Discussion re layout of site

Hi everyone, @NikNik, @Former-Member, @Faith-and-Hope, @Sahara @Former-Member @Former-Member and all of you

This has been an interesting discussion.

Hey there @Silenus and @GonePirate ....are you guys still around? I am interested in your comments.

I doubt I'll ever be as active on here as I was on BB, but maybe I'll get used to it. Physically, doesn't alter the amount of scrolling though 😞

Hugs 🙂

Ahoy good people...

As a tech writer and engineer, I have dealt with a lot of different software... here is the way I approach things...

There are generally 3 aspects to software...

* look & feel - the user experience, the visual layout and style of the software.
* functionality - what can the software actually do for the user.
* administration - nuts and bolts under the hood, how easy the software is to maintain, upgrade, expand, modify.

As users of the forum software, we will concern ourselves with the first two aspects...

Both the look & feel and the functionality of the software should be as intuitive and simple as possible...

Now, here are a few thoughts I've had about the layouts of the old BlueBoard forum and this Same forum...

How they look & feel - looks don't concern me too much. But the feel does. Navigating around the Sane forum on a laptop feels absolutely awful... I mean, it is hideous... I write much faster on my laptop, but here I am fat-finger tapping away at my phone... because navigating Sane on a laptop instead of a mobile device drives me bonkers...

Scripts in the background, freezing the page for upwards of 5 seconds... you can't scroll or do anything during that time... then the page jumps to put the post heading at the top of the page... disconcerting and annoying...

Using Sane on a phone is better, but then you miss out on the extra text editing functionality of the desktop version of the forum...

I liked the tabular "older" style forum layout on BlueBoard... to me, you can fit lots more info in, and structure dashboards and things for quick and easy viewing... it allowed me to keep track of multiple threads and users I was actively engaging in conversations with... it did exactly what I wanted. Whether it looks pretty or it looks dated, meh... that's not for me to say, because looks don't bother me at all, but functionality does...

On BlueBoard, I could see the 11 most recent posts and jump to them with one tap/click... I could quickly and easily search for users and threads I was interested in... I could filter the results... I could see which users were online... I could see when a particular user had last been online...

I could move around the site much quicker on BlueBoard, because of the simple tabular layout... more info at the tips of my fingers, instead of on Sane, where it's tap tap tap scroll tap tap...

Anyhoo just my initial thoughts... I stick mostly to my own thread here on Sane, because navigating around is a pain... but we make do with the tools we have...

Hey there @Silenus 😄 😄 😄 😄

So very good to see you brother 😄 😄 loads of hugs 🙂

Thank you so very very very much for putting what I meant in such an eloquent manner 🙂

I find that I am not here much, I mostly just sign in if an email gets my attention. Saves scrolling etc etc.

I hope you are doing well 🙂 Hugs 🙂 🙂 🙂

Hey there @NikNik and @CherryBomb

Si puts what I mean very clearly, so check out his post, just a couple above this one 😉

Hi @BlueBells 🙂

Hugs and happy vibes beaming your way...

I profess that I have been insular because of my current mental state... I've been riding a hypomanic episode and channelling all that energy into writing a trilogy... I've done about 200 pages...

It is hard to keep the brakes on... one wants to soar above even the gods, casting rude shadows down upon them...

Bipolar is often a difficult ride... this too shall pass...

Hugs hugs and ever more hugs...

Hi @Former-Member 🙂

I can't give an example, as the site is now closed.

I presume you would be familiar with Facebook chat or Skype chat? Consider similar to the one-to-one chat, only everyone is commenting on the same chat, like an ordinary group conversation. It also was as quick as those chats, and as simple to reply to, there was no separate little boxes and tons of scrolling as happens in here.

Also, upon going to the site, one was faced with an "index" style list of the latest 10 or so threads that had been commented on. There was also a simple list of all the forums on the site, and on one page, a little scroll (probably about 2 A4's in height) all of this information was there in plain and easily accessed view.

I found the site quick and easy to use, and when pressed for time, or when my head would not tolerate spending time searching, the quick send/reply , like in the Skype or FB chat, felt like the person was 'right there'.

I understand these organisations require funding, but if, by registering, one had access to the simplicity that BlueBoard had (think it was the ANU that ran it, not positive) I'm sure many more people would use the site.

I find the site to be...a lot of nothing, as it were. Instead of lines of chat, there is heaps of space, and I suppose it is just that I got used to BB, but honestly, in my opinion the layout was superior.

BB was, so I discovered, a research site. I so wish that the research was applied in allowing and assisting Sane to implement the simple features of BB.

It was the simplicity, which resulted in a strong network of people supporting each other, and sometimes instantly, that led me to choose BB over the more complicated layouts of the other sites available.

I tried my absolute best to try to get the two site managements to confer on this, and I don't know if they ever did, but I tried, to the point of expecting they'd ban me on the grounds of nuisance value 🙂

I think, that for someone in immediate crisis, a site that is as clearly set out as the index in a book, and offers simple and quick chat.....that is a very big plus.

On BB, many of us , upon seeing a newbie arrive, would immediately send a greeting : Hi there 🙂 Welcome to BB .

That way, the newcomer is aware that they have been noticed, that someone cares enough to respond. I believe that is essential for a site that is trying to offer support, a safety net, as it were, for people in crisis.

That's a long ramble, isn't it?

I very rarely come here, as the people I shared so much with, even just ""G'day, good to see you""...I don't see them much.

@Silenus, @GonePirate, and many others 😞 Those two, I looked on as brothers, and I miss them, but this site confuses me when my head is in a messy place, the very time when I would go to BB.

I decided to go back and add the @ to those guys names.

Feel free to ask anything about what I have said, I will come to the site if I see that someone has sent a message.

Yes, I do miss BlueBoard very much. 😞

Hugs to all who read this 🙂 🙂 🙂

Hi @Silenus 😄

By golly I miss you guys, think of you all so often.

I replied to Neils letter, I didn't realise how long until I'd sent it 😄 😄 😄

Tons of hugs coming your way too 😉

Mwah hugs oxoxox

Hey @Former-Member , scroll up, about five post or so, and Silenus describes it in a much better way.

He is gifted with writing and also IT knowledge, which I lack, most especially the latter 😉

Hugs 🙂