Feedback: Official Forums

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Does anyone know why some threads have the Gear Icon (Dismiss), and some do not? I mean, what's the criteria? I though, at first, maybe it was on closed threads, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

 

Just curious....

[Zoltar MacRoth.7146]

I thought the gear icon might be used for "sticky" threads based on the fact that they're stuck at the top of the Recent Discussions page, not sorted... but I'm just guessing.

[ananda.5946]

Two main issues for me.

 

1) Can't edit my own post after 15 minutes.

--- Mainly, my posting consists of maintaining our guild's recruitment thread. The initial post in that thread needs to be updated for things like event schedule change from time to time. No one is going to find schedule updates buried below in replies. And, if greater windows for editing exist for those who post a lot, I will never unlock them. I am mainly a reader of the forum, not a writer.

 

2) I just can't read this site on my ipad without difficulty.

--- I like to read the forum, but, in the ipad landscape viewport at least (which is my primary method of forum browsing), the text is tiny. The line width on the posts themselves are too wide, forcing me to scroll left and right (because I need to zoom in to read the tiny text). Older people, like me, will probably have the same issues. I used to be able to read the previous forum just fine because the text width was less, so I could double tap it and zoom in without having to scroll left and right.

[Infusion.7149]

I didn't get to read through all these posts in the thread but my first impression is similar to that of the first few pages: there's too much wasted space.

 

1. Usernames and avatars could be smaller : Gaile's is different but everyone else's avatar is pretty useless. Post delineation could be increased via borders or a box.

2. Thumbs up/down/helpful/report could be smaller

3. The forums themselves could have smaller thread titles , also having avatars on the forums next to the thread titles is a waste of bandwidth.

[Boogiepop Void.6473]

Moderation messages are vague to the point of uselessness. No information is given on what the offending post was, so you have no way to examine what triggered the messages. No one can just magically become a better poster with no actionable feedback. A warning that gives no details on why it was issued is worse than useless.

[Sirius.4510]

My suggestion: Add the word "immersion" to the kitten-filter.

 

(Yes, I'm joking, but you have to admit it would be funny. ;))

[AegisRunestone.8672]

@"ananda.5946" About editing.... we're going to fine. :)

 

[Me Quoting Gaile's changes to the editing system, soon](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/118561/#Comment_118561 "https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/118561/#Comment_118561")

[ProtoMarcus.7649]

* Optimisation for mobile devices is poor

* Too many open spaces

* The forum font is a little weird, and it doesn't seem to be the same font when **Bold**

* The **COLOURS** are also too light for the texts - grey on white? hard for the eyes, the red is too light as well

* The player name should be designed like the old forum where the name part is clear but the .XXXX part is in smaller font and much lighter colour

* Need more avatar variety

* User names should be on top of the avatar icon

* Would it be possible to link some API to the forum profile? I mean it's from the game account - would be nice to include (selectable in Profile settings) **some character details, maybe even guild details** (name, icon), or hours of playtime, etc! **Make fun use of the API please!**

* Pictures?

 

_Suggestion_

Would it be possible to create some formatting options that would link some strings to the official wiki? Let's say you type [skill Name] it'd automatically change the text to a link to the wiki page, maybe even with the skill icon (from the wiki apge) on the left of the text itself? I feel there's a lot of potential with the Wiki and the API that we could add in the forum

[Will.9785]

Is there someway to shrink the font / spacing on the page? You have to do a considerable amount of scrolling now. Its really too much IMO. I prefer the compact nature of the old forum though I can appreciate the effort that was put in here as it did need some updating.

[Jaken.6801]

The new Forums are a mixed bag for me.

For one thing, they feel like style over substance.

They got some nice features that were missing from the old, but also introduced some questionable changes:

 

Pro

* Hurray, we got a search function now

 

Contra

* The new design feel much more simple, but with that it also feels empty and harder to read. The minimalistic approach with less color uses only the avatars to quickly distinctive between new posts if you scroll fast, however with the limited amount of them, they quickly become not useful again.

* The colorsheme is very hard on the eyes for longer reading in dark enviroment. A nightmode should have been a given nowadays.

* The forum is way easier to use on mobile devices, as the website adapts with the menues, however the same functionality is missing for desktop, which makes navigating kind of a hassle.

* In mobile, if you choose to post a new topic, the lower menu bar is hiding the new topics title space and has to be adjusted arkwardly

* The new forum is way to wide and without comfort and quick navigation options feels clunky to use.

* Overall the new forum feels more designed for the mobile than the desktop market.

* Thumbs up and down feel unneccessary, given the explanation on why you didn't use it in the old forums. Why use something clearly negative if ignoring or the exclusion of praise could do the same, like before?

* Avatar selection is lacking and feels like a crux, instead of a usefull feature (as mentioned before), overall we need more

* The lack of image upload function is a downgrade

* The inclusion of bagdes feels unneccessary and gimicky

* Hiding functions behind ranks are very consumer unfriendly. This is no game, this is a forum (see bagdes). You rob people of distinction and easy identification

* Edit function is weird and a time limit feels restricting. I know why you would do that, but it feels forced and doesn't allow for many positive uses.

 

Suggestions

* a quick scroll up button for desktop would be a welcoming addition

* We need more subforums

* Boxes in mobile are way more visibible and easier to read, than the little lines on desktop

 

Overall the Forum would have benefitet from a beta stage for you to get in contact with the community on a broader scale. If you only went with internal testing or small groups (or even worse), then there are several things that could have been avoided.

 

The answer to nightmode by Gaile, that they would be unable to integrate something like that, suggests that these forums are as bad as the old ones, when it comes to modification to arising needs.

So far this forum isn't and upgrade, but a sidegrade, with a focus on more control over the users, instead of providing a really better experience (except for mobile). Speaking of mobile, it seems like the designer had it's eye on that, as the controls there are way more comfortable and don't use too much space to get to. Using A mouse is too much scrolling

 

Sorry to be so negative, but this could have used some more time in the oven, as many of these things could have been adressed beforehand.

[Ghotistyx.6942]

> @Rikkagin.9472 said:

> "You have been logged out due to inactivity". No not in WvW but this forum. Seems a bit odd.

> It used to once every 24 hours.

 

This is hella fast. I was logged out 4 times just going through a few of the profession forums. How can I contribute quality, thoughtful content (/s) if I can't stay signed in to post it?

[Lord Derpington.3672]

> @Zeivu.3615 said:

> While I like having more options on the forums, I gotta say that this new format is a total eyesore. There is just too much white. And too many features are gated behind 'badges'. Nope. This isn't gaiaonline and I hope to keep it that way.

 

Maybe they should offer a drop down at the bottom of the forum that can change the style to a warmer or cooler color (depending on user choice) like some other forums have that could help this. Even a reverse dark tone.

[Sartharina.3542]

The auto-logout needs to go, or be replaced with an option. Being automatically logged off of my PC at home is frustrating.

 

Also - more avatars, please. I'd really love one based on the awesome female charr picture available as a wallpaper.

[Lyp Sao.1375]

> @"Jon Olson.8439" said:

> @"elvenswordsmen.3975", @"cephiroth.6182", @"Brandr Skjoldulfr.4810":

>

> The devtracker RSS is already [a thing](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussions/tagged/arenanet.rss). :)

 

You can include a <?xml-stylesheet tag in your feed (e.g. for Chrome users without integrated feed reader) to prevent the "_This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it._" message and the shown XML code.

[Juba.8406]

1. It seems good only on mobile devices.

2. White spaces everywhere.

3. PC version only accepts 125% zooming level anything more and you lose data, Old one accepts 150% zoom level with all data showing.

4. Even with 125% zoom level, Text is so small and hard to read.

5. The color of the text is not 100% black, it looks transparent at 50% black.

6. The combination of White spaces, small text and the color hurt the eye, I can't bear it more than 5 minutes.

7. So many lines between posts make it confusing.

8. Navigation is harder, (ex: going to a quoted post is not possible) .

9. Auto logout is annoying, reading is not an inactivity.

 

"Draft saved" message should be moved to the side not in the middle of the reply box.

Notifications are not working.

 

TBH, the old forums looks perfect to me, i could spend hours browsing and reading with no eye fatigue and seems so much easier to navigate.

Also deleting old content is a mistake, There has to be a way to transfer them to the new forums or archived and should be still showing in Google search.

[Zaxares.5419]

I'm not sure if this might be unfeasible for security reasons, but I would really like a "Remain logged in" option so I don't get auto-disconnected every 30 mins. I often leave the forums open while I'm gaming, so coming back to find I have to relogin again gets really annoying.

[Miss Lana.5276]

Not sure if this is a "feature" or a bug, but when I go to look at people's profiles, there are some that say that the user cannot be found, and others I can see just fine.

[sakura.7961]

* Separate forums for Living World, Heart of Thorns, and Path of Fire (after its release).

* Make the threads more condensed by pushing the Member name to the left under the avatar and the Report/Quote/et cetera to the right.

* Also make it like on the old forum that a post title/subforum title is greyed out when there's no new posts.

* Also it would be cool if you aren't automatically signed out after 5 minutes of inactivity.

[Slaywright.4807]

There seems to be a lot of noise on the post font, and I bet nobody's going to get upset if it's made a bit darker and given em or rem font-size.

 

Class .Message, change font size and line neight from 16px and 25px respectively to say 1.6em and 1.5em, for example. If I can do it in the browser debug...

 

(Also due to zooming the post comment button is huge :D)

[Kanto.1659]

This searing white background that cannot be modified for 'technical reasons' reminds me of all the little QoL flaws GW2 has and which we are forced to live with because there are no addons. Something that could be easily solved _(ESO's can-only-craft-one-thing-at-a-time for example)_ is held ransom for a dev's attention.

 

Fortunately forums are not the game and anyone with the Stylish firefox addon can overcome these... 'technical reasons' that have the forum designers absolutely baffled :lol:

 

Annoying small things in these forums are galore but plenty mentioned already. My own pet peeve is hyperlinks not changing color when there are no new posts. This is just so... ugh... 2005.

[TheBravery.9615]

I disagree with have 15 minutes to edit your post. This makes writing guides and long messages a pain.

[sakura.7961]

* Also please revert the removal of the Dev Tracker.

[Corrada.7304]

Why new forum is so "shiny", white and bright? My eyes hurt so much :(

Btw make thumbs down on black and thumbs up for green maybe?( helpful orange) and first UP, second down ;)

[Ok I Did It.2854]

The new forums are nice, however they do seem to have more clutter than the older ones, espically around peoples names etc, I find it hard to read threw a topic with multiply replies, it would be nice if the persons name who posted was smaller, and above or just below their avatar so it was easier to read down through topics.

[Stalkingwolf.6035]

please remove the automatic logout or make it optional.

It's kind of annoying to relog several time a day.