new commenting system
So a lot of changes went up on the site today. A lot of it is covered here by frenzy. One that you might not notice at first is that the commenting system has changed.
Instead of comments branching out with replies to replies to replies there is just the parent comment and a line of replies after it that are all indented the same amount. I'm a huge fan of the change since long conversations with multiple commenters got very confusing and very far to the right. This is cleaner for sure.
So have you had a chance to see it in action? If so, how do you like it?
Instead of comments branching out with replies to replies to replies there is just the parent comment and a line of replies after it that are all indented the same amount. I'm a huge fan of the change since long conversations with multiple commenters got very confusing and very far to the right. This is cleaner for sure.
So have you had a chance to see it in action? If so, how do you like it?
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With that said I will answer your question, I for one am not keen on the new commenting system, the old system may have looked untidy at times but at least it was easy to keep track of the thread of a conversation, I predict that the new layout will rapidly lead to confusion & very likely arguments will ensue caused by misunderstandings about who's comment was aimed at or in reply to whom.
A few things are worth bearing in mind when making changes to things that thousands of people use & work perfectly well with.
Will this change really improve things or am I doing it because I want to?
Are there things that don't work properly that my time would be better spent on?
If my changes prove to be unpopular or actually make matters worse am I big enough to accept that & revert to the old method?
Have I asked / shown my idea to sufficient people who actually use the system to get a realistic impression of the possible reaction to it (beta testing group) & taken on-board any feedback both positive & negative?
Does making something look tidier actually improve it's usability or does it simply look "cleaner"?
I have also noticed that in spite of my using sentences & paragraphs when I preview this comment it appears to be in a single block, not a good look, so I have to say all in all not impressed, I think that it should have been left alone & the time spent on other things on the site that could stand some attention like perhaps helping Jayefuu to get the Achiev'ibles system running properly.
As for me, I found the old system to be extremely confusing as well. Once conversations got fractured it took some timestamp forensics to put it back together again.
The text becoming one big block in the regular text editor is also weird. I'll report that one right now. Don't know why carriage returns would get stripped.
I also get the distinct impression the answer to my third "Thing to bear in mind" is a resounding NO I'M NOT!!!!
Presumably this will be on a list of "things to get fixed" on the next update, not nearly soon enough I'm afraid; I for one have spent far less time in the forums lately because I'm fed up with trying to figure out who is talking to, replying to, arguing with, whom.
I have to agree. And the new comments system is still as confusing as a very confusing thing. It's impossible to follow the flow of a conversation, once three or more people are participating.
Might I suggest that you simply revert to the old system which although could look a little untidy did in fact work perfectly well until someone decided looking "cleaner" was more important than functionality.
and I got a notice, that you commented 17 times. *yikes*
and I got a notice, that you commented 17 times. *yikes*
Oh, hang on.
I went on the site with a frame of mind that i am a new user or just someone who popped on the site to have a look. Honestly the main page looks a bit bland and sorta blah so to speak. Searching for instructables seems like it could take days to view what you might be interested in . It just seems like it takes to much effort for some reason.
Then i went on as me , someone who has been here since 2009.
All the things that made this site interesting seem to have disappeared. ( viewing every ones view counts to see how far you have moved up the ladder, daily view counts for each instructable ,
and so on. These were things that made me come on the site more than once a day. Now i seem to come on and look at my view counts and the come here to see if there has been any posts on the concerns people are having . Kinda took all the fun away from it .
Once again I have to ask why are things put out to the members & major contributors of the site without being thoroughly beta tested by a group of those members?, you know them they are the people who actually use the site, the people who the advertisers & sponsors want to impress.
Every time updates are pushed onto the site & members start to point out faults we are told "this is still being worked on" or "that will be fixed in a later update", here's a free idea
Don't update something that works with something that doesn't, get it ALL done first.
It's hardly rocket science is it? where I worked if we had launched half finished or clearly faulty updates onto our Internet, Extranet or Intranet sites we would have been hauled over the coals & told to get it fixed RIGHT NOW not later on, of course in reality that situation never arose because we had a rigorous beta testing system in place which involved not only the IT team but also people who were users of each & every area of all the systems both the within the company & our client base.
I'm quite sure there are plenty of members who would be delighted to volunteer their time, they wouldn't have to be experts in web design just users who know how things should work & can point out things that need tweaking before it goes live on the site.
Example A:
Person 1: I love puppies!
-----Person 2: Cats are by far the superior species!
-----Person 3: You smell and I hate you!
Example B:
Person 1: Pressures over 200psi could cause a deadly explosion.
-----Person 2: No, up to 250psi is a safe operating pressure.
-----Person 3: This guy knows what he's talking about, better take his advice.
In both examples, it is unclear whether Person 3's comment is directed at Person 1 or 2.
Example C:
Person 1: Pressures over 200psi could cause a deadly explosion.
-----Person 2: No, up to 250psi is a safe operating pressure.
----------Person 3: This guy knows what he's talking about, better take his advice.
-----Person 4: Yeah I agree.
-----Person 5: I think you should redo your calculation.
In Example C(old comment style), it is instantly clear at which person each comment is directed. There can be any number of subcomments and it is still just as clear. The only downfall with this old system is that a large number of subcomments will push the conversation to the right of the page, but instances of this are relatively rare. The new system may look prettier, but at the cost of functionality.
Also, I think the comment box should expand if you type more than two lines.
Person 1: Pressures over 200psi could cause a deadly explosion.
-----Person 2: No, up to 250psi is a safe operating pressure.
-----Person 3: @Person 2 This guy knows what he's talking about, better take his advice.
-----Person 4: Yeah I agree.
-----Person 5: I think you should redo your calculation.
-----Person 2: No, up to 250psi is a safe operating pressure.
-----Person 3: @Person 2 This guy knows what he's talking about, better take his advice.
-----Person 4: Yeah I agree.
-----Person 2: I think you should redo your calculation.
-----Person3:@person2
...now, which comment is person3 referring to.
Was there an overwhelming demand for change from irate users ?
I don't suppose for a second the point has been made :-)
+1 Person 2
+1 Person 3
+1 Person 4
+1 or did I high 5 myself?
Now for the million dollar question, can anyone figure out who I replied to???
Now for the million dollar question, can anyone figure out who I replied to???
twitstweeters.The main part I don't like, which applies to the whole new layout, is that the site still does not respect the end user's choice of browser size. Right now, the "You" pull down menu is off the page, and for comments, the [POST] button is off the page. Having to scroll left and right to get to critical content is awkward, and should be unnecessary.
HTML, from the very beginning, has always left positioning up to the user's browser. This attitude that the graphic designer, with his giant screen, knows best and should be allowed to impose his will on the universe, is annoying. It is also discriminatory, since (as with much of the I'bles site) it doesn't take into account any possibly that the end user may require special access (larger fonts, screen readers, etc.).
programmersQA always put up update announcements that are not stickied for all to see and cannot be replied to? I guess they would rather have random bug reports or forum topics than get a handle on all the feedback.One small gripe - the search function doesn't allow you to search directly for members.