Hello PHers and welcome to your new look forums!
Discussion
Now, we know you love the forums (as do we) but we know they're not perfect. This is why we've decided to streamline the various "skins" (these gave PHers the ability to modify the look of the forums to their taste) that were previously available on PistonHeads, meaning that only the "GTI" one will be offered going forwards.
The reasons for doing this are that by operating with just a single skin, we can develop and deliver improvements much more quickly; this is something that has obviously been lacking in the past. Previously having four skins was kind of like having a very unreliable classic car - extremely high maintenance and it required 4 times the work for even a seemingly simple repair. By having a single skin we also know that all PHers are getting a consistent view of our website, especially with the ever increasing move to users viewing the site on their mobile devices which the "GTI" skin is optimised for.
Those of you who were previously using the GTI skin will obviously be unaffected, but if you're moving from one of our old skins this may all look a bit different. However, all the functionality (and more!) remains, so please do take a few minutes to get used to the new layout.
We do hope you enjoy the new experience but if you really don't like what you're seeing, you can always change back to the skin you were using in your profile settings. However, this will only be temporary as the upcoming move to a secure HTTPS connection across all of PH in April will mean that we permanently remove all skins except GTI as the old ones will no longer be compatible. If there are any changes you'd like to see made to GTI, pop a comment or suggestion into this thread and we'll get it sorted as soon as possible, and now that we only have one skin to consider the work should be completed much faster! Please do keep feedback constructive though!
Best wishes
The PH Team
The reasons for doing this are that by operating with just a single skin, we can develop and deliver improvements much more quickly; this is something that has obviously been lacking in the past. Previously having four skins was kind of like having a very unreliable classic car - extremely high maintenance and it required 4 times the work for even a seemingly simple repair. By having a single skin we also know that all PHers are getting a consistent view of our website, especially with the ever increasing move to users viewing the site on their mobile devices which the "GTI" skin is optimised for.
Those of you who were previously using the GTI skin will obviously be unaffected, but if you're moving from one of our old skins this may all look a bit different. However, all the functionality (and more!) remains, so please do take a few minutes to get used to the new layout.
We do hope you enjoy the new experience but if you really don't like what you're seeing, you can always change back to the skin you were using in your profile settings. However, this will only be temporary as the upcoming move to a secure HTTPS connection across all of PH in April will mean that we permanently remove all skins except GTI as the old ones will no longer be compatible. If there are any changes you'd like to see made to GTI, pop a comment or suggestion into this thread and we'll get it sorted as soon as possible, and now that we only have one skin to consider the work should be completed much faster! Please do keep feedback constructive though!
Best wishes
The PH Team
Hi All!
Firstly, there may have been a little confusion about if this skin is actually new due to the title... It is in fact the GTI skin, that many of you use already, that is becoming the "new" single skin format for the forums. Sorry for any confusion caused!
We'd like to thank you for all the constructive feedback so far. The community, dev and product teams are actively reviewing your comments and working together to formulate a roadmap of updates based on your feedback to improve the forums. We will be responding to individual feedback posts/questions tomorrow to get more information. Please keep it all coming in!
The PH Team
Firstly, there may have been a little confusion about if this skin is actually new due to the title... It is in fact the GTI skin, that many of you use already, that is becoming the "new" single skin format for the forums. Sorry for any confusion caused!
We'd like to thank you for all the constructive feedback so far. The community, dev and product teams are actively reviewing your comments and working together to formulate a roadmap of updates based on your feedback to improve the forums. We will be responding to individual feedback posts/questions tomorrow to get more information. Please keep it all coming in!
The PH Team
As you may have noticed, we’ve now gone live with moving the entire site over to HTTPS. This of course means that we’ve also removed forum “skins” and have moved to a single format (based on GTI) going forward.
As mentioned in the OP, the basis for the new skin (or simply now the forum) was GTI, as it was the most developed and mobile friendly. Doing this was absolutely necessary for us to continue to support and develop the forum, as we were effectively running four different sites!
We’ve monitored the number of members switching back to a different skin following the change last week and the numbers suggest only a very small fraction of the community have done so (0.2% as of this morning).
As part of today’s release, we’ve also changed settings that previously allowed for the site to be viewed in desktop mode on a mobile device and vice versa. We’re confident this will address the majority of style and formatting issues many have already reported.
Thank you for your feedback and suggestions, we’re continuing to take note and looking to implement some rapid improvements in the near future, so please keep them coming in (detailed and constructive please!)
Keep an eye out for further means of feedback too, including a survey and a chance for you to talk to us face-to-face (details to follow).
Best wishes,
The PH Team
As mentioned in the OP, the basis for the new skin (or simply now the forum) was GTI, as it was the most developed and mobile friendly. Doing this was absolutely necessary for us to continue to support and develop the forum, as we were effectively running four different sites!
We’ve monitored the number of members switching back to a different skin following the change last week and the numbers suggest only a very small fraction of the community have done so (0.2% as of this morning).
As part of today’s release, we’ve also changed settings that previously allowed for the site to be viewed in desktop mode on a mobile device and vice versa. We’re confident this will address the majority of style and formatting issues many have already reported.
Thank you for your feedback and suggestions, we’re continuing to take note and looking to implement some rapid improvements in the near future, so please keep them coming in (detailed and constructive please!)
Keep an eye out for further means of feedback too, including a survey and a chance for you to talk to us face-to-face (details to follow).
Best wishes,
The PH Team
Many thanks for your continued feedback. We’ve been working hard to address it and currently have the below updates in the final stages of testing, with a view to release in the very near future:
- Adding the ability to report a thread in mobile portrait view
- Ensuring the back button is consistent across the forums (Users will have the ability to navigate up/back from a sub forum to the forums homepage as is already the case when navigating from a thread to a sub forum)
- Fixing the behavior whereby the second advert leaderboard causes the content to move down until fully loaded
- Fixing a bug in the behavior of the hamburger menu in the forums homepage to display the menu and not simply reload the page
- Removing the button on mobile that directed users to their last visit in a thread and replacing the functionality so that this is always the case (where applicable) when clicking anywhere on the thread title
- Adding a forums group page to mobile to match the functionality available in desktop
- Fixing a bug that doesn’t let users see their topics and replies in my stuff for the last 7 days (as they can for the last 14 days, 48 hours and 24 hours)
- Making a change to the appearance of unread threads so that they now appear as bold text in mobile
- Making a change to the appearance of visited links so that they now appear purple in desktop
- Updating the PistonHeads logo in forums to match that across the rest of the site
- Improving the overall appearance of forums in desktop, to include improved alignment and consistent fonts and colours
- Improving the appearance of action buttons (Start new topic, Reply, Bookmark, Watch) for consistency between desktop and mobile
- Removing an extra “Show all/Show favourites’ button that appeared as an additional blue rectangle on some pages
In addition to the above, we are actively working on solutions to the below which is based on both feedback raised by the community and as a result of testing completed so far:
- An improved way to display quotes in a post and a review of the way nested quotes appear on the page
- Issues surrounding viewing the site with a certain combination of devices and screen sizes
- Known issues surrounding the My Stuff section of the site
- A scenario whereby scrolling through threads with multiple pages (and with preferences set to view threads in descending order) sometimes causes users to see a “Nothing to see here” page in mobile
- Please do keep the feedback coming. We are committed to improving your experience on PistonHeads and endeavour to provide a forum that reflects the requirements of its users.
Best wishes,
The PistonHeads Team
- Adding the ability to report a thread in mobile portrait view
- Ensuring the back button is consistent across the forums (Users will have the ability to navigate up/back from a sub forum to the forums homepage as is already the case when navigating from a thread to a sub forum)
- Fixing the behavior whereby the second advert leaderboard causes the content to move down until fully loaded
- Fixing a bug in the behavior of the hamburger menu in the forums homepage to display the menu and not simply reload the page
- Removing the button on mobile that directed users to their last visit in a thread and replacing the functionality so that this is always the case (where applicable) when clicking anywhere on the thread title
- Adding a forums group page to mobile to match the functionality available in desktop
- Fixing a bug that doesn’t let users see their topics and replies in my stuff for the last 7 days (as they can for the last 14 days, 48 hours and 24 hours)
- Making a change to the appearance of unread threads so that they now appear as bold text in mobile
- Making a change to the appearance of visited links so that they now appear purple in desktop
- Updating the PistonHeads logo in forums to match that across the rest of the site
- Improving the overall appearance of forums in desktop, to include improved alignment and consistent fonts and colours
- Improving the appearance of action buttons (Start new topic, Reply, Bookmark, Watch) for consistency between desktop and mobile
- Removing an extra “Show all/Show favourites’ button that appeared as an additional blue rectangle on some pages
In addition to the above, we are actively working on solutions to the below which is based on both feedback raised by the community and as a result of testing completed so far:
- An improved way to display quotes in a post and a review of the way nested quotes appear on the page
- Issues surrounding viewing the site with a certain combination of devices and screen sizes
- Known issues surrounding the My Stuff section of the site
- A scenario whereby scrolling through threads with multiple pages (and with preferences set to view threads in descending order) sometimes causes users to see a “Nothing to see here” page in mobile
- Please do keep the feedback coming. We are committed to improving your experience on PistonHeads and endeavour to provide a forum that reflects the requirements of its users.
Best wishes,
The PistonHeads Team
Today we have released the following updates to the forums:
- Added the ability to report a post in mobile portrait view
- Ensured the back button is consistent across the forums (Users now have the ability to navigate up/back from a sub forum to the forums homepage as is already the case when navigating from a thread to a sub forum)
- Fixed the behaviour whereby the second advert leaderboard caused the content to move down until fully loaded
- Fixed a bug in the behaviour of the hamburger menu in the forums homepage to display the menu and not simply reload the page
- Removed the button on mobile that directed users to their last visit in a thread and replaced the functionality so that this is always the case (where applicable) when clicking anywhere on the thread title
- Added a forums group page to mobile to match the functionality available in desktop
- Fixed a bug that didn’t let users see their topics and replies in my stuff for the last 7 days (as they could for the last 14 days, 48 hours and 24 hours)
- Made a change to the appearance of unread threads so that they now appear as bold text in mobile
- Made a change to the appearance of visited links so that they now appear purple in desktop
- Updated the PistonHeads logo in forums to match that across the rest of the site
- Improved the overall appearance of forums in desktop, including improved alignment and consistent fonts and colours
- Improved the appearance of action buttons (Start new topic, Reply, Bookmark, Watch) for consistency between desktop and mobile
- Removed an extra “Show all/Show favourites’ button that appeared as an additional blue rectangle on some pages
- Fixed a bug that had caused the ‘Mark all as read’ button on the what’s new page to regress following the last update
- Fixed a bug that would cause colour and formatting anomalies when a user quoted one of their own previous posts
- Fixed issues surrounding pagination that would sometimes return errors for users scrolling through multi-page threads with preferences set to descending view
As ever, please continue to send us your feedback in this thread. We’re currently looking at new ways to collate this better and will be in touch regarding this soon.
Additionally, we have set up the below sticky thread, dedicated to communicating site releases, with roadmaps for the future to follow.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Best wishes,
The PistonHeads Team
- Added the ability to report a post in mobile portrait view
- Ensured the back button is consistent across the forums (Users now have the ability to navigate up/back from a sub forum to the forums homepage as is already the case when navigating from a thread to a sub forum)
- Fixed the behaviour whereby the second advert leaderboard caused the content to move down until fully loaded
- Fixed a bug in the behaviour of the hamburger menu in the forums homepage to display the menu and not simply reload the page
- Removed the button on mobile that directed users to their last visit in a thread and replaced the functionality so that this is always the case (where applicable) when clicking anywhere on the thread title
- Added a forums group page to mobile to match the functionality available in desktop
- Fixed a bug that didn’t let users see their topics and replies in my stuff for the last 7 days (as they could for the last 14 days, 48 hours and 24 hours)
- Made a change to the appearance of unread threads so that they now appear as bold text in mobile
- Made a change to the appearance of visited links so that they now appear purple in desktop
- Updated the PistonHeads logo in forums to match that across the rest of the site
- Improved the overall appearance of forums in desktop, including improved alignment and consistent fonts and colours
- Improved the appearance of action buttons (Start new topic, Reply, Bookmark, Watch) for consistency between desktop and mobile
- Removed an extra “Show all/Show favourites’ button that appeared as an additional blue rectangle on some pages
- Fixed a bug that had caused the ‘Mark all as read’ button on the what’s new page to regress following the last update
- Fixed a bug that would cause colour and formatting anomalies when a user quoted one of their own previous posts
- Fixed issues surrounding pagination that would sometimes return errors for users scrolling through multi-page threads with preferences set to descending view
As ever, please continue to send us your feedback in this thread. We’re currently looking at new ways to collate this better and will be in touch regarding this soon.
Additionally, we have set up the below sticky thread, dedicated to communicating site releases, with roadmaps for the future to follow.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Best wishes,
The PistonHeads Team
Today we have released the following updates to the forums:
- Appearance updates including increased line spacing (line height), darker fonts and increased font size. All now conforming to WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidance)
- Reduced margins and quote indentation so that more nested quotes can be viewed clearly within a post
- Fixed behaviour surrounding “My Replies” so that users are always taken directly to the post, highlighted in a different colour
- Fixed a bug that would return an error if a new thread was created within a new forum group
- Fixed an issue that would cause an icon selected in a reply to be deselected when the post was previewed
Best wishes,
The PistonHeads Team
- Appearance updates including increased line spacing (line height), darker fonts and increased font size. All now conforming to WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidance)
- Reduced margins and quote indentation so that more nested quotes can be viewed clearly within a post
- Fixed behaviour surrounding “My Replies” so that users are always taken directly to the post, highlighted in a different colour
- Fixed a bug that would return an error if a new thread was created within a new forum group
- Fixed an issue that would cause an icon selected in a reply to be deselected when the post was previewed
Best wishes,
The PistonHeads Team
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