New Forum...ideas

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billcu1

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I just wanted to hear opinions concerning this new forum style. I don’t like it myself. I really had no problem with the old one. Not quite sure why they changed. This is not a strange format to me though. I’ve seen it before. Dislikes? Likes? It seems to not be as…easy to look up things I guess I would say. Harder to manuver. And so long a topic title is required.
 
There’s a very long thread where you can read through a lot of opinions on the new look:

https://forums.catholic-questions.org/t/what-do-you-think-of-the-forum-redesign/448581

I can understand the affinity for the old forum style. I liked it as well. But I am also enjoying this new one. Once you get acclimated, the time is much more pleasant. 🙂

I’ve been posting a lot in the Tips/Shortcuts thread about how to navigate the new forum. Feel free to check it out and see if you find it helpful.

I’m sure a lot of factors went into the change, but ultimately, the old system was…well…old. As with any operating system or software, the older it gets, the more difficult it is to run. It worked well enough on the user end for the moment, but the platform was no longer being updated—which is pretty much a death sentence in the computer world. No updates means things stop working with new browsers and new devices. Security becomes an issue.

The 16 character limit can be annoying is some cases, but I think it is there to avoid people posting brief posts that don’t contribute to a conversation or else posting thread titles that are too short to give you a sense of what the topic is even about. Although, @RandomAlias came up with a neat work around that limit: https://forums.catholic-questions.org/t/minimum-message-length-trick/450686.
 
Oh I didn’t know there was already a thread. I miss a lot of the old catholic style emojis. People used to answer with an emoticon. No more. They said a lot.
 
@Vim71 saved all the old emoticons and posted a link to them in this thread: Here is some of the emojis that were lost.

I just went through and saved them all to my computer. Now I have a folder of Old CAF Smilies. All I have to do is click and drag them to my post.
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I’ll be keeping them alive for years to come. (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.) (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.) (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.) (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Ok I see. IS that typed manually or do you hit a button a few times?
 
Personally,I don’t care for the new site for several reasons most of which have already been mentioned.I feel like this new format lacks the personal family type vibe of the former.Its very cold and sterile.I really don’t feel very motivated to engage to the same extent as before.😔
 
You know I agree with you. I have seen several sites like this one. I really don’t like the format. The old one was kinda unique. I guess it will work though.
 
I can see that. What for one is “clean” and “clutterless”, for another seems “cold” and “sterile”. I do think it’s a deliberate design decision to streamline the look. With so many people accessing the internet via mobile devices, I can understand wanting to go for a “less is more” approach. But I think you’re right that some of the personality gets lost in translation.

I’m just trying to enjoy the new features and continue on with the conversations. I’m checking CAF from my phone now, which I never used to do because I constantly had to zoom in and out to get from thread to thread. Honestly, I think if they instituted a color scheme that was similar to the old site, that could go a long way towards making the place feel more homey.
 
Joe_5859 said:
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7_Sorrows:
You are smarter than I am.
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I just spend too much time trying to figure these things out. 😳
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I am so technologically challenged, there is a limit to what I can figure out! 😐. LOL!
 
Here is a list of things I have yet to figure out on the new forum:
How to choose an avatar picture
How to copy a comment upon which I want to respond to in a thread
Why are our Religious affiliations not listed underneath our Avatar?
Where Re the emojies?
Just to name a few
 
I really like the new forum, personally. I felt like the old one was from 2002.
 
Jeanne_S said:
Here is a list of things I have yet to figure out on the new forum:
Click to expand...
I’ll try to help.
Jeanne_S said:
How to choose an avatar picture
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If you click on your default avatar (The letter “J” in a circle) in the top right, a box will pop up. Click on the gear icon ((Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)) to go to your preferences page. If you scroll down, the last option is “Profile Picture”. If you click on the little pencil/edit icon, a box will pop up asking if you want to use (1) the default avatar you are currently using, (2) your “Gravatar” (if you don’t know what that means, that means you don’t want to use it 😜) or (3) a custom picture. Just click on Upload Picture, and it will pull up the file explorer on your computer to find a picture that you have on your computer. I recommend using something more-or-less square, since it automatically centers the image for your avatar.
Jeanne_S said:
How to copy a comment upon which I want to respond to in a thread
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I think this one is pretty neat. All you have to di is highlight the quote you are responding too and a “Quote” box (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.) will appear. Click on that and it will pull up the reply box and you can start typing. You can actually still scroll through the thread as you type a rely, so you can keep pulling quotes in as you go. That’s what I’m doing right now with your post so that I can quote just a sentence at a time.

Alternately, hit the “Reply” button by the post you wish to respond to and then hit the “Quote Whole Post” icon ((Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)) That will pull up the whole post, and you can delete text if you need to. I find the select-and-quote method a lot easier.
Jeanne_S said:
Why are our Religious affiliations not listed underneath our Avatar?
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All of the information that used to appear in the header of all our posts has now been moved to our “User Card.” The User Card is the rectangular box that pops up whenever you click on a user name or avatar. Here is a what my user card looks like:

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So you can see that it does show my location, my website (previously in my signature at the old site) and my religion. It also shows a little bio. However, it only shows the information you have actually entered. All our previous profile info did not carry over from the old site. When you go to the “Preferences” page to change your avatar, look at the left hand side and choose the second option: “Profile”. This is where you enter all the info that shows up on your User Card. I should note that here (as with your avatar), you need to be sure and click Save Changes at the bottom when you are done.

Continued in next post…
 
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…Continued from previous post.
Jeanne_S said:
Where Re the emojies?
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The emojis are available by clicking the (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.) icon in your toolbar when composing a post. That will pull up a box with all of them. Some of the more simple ones can be inserted just by typing familiar shortcuts like :) for 🙂 or ;) for 😉 .

Hope this helps! I have been adding a lot of “how to” instructions in this thread: https://forums.catholic-questions.o...ake-navigation-easier-on-the-new-forum/449482. Feel free to take a look. And if you have any questions, I am happy to help. I like figuring out this sort of stuff. 🙂
 
Joe_5859 said:
…Continued from previous post.
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Jeanne_S:
Where Re the emojies?
Click to expand...
The emojis are available by clicking the (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.) icon in your toolbar when composing a post. That will pull up a box with all of them. Some of the more simple ones can be inserted just by typing familiar shortcuts like :) for 🙂 or ;) for 😉 .

Hope this helps! I have been adding a lot of “how to” instructions in this thread: https://forums.catholic-questions.o...ake-navigation-easier-on-the-new-forum/449482. Feel free to take a look. And if you have any questions, I am happy to help. I like figuring out this sort of stuff. 🙂
Click to expand...
My toolbar doesn’t have the emoji.
Not sure why.
 
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