About the new forum
I'm finding the new forum layout too busy. I found the old layout the clearest out of any forum that i've visited, and very easy to read and navigate. Here's a couple of things that I think have changed for the worse:
1: The red 'Updated' after a thread. I find it distracting especially against the bright white background. It's hard to have a quick skim down the page, may eyes keep getting drawn to the red 'Updated'
2: The 'Created by' column is unnecessary, and adds to the overall busy-ness of the page layout. just having the creator under the thread title worked much better.
3. The font size, when writing a post is tiny, and I can't see a way of increasing it. If I have missed it, I apologise.
Also, the new forums seems to have put everyones Avatars back to older versions. That's not really a complaint, more of a heads up, as I realise there will be kinks to iron out.
On the positive side, although I haven't tried it yet, the easier way of posting links sounds great.
Small I know - do the comments work on an iPad / iPod? I can't tell here
And where did you get the smileys from 
Do we really need a "sushi" one: 
?
Oh, and the preview of the standard smileys doesn't seem to work... :( 
(
Yes, things work on iThings! More in this thread
And i'm sure we can sort the smileys in time...
I like the new look but agree that the 'updated' labels are horrible. I also think they're pointless as the threads at the top new or updated as that's the way they're ordered.
And now I'm typing I agree the font size when composing a post is way too small...
Great job otherwise though and a freshen up is always welcome!
We know the Forums need some design/formatting work, but we felt we'd rather attend to that post-launch, with the minimum amount of site downtime. We're working on it.
Keep the feedback coming
Thanks, Clare. I'd like to see some larger fonts that aren't emboldened, though. It seems that 'paragraph' is the only one that isn't italiced or emboldened, and it is dinky.
It seems that you've done away with the page selector at the top of a topic's page. It was very handy, and a bit of a pain in the butt to have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to select the page you want.
This is probably me being blinkered again, but where have the emoticons moved to? I can't see the smiley in the tool bar anymore. I would put an embarrassed face here, if I knew where it was. i'll do one of these old stylee:
EDIT: I've just noticed, too, that there's no longer a box around a quoted post (as you can see at the top of my post here). That's a wee bit confusing.
And my signature's gone!! A bit of warning would have been good so I could have saved it elsewhere... and where's my Avatar photo gone??????
I'm with the Brett-ster regarding the Daz-like whiteness of the background, it makes it difficult to pick out individual threads as the graduated grey separator isn't really contrasting enough, although that may be this laptop, I have terrible trouble getting the contrast, brightness and gamma configured properly.
Known issues for which apologies: signatures will need to be re-entered, and avatars appear to have rolled back to original ones supllied, where available. Good news is that the system lets you change both fairly easily.
You can change it yourself now, so just upload the one you were using before.
You can change it yourself now, so just upload the one you were using before.
Can't find the file – so am using a virtual me instead...
It seems that you've done away with the page selector at the top of a topic's page. It was very handy, and a bit of a pain in the butt to have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to select the page you want.
This is probably me being blinkered again, but where have the emoticons moved to? I can't see the smiley in the tool bar anymore. I would put an embarrassed face here, if I knew where it was. i'll do one of these old stylee: 
EDIT: I've just noticed, too, that there's no longer a box around a quoted post (as you can see at the top of my post here). That's a wee bit confusing.
We've not intentionally 'done away' with anything: we've moved to entirely new Forum software (not to mention a whole new platform!), so there are some differences, plus many more options we haven't yet fully explored. That starts now, based on your feedback.
Emoticons aren't now in toobar, but in drop-down 'Smilleys' link above the formatting bar.
And there is a box around a quoted box for me... But i'm posting in RTF - were you?
Fantastic work, I can actually post with my iPhone! 
Agreed on the red read posts though, a light grey would be a little better?
It seems that you've done away with the page selector at the top of a topic's page. It was very handy, and a bit of a pain in the butt to have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to select the page you want.
This is probably me being blinkered again, but where have the emoticons moved to? I can't see the smiley in the tool bar anymore. I would put an embarrassed face here, if I knew where it was. i'll do one of these old stylee:
EDIT: I've just noticed, too, that there's no longer a box around a quoted post (as you can see at the top of my post here). That's a wee bit confusing.
We've not intentionally 'done away' with anything: we've moved to entirely new Forum software (not to mention a whole new platform!), so there are some differences, plus many more options we haven't yet fully explored. That starts now, based on your feedback.
Emoticons aren't now in toobar, but in drop-down 'Smilleys' link above the formatting bar.
And there is a box around a quoted box for me... But i'm posting in RTF - were you?
Oh, I see the smileys now. Thank you. Have a belated embarrassed guy. Oh, I can't see one, have a besotted one instead 
RTF = Rich Text Format.
This can now be enabled/disabled at base of comment box, which should help iThing users post more easily 
The title font of the threads is a bit HUGE
And I'm still having problems with some smileys...
- Login to post comments
We know the Forums need some design/formatting work, but we felt we'd rather attend to that post-launch, with the minimum amount of site downtime. We're working on it.
Keep the feedback coming
Group PR Manager - Computers Unlimited;
Former Group Editor of What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision and Whathifi.com
Twitter: @ClareNewsome