Feedback Request Northwest Firearms Version 3 beta now available for Supporting Members, Vendors, and Volunteers

[Joe Link]

As some of you will recall, we've been working on the new version of our website since November of last year. I'm happy to announce that development is finally coming to a close. Moving into the beta stage, we'd like to once again offer you, our Supporting Members, the first test drives.

Please keep in mind that this is still very much a work in progress. I fully expect you'll find areas which are unpolished, unfinished, or downright broken. We'd love to hear about these experiences, as well as your thoughts and questions. Right now you should consider yourself an adventurer, though we hope to have a complete help system finished soon before the public launch.

This new version marks a significant departure from the standard 'large header' approach of many 2000-era websites. While there is always risk in doing something new or different, I believe this new layout is an incredible step forward in terms of simplicity and useability. Our main goal was to reduce the difficulty many of our older or non-computer savvy users experienced when trying to participate.

I'm looking forward to hearing from all of you, especially after you try it on your phones and tablets

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[Cogs]

Bright! Clean looking! Font and everything looks bigger and clearer. I'll try this for a while. So far so good.

Thanks!

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Yeah, it's certainly a more modern design, just looking at this page so far

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Hmm, looks like the posting alignment is 'off' slightly when you click to 'view this thread' in email alerts.

The top border appears to cover the top portion of the post.

Bronze supporter ribbon is grey.

 

[Joe Link]

Good to hear from you guys so soon! I'm sure you'll find more in a day than I could in a month

 

[BoonDocks36]

Joe, this may or may not be a concern, but I noticed that members that I have put on Ignore, show up... ADDED in: On the Beta version

I have been a calmer member, by using the ignore button.

Still hoping that there will be a Sub Forum, for Political Expression, similar to "Off Topic" with a bit less "moderator control" ~on Topic~ not on how members interact... I

I agree with keeping interaction on appropriate levels, but there is just to Much Political issues that are Near Guns but Not Exactly guns...

Example of Obama Executive Order putting a Gag Order on us, gun forums!!!!

Yours,

philip

 

[Joe Link]

Hi Philip, I'll certainly look into that, I can't imagine why they would become 'unignored'.

I'll also take into consideration the rest of your post

By the way, the Obama gun forum thing is certainly firearm-related!

 

[U201491]

Just me, but I really like the old version better.
Easier to find things for me.
Will we have the option of keeping that look?

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Menus to the side on a button is very mobile, but annoying when you have real estate on a computer.

 

[Joe Link]

Just me, but I really like the old version better.
Easier to find things for me.
Will we have the option of keeping that look?

Once we launch we'll be keeping the old style as an option for a month or two. My hope is that this will give people time to go back and forth, playing with the new version at their leisure and ultimately easing the transition. Technical limitations prevent us from running two versions simultaneously past that point.

I'd definitely like to hear more feedback and specifics so we can work to bridge the gap between the new version and the old

Menus to the side on a button is very mobile, but annoying when you have real estate on a computer.

Noted, thanks.

 

[U201491]

Once we launch we'll be keeping the old style as an option for a month or two. My hope is that this will give people time to go back and forth, playing with the new version at their leisure and ultimately easing the transition. Technical limitations prevent us from running two versions simultaneously past that point.

I'd definitely like to hear more feedback and specifics so we can work to bridge the gap between the new version and the old



Noted, thanks.

The inbox and alerts visibility as it was in the old version would be good.
They just show on screen near the user name.
The new one was a pain to find the messages............

 

[Joe Link]

The inbox and alerts visibility as it was in the old version would be good.
They just show on screen near the user name.
The new one was a pain to find the messages............

Yeah I noticed the notifications aren't working as they should be, particularly on the front page of the site. As for the where is what located, that'll definitely take some getting used to as we've been using the same version for quite some time. The notifications will be fixed and setup to work exactly like they did previously (including the browser tab notification).

Our thought is before we had buttons and menu's everywhere. So many that even I was finding new ones from time to time. Many of them were also redundant, with some displaying on a single page as many as three times. I put a KISS sticky note on my monitor and went to work eliminating as many obscure things as I could, in order to simplify things. It'll definitely take some getting used to, but now we have two simple menu's which work the same across devices, and we didn't lose any functionality in the process (that I've found so far ).

 

[rick benjamin]

I will "like" Taku till he gets with the program...

 

[U201491]

I will "like" Taku till he gets with the program...

Till he Gets with the program ???

No one has that much patience............

 

[Joe Link]

 

[Mikej]

New is always a tough one for me, my problem though and I'll get used to it as I have before.

It'll make me nuts though if I can't see a preview of a thread when I hover over the title!

Thank you.

 

[etrain16]

Overall look is nice, clean. But two things are tucked away that I prefer more out in the open:

1. The alerts - now instead of hovering to see what I have in my inbox or replies/likes, I've got to click once, choose Alerts or Message Center, then click again to see what it is. 2 extra steps. I'd like to see something that would work similar to the current version. EDIT - I just noticed I missed your response to Taku about this - disregard.

2. Same goes for "New Content" (New Posts) - I use this feature pretty much all the time - and it was nice having it easily accessible right at the top of the page. But now it's tucked away too. I'd like to see that out in the open as well.

3. And +1 to getting the hover 'preview' of a post - I use that a lot too and noticed that was also missing.

I know you're going for a compact header style, but I don't know if I like seeing commonly used features/controls buried.

 

[Member 5605]

On an iPhone I appreciate the 3.0 layout.

Runs quicker and smoother on mobile. Takes probably 1/2 the time to respond after a click.

The text boxes don't go glitchy as well.

Note: I'm a mobile user 95% of the time.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Looking good on mobile, Joe. I see that you already noted the missing functionality on desktop regards things like the inbox buttons (visibilty, not missing)

 

[M4 AR]

On mobile, where is the watched threads tab?