Forum Issues - Update Released

[RacingPete]

Fixed issues:

• When zooming on desktop it defaults to a mobile view - Fixed down to a certain width of 768px
• If you change to GTI skin then you cannot switch back - Fixed, though Mobile (beta) is still not working, so not an option
• My Stuff on GTI not showing in bold for new topics with posts - Fixed
• Sponsored/Sticky topics not showing with different background - Fixed
• Save My Preferences on GTI/Mobile (beta) clears Fav Forums - Fixed
• My Stuff on iPad working (apart from tabs on portrait view) - Fixed
• Desktop view on iPad for both landscape and portrait orientation - Fixed
• Some tweaks to the styling of the page - Fixed
• Performance fixes to the site - Fixed
• Go to last read post in My Stuff - Fixed

Fixed for Release early next week:

• Overlapping 5th post with advert on Tablet
• Menu navigation not working on Phone on some pages
• Can't edit favourite forums on Phone
• My Stuff - no tabs on iPad portrait view
• Galaxy Tab (and some others) showing the correct view on My Stuff

Not fixed Issues:

• Mobile (beta) does not work on desktop, fonts too big on mobile
• Some of the text formatting on GTI on mobile is a little crashed together when using special tags (e.g. bullets like in this post)
• On iPad, advert next to fifth post overlapping with the post
• Zoom on Tablets
• Icon alignments on footer bar on some phones
• Some small styling tweaks

Edited by RacingPete on Friday 14th August 14:58

[RacingPete]

illmonkey said:

Oh god my eyes!

Change me back, change me back!

Oh, and it might be useful to know what skin you were using before, forgot to mention that... Big Blue, or Classic?

[RacingPete]

illmonkey said:

Big blue, but I imagine once back I can change between the rest.

You are changed

[RacingPete]

Gaz. said:

Du1point8 said:

Why can't we change back if we have a look at GTI?

I dont understand why its a one way street?

I'd like to know this too.

What was wrong with the BB skin? At user level there was nothing wrong with it?

You should be able to change yourself shortly, give us 15 mins.

[RacingPete]

AndrewEH1 said:

This is what GTI looks like on a desktop for me...

Edited by AndrewEH1 on Wednesday 5th August 15:09

Well it certainly is minimalist... But not as intended, added to the list in the first post.

[RacingPete]

AW111 said:

Just went to my stuff :

What device is that on, can't quite tell...

[RacingPete]

PoleDriver said:

Just for reference here is a thread+'my stuff' on PC (I'm assuming it's GTI as I don't have the ability to see/choose any more!

For clarity - that is how it should look (minus the lack of bold on My Stuff), which should be near identical to Big Blue.

[RacingPete]

AndrewEH1 said:

Fancy putting me back to Big Blue? This extra minimalist view is a little too...ste tbh.

You are back to blue.

[RacingPete]

Funk said:

Yes, I noticed the font was harder to read on GTI.

Could we also have Mobile Beta 2 back until this is sorted? It worked great. I'd be prepared to try GTI once it's fixed up but I don't like using Big Blue on mobile, it's horrendous.

Can we have normality back (MB2) until it's fixed?

I have changed you back to Mobile (beta)

[RacingPete]

PoleDriver said:

Desktop is quite stable now. There's still a big difference in the font size between forums and my stuff. Don't forget the pedants want all pages the same and all headings to line up!
On my iPhone there is nothing in my stuff to indicate updated threads

And when selecting a thread I am sent to page one!
HTH!

The list in my first post will be kept up to date with the issues and when we fix them - that is number three on the list now (though the order is no preference order of fixing).

Interesting to see the screen sizes between the forums and my stuff fonts - should be the same size. Also, interesting to know if anyone is inclined if the page is set out with Divs or Tables.

[RacingPete]

I will keep the first post up to date on the latest progress - so that has when we will be releasing any fixes/changes.

[RacingPete]

marshalla said:

RacingPete said:

• If you change to GTI skin then you cannot switch back (I can do that manually for those that want to, so post below) -

marshalla said:

I'd like to go back to Mobile(Beta), please.

(N.B. NOT Beta2 - it doesn't work well on my mobile device).

RacingPete said:

You should be able to change yourself shortly, give us 15 mins.

The changes failed QA so it couldn't go out.... await comments on that statement

[RacingPete]

Craikeybaby said:

You can tell that is happening to a lot of people, as the volume of posts seems like it is way down on normal.

0.16% of our users are on GTI or Mobile Beta, so it is only a small percentage. Posting yesterday (after release) compared to 3rd August (before we released) is actually up 10%. Today we are already at 76% of the post volume from yesterday (with our busiest period after 8pm).

This doesn't mean we are not working on it as much as we can to fix it for those affected, and are prioritising fixes.

[RacingPete]

So it looks like the majority of issues and dislikes are coming from those on tablet devices. If that is not the case then please let us know.

When using tablet, what orientation do you like to use (portrait or landscape), and can you please let us know a bit more about what you do not like in the new skin so we can improve it. At the moment it is hard to do improvements on general comments of its quality.

[RacingPete]

Bill said:

I use an iPad 1 and hudl landscape and an HTC one x portrait and Beta2 seemed pretty sorted functionally if not that good to look at. Big blueish in the tablets and a fairly well sorted mobile site on the phone.

Thank you...

So iPad 1 in landscape should be big blueish in the tables now, so that should be sorted - let me know if not.
On the HTC one in portrait,, what issues are you having with the new GTI skin?

[RacingPete]

FiF said:

Galaxy S3 mini mainly portrait but as above beta 2 was ok functionally.
Occasionally ipad2 landscape.
Laptop no issues. Windows 7.

Thank you also...

So iPad2 should look like laptop in landscape mode

Galaxy S3, what is missing, does not work for you in GTI skin?

[RacingPete]

Bill said:

No worries. Busy at the moment so I'll post some screenshots in a mo, but the main issue is that the go to last read post function is gone.

On the mobile, in My Stuff it should automatically take you to the last read post - so there is no icon for it as the whole row is equivalent.
On the mobile, in any of the forums, there should be an arrow in right hand side of post to take you to the last read post.

I have the team investigating why the updates of where you have last read are not necessarily working as well under this skin as they did previously.

PoleDriver said:

On an iPhone or Android phone Beta 2 worked well!
Now we still have to guess which items in 'my stuff' have been updated and then have to guess which page we need to go to! Do your testing team's smartphones work OK on GTI?

New items in My Stuff should be bold, and are that way on my phone at the moment, and out test phones in the office. We obviously do not have the resource to test across all mobile phones so will test on iPhone 6, 5, 4 and Samsung Galaxy S5 / S4 for all releases. These cover the top 5 most used devices on our site and IOS and Android.

[RacingPete]

MissChief said:

This is what 'my stuff' looks like on my iPad in Landscape using Safari.

Some threads don't show the latest posts, I need to go in and work out where I've read to, others don't even let me go to the last page and the entire list of last poster etc is blank. Looks like it might be related to threat title length?

Ok, this is rather unsettling. Went to Portrait mode, instantly got the mobile style?

Edited by MissChief on Thursday 6th August 18:27

Thank you for those screen shots (I know this was posted earlier also) - I just got hold of the test iPads we have here and can reproduce that. Will need to understand in the morning with the team how that has passed QA, and will work on a fix for this to go out tomorrow.

[RacingPete]

FiF said:

Not checked today and tbh no real desire to try again considering the difficulty I had to get out.

From memory, the updated posts indicator , arrow or bold font didn't work consistently. Plus if you did go into a thread didn't see delete, quote buttons. No report button but that was the same on the mobile skin iirc.
Sometimes it would just dump you in a laptop type screen with small text and multiple columns seemingly at random. Almost as if it didn't recognise you were on a mobile device.

Yet if instead of my stuff you went onto what's new it looked ok.

If you can assure me that I can get back out of GTI after having a look will have a go later this evening as running out of battery and the dog is wittering to go out onto the common and chase saround like a nutter. Hope that's okay for now. See you later.

Thanks for the feedback.

Yep, have reinstated the ability to switch between skins, so you can get back to Classic after you look.

[RacingPete]

PoleDriver said:

So, no updates today then?

The team have been working hard behind the scenes to fix the issues still outstanding from the OP.

We have not been able to implement a fix to the issues in time to not worry that we will be introducing more problems from those fixes. Thus before a weekend it is safer to not release anything new.

Mobile Beta is now unsupported, and we will release the fixes to make GTI work over the early part of next week.

We obviously want to work with all those on tablets that are having issues, and for the moment Big Blue will work on tablet till we get the fixes out. I will give anyone who wants it, access to our pre-prod environments so that they can test things before they get released - PM me.

All switching between skins is now back, so if you want to try out the new skin you can.

I am away this weekend rallying in Yorkshire, so won't be updating further till Monday morning... maybe one of my colleagues might