# New website design



## Joe Blow

Welcome to the new ASF! 

Despite first appearances, the site has not changed dramatically. Many of the changes you see are cosmetic and the basic functionality of ASF has remained the same. No features have been lost.

Okay, so what has changed?

Well the biggest change is probably the introduction of tabs. Towards the top of each page you will see a row of tabs: 'Home', 'Forums', 'Blogs', 'Shop', 'Chat', 'Competition' and 'Seminars'. Clicking on any of these tabs will take you directly to the main areas of ASF. The tab you click on will then be highlighted so you can easily see where you are. It is hoped that these tabs will become the primary way of navigating around ASF. For those who preferred the 'Forum Jump' menu as a way of jumping from one forum to another, it has been retained and is in the same spot.

There is also now a search box on every page for those who find it more convenient than the drop down search box. This is in approximately the same spot as the 'Stock Quote' box used to be. So where's the 'Stock Quote' box I hear you ask? It's now on the front page, just above the 'Market Summary'.

If you encounter any glitches or issues with the new design please let me know about it in this thread. Any positive or negative feedback is also appreciated as it is possible for the design to be refined and tweaked should I get a lot of feedback about any particular aspect of it.

But please, give yourself some time to get used to the new design. Take it slow and if you have any questions, please ask.


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## osmosis

Congrats -- it looks smart and crisp.


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## Timmy

Looks fantastic Joe - congrats!


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## Kauri

Well done Joe and also Forem Skin,,,  I can see I am going to have to colour up my charts a bit to get them to stand out against the new skin..

  Love the idea of the tabs.. great innovation... ASF just increased its lead over the rest..

  Thanks to all involved..
  Cheers
.............Kauri


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## Whiskers

Yeah, bludy well done Joe.

Very sophisticated looking, stylish... but as you promised with all the same functionality. 

Nice shades of blue too. Blue ribbon site.


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## Joe Blow

Thank you all for the positive feedback! It's sincerely appreciated!


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## OK2

nice interior decorating complete with smilies that have real character


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## sam76

Very clear, crisp and soft.


Nice 



p.s. It almost looks like a monachist website at first glance


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## Miner

Bloody better and looks professional.
Well done

Regards


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## Jett_Star

Wow!!!!! The new design looks fantastic!

Well done


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## x2rider

Wicked .
 Lots if work done in the backrom to put together this Joe .  

 Cheers martin


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## Aussiejeff

Yup! Excellent work Joe 

Must have taken the odd hour or two to get it together, eh?

Respectful ANZAC Day....

AJ


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## mjam

Looks great - well done


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## alankew

Bloody hell Joe,just recieved a phishing email off ebay and now this-too much to cope with in one day,thank goodness the market is closed today Looks good  though,good job.


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## eclipse

Well done, very clear and crisp.   The new format fits well with Windows Vista, Thanks Joe.


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## jman2007

"Nice one bruv!"....

Joe, the new design is very appealing visually and it's great to see the functionality has changed very little. I think it will be a great success.

jman


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## Prospector

I love it! :


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## explod

Yeh, nice cool colours, less likely to explode

Any takers to set the fuse, gold's a bit quiet so you may have  to start a new thread.

No joke, its good Joe


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## Julia

Thank you, Joe.  It's terrific.  Really like the shaded colours.


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## Joe Blow

Thank you all for your very kind words! 

Believe it or not this has been quite a long process and it is a great relief to finally be able to introduce the new design. The happiness of ASF's members was always one of my primary considerations and it's very gratifying to know that most people have found the new design to be pleasing to the eye.


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## Prospector

Joe Blow said:


> Thank you all for your very kind words!
> 
> Believe it or not this has been quite a long process




I believe it - we are having our business website revamped (going from frames to, um, something we can edit ourselves) and it is taking forever...........and lots of $$$$$ too!


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## tech/a

Where am I?

Joe's put a suit on!


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## njc.corp

Looks very nice-

From my point of view its very easy to get threw and more in your face look-

Thanks

Nick--


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## GreatPig

A great site, Joe, and well done on keeping it so good.

However, I do have to say this popular tendency towards lots of low-contrast pastel colour schemes is not great IMO. Maybe I'm just getting old , but everything is getting harder to read.

Just had the same issue with Outlook Express. To keep accessing Hotmail accounts with a client, you have to change to their new Windows Live Mail, and it's the same - all soft pastel colours with low contrast. So I'm moving from OE where everything was clear and easy to read, to this new damned thing where I have the constant urge to try and find the contrast knob to turn it up. The age of appearance over usability. Bring back DOS I say! 

Cheers,
GP


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## Sean K

GreatPig said:


> Bring back DOS I say!
> 
> Cheers,
> GP



 Showing your age GP!!! Ha!!


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## peter2

Clean, professional presentation, Joe, well done.

IMO the difference between the new post icon and the no new post icon is too small and hard to see. Please consider making the new post icon more noticable, eg red bars, red arrow.


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## Joe Blow

peter2 said:


> IMO the difference between the new post icon and the no new post icon is too small and hard to see. Please consider making the new post icon more noticable, eg red bars, red arrow.






GreatPig said:


> However, I do have to say this popular tendency towards lots of low-contrast pastel colour schemes is not great IMO. Maybe I'm just getting old , but everything is getting harder to read.




Hi Gents. Just wanted you to know that I am taking your remarks on board and I can see a little room for some slight tweaking of this new design.

Keep the feedback coming.


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## >Apocalypto<

on the new website design Joe. early this morning when the change came in i thought i was seeing things, just that nearly convinced me i had to go to bed!


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## drasicjazz

yea looks good indeed
very good combo between bold/normal/colour lettering and backgroundcolours
it gives it a very easy overview 
well done


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## GreatPig

kennas said:


> Showing your age GP!!! Ha!!



Hell, I was already old when DOS came out . At least I didn't say bring back CP/M.

GP


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## marklar

Some of the fonts colours like the green used in the breadcrumb can be a little difficult to read at low screen brightness (MacBook Pro).

m.


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## Joe Blow

GreatPig said:


> Hell, I was already old when DOS came out . At least I didn't say bring back CP/M.
> 
> GP




Here's an archival photo of GP with his first PC.


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## tigerboi

Great work joe on a stand out job...lest we forget......tb


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## GreatPig

Joe Blow said:


> Here's an archival photo of GP with his first PC.



Love the steering wheels. I didn't realise car racing games were that old.

GP


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## soso

Great job Joe!

However I am used to the old theme and I remember yesterday was available at the bottom of the site a combo box to choose between this new theme and the old one but now is gone! Could you guys make it available again to people who prefer it? I really like the old theme as it is the theme of another couple of forums which I read. Thanks!


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## trishan9390

Joe Blow said:


> Thank you all for your very kind words!
> 
> Believe it or not this has been quite a long process and it is a great relief to finally be able to introduce the new design. The happiness of ASF's members was always one of my primary considerations and it's very gratifying to know that most people have found the new design to be pleasing to the eye.




Very pleasing to the eye indeed and much easier to navigate your way around the site. I think the hard work has payed off. Keep up the good work fellas.


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## Agentm

well done

excellent looking site..


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## Sir Burr

Joe Blow said:


> Keep the feedback coming.




Looks fantastic!

Seems a lot of vertical wasted space at the top. More scrolling! 

Any chance of squeezing it all up a bit. Making the recent threads etc higher up?

Thanks.

Edit: I'm using a small screen.


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## fmz

like the color. good work.


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## Knight Trader

JBlow,

Simply the BEST.

K.T


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## Julia

Joe, could you spell out very slowly and as for a very stupid person exactly the purpose of the "Multiquote" button and how to use it?

Thanks

I've read the earlier thread about this but, sorry, I just don't get what it's supposed to do.


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## Joe Blow

Julia said:


> Joe, could you spell out very slowly and as for a very stupid person exactly the purpose of the "Multiquote" button and how to use it?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> I've read the earlier thread about this but, sorry, I just don't get what it's supposed to do.




Hi Julia,

The multiquote button is for when you want to respond to more than one post in a thread.

On each post that you wish to respond to, in the order you wish to respond to them, click the multiquote button on each post. Then click either the 'Quote' button on the last post you wish to respond to (after clicking its multiquote button of course) or the 'Post Reply' button at the end of the page of the thread.

A new reply will be commenced and the content of each of the posts you selected will automatically be quoted in the new reply. You then simply have to insert your responses between the quotes and click 'Submit Reply'.

Of course, I recommend pruning the quotes, if possible, so that only the specific remarks you would like to respond to remain within the quote tags.

I am going to ask the designer to change hoe the current 'MultiQuote' button functions. In the old design, the button used to change colour to orange when clicked. I prefer that method to the current one on this design that simply changes from '+' to '-'.

Anyway, I hope that explains it. I use it a lot and it does save a lot of time and hassle.


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## BIG BWACULL

SHMICKO


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## Joe Blow

I have also made the decision to enable image attachment thumbnails. I have done this for a couple of reasons:

1. In the past, some ASF members found a maximum image size of 875 pixels in width to be too restrictive and would have preferred to be able to attach larger images. As a result, when these images were resized to a width of 875 pixels sometimes some of the detail in these images was lost. This was often particularly noticable with text on charts which became too small to read. It has now been set at a maximum of 1000 pixels in width but I can set it higher if need be.

2. By enabling thumbnails, threads will load faster as full size images will not need to be loaded unnecessarily. This should improve site performance for all ASF users. 

I realise that people will now have to click on the thumbnail to see images that are attached to posts, but I think that the advantages of enabling thumbnails far outweigh the negatives.


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## BSD

Can we get rid of the stinking union jack from behind my avatar?

A southern cross will be fine


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## bigdog

Joe,

*I love it except for the default setting "Align Center" for text input which is difficult to read and align data.*

Wall Street rallied Thursday after the government's jobless claims data and Ford Motor Co.'s first-quarter results helped reinject some optimism about the economy into the market.

Sym Last........ ........Change..........
Dow 12,848.95 +85.73 +0.67%
Nasdaq 2,428.92 +23.71 +0.99%
S&P 500 1,388.82 +8.89 +0.64%
30-yr Bond 4.5440% +0.0590

NYSE Volume 4,462,689,500
Nasdaq Volume 2,352,640,500

Overseas
Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.28 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 0.54 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.39 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.31 percent.

Europe
Symbol... Last...... .....Change.......
FTSE 100 6,050.70 -32.90 -0.54%
DAX 6,821.32 +26.29 +0.39%
CAC 40 4,929.55 -15.10 -0.31%​
A quick recap of the rules for those not familiar with them:

1. You MUST have at least a minimum of 10 posts AND an average of at least 0.30 posts per day to enter. You can see your posts per day average by clicking on your user name and viewing your public profile... your average is displayed right next to your 'total posts'.

2. Each entrant may choose one ASX listed stock. Options, warrants and deferred settlement shares are not permitted. Stocks with a price of less than $0.01 are ineligible for the competition.

3. The winner is the entrant whose selected stock performs the best in percentage terms between May 1 and May 31.

4. The maximum number of entrants in the competition is 100.

The winner will receive a year's subscription to their choice of either AFR Smart Investor, Money or Your Trading Edge magazine... OR a $75 gift voucher to be spent at the ASF Investment Shop (or $50 cash if you prefer). The second placegetter will receive the runner up prize of $25 cash.

You have until midnight on Wednesday April 30 to enter.


*Request default setting to be "Align Left"*

Wall Street rallied Thursday after the government's jobless claims data and Ford Motor Co.'s first-quarter results helped reinject some optimism about the economy into the market.

Sym Last........ ........Change..........
Dow 12,848.95 +85.73 +0.67%
Nasdaq 2,428.92 +23.71 +0.99%
S&P 500 1,388.82 +8.89 +0.64%
30-yr Bond 4.5440% +0.0590

NYSE Volume 4,462,689,500
Nasdaq Volume 2,352,640,500

Overseas
Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.28 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 0.54 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.39 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.31 percent.

Europe
Symbol... Last...... .....Change.......
FTSE 100 6,050.70 -32.90 -0.54%
DAX 6,821.32 +26.29 +0.39%
CAC 40 4,929.55 -15.10 -0.31%

A quick recap of the rules for those not familiar with them:

1. You MUST have at least a minimum of 10 posts AND an average of at least 0.30 posts per day to enter. You can see your posts per day average by clicking on your user name and viewing your public profile... your average is displayed right next to your 'total posts'.

2. Each entrant may choose one ASX listed stock. Options, warrants and deferred settlement shares are not permitted. Stocks with a price of less than $0.01 are ineligible for the competition.

3. The winner is the entrant whose selected stock performs the best in percentage terms between May 1 and May 31.

4. The maximum number of entrants in the competition is 100.

The winner will receive a year's subscription to their choice of either AFR Smart Investor, Money or Your Trading Edge magazine... OR a $75 gift voucher to be spent at the ASF Investment Shop (or $50 cash if you prefer). The second placegetter will receive the runner up prize of $25 cash.

You have until midnight on Wednesday April 30 to enter.​


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## Sean K

bigdog said:


> Joe,
> 
> I love it except for the default setting "Align Center" for text input which is difficult to read.



This is an anomaly that Joe will fix when he wakes up I think. kennas


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## Joe Blow

kennas said:


> This is an anomaly that Joe will fix when he wakes up I think. kennas




Fixed. 

Sorry guys, we're expermenting with some warnings to unregistered visitors at the moment and something went wrong and it all started aligning to the center.

Anyway, it's back to normal now.


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## macca

Hi Joe,

I would like to ask if it possible to have more contrast between colours.

Green on blue is difficult for those of us with bad eyesight, also the highlighting of threads with new posts could be more prominent.

Sorry to be a pain, but the eyeballs don't work so well anymore.

Thanks for the forum


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## Scuba

Hey Joe,
_("where you goin with that gun in your hand?")_

Seriously though, site looks quite flash, well done...

May I ask if you have in fact changed from a serrif font to a sans serrif font when displaying pages?
I noticed a post about readability and would have to agree with the sentiment.
Someone told me many years ago of the readability issue between the two types...

Thanks again for having the better forum Joe...
Regards,
Scuba


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## nomore4s

lol, I just changed from Internet Explorer to Firefox yesterday and the first time I logged in with Firefox, the changes had taken place.

I thought, gee no wonder everyone raves about firefox look at how much better everything looks, lol:

Well done Joe.


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## Garpal Gumnut

Joe Blow said:


> I have also made the decision to enable image attachment thumbnails. I have done this for a couple of reasons:
> 
> 1. In the past, some ASF members found a maximum image size of 875 pixels in width to be too restrictive and would have preferred to be able to attach larger images. As a result, when these images were resized to a width of 875 pixels sometimes some of the detail in these images was lost. This was often particularly noticable with text on charts which became too small to read. It has now been set at a maximum of 1000 pixels in width but I can set it higher if need be.
> 
> 2. By enabling thumbnails, threads will load faster as full size images will not need to be loaded unnecessarily. This should improve site performance for all ASF users.
> 
> I realise that people will now have to click on the thumbnail to see images that are attached to posts, but I think that the advantages of enabling thumbnails far outweigh the negatives.




Mate,

Its a great new format although I don't agree with you on the thumbnails for charts.

Chartists are more right brained and brainier anyway than funnymentalists and having to click on the thumbnail and back to the text is challenging for our super intelligence.

Was it Chomsky who said, the Chart is the message.

gg


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## Timmy

BSD said:


> Can we get rid of the stinking union jack from behind my avatar?
> 
> A southern cross will be fine




Ummm ... not wishing to offend so will leave the stinking bit out but yeah the Union Flag behind is a bit peculiar .... I imagine its the top left-hand corner of the Aust. flag, but still ... I suppose you could change the site name to Commonwealth Stock Forums then it coud be the top left of NZ, Cook Islands, and so on ....




nomore4s said:


> lol, I just changed from Internet Explorer to Firefox yesterday and the first time I logged in with Firefox, the changes had taken place.
> 
> I thought, gee no wonder everyone raves about firefox look at how much better everything looks, lol:
> 
> Well done Joe.




That is so funny!


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## Agentm

all fine on the website..

2 things i dont particularily find easy..

this green font thats appearing is real hard to see.. for me that is a wrong colour format and it is definately extremely hard to read things..

thumbnails are not my cup of tea.. i looked at few i have posted, first it loads up and its too small to read, then you have to click again and it nlarges a second time..  imho posting charts maps etc should be on the thread and not thumbnailed..

i cant understand why the editor box is so small myself, can it be made real large?

but i appreciate the effort on this and you have been working long hours on it..

hope we can lose that green

cheers


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## Boggo

BSD said:


> Can we get rid of the stinking union jack from behind my avatar?
> 
> A southern cross will be fine




I am with BSD on this one, would like to see the Madge symbol take a long rest.

My 

Mike


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## Garpal Gumnut

Agree with others that Southern Cross would be better than the Union Jack. There are enough of the buggers here already and it might encourage more to migrate.

gg


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## Sir Burr

Garpal Gumnut said:


> Southern Cross would be better than the Union Jack.




FWIW I vote neither/nothing. Flag is at the top.

Edit: but agree with gg if there must.


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## Garpal Gumnut

Joe Blow said:


> I have also made the decision to enable image attachment thumbnails. I have done this for a couple of reasons:
> 
> 1. In the past, some ASF members found a maximum image size of 875 pixels in width to be too restrictive and would have preferred to be able to attach larger images. As a result, when these images were resized to a width of 875 pixels sometimes some of the detail in these images was lost. This was often particularly noticable with text on charts which became too small to read. It has now been set at a maximum of 1000 pixels in width but I can set it higher if need be.
> 
> 2. By enabling thumbnails, threads will load faster as full size images will not need to be loaded unnecessarily. This should improve site performance for all ASF users.
> 
> I realise that people will now have to click on the thumbnail to see images that are attached to posts, but I think that the advantages of enabling thumbnails far outweigh the negatives.




I bet that bugger whispering in your ear is not a Chartist.

gg


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## Trembling Hand

Love the update but,

That Union Jack has to go!! I see no reason for that. In fact I feel some what offended by it. Could the reasoning/thinking for it be explained a bit Joe?

The loss of contrast at this stage seems to be a negative(time will tell once we get use to it). For example the greens get lost. Especially the online now dot looks hardly any diff from the offline dot. And the post text back ground being non white makes it a bit harder to read.

As for the thumbnails I think this is a backwards looking step in the days of faster and faster internet speeds. As they say 'a picture speaks a thousand words'. For us simpler chartists we probably don't know a thousand words .
But seriously seems a step back in time to be cutting bandwidth at the cost of easy access to rich information.

Overall thumbs up. (but a big thumbs down on the Union Jack though )


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## GreatPig

On the two current topics: I also much prefer having charts *not* displayed as thumbnails, and don't like the Union Jack either.

I suppose charts could be displayed from an image server, so they'd still show up in full and would not be using ASF's bandwidth, but that is a bit more effort each time one is posted.

Perhaps if there could be an option, so that attachments bigger than a certain file size show up as thumbnails, but smaller ones don't. Generally I don't see a need to be posting large, hi-res charts all the time, but maybe that's just me. 

GP


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## Joe Blow

Guys, the primary issue with displaying full size images is that they are just not big enough. In many cases people can't read the text that is written on them and after this redesign the width of images would have to be reduced even further to around 800 pixels in width, otherwise it would distort the right side of the forum and I'm not prepared to have images do that under any circumstances. If people want 800 pixel wide images then I will consider changing it but trust me, as soon as I change it people will be saying that the images aren't big enough and that they can't see all the detail or what is written on them, especially when people start with larger images and have to resize them. It is a recipe for disaster. With thumbnails people can attach images of 1200 pixels or more in width if I set it to that.

With the issue with the Union Jack I'm not sure what happened to the seven pointed star beneath it but it seems to have gone missing. It was there yesterday. I will tell the designer to try the Southern Cross only in the avatar area.


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## Joe Blow

Trembling Hand said:


> As for the thumbnails I think this is a backwards looking step in the days of faster and faster internet speeds. As they say 'a picture speaks a thousand words'. For us simpler chartists we probably don't know a thousand words .
> But seriously seems a step back in time to be cutting bandwidth at the cost of easy access to rich information.




TH: You do know that you click on the thumbnails to get the full size images right? :


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## Trembling Hand

Joe Blow said:


> TH: You do know that you click on the thumbnails to get the full size images right? :




Yes. But if you have say 4 post all with a chart or two involved its easy to just scroll the thread and see what each poster is talking about. If you have to click a link on each post to pull up the chart or charts it just makes the Forum LESS easy to read.

Have a look at the last page of the SPI thread which has 9 charts posted. Previously you could read it and compare other peoples analysis easily. Now to read the post you get lost in a mess of external windows.

I don't read elite traders forum for that reason that every chart is a thumbnail. Many times I just look at what people post as charts rather than read all the banter in between the charts. Now the *useful info *is 1 further click away from the posts and I'm Left just with the banter IMHO.


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## Joe Blow

Trembling Hand said:


> Yes. But if you have say 4 post all with a chart or two involved its easy to just scroll the thread and see what each poster is talking about. If you have to click a link on each post to pull up the chart or charts it just makes the Forum LESS easy to read.
> 
> Have a look at the last page of the SPI thread which has 9 charts posted. Previously you could read it and compare other peoples analysis easily. Now to read the post you get lost in a mess of external windows.
> 
> I don't read elite traders forum for that reason that every chart is a thumbnail. Many times I just look at what people post as charts rather than read all the banter in between the charts. Now the *useful info *is 1 further click away from the posts and I'm Left just with the banter IMHO.




I can't win on this issue TH. If I reduce the width of attached images to around 800 pixels I'm going to get people attaching larger images which will then be automatically resized by the forum software. Many images will then be pretty much useless as much of the detail will be lost and text may be indecipherable. There is a very good reason why most forums use thumbnails and that's because it allows people to view images at the dimensions they were originally created in irrespective of their screen resolution. This site has to be optimised for 1024x768 as more than a third of ASF members have their screen resolution set to that. If I change it back I will get people on higher screen resolutions complaining that they can't make sense of many of the attached images due to the resizing.

Like I said, I can't win.


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## Dukey

Joe - new site design all good as far as I'm concerned. nice combination of colours,  same simple layout which makes ASF one of the easiest forums I've come across.
On the thumbnails - works fine esp if you use 'tabbed' web browser I think, maybe even better for comparing posted charts - just flick from one tab to the next.  Might just take a little getting used to for some.

good job and great service you provide here, as always  
- Dukey.


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## Trembling Hand

Joe Blow said:


> I can't win on this issue TH. If I reduce the width of attached images to around 800 pixels I'm going to get people attaching larger images which will then be automatically resized by the forum software. Many images will then be pretty much useless as much of the detail will be lost and text may be indecipherable.




Fair enough. But would people not learn how to post 800 pixel max images or their charts will not work? I have the same problem with my Blog and it doesn't take long to figure out how to do that. But I don't want to bust your nut over this. I just always liked that the images being displayed as part of the post. One of the many reasons that ASF is a winner.


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## hypnotic

Thanks Joe for the redesign. Definitely more pleasing to look at than before.

Cheers, 

Hypnotic


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## Joe Blow

Trembling Hand said:


> Fair enough. But would people not learn how to post 800 pixel max images or their charts will not work? I have the same problem with my Blog and it doesn't take long to figure out how to do that.




It takes a lot of practice to figure out how to crop and resize charts yourself. Some people find it easy while others never learn how to save and attach an image to a post. It sounds crazy considering how simple a process it is but some people are just not computer people and find everything to do with computers difficult. I still find it amazing that some people find it difficult to use the 







> tags properly but that's because I take them for granted and am so used to them.
> 
> I'm not ruling out the possibility of going back to regular image attachments but I think the advantages of using thumbnails far outweighs the negatives. I think the only real negative with using thumbnails is that many people find it inconvenient to click through to the full size image.  On a personal level I will find it very disappointing if we revert to the way things were, but if there is enough pressure on me to do so I probably will.


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## Captain_Chaza

Looks Crappy to me on a 30" Computer screen
with 3 " Blank columns/spaces left and Right

Strong Contrasting colours HAS always been best in Headline issues

Miniture Thumbnail sketches /Charts are a distraction to  the concentration and an insult to my intelligence  when the goiing gets tough and time is of the essence 
IMHO 

It just doesn't work for me!

Salute and Gods' speed


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## brerwallabi

I was amazed to see the UJ, it definitely has to go, would also like if possible when I use new posts to see the stocks shown in a different colour so they stand out easier.
Anyway a great improvement - well done.


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## doogie_goes_off

Nothing but sensational, still has the same look and feel but has all the mod cons, just burning my eyes out on my flashy screen. I'll never fall asllep at the 'puter again!


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## YOUNG_TRADER

WOW, just logged on after 4 days of boozing and partying, thought I'd gone to the wrong web page, so typed in the web page again, wait a tick this is ASF

VERY VERY NICEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :


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## michael_selway

Joe Blow said:


> Welcome to the new ASF!
> 
> Despite first appearances, the site has not changed dramatically. Many of the changes you see are cosmetic and the basic functionality of ASF has remained the same. No features have been lost.
> 
> Okay, so what has changed?
> 
> Well the biggest change is probably the introduction of tabs. Towards the top of each page you will see a row of tabs: 'Home', 'Forums', 'Blogs', 'Shop', 'Chat', 'Competition' and 'Seminars'. Clicking on any of these tabs will take you directly to the main areas of ASF. The tab you click on will then be highlighted so you can easily see where you are. It is hoped that these tabs will become the primary way of navigating around ASF. For those who preferred the 'Forum Jump' menu as a way of jumping from one forum to another, it has been retained and is in the same spot.
> 
> There is also now a search box on every page for those who find it more convenient than the drop down search box. This is in approximately the same spot as the 'Stock Quote' box used to be. So where's the 'Stock Quote' box I hear you ask? It's now on the front page, just above the 'Market Summary'.
> 
> If you encounter any glitches or issues with the new design please let me know about it in this thread. Any positive or negative feedback is also appreciated as it is possible for the design to be refined and tweaked should I get a lot of feedback about any particular aspect of it.
> 
> But please, give yourself some time to get used to the new design. Take it slow and if you have any questions, please ask.




Hi Joe, nice work on the new design, its great and original!

I have to say that this forum is the best out of all the stock forums I know and the people here bring alot of different and great opinions (from fundies to techies etc) to share about on stocks/comodities etc

Have to admit I leanrt alot being on theses forums since I first joined and have just enjoyed the general atmosphere it has brought etc

Thanks

MS 

(PS: Btw is there anywhere on this site that talks a little about yourself? esp your interest in stocks and how and why you got this forum started, I was just wondering  if you dont mind me asking )


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## saichuen

What a pleasant surprise when I logged into the website today. Gotta luv it!


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## tech/a

Joe.
One little feature that was there before but now missing.

The quick search function for a stock price.
Albeit 20 mins delayed was handy for a quick lookup.


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## nomore4s

tech/a said:


> Joe.
> One little feature that was there before but now missing.
> 
> The quick search function for a stock price.
> Albeit 20 mins delayed was handy for a quick lookup.




Tech, it's still there.

On right hand side above the market summary


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## Joe Blow

tech/a said:


> Joe.
> One little feature that was there before but now missing.
> 
> The quick search function for a stock price.
> Albeit 20 mins delayed was handy for a quick lookup.




nomore4's beat me to it.  It's now on the front page above the 'Market Summary'. This may be a little inconvenient for some but I thought since more people use the site search function than the stock quote having a search box in the site header would be more useful.


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## GreatPig

Regarding the thumbnail issue, maybe just leave it like that and let anyone who's capable use links to an image server to display full-size images (assuming that still works, that is).

Otherwise, is there any way you can make it so that images up to 800 pixels wide are displayed full-size but anything larger is automatically displayed as a thumbnail?

Cheers,
GP


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## eddyeagle

The new look website looks very sharp indeed - well done guys!


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## Trembling Hand

Joe I can plainly see what your up against here.
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=287562&postcount=12

This will need some thinking to get around. A policy about greater than 800 pixel pics pulled if an auto software function is not available? Or I guess you will have to pull that feature as well?


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## Julia

nomore4s said:


> Tech, it's still there.
> 
> On right hand side above the market summary



No, it's only on the Home Page.  This means that if you are reading a thread about a particular stock and want to check the chart etc, you have to exit that thread and go back to the Home Page, look up what you want, and then get back to the thread.  

Joe, could you please have a look at this?  It really is annoying.
With thanks
Julia


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## Joe Blow

Julia said:


> Joe, could you please have a look at this?  It really is annoying.




Hi Julia,

My apologies but I'm currently snowed under dealing with other issues related to the new design. It's going to require additional coding to be able to make the stock quote box available on every page again. It may also be a little difficult to re-implement but I promise I will look into it as soon as I have all the other issues sorted out.



Trembling Hand said:


> Joe I can plainly see what your up against here.
> https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=287562&postcount=12
> 
> This will need some thinking to get around. A policy about greater than 800 pixel pics pulled if an auto software function is not available? Or I guess you will have to pull that feature as well?




Hi TH,

Yes, it's quite a complicated situation and my primary concern is that attached images are presented to ASF's members in the most useful/detailed way. I hate to see oversized images resized to the point that people can't make heads nor tails of them. It seems to defeat the purpose of attaching images in the first place. Sadly, I am constrained by the limitations of this forum software and it's either thumbnails or 800 pixel wide images. I'm in favour of thumbnails because it will allow people to view attachments in the dimensions they were originally created in. I know it's slightly inconvenient but I think the advantages outweigh the negatives. Of course, should people insist on no thumbnails I am prepared to go with the wishes of the majority but I suspect if I change things back I will have just as many people telling me they preferred the clickable thumbnails. 

I'm beginning to think the only way to solve this issue is with a poll.


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## Trembling Hand

Joe Blow said:


> I'm beginning to think the only way to solve this issue is with a poll.





Yes I was going to ask about that but it could be dangerous. You know a good politician does call an inquiry unless they know the out come :


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## Joules MM1

Nice design.......


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## nomore4s

Trembling Hand said:


> Yes I was going to ask about that but it could be dangerous. You know a good politician does call an inquiry unless they know the out come :




lol,

I actually like the thumbnails, as I've got dual screens I can open the image and view it on one screen and read the thread on the other.
But I do understand other peoples frustrations, as at work I've only got one screen and it's not so convenient there:

Good luck Joe


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## justjohn

JOE-is it me or are the names in the last post column a different type ,they seem fuzzy or is it at 48 I finally need glasses:brille: otherwise its a great change:


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## Timmy

Nice work on removing the Union flag from the background Joe - I like the Southern Cross instead and its more appropriate for an Aust. forum - thanks a lot.


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## dojara

LOOKS BEWWWWDIFUL:dance:


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## Kremmen

Looks nice, but still has two annoying bugs/misfeatures from the old setup:

1) Displaying/reading/etc "aussiestockforums.com" works fine, but logging in doesn't. To log in, one has to use "www.aussiestockforums.com". This is simply bad and requires extra typing for no reason. It's easy enough to either get rid of the requirement to use the www version or do an automatic redirect from the base name to the www name.

2) Forcing the pages to be so wide, so that anyone viewing in a window that's not full-screen has to scroll sideways. It's tedious and totally unnecessary, both for HTML in general and this board software in particular.

(eg. see flyertalk.com/forums for a site which does both properly)


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## Joe Blow

Kremmen said:


> Looks nice, but still has two annoying bugs/misfeatures from the old setup:
> 
> 1) Displaying/reading/etc "aussiestockforums.com" works fine, but logging in doesn't. To log in, one has to use "www.aussiestockforums.com". This is simply bad and requires extra typing for no reason. It's easy enough to either get rid of the requirement to use the www version or do an automatic redirect from the base name to the www name.
> 
> 2) Forcing the pages to be so wide, so that anyone viewing in a window that's not full-screen has to scroll sideways. It's tedious and totally unnecessary, both for HTML in general and this board software in particular.
> 
> (eg. see flyertalk.com/forums for a site which does both properly)




Hi Kremmen,

I will see what I can do about the log in problem from aussiestockforums.com. I can't imagine it would be too hard to fix.

Regarding the width of ASF, unfortunately I have had to optimise for screen resolutions of 1024x768 and above. According to my statistics, only 2-3% of ASF users have screen resolutions of 800x600 and many have them set quite high (see attachment) so I have had to leave 800x600 behind. My apologies. 

It's shame you're not in Brisbane. I have an old 17" CRT monitor I'm about the throw out because nobody I know wants it.


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## Trembling Hand

Joe how come my screen res isn't in your stats, 4660 X 1600.


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## Joe Blow

Trembling Hand said:


> Joe how come my screen res isn't in your stats, 4660 X 1600.




That's just the top 10.... this one is the largest in the last month.


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## Trembling Hand

Joe Blow said:


> That's just the top 10.... this one is the largest in the last month.




Wow thats bigger than mine  I'm going to have to reconfigure and get 7600 X 1600. :


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## Sir Burr

Thanks for the larger arrows (Last Post, Home page)

My trembling hand had trouble to point at those 2 or 3 pixels


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## Scuba

Got a bit miffed at the Pommie bashing, but Crucis (_Southern cross_) looks great.
Thanks for the great site again Joe...
Regards,
Scuba


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## jtb

Like it Joe, well done


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## macca

Hi Joe,

When I actually enter a forum, threads with new posts are bolder than the old ones, which is good (even if they are still green  )

When on the main page of the forums I can't see any difference in those that have new posts since my last visit and those that don't.

At the moment I look at the times of the last post but I thought on the old layout a forum with a new post was in bold type, am I missing something ?

Thanks


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## Agentm

joe,

can the thumbnails be an option?  i prefer to have maps and charts on the thread. up close and visable 

my view is tha if your posting a map or a TA chart the thing you want to see is the chart, so when your reading it its there in front of you..

imho if your trying to flick between chart and commentary your either going to get sick of it pretty quickly and not even bother..

i notice there is a lack of ta charts appearing now..

how do you view it..


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## Joe Blow

macca said:


> Hi Joe,
> 
> When I actually enter a forum, threads with new posts are bolder than the old ones, which is good (even if they are still green  )
> 
> When on the main page of the forums I can't see any difference in those that have new posts since my last visit and those that don't.
> 
> At the moment I look at the times of the last post but I thought on the old layout a forum with a new post was in bold type, am I missing something ?




Hi Macca,

I will look into this and see what I can do.



Agentm said:


> joe,
> 
> can the thumbnails be an option?  i prefer to have maps and charts on the thread. up close and visable
> 
> my view is tha if your posting a map or a TA chart the thing you want to see is the chart, so when your reading it its there in front of you..
> 
> imho if your trying to flick between chart and commentary your either going to get sick of it pretty quickly and not even bother..
> 
> i notice there is a lack of ta charts appearing now..
> 
> how do you view it..




Unfortunately I have to decide between thumbnails or larger images. This forum software doesn't do both. The only problem with larger images is that they can only be a maximum of around 800 pixels wide which is probably going to be too small for many people on higher screen resolutions especially if they are automatically resized by the forum software. With thumbnails the maximum width of attached images is currently set to 1200 pixels wide.

I am still considering which way to go with it. Some people prefer thumbnails and some don't so whichever way I decide some people are going to be disappointed.


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## Kremmen

Joe Blow said:


> Regarding the width of ASF, unfortunately I have had to optimise for screen resolutions of 1024x768 and above. According to my statistics, only 2-3% of ASF users have screen resolutions of 800x600 and many have them set quite high (see attachment) so I have had to leave 800x600 behind. My apologies.




Firstly, to "optimise" is fine. Making it lousy for anything less is not optimising and (as shown by other sites) it's not necessary.

Secondly, you're totally missing the point with those stats. I run a screen resolution higher than 1024x768 too. But I have a number of other windows open for other applications and *never* run my browser in full-screen mode. It's called multi-tasking. I've seen polls suggesting that about 50% of users run their browsers full-screen. For the other 50%, the screen resolution is totally irrelevant except as an upper limit.

Do you have stats on what size people's browser window is? Even then, that would be misleading, as users will be making their browser window bigger on this site precisely because it works so poorly otherwise.


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## wayneL

Kremmen said:


> Firstly, to "optimise" is fine. Making it lousy for anything less is not optimising and (as shown by other sites) it's not necessary.
> 
> Secondly, you're totally missing the point with those stats. I run a screen resolution higher than 1024x768 too. But I have a number of other windows open for other applications and *never* run my browser in full-screen mode. It's called multi-tasking. I've seen polls suggesting that about 50% of users run their browsers full-screen. For the other 50%, the screen resolution is totally irrelevant except as an upper limit.
> 
> Do you have stats on what size people's browser window is? Even then, that would be misleading, as users will be making their browser window bigger on this site precisely because it works so poorly otherwise.



Not too many of the major sites that I visit, including MSM sites have a fluid width setup, most are fixed width.

Personally, I hate fluid width as the reading area becomes too wide, making it difficult to concentrate. This is the reason print media uses columns, it increases readership. Fluid width would compromise those who use the full screen for their browser.

IMO


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## It's Snake Pliskin

wayneL said:


> Not too many of the major sites that I visit, including MSM sites have a fluid width setup, most are fixed width.
> 
> Personally, I hate fluid width as the reading area becomes too wide, making it difficult to concentrate. This is the reason print media uses columns, it increases readership. Fluid width would compromise those who use the full screen for their browser.
> 
> IMO




Fixed width is best. There is nothing more annoying than a site which has the width of a football field.

Good work Joe. I wish you all the best.
Cheers.


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## prs

Hi Joe Blow
I haven't had much input of late probably due to work and also the slump in share prices. I like the changes very much, well done.


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## Kremmen

It's Snake Pliskin said:


> There is nothing more annoying than a site which has the width of a football field.




Then don't use your browser full-screen! Set it to the size you like to view ... and properly designed web sites will fit that.


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## wayneL

Kremmen said:


> Then don't use your browser full-screen! Set it to the size you like to view ... and properly designed web sites will fit that.




So a fixed width website isn't properly designed?

Better tell all the big mainstream media companies then.


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## Happy

Kremmen said:


> Then don't use your browser full-screen! Set it to the size you like to view ... and properly designed web sites will fit that.




Being rather computer challenged, I would not have idea how to do that?

I use IE


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## Trembling Hand

Very nice Joe. All is well in my world again.


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## sam76

Just a heads up there, Joe.

Some partner links don't work.

I've been trying to check out the beefed up Toureg for the last couple of days but been unable to open the link.

Cheers


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## Joe Blow

sam76 said:


> Just a heads up there, Joe.
> 
> Some partner links don't work.
> 
> I've been trying to check out the beefed up Toureg for the last couple of days but been unable to open the link.




Hi Sam,

That link should work. I don't actually determine where that one goes, someone else does that. Try it again, perhaps on a different PC, and if it still doesn't work let me know.


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## Joe Blow

Trembling Hand said:


> Very nice Joe. All is well in my world again.




Yes, I think the 700 pixel thumbnails are working nicely.


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## Kremmen

wayneL said:


> So a fixed width website isn't properly designed?
> 
> Better tell all the big mainstream media companies then.




No, a fixed width web site whose main content is text in a single area isn't properly designed.

Big newspapers are trying to create a look online that's similar to their printed form. That means columns. The easy way for them to get items to keep in proportion is to use a fixed size, because they are trying to balance photos with text. If you use a small browser window, they are a pain to navigate because you're scrolling both ways all the time. If you use a really big window, there's tons of white space all around the outside and it looks bloody silly. Yes, they've sacrificed usability for appearance.

A bulletin board site which doesn't have multiple columns of data has absolutely no need to even consider that compromise. (aka mistake #9) As I said, look at Flyertalk. Same software as this. Lovely and usable at any resolution.


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## wabbit

If you use a non-IE browser, you can over-ride the applied styles to set whatever width you like; either globally, or for particular sites.

For example, I view ASF at 100% of my screen width on my 1024x768 monitor... no wasted white space for me!

wabbit


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## jtb

Joe Blow said:


> Yes, I think the 700 pixel thumbnails are working nicely.




Yeah.

Didn't realise how much I preferred the old way until logging on tonight.

OK....................... change is bad and I'm a Luddite.

Anychance we can get the Southern Cross up in the header too Joe?

Still looks a bit UJ/English imo


----------

