Suggestions for improvements

[h20skibum]

Since the move to the web based system, some things have been lost that would be nice to get back.

 

1. In the new system, we only see the thread title.  In the old one, we would also see the first few lines in the first post by the OP.  This would give give more information than just the title to determine if we wanted to read.  (I know, you can hover on a computer to see that, but there is no hover on mobile devices which is probably what most people use).  It would be nice to get this preview back.

 

2. In the old system, the OP was always listed as such in their subsequent posts.  Now they are not.  Can we get the OP identifier back?

 

I know I am probably missing other things, so feel free to add to the list of wants.  Who knows, maybe they can do something.  Still waiting for the app to come back.  I can use tapatalk to read, but not post yet, and yes, the couple preview lines are listed on it for each thread.  Maybe 1 will be done when the app is back.

[Turtles06]

I think you were channeling me.   I was going to post a list of still-existing bugs, glitches, and annoyances (apart from the BIG one of the main cruise line forums going down periodically).  Some of these CC knows about, but it's not clear whether they are trying to fix them or are just leaving them.  Right after the upgrade, Jenn on the Help Desk created a thread here where she gave us the status of the various things they were working on.  It would be great to have that again, so we know whether a glitch is something here to stay or being worked on.

 

In no particular order, picking up from your numbers:

 

3.  On laptops, tablets and devices other than phones, the columns listing the various forums are alphabetized horizontally, when in fact columns present information vertically and that's how most people's eyes look at columns.  The horizontal alphabetizing of columns makes it hard to find the specific forum you are looking for (especially when the ones you frequently visit are no longer highlighted in color -- see number 4 below).  It would be great to have a return to the VERTICAL alphabetizing of columns

 

4.  Before the upgrade, sub-forum links that one had clicked (e.g., for a specific cruise line, or port of call, or Roll Call) would turn red and stay red as long as you remained logged in, making it very easy to spot and return to your most frequently visited sub-forums.  However, ever since the upgrade, there are no colors. The Categories home page is one indistinguishable set of blue colored sub-forum names. Forums that you frequently visit (click on) should appear in a distinct color.  On another thread, someone posted the technical solution for this, which he or she said is that the CSS file for the site would need to be modified to show "clicked links" in a different color.   Once again having sub-forums you have clicked on show up in a different color would be a big assist in navigating the boards.

 

5.  As has been discussed here, the Comic Sans font is not compatible with mobile devices, and appears as thin, hard-to-read cursive.  If this incompatibility can't be fixed, I believe this font should be eliminated -- there's no reason to have an optional font on here that doesn't really work on mobile devices.  (There's nothing special about Comic Sans, and there's nothing wrong with the default font.  There are other optional fonts as well.)

 

6.  Many of us are repeatedly being logged out of the boards, sometimes on the same day we have just successfully posted.  It would be great to have this glitch fixed.

 

I'm sure there are more, those are the ones I've been most focused on....

[parrotfeathers]

I just want to be able to access the forums.

 

[broberts]

Activity streams have condensed and expanded layouts. If one selects expanded (on desktop on right at top of listing) the first bit of each post is listed.

 

On the desktop if one hovers over a post title the post will appear in a popup. Takes several seconds and doesn't always work.

 

I too miss the original poster indication.

[h20skibum]

32 minutes ago, broberts said:

Activity streams have condensed and expanded layouts. If one selects expanded (on desktop on right at top of listing) the first bit of each post is listed.

 

 

For the mobile users, they should be able to do something. With the Tapatalk app, they show up, so it should be doable  

[h20skibum]

7.  Another thing would be a collapse signature button.  You use to be able to expand and collapse signatures.  Now you have the expand signatures function, but the only choice after that is to hide a signature, or hide all signatures.

 

The only way I find to get them back is to go in and edit profile to show signatures.

[Ashland]

CC...Fix the server problems (ERRORS) and slow -non access on certain boards...This is getting to be ridiculous !!!!!!!

[Sauer-kraut]

5 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 It would be great to have a return to the VERTICAL alphabetizing of columns

 

4.  Before the upgrade, sub-forum links that one had clicked (e.g., for a specific cruise line, or port of call, or Roll Call) would turn red and stay red as long as you remained logged in, making it very easy to spot and return to your most frequently visited sub-forums.  However, ever since the upgrade, there are no colors. The Categories home page is one indistinguishable set of blue colored sub-forum names. Forums that you frequently visit (click on) should appear in a distinct color.  On another thread, someone posted the technical solution for this, which he or she said is that the CSS file for the site would need to be modified to show "clicked links" in a different color.   Once again having sub-forums you have clicked on show up in a different color would be a big assist in navigating the boards.

 

 

 

YES!! Number 4 only because my vision isn't all that great anymore and when the post or forum had a different color noting that this was something I had responded to, it made it a lot quicker to find.  I loved that feature.

As for number 3 .... I got that one figured out but you're right. Vertical alphabetizing makes a ton more sense for those of us who are DINOSAURS and still look at the internet on a desktop.

[Turtles06]

13 minutes ago, Sauer-kraut said:

. I got that one figured out but you're right. Vertical alphabetizing makes a ton more sense for those of us who are DINOSAURS and still look at the internet on a desktop.

It’s not just desktops. The problem of horizontally alphabetized columns exists on iPads (tablets) and laptops as well — any device on which there’s more than one single column.   

[h20skibum]

I guess I need to add #8, unless someone knows how to do it.  I wasn’t able to display signatures, until after I updated mine.  I now have them turned on, and they display on my computer, and on my iPad, but they do not display on my iPhone.

 

Any idea how to turn them on for the iPhone, is is this another area they need to work on?

 

See screenshots from iPad and iPhone 

 

 

 

The iphone does not display the signature.

Edited January 22, 2019 by h20skibum