entire world who doesn't do all their browsing via mobile phone, but could we possibly have a usable-on-relatively-low-powered-computer skin available? I'm fairly sure phpBB still has a usable stock skin. Pretty please?

Are you running a upgraded version of windows 10 from 8.1? Are you also the one who had troubles registering a .OXC file trying to install GGDT?

[SpudBlaster15]

1 - javascript / canvas powered eye candy header background. Very pretty, but adds nothing to the experience and sucks up cycles like you wouldn't believe. It's grinding my machine into the floor to the point where I have to slow down my typing or get misse keystrokes. I can adblock it out, but ...

Your other criticisms read like nitpicking a very early rendition of a UI overhaul, but this one sticks. The machine I'm currently using has 8 threads on a relatively modern CPU/iGPU, and even with all hardware compositing features enabled in my browser, just sitting at the board index causes it to load above 10% and the fan to spin up noticeably. On my old sandy bridge laptop that still does fine with most boards and media pages, it causes the browser to lag.

Turning off javascript or blocking the element solves the issue, and it's nice to see that unlike most 'modern' websites this one is mostly usable with JS disabled, but I'm not a fan of it adopting one of the worst design trends in recent memory: giant hero images/headers that serve no purpose other than to drain resources, generate heat and deplete laptop batteries more quickly.

Also disappointing to see that we are still part of the Google analytics/advertising network. Fortunately, good browsers (Firefox, Tor) with features like cross-origin identifier unlinkability make it easy to defeat tracking by third party networks, and when I turn off script/ad blocking the adverts appear non-intrusive, so at least there's that. It's a shame that internet users have collectively decided that we would rather support the existence of large-scale, intrusive advertising/surveillance networks that commodify our personal info than throw our favourite services a few bucks a month in exchange for a private experience, but that's how the ecosystem has developed. The admin of this site has no control over it, and he does have to pay the hosting bill, so adverts it is.

Overall it looks good, nice to see that everything now loads properly over TLS, and the new skin is far more aesthetically pleasing than the ~2013 iteration, which made the site look like a shitty nerf gun forum from 2003. This may sound harsh, but with that abomination in the scrapheap where it belongs, I think we can now be honest about it.

[mrfoo]

Are you running a upgraded version of windows 10 from 8.1? Are you also the one who had troubles registering a .OXC file trying to install GGDT?

Nah, ain't no Windows here. Hackintoshed X220 Thinkpad. Core i5 at 2.5GHz with 16 GB of RAM, enough to do hardcore development and simulation work, brought to its knees by a bit of eye candy. Go figure.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Overall it looks good, nice to see that everything now loads properly over TLS, and the new skin is far more aesthetically pleasing than the ~2013 iteration, which made the site look like a shitty nerf gun forum from 2003. This may sound harsh, but with that abomination in the scrapheap where it belongs, I think we can now be honest about it.

Given that Kyle keeps everything running at his expense, I don't think we could be choosing beggars and anything was better than nothing with regards to keeping the community alive.

[SpudBlaster15]

Overall it looks good, nice to see that everything now loads properly over TLS, and the new skin is far more aesthetically pleasing than the ~2013 iteration, which made the site look like a shitty nerf gun forum from 2003. This may sound harsh, but with that abomination in the scrapheap where it belongs, I think we can now be honest about it.

Given that Kyle keeps everything running at his expense, I don't think we could be choosing beggars and anything was better than nothing with regards to keeping the community alive.

I don't disagree, and I appreciate that he has managed to keep the site alive through many years of dwindling activity. That said, the unfortunate appearance of the previous version and delays in adapting to the web landscape of the 2010's probably cost Spudfiles a good deal of potential growth and user retention. I don't hold it against Kyle, as this site was always just a hobby for him and he could have pulled the plug at any moment and left all active members to scatter into the dark. He didn't, and because of that I can log in after all these years and chat with old internet handles I first met almost half a lifetime ago. That's pretty cool and I'm grateful for his role in it.

[jrrdw]

Are you running a upgraded version of windows 10 from 8.1? Are you also the one who had troubles registering a .OXC file trying to install GGDT?

Nah, ain't no Windows here. Hackintoshed X220 Thinkpad. Core i5 at 2.5GHz with 16 GB of RAM, enough to do hardcore development and simulation work, brought to its knees by a bit of eye candy. Go figure.

Oh lord, nuff said...

[mrfoo]

Oh lord, nuff said...

Really? You're really still clinging to that "my platform is better than your platform" bullshit? Grow up, man.

[SpudBlaster15]

Oh lord, nuff said...

Really? You're really still clinging to that "my platform is better than your platform" bullshit? Grow up, man.

Back when I was a regular here, jrrdw was known for using this site primarily as a platform to broadcast his Dunning-Kruger affliction. I see not much has changed in this regard. Haha.