New Look - New Bookmark

[dmillsphoto]

Nashville Urban Planeteers,

As you can see, the site is a bit different. It's now more responsive to touch than ever, which is great for mobile/tablet users. See Neo's note above.

 

With this came a change in the link to our front page, so you may want to make sure, if you use bookmarks, that you update that.

 

Otherwise, please let me know of any bugs you encounter and I'll boil them up. Thanks...

 

The Mods.

[TNinVB]

I can't get any picture attachments to open? Anyone else having this issue?

[rookzie]

I nearly always am for "improved" user interfaces, if they actually increase overall usabillity, based on objective polling of user intuition and suggestions.  I don't have any idea of what the primary compelling goal might have been for updating the U-P service app, which also has been the basis or other interactive boards as well.

But I'm already let down and even at least slightly annoyed at a few changes to boot.  I haven't tried to post a pic, so I only can watch out for that peeve from others so far.  One thing I really do dislike totally is the almost total mangling of pre-existing indentured and chronologically documented quotes, embedded within responses to these associated posts.  All I see is the quote integrated as a merge within a response, which can make it very difficult to differentiate the quoted statement from the respondent's actual post.  1) Embedded quotes no longer date- or time-stamped; 2) No change in font size or typeface to make the quotes distinguishable; 3) quote header removed and text no longer indented.  Attempting to embed multiple quotes therefore may be even worse.  I'm speaking so far only with respect to the complete history of pre-existing posts,  This makes it harder to determine whether the text was a member's response or that of the person to whom he/she was responding.  If it weren't for my tacked-on "-==-", then I couldn't even discern the end of quotes of my own.

[EDITED 2015-0714 - according to NEO, all historic posts are in long process of being rebuilt to restore formatting] 

Another quirk is the conversion of rectangular profile image (avatar) area to round.  This too suX as it truncates certain details near the edges of the image, thus rendering it somewhat useless, if it had contained particulars which become chopped off at all 4 corners by the rounding ─ not to say that my current "swoll-dog" profile pic was a best choice to start.

[EDITED 2015-0714 - Avatars returned to Rect. shape] 

-==-

 

 

[samsonh]

I'm sure some of these bugs will be worked out, but is there a way to skip to first unread post?

[Neo]

I nearly always am for "improved" user interfaces, if they actually increase overall usabillity, based on objective polling of user intuition and suggestions.  I don't have any idea of what the primary compelling goal might have been for updating the U-P service app, which also has been the basis or other interactive boards as well.

But I'm already let down and even at least slightly annoyed at a few changes to boot.  I haven't tried to post a pic, so I only can watch out for that peeve from others so far.  One thing I really do dislike totally is the almost total mangling of pre-existing indentured and chronologically documented quotes, embedded within responses to these associated posts.  All I see is the quote integrated as a merge within a response, which can make it very difficult to differentiate the quoted statement from the respondent's actual post.  1) Embedded quotes no longer date- or time-stamped; 2) No change in font size or typeface to make the quotes distinguishable; 3) quote header removed and text no longer indented.  Attempting to embed multiple quotes therefore may be even worse.  I'm speaking so far only with respect to the complete history of pre-existing posts,  This makes it harder to determine whether the text was a member's response or that of the person to whom he/she was responding.  it if weren't for my tacked-on "-==-", then I couldn't even discern the end of quotes of my own.

Another quirk is the conversion of rectangular profile image area to round.  This too suX as it truncates certain details near the edges of the image, thus rendering it somewhat useless, if it had contained particulars which become chopped off at all 4 corners by the rounding ─ not to say that my current "swoll-dog" profile pic was a best choice to start.

-==-

 

 

I want to do my best to address any issues that folks have with the new design. I also need some clarification as to what you meant for some things:

• Could you define "service app?" There are a couple of pieces to our site and I'm not sure which you are describing. There is the site which is what you get when you visit urbanplanet.org in a web browser (desktop, mobile, etc) and then there is the TapaTalk app. We have almost nothing to do with the TapaTalk app and how it functions other than simply providing users the ability to browse our site using it. I will assume you did not mean TapaTalk here. Responsiveness was the #1 reason to upgrade. A LOT of folks were asking for a better experience on mobile devices without having to use TapaTalk. We also use forum software made by one of the latest forum software companies as well, which means you'll begin to see similar site functionality on other sites as well.
• I'm not sure I agree with a total mangling of the quote system. There are two different things going on here. When you are actively replying and you are quoting a post, you are correct in that it is indented. The font is actually italicized during this and since it is indented with a very thick line, it should be fairly obvious what is a quote and what isn't so I'm a little confused by this. Once you commit the post, quotes are displayed similarly to what was displayed in the previous version. We also allow for indented quotes since a lot of folks were doing that as well (quoting someone else's quote).
• The round avatars were an experiment. Square avatars are back as of this morning. 

 

I'm sure some of these bugs will be worked out, but is there a way to skip to first unread post?

You can accomplish this by clicking the timestamp of the last post in a thread as depicted in the screenshot below.

[rookzie]

I nearly always am for "improved" user interfaces, if they actually increase overall usabillity, based on objective polling of user intuition and suggestions.  I don't have any idea of what the primary compelling goal might have been for updating the U-P service app, which also has been the basis or other interactive boards as well.

But I'm already let down and even at least slightly annoyed at a few changes to boot.  I haven't tried to post a pic, so I only can watch out for that peeve from others so far.  One thing I really do dislike totally is the almost total mangling of pre-existing indentured and chronologically documented quotes, embedded within responses to these associated posts.  All I see is the quote integrated as a merge within a response, which can make it very difficult to differentiate the quoted statement from the respondent's actual post.  1) Embedded quotes no longer date- or time-stamped; 2) No change in font size or typeface to make the quotes distinguishable; 3) quote header removed and text no longer indented.  Attempting to embed multiple quotes therefore may be even worse.  I'm speaking so far only with respect to the complete history of pre-existing posts,  This makes it harder to determine whether the text was a member's response or that of the person to whom he/she was responding.  it if weren't for my tacked-on "-==-", then I couldn't even discern the end of quotes of my own.

Another quirk is the conversion of rectangular profile image area to round.  This too suX as it truncates certain details near the edges of the image, thus rendering it somewhat useless, if it had contained particulars which become chopped off at all 4 corners by the rounding ─ not to say that my current "swoll-dog" profile pic was a best choice to start.

-==-

 

 

I want to do my best to address any issues that folks have with the new design. I also need some clarification as to what you meant for some things:

• Could you define "service app?" There are a couple of pieces to our site and I'm not sure which you are describing. There is the site which is what you get when you visit urbanplanet.org in a web browser (desktop, mobile, etc) and then there is the TapaTalk app. We have almost nothing to do with the TapaTalk app and how it functions other than simply providing users the ability to browse our site using it. I will assume you did not mean TapaTalk here. Responsiveness was the #1 reason to upgrade. A LOT of folks were asking for a better experience on mobile devices without having to use TapaTalk. We also use forum software made by one of the latest forum software companies as well, which means you'll begin to see similar site functionality on other sites as well.
• I'm not sure I agree with a total mangling of the quote system. There are two different things going on here. When you are actively replying and you are quoting a post, you are correct in that it is indented. The font is actually italicized during this and since it is indented with a very thick line, it should be fairly obvious what is a quote and what isn't so I'm a little confused by this. Once you commit the post, quotes are displayed similarly to what was displayed in the previous version. We also allow for indented quotes since a lot of folks were doing that as well (quoting someone else's quote).
• The round avatars were an experiment. Square avatars are back as of this morning. 

 

I'm sure some of these bugs will be worked out, but is there a way to skip to first unread post?

You can accomplish this by clicking the timestamp of the last post in a thread as depicted in the screenshot below.

• Could you define "service app?" There are a couple of pieces to our site and I'm not sure which you are describing. There is the site which is what you get when you visit urbanplanet.org in a web browser (desktop, mobile, etc) and then there is the TapaTalk app. We have almost nothing to do with the TapaTalk app and how it functions other than simply providing users the ability to browse our site using it. I will assume you did not mean TapaTalk here. Responsiveness was the #1 reason to upgrade. A LOT of folks were asking for a better experience on mobile devices without having to use TapaTalk. We also use forum software made by one of the latest forum software companies as well, which means you'll begin to see similar site functionality on other sites as well.
• I'm not sure I agree with a total mangling of the quote system. There are two different things going on here. When you are actively replying and you are quoting a post, you are correct in that it is indented. The font is actually italicized during this and since it is indented with a very thick line, it should be fairly obvious what is a quote and what isn't so I'm a little confused by this. Once you commit the post, quotes are displayed similarly to what was displayed in the previous version. We also allow for indented quotes since a lot of folks were doing that as well (quoting someone else's quote).

 

"Service App" term was used generically to refer to the server-based application, "distributed" or otherwise, underlying the forum system.  It was not intended to refer to anything specifically.  I'm not referring to TapaTalk, which I have never used.  And I would expect to see similarity in functionality of UrbanPlanet compared with other sites, e.g. "Amtrak Unlimited" (http://discuss.amtraktrains.com).

As far as the mangling of quotes are concerned, please be aware that I am referring to historic posts ─ all posts which existed prior to this new software roll-out.  New quotes might work fine, and  I had not yet attempted to create one prior to this here one, but as far as I can see, all "old" posts with embedded now show (or at least they all "seem" to be displayed) as co-linear text separated only as paragraphs, and without quoted reference to cited (quoted) member and time-stamp, the same appearing with "ad hoc" quotes created for general citing.  Just look at some posts in the sub-topic "Nashville Forum Meeting & Mini Meets" to see what I mean.  All pre-existing quotes are no longer formatted in a distinguishable layout.  This is what I'm referring to, not new posts.  The primary reason that I bring this up is for "visual archive" purposes, when combing through all the past and really old posts.  It had been very easy to tell who said what, when everything was laid out indented and italicized (and auto documented w/ date/time-stamp and name).  It appears that something during conversion has rendered the old posts to look different.

ex:

-=riX=-

 

[mirydi]

Good grief! This "new look" makes me not even wanna lurk anymore. Super annoyed with all the changes. Neo, just hit the reset button please lol. 

[Neo]

 

"Service App" term was used generically to refer to the server-based application, "distributed" or otherwise, underlying the forum system.  It was not intended to refer to anything specifically.  I'm not referring to TapaTalk, which I have never used.  And I would expect to see similarity in functionality of UrbanPlanet compared with other sites, e.g. "Amtrak Unlimited" (http://discuss.amtraktrains.com).

As far as the mangling of quotes are concerned, please be aware that I am referring to historic posts ─ all posts which existed prior to this new software roll-out.  New quotes might work fine, and  I had not yet attempted to create one prior to this here one, but as far as I can see, all "old" posts with embedded now show (or at least they all "seem" to be displayed) as co-linear text separated only as paragraphs, and without quoted reference to cited (quoted) member and time-stamp, the same appearing with "ad hoc" quotes created for general citing.  Just look at some posts in the sub-topic "Nashville Forum Meeting & Mini Meets" to see what I mean.  All pre-existing quotes are no longer formatted in a distinguishable layout.  This is what I'm referring to, not new posts.  The primary reason that I bring this up is for "visual archive" purposes, when combing through all the past and really old posts.  It had been very easy to tell who said what, when everything was laid out indented and italicized (and auto documented w/ date/time-stamp and name).  It appears that something during conversion has rendered the old posts to look different.

ex:

-=riX=-

 

There is an announcement at the top of all pages on the site currently that explains the situation a little. *ALL* of the posts have to rebuild and will display correctly once the rebuild is complete. This will take several days unfortunately. I did not want to keep the site offline for those several days just to rebuild old posts so I brought it back online knowing that particular bit would be broken. It will be fixed gradually (posts are being converted as we speak).

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/announcement/6-welcome-to-the-new-urbanplanetorg/

Good grief! This "new look" makes me not even wanna lurk anymore. Super annoyed with all the changes. Neo, just hit the reset button please lol. 

It is extremely difficult to please everyone. If you could give me some specifics please let me know and I will pool thoughts together and come up with a reasonable solution. Funny thing is, the last time this site went through a major revision, I also got a huge amount of folks saying they disliked it (but also got a tremendous amount of support for it as well). I've learned you can't make everyone happy, as much as I try.

Lots of folks wanted nice functionality on mobile devices, that's what this update was (mostly) about.

Aside from old posts not looking right (already addressed), what can I do for you?

[rookzie]

It is extremely difficult to please everyone. If you could give me some specifics please let me know and I will pool thoughts together and come up with a reasonable solution. Funny thing is, the last time this site went through a major revision, I also got a huge amount of folks saying they disliked it (but also got a tremendous amount of support for it as well). I've learned you can't make everyone happy, as much as I try.

Lots of folks wanted nice functionality on mobile devices, that's what this update was (mostly) about.

Aside from old posts not looking right (already addressed), what can I do for you?

Yes, change is necessary, but not necessarily a necessary evil.  There always will be casualties of those who will balk, and as you see, I've not done a good job of trying to be the exception.  I've only tried to be critical constructively and optimistically.  People change and so software functionality must evolve to adapt to these people curves and even kinks.  What's intuitive for some might be a head-scratcher for others, and I am strongly supportive of the upgrade process.  I'm convinced that you're not just ploppin' another fat, juicy turkey breast into the deep-fryer, so to speak,without making judicious choices.  As another analogy, most dogs will bark at something that jumps out unfamiliar, only to finally give in to curiosity and sniff it out.

-=riX=-

 

[UTgrad09]

Change is always a bit tough to get used to. Just ask Historic Nashville.

[Neo]

 

"Service App" term was used generically to refer to the server-based application, "distributed" or otherwise, underlying the forum system.  It was not intended to refer to anything specifically.  I'm not referring to TapaTalk, which I have never used.  And I would expect to see similarity in functionality of UrbanPlanet compared with other sites, e.g. "Amtrak Unlimited" (http://discuss.amtraktrains.com).

 Amtrak uses the same forum software that we do. I assure you that they will either upgrade to the same version that we use (the version they are on will become unsupported) or move to a different forum software.

I wanted to add that I promise I'm on the same side as you guys. I use this site too. 

[Hey_Hey]

Good grief! This "new look" makes me not even wanna lurk anymore. Super annoyed with all the changes. Neo, just hit the reset button please lol. 

Where have you been?  We haven't heard a word from you in months. I was sure you had been kidnapped.

[Bezoar]

Anytime a website changes its look (facebook, gawker, tennessean are ones in recent memory) there's always a "Hey, the new thing is not like the old thing!" outcry and nobody likes it.  Then, in two days, you forget what it used to look like and life goes on as normal.  

 

[Vrtigo]

I'm having some odd difficulties logging in and staying that way...

I have always used the Facebook integration to log in in the past, but that sends me in an endless loop at the login screen without any success. I finally initiated a password reset and used my email address. I have been able to get in that way (obviously), but I have random instances where I click a link and am suddenly not logged in any longer.

[Neo]

I'm having some odd difficulties logging in and staying that way...

I have always used the Facebook integration to log in in the past, but that sends me in an endless loop at the login screen without any success. I finally initiated a password reset and used my email address. I have been able to get in that way (obviously), but I have random instances where I click a link and am suddenly not logged in any longer.

I just checked our Facebook Connect settings and noticed a couple of things that I failed to change. Please re-check and let me know (via PM or contact form submission) if you are still having issues logging in or staying logged in. I would also go ahead and clear your browser's cache and cookies for this site. Thanks!

[rookzie]

Good grief! This "new look" makes me not even wanna lurk anymore. Super annoyed with all the changes. Neo, just hit the reset button please lol. 

Where have you been?  We haven't heard a word from you in months. I was sure you had been kidnapped.

That's what I was wondering also.  I can bare remember a mirydi, some many moons ago, but I thought he might've hitched back over to OK City.

-==-

 

 

 

 

"Service App" term was used generically to refer to the server-based application, "distributed" or otherwise, underlying the forum system.  It was not intended to refer to anything specifically.  I'm not referring to TapaTalk, which I have never used.  And I would expect to see similarity in functionality of UrbanPlanet compared with other sites, e.g. "Amtrak Unlimited" (http://discuss.amtraktrains.com).

 Amtrak uses the same forum software that we do. I assure you that they will either upgrade to the same version that we use (the version they are on will become unsupported) or move to a different forum software.

I wanted to add that I promise I'm on the same side as you guys. I use this site too. 

Neo, I'm starting to get the hang of it now, I'm sure I'll adapt to it, once I find out where all my cheese got moved.  In the meantime, though, ICHC ("I Can Has Cheezburger")

-==-

[Vrtigo]

In other news, this new layout only further emphasizes our overabundance of "stickied" threads. Maybe others see something different, but with only enough room for six non-sticky threads at the bottom of the page, this feels a bit excessive.

Stuff that gets regular action will stay at the top anyway, right?

[Bezoar]

We can at least express ourselves better with a new library of emoji.  

[Neo]

We can at least express ourselves better with a new library of emoji.  

Thanks for the vindication for my weeks of hard work making sure that the upgrade went smoothly and added features that a lot of folks had requested. I appreciate that. 

[dmillsphoto]

In other news, this new layout only further emphasizes our overabundance of "stickied" threads. Maybe others see something different, but with only enough room for six non-sticky threads at the bottom of the page, this feels a bit excessive.

Stuff that gets regular action will stay at the top anyway, right?

I think I'm in agreement - although it appears the Pin/Unpin action has disappeared as well. At least, for myself. 

 

I'll talk to Ron and Kevin about maybe a better way of distributing the threads (I'm thinking Historical can move to the coffeehouse, a couple others can be combined further as their activity is next-to-nil).

[Neo]

In other news, this new layout only further emphasizes our overabundance of "stickied" threads. Maybe others see something different, but with only enough room for six non-sticky threads at the bottom of the page, this feels a bit excessive.

Stuff that gets regular action will stay at the top anyway, right?

I think I'm in agreement - although it appears the Pin/Unpin action has disappeared as well. At least, for myself. 

 

I'll talk to Ron and Kevin about maybe a better way of distributing the threads (I'm thinking Historical can move to the coffeehouse, a couple others can be combined further as their activity is next-to-nil).

This is isolated to your account and the conversation that we have privately. There is a minor update which possibly addresses the issue that I will try to schedule for early tomorrow morning and we'll go from there.

[nashvillwill]

Neo,

 

I don't know if I currently looking at the mobile site, but I think I am. I can't seem to ever get to the last unread quote in a topic. The picture you show about "clicking the time stamp" doesn't show up in my Mobile. Only the first post in a thread. Every thread I click on, it that's me to the first page. 

[Neo]

Neo,

 

I don't know if I currently looking at the mobile site, but I think I am. I can't seem to ever get to the last unread quote in a topic. The picture you show about "clicking the time stamp" doesn't show up in my Mobile. Only the first post in a thread. Every thread I click on, it that's me to the first page. 

There is no longer a mobile site, just a single site and design that adheres to your device's screen size. Because of this, if you have the timestamp on your desktop, you should have it on any other device. Here is a screenshot I just took from my iPhone on the Nashville forum:

[samsonh]

I am using Firefox and some of the ads are displaying incorrectly. They are huge and then they are also sharing a line with a topic which squishes the topic into a tiny space on the right side.

[Neo]

I am using Firefox and some of the ads are displaying incorrectly. They are huge and then they are also sharing a line with a topic which squishes the topic into a tiny space on the right side.

Please take a screenshot and send that over to me (or post it here). I can't recreate the issue using Firefox on my system unfortunately. The ads are the same size and in the same positions as the old site, none of that changed.

It obviously depends greatly on your display size and resolution however, but I would like to see a screenshot to know what we're dealing with here.

Thanks!