When will this forum site get a new modern design?

[Chriske]

On the first of April at 11.11 PM. Hopefully not before 2031...

Why the rush..??

[ZakGordon]

You would think? The trouble is the whole 'new' (it's actually old pre-Windows 98 style) flat design comes directly from the design school of Windows 8. That is when it first appeared in the mainstream, and it seems was taught at MS to the latest generation of GUI designers and now they are out in the world spreading it around all over the place.

I thought the 'flat' design had more to do with mobile.

I thought the 'flat' design had more to do with mobile.

I thought it was from Apple/Mac "clean" design.

Yes to both? At the time of that Windows 8 redesign, MS had started to push hard into wanting to be as successful as Apple had become (financially) and mobile computing was starting to take off (basically smart phones). All this was an influence.

The thing is Apples design has always been clean and attractive, that is what differentiates it from WIndows 8 Flat Design (which is just brutal hard edge colour blocks with none of the subtle corners or eye-pleasing sophistication of Apple). Windows 8 flat design was closer to brutal-ism whereas Apple always aimed at subtlety. And WIndows 8 flat design was all about hiding functionality away from the user (because 'we'(the user) are too dumb and likely to mess stuff up), so was focused on the streamlining and 'dumbing down' of the OS GUI.

The windows 8 era was the start of MS pushing hard into OS as a service (run and administered by them the professionals) rather than as an end user tool (That required some level of technical competence). That era completely transformed MS OS as far as i'm concerned (and the prime reason i'm here now in the LM forums).

MS wants to be the next Apple (as in the most profitable corporation on the planet) and has focused on that so much they are simply losing longtime happy windows users like me to Linux. Off course i'm a small subset of their customer base, i grew up using computers and have a small level of technical competence around that so CAN shift easily away from Windows. And this is not even touching on MS as data-gathering spyware manufacturer that became evident with the release of Xbox One console (sending home pictures and data from your living room without your consent etc) and now WIndows 10 which has basically been re-engineered from the ground up to act as a data-gathering and reporting tool. You can't easily get around that without a lot of end user time and effort (as they often reset things to 'default' in terms of data-gathering after each forced update). I can't trust a company that does that or even 'thinks' this is all ok.

They are not the only ones with big hardons for this stuff (Google, Amazon etc they are all into it). But as the supplier of my OS, a tool i need for my PC's to function (so i can work and earn a living etc), they crossed a line with Windows 10 so i jumped ship and made a customer choice to not use Windows 10.

But yeah the 'dysfunctional' flat design that pervades most of our digital lives now (from GUI reskins to look more like Windows 8 panels and blocks of solid colour, to the hiding away of a tools functionality (everything from anti-malware tools to forum software to the main WIndows 8/10 OS GUI)) and most of that i can lay the blame at MS and the design ethos change over Windows 8 (focused on 'beating' Apple and the growing mobile platform etc).

Even the changes in Windows 7 were too 'Apple' like for my tastes (the taskbar as 'dock' etc) so i customize all my WIndows 7 installs to look and work more like the traditional W98/Vista era GUI as i just work faster in that GUI environment.

And on the 'dysfunctional' aspect of the flat (or 'clean' 'modern') design issue, take note as forum software made with the same attitudes and concerns as WIndows 8 GUI simply leads to less detailed and helpful information being given. Why? Because it all focuses on Mobile so much it becomes about peoples time, how much time can i give to this issue as i'm on my mobile phone trying to help some guy with a technical issue. I'll use lots of abbreviation perhaps? Or maybe just not get involved as much as it is a bit of a pain trying to type the stuff i should be typing on my mobile as i walk to/from work.

That is at the core of why (for me) this last 5 years of GUI changes (to 'assist' mobile use) has often led to the internet in general being a less helpful place. And that makes places like this, that use tried and tested functional software, a growing more rare oasis of helpfulness. This place is probably not easy to use on a small mobile device ( i don't use them myself so am only guessing), but at a desktop/laptop with time to give, this place is 'oldschool' functional compared to many of the horror shows of modern forum software design i've seen (and been forced to stop using often). This place is all about getting information out there in a format that works, rather than being all about the convenience of trying use it on a small mobile platform.

Is this ringing any bells for anyone? I feel it is a pretty big issue we face these days in general over the growing less usefulness of the internet? It actually seems a lot deeper than simply being about using less graphical resources to display information? Once you start on that path of dumbing down and streamlining, forever will it shape your destiny etc

Would i have typed all the above from a mobile phone? no way in hell!

[AZgl1500]

it is extremely difficult to view/use this forum from a cellphone and be able to read a whole 'page' so as to keep the continuity of thought in mind.

I tried it, and gave it up fast.

I always go back to my laptop/desktop to do 'work' on the internet.

cellphones are toys, good for Facebook, yuck.

[lsemmens]

I always go back to my laptop/desktop to do 'work' on the internet.

cellphones are toys, good for Facebook, yuck.

Well said! A cell phone has one primary task, to make and receive telephone calls! All else is just bling! Some of it is useful bling, mind you, but, still bling.

[Chriske]

I always go back to my laptop/desktop to do 'work' on the internet.

cellphones are toys, good for Facebook, yuck.

Well said! A cell phone has one primary task, to make and receive telephone calls! All else is just bling! Some of it is useful bling, mind you, but, still bling.

+1

[absque fenestris]

When travelling by public transport I like to have a timetable with me, as well as a few books and occasionally a city map... Except for the missing umbrella, such a little phone is quite practical.

[AZgl1500]

When travelling by public transport I like to have a timetable with me, as well as a few books and occasionally a city map... Except for the missing umbrella, such a little phone is quite practical.

where I live, there isn't any public transportation.
Unless you call Uber 'public transport'.

in our very rural area, w/o a personal car/truck/motorcycle, you won't get very far on 2 feet.

and we have "laws" about looking at cellphones while driving our cars..... too many deaths from head on collisions, running off the road, off the bridges, etc.... ignored by way too many.


this is what happens when you don't pay attention to conditions, and keeping your eyes on the road..... at 60 MPH, we are making 88 feet/second, and you can't look down at a cellphone and do anything at all in only 1 or 2 seconds..... so, folks travel along, depending on their peripheral vision to keep them between the white lines,,,,,, and all of a sudden, there is no road ahead.

[absque fenestris]

When I drive a car, the phone is basically turned off - I already have enough from pedestrians, who, because on the phone, head towards me unbraked. I then do the strong elbow...

[Pepi]

I like this forum and the green/white. Never worked on mainframe computer and printer systems .. hey

Only complaint is the search function isn't that great but I have ways around using it.

[drkmttr]

Gotta say, there are a lot of opinions being thrown around here. Remember that just because something doesn't work well for you doesn't mean that's the case for everyone else. I get along just fine with my phone and actually enjoy using it for tasks other than phone calls. I especially appreciate that the LM forums are mobile device friendly (for the most part).

This is why I suggest we don't go one way or the other. Let's do both! If and when there ever is a design revamp, why not just provide options? Either you can stick with the current design or you can choose the new modern design. It's that simple...everyone gets to use what they prefer.

[BG405]

This is why I suggest we don't go one way or the other. Let's do both! If and when there ever is a design revamp, why not just provide options? Either you can stick with the current design or you can choose the new modern design. It's that simple...everyone gets to use what they prefer.

I agree with this 100%. So many sites have been redesigned to work with tablets, where EVERY element has been spread out & it's like using a box of fanfold paper to display a few dozen items.

Many webmasters these days seem all too happy to go for the lowest common denominator i.e. the geezer with the small touch-screen and sausage fingers without catering at all for those of us who use traditional displays and have a proper mouse or trackpad to select things with.

Not all of us want to be shoe-horned into a "mobile/tablet-only" Web "experience" with the double or triple line spacing, narrow text columns, as little as two items per screen in some cases and all that scrolling.

[AZgl1500]

I don't even own a Tablet any more, bought one of those things, and it lasted me just about 6 hours.

gave it away.

[dimspace]

Its quite easy to modernise the theme yourself with a few css tweaks.

even little things like removing the rounded corners (which are really ugly) spacing posts out a bit, enlarging the text can make things look more "modern" while retaining the same look

I might build a userstyle that flattens and modernises things a little.

[murray]

I just switched to the blue theme for this forum and it looks a lot nicer than the default green theme.

[absque fenestris]

Its quite easy to modernise the theme yourself with a few css tweaks.
even little things like removing the rounded corners (which are really ugly) spacing posts out a bit, enlarging the text can make things look more "modern" while retaining the same look
I might build a userstyle that flattens and modernises things a little.

Corners rounded or exactly rectangular are something of absolutely no matter. And I personally find your proposal ugly. A good search function within the Linux Mint Forums threads would be very useful.

[dimspace]

Its quite easy to modernise the theme yourself with a few css tweaks.
even little things like removing the rounded corners (which are really ugly) spacing posts out a bit, enlarging the text can make things look more "modern" while retaining the same look
I might build a userstyle that flattens and modernises things a little.

Corners rounded or exactly rectangular are something of absolutely no matter. And I personally find your proposal ugly. A good search function within the Linux Mint Forums threads would be very useful.

each to his own For me, i struggle a bit with online reading for various reasons, and curved corners, small text, things like that dont help. (all i did in that example was square the corners and enlarge the text a bit.. ugly is a bit strong lol)

[absque fenestris]

Its quite easy to modernise the theme yourself with a few css tweaks.
even little things like removing the rounded corners (which are really ugly) spacing posts out a bit, enlarging the text can make things look more "modern" while retaining the same look
I might build a userstyle that flattens and modernises things a little.

Corners rounded or exactly rectangular are something of absolutely no matter. And I personally find your proposal ugly. A good search function within the Linux Mint Forums threads would be very useful.

each to his own For me, i struggle a bit with online reading for various reasons, and curved corners, small text, things like that dont help. (all i did in that example was square the corners and enlarge the text a bit.. ugly is a bit strong lol)

I don't like predetermined decorations. I'm Bauhaus oriented, and anything that goes beyond the absolute minimum bothers me. For example, I don't like pans decorated with flowers...

[AZgl1500]

Its quite easy to modernise the theme yourself with a few css tweaks.
even little things like removing the rounded corners (which are really ugly) spacing posts out a bit, enlarging the text can make things look more "modern" while retaining the same look
I might build a userstyle that flattens and modernises things a little.

Corners rounded or exactly rectangular are something of absolutely no matter. And I personally find your proposal ugly. A good search function within the Linux Mint Forums threads would be very useful.

My motorcycle forum recently was changed from VBulletin to Xenforo.

that was one hell of a shock, but after 4 or 5 weeks, I am beginning to appreciate how much faster Xenforo is, and the lack of shell shock and shutdowns, it just plugs along, no crashes.

Also, the Xenforo Advanced Search is faster than Google's Advanced Search, and the results are even more impressive than what google suggests.

Probably related to the searches in Xenforo not having to cover a Trillion forums around the globe ,
just the one forum that I am using.

BUT, there is one huge problem with that kind of change.
We lost a lot of members who were regular users of the forum.
the GUI is so foreign, that it just plain "shell shocks you".

I don't want that kind of change for this forum, If it ain't broke, why fix it?

[dimspace]

Corners rounded or exactly rectangular are something of absolutely no matter. And I personally find your proposal ugly. A good search function within the Linux Mint Forums threads would be very useful.

each to his own For me, i struggle a bit with online reading for various reasons, and curved corners, small text, things like that dont help. (all i did in that example was square the corners and enlarge the text a bit.. ugly is a bit strong lol)

I don't like predetermined decorations. I'm Bauhaus oriented, and anything that goes beyond the absolute minimum bothers me. For example, I don't like pans decorated with flowers...

You will hate this header then (the header colours are lifted from the linux mint blog)

that said, the logo looks really good.

[dimspace]

Also, the Xenforo Advanced Search is faster than Google's Advanced Search, and the results are even more impressive than what google suggests.

One thing Xen is very good with is indexing without massively impacting the server. Having built and run a forum myself, the search is a balance.. set the indexing too low and search results arent good enough, set it to high and results are better, but server performance can be impacted. (All rather depends on the resources of the person running the forum as to what level of server they can afford).