New 2-column homepage

Niall

All Powerful Super Being
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Another change to the homepage, this time a minor update from 3 columns to 2 columns when using non-mobile devices.

The 3-column layout never sat well with me, everything felt a little crammed, 2-columns is easier to digest.

The most important difference with this new layout is that the 'Jump to Forum' list is now in a tab of its own.

forums_tab.png


This displays the full forum structure with details of the latest post in each forum - more useful than the previous flat list.

I hope you like the new layout. As always, comments and feedback are welcome.
 
Hmmm, the scaling doesn't look too great in the "Forums" tab @Niall, it looks quite squashed with a lot of room beside it.

And I never noticed those tabs at the top, I always had it on the football page.

When we click the RedCafe logo, sending us to the home page, will that always show the "Forums" tab now or will it be the Football tab as normal?
 
MkPaul said:
Hmmm, the scaling doesn't look too great in the "Forums" tab @Niall, it looks quite squashed with a lot of room beside it.

And I never noticed those tabs at the top, I always had it on the football page.

When we click the RedCafe logo, sending us to the home page, will that always show the "Forums" tab now or will it be the Football tab as normal?
Click to expand...

It will remember your last chosen tab.

What device are you using? There is a bit of a gap to the right of the forum list on certain resolutions. I'll fix it at some point.
 
Niall said:
It will remember your last chosen tab.

What device are you using? There is a bit of a gap to the right of the forum list on certain resolutions. I'll fix it at some point.
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Ahh thats good. I like it.

YgODuoT.jpg


Using Google Chrome on a PC.

Looks sexy as hell on my Android phone using Chrome though.
 
That's a crazy ass wide browser window you've got there @MkPaul. You know it's easier to read long blocks of text that are narrower? :)
 
Niall said:
That's a crazy ass wide browser window you've got there @MkPaul. You know it's easier to read long blocks of text that are narrower? :)
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Haha it's only a 23" monitor :p

Yeah it's fine to read just looks a little weird with all that free space down the side.

That's not a reason for you to have more adverts ;)
 
I liked the list on the right side. Was easy to just click on a sub-forum while looking at the home page. W.e though doesn't make much of a difference.
 
Niall said:
That's a crazy ass wide browser window you've got there @MkPaul. You know it's easier to read long blocks of text that are narrower? :)
Click to expand...

I'm browsing on my laptop, and I also have a (slightly smaller) gap of unused space between the forums and the poll / adverts. The gap is about the size of a "jump to forum" navigation.:smirk:
 
I should say the 3-column setup was a bit clumsy TBH. The current setup looks great though, cheers!
 
Am I the only one that finds posting on mobile very hard when the browser keeps lagging when it's trying to save a draft of the post?
 
Personally, I preferred having the 'Jump to Forum' separate. Of course, I may find that I just get used to the new layout, but my first impression is that it should be returned to it's old place - either directly above or below where the poll is now.

It's the main way which I use to navigate the forum and it's much easier to select the 'Current Events' forum, for example, if you have a small list on the right hand side of the page. There is a little extra effort involved in changing the tab, then scrolling down the page to find the appropriate link.

I know I'm displaying incredible laziness, but those are my thoughts.
 
I love the jump to forum where it is. I'm not a huge fan of the new categories because I want to be able to go to the ent forum to view everything there rather than the ones being posted in for example. Kept forgetting where the forum tab was located. It's great having it side by side, then you can simply choose which way you want to navigate.
 
@JmRssll555 @Zarlak I'm thinking of adding a 'Watched' tab as well, where your watched forums and threads will be listed. This way your 'favourite' things will be front and center when you hit the homepage (if that is your remember tab). Only useful if you actually watch anything of course.

What do you think? Useful?
 
Niall said:
Which - the new 2 column layout or watched tab idea?
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Err, the new 2 column layout!

Basically I like that its easier to get to the "entertainment" and "current events" forums now.. it's the only thing I didnt like about the new combined layout.
 
rcoobc said:
Err, the new 2 column layout!

Basically I like that its easier to get to the "entertainment" and "current events" forums now.. it's the only thing I didnt like about the new combined layout.
Click to expand...

Definitely this. The watched idea is good as an extra, but like Robocop said, sometimes I want to jump to a specific forum to see everything in that forum, and it's easier to just navigate to the forum I know the thread is in than scan the combined threads to see if it's been updated recently and thus will display there before concluding that it hasn't and then having to jump to the specific forum anyway.
 
Zarlak said:
Definitely this. The watched idea is good as an extra, but like Robocop said, sometimes I want to jump to a specific forum to see everything in that forum, and it's easier to just navigate to the forum I know the thread is in than scan the combined threads to see if it's been updated recently and thus will display there before concluding that it hasn't and then having to jump to the specific forum anyway.
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That's what the forums tab allows you to do no?
 
I miss the old menu that had all the forums and subforums just one click away from the main page.

Now it takes 3 clicks to get to the reserve forum instead of 1. (2 with the hover sub-forum 2 functioned pointed out)

If Niall et all are going to stick with the tabs, could you please change the 'Forums' tab to have all the forums and subforums instead of just the forums?

However I would argue that having the seperate menu of forums and subforums on the right was superior. Those options are now all 2-3 clicks away when before it was but 1.

People hate clicks, they seem to discourage use of programs and applications.

Thanks for the lovely forum, keep up the good work.
 
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3 did seem a lot worse than 2, I'm not nearly as annoyed as I was before I learned of this hover thingie. Still, I think the other menu was superior for my personal browsing habits.
 
I'm not a fan of the new layout, maybe I'll get used to it but I preferred having each sub-forum accessible in the sidebar without having to bring it up via the tab system.
 
Niall said:
@JmRssll555 @Zarlak I'm thinking of adding a 'Watched' tab as well, where your watched forums and threads will be listed. This way your 'favourite' things will be front and center when you hit the homepage (if that is your remember tab). Only useful if you actually watch anything of course.

What do you think? Useful?
Click to expand...

Sorry @Niall, I didn't get the alert for this post.

I guess that might work, yeah. I don't currently 'watch' threads, but I'd certainly try it out to see how it worked.
 
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