New Web Template

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

The most important thing to do IMHO is to test it extensively to make sure that it works properly and complies with the published web standards. Lets get rid of all the syntax errors in the code and make sure it will work with all reasonable browser/OS combinations.

Yes, and avoid HTML5 for now.

Russell.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

If Popular Patchwork is an example of the new style it seems ok to me.

Perhaps if people can check that out they will be happy too.

[RJWParticipant @rjw]

Unfortunately, Geeks apply Moore's Law to their code, so no matter how fast processors or memory gets, or how big storage devices get, they will expand their code to fill the space available and use the similarly expanding processing power to drive the expanding bloatware they create!

The day some geek gets to grips with this, goes back to basics and creates economical code that will run properly on all OS platforms and browsers without needing bandwidth and processing power sufficient to fly a 777 and all its back-ups, they'll make a killing, but chances are, processor, storage and memory manufacturers will offer a big wodge of cash to make sure it goes nowhere!

John.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Just had a look at the 'new' Popular Patchwork layout.

My first impression is positive but;

1) BH! Advertising taking up 1/3 of my iPad's screen down the RH side, and very off putting and distracting,

2) Easy access to My Account appears gone, but this could be because I'm not registered,

3) Funtionality has NOT been destroyer ala Yahoo thank goodness. Do so at your peril though!

4) Except for the 'old' LH column no longer there & 1), the new layout doesn't have me screaming as Yahoo has, BUT that 1/3 advertising column may well do so.

5) DON'T do a Yahoo and force it down our throats without getting feedback from those who count, us the users, who bring the clicks that you sell to advertisers.

6) Turn this site into a Facebook look-alike and I'm gone! Yahoo did and I left.

Geoff – There is hope that not all providers are like the Yahoo idiots.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

MyTimeMedia,

You ARE doing a 'ME TOO' by apeing the Yahoo Groups layout with that 1/3 column of adverts on the RH side. (I check Yahoo Groups regularly, hoping that Marissa Mayer has been fired and the Groups rolled back to their previously useable format, but no luck so far)

Does no-one use their own imagination anymore?

Is it that 'proper' web designers are no longer employed as it's cheaper to copy?

MTM, do a Yahoo on this site and I'm gone as well!

Geoff – Can nobody do a web site/page that doesn't look like the kitchen sink!

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

I think there are two distinct issues here. One is concerned with the aesthetics of the layout and the other is the technical one of getting the site to work as it is intended.

As far as the aesthetics are concerned, in my view there is good and bad in both the current design and the new design as exemplified by the patchwork site. However it is all very subjective and there will be as many views as there are people viewing the forum. You can't please all of the people all of the time.

For me the more worrying aspect is the technical one. There have been complaints for years that this or that doesn't work on the site using one web browser or another. Nobody seems willing or able to do anything about this. I've just had a look at the code for the homepage of the patchwork site and that contains ten syntax errors so it doesn't look as if things will improve with the new layout.

RJW has part of the answer in that programmers these days assume that memory and processing power is infinite while web designers have to use all of the latest gizmos whether it adds anything to the site or not. There was a time when computer science courses started with learning about logic gates and how they were put together to make registers, memory, full adders etc. Now they teach how to use Word and Excel and how to make web pages using Frontpage or something similar. If any real programming is taught it will be in a high level object oriented language far removed from the nuts and bolts of the machine.

Perhaps I'm just a dinosaur because I got my computer science degree over forty years ago and the emphasis was always on making sure things worked! In my view the web design company should be fired and replaced with a competent one.

Russell.

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

Posted by Russell Eberhardt on 13/09/2013 14:54:54:

In my view the web design company should be fired and replaced with a competent one.

Russell.

LOL…easier said then done. I have gone through many, be they in the U.K. or anywhere else in the world you care to mention. The speed at which things are changing on the technical front, be they with IE, Firefox, Google Chrome…every web developer – individual or company has 'issues', and there is a fine line between competence and keeping up to speed, just to stand still in this environment. One part of me agrees with you, and the other part sympathises with MTM.

[Gone AwayParticipant @goneaway]

Posted by Russell Eberhardt on 13/09/2013 14:54:54:

I've just had a look at the code for the homepage of the patchwork site and that contains ten syntax errors so it doesn't look as if things will improve with the new layout.

I know you've mentioned the page coding errors a few ( ) times. It's been raised on a number of occasions over the past several years. A few years ago I too subjected the site to the various page analysis checks and found a number of errors.

To put it in perspective though, I also tried many other other (unconnected) sites and found much the same thing. I don't recall actually finding any sites with zero errors – if I did they were few and far between. Nor did that raise any eyebrows when I mentioned it in a Firefox forum.

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

I wouldn't mind if it was not changed at all

Rik

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

I tend to go along with Rik, just ask a New Zealand school teacher what happens when a competor program is introduced without propper testing, their pay has been chaos for the last couple of years. Ian S C

[Katy PurvisParticipant @katypurvis79544]

We will be updating ME with a new layout on Monday, but we thought you might like to see it first. Functionality is mostly unchanged, and all of the forum content will still be as it is today. Your member area has moved from the right hand side to the top of the page, and the homepage layout has changed, but other than that there is not a lot of difference. This change is being applied to all the MyTimemedia magazine websites, when they have all been switched to this layout, all our magazines should see an improvement in both your usability and our maintenance of the websites.

We have been working recently on changes which should have improved the text editor in the forum page, so these will be the same as they are today.

If you have any problems with page display on Monday after we do the change over, if you refresh your cache, everything should be fine. If you’re unsure how to clear your browser cache, please check here, Clear your browser cache

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Posted by Katy Purvis on 27/09/2013 21:50:13:

We will be updating ME with a new layout on Monday, but we thought you might like to see it first. Functionality is mostly unchanged, and all of the forum content will still be as it is today. Your member area has moved from the right hand side to the top of the page, and the homepage layout has changed, but other than that there is not a lot of difference. This change is being applied to all the MyTimemedia magazine websites, when they have all been switched to this layout, all our magazines should see an improvement in both your usability and our maintenance of the websites.

We have been working recently on changes which should have improved the text editor in the forum page, so these will be the same as they are today.

If you have any problems with page display on Monday after we do the change over, if you refresh your cache, everything should be fine. If you’re unsure how to clear your browser cache, please check here, Clear your browser cache

Katy

Without going into detail of the actual changes that we will see on Monday, I find the text of your posting very confusing.

Firstly you say 'ME will be updated with a new layout'. Should I presume you are refering to the ME/MEW website?

What do you mean by 'Your member area'? and it being moved from the right hand side to the top? On the existing page the adverts appear on the right.

'We have been working on changes to the editor' Please could you tell me what has been changed? I have not checked every little detail of the editor today but I dont think I have seen any improvements over the last few days/weeks/months, so what have I missed?

Lastly, am I correct in my understanding that the forthcoming changes are mostly just a new layout of the existing page features?

Ian P

[Katy PurvisParticipant @katypurvis79544]

Sorry Ian, I wasn't intending to confuse you.

1. Yes, I am referring to the Model Engineer / Model Engineer's Workshop Website.
2. The 'Your Member' area relates to the menu that appears at the top left column under the heading 'My Account'. Most of the links that currently appear here will now be above the logo at the top of the page in the header area, and the remainder with be in the right hand side column when you log in. These are currently on the left hand side column, so sorry for my mistake.
3. The text editor was upgraded in August, and you should find that the long links, new line in IE and text overlapping ads problems have been resolved with this upgrade.
4. Yes, the proposed changes are just affecting layout and not content

Edited By Katy Purvis on 28/09/2013 10:26:14

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

And is it true that Diane and Katy have booked a two week trip to the moon so will not be contactable until the fan is clean?

 

I have noticed the updated editor and we have not seen the complaints about adverts over text lately so that must also be working.

J.

Edited By JasonB on 28/09/2013 07:36:49

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