ATS 2010 Updates Thread - #(UPDATE Nov. 10)#

Bring back the TOP button!

When will the TOP button return? You know, that handy little button at the bottom of a page which brings you back to the top of the page.

Systems worldwide are bogging down from interrupts from mouse wheels lugging that cursor back to the top of screen. Imagine how green we could make the planet by implementing this simple change!

Bring back the TOP button!

reply to post by mishigas


Don't know if that is in the works but as an alternative... try using the Ctrl + Home keyboard solution, it takes me straight to the top of the page. Give it a try, and thanks for the suggestion

Very much dislike the new site.

I'm voting with my feet.

Sayonara esteemed ATSers - I was nice while it lasted.

This has probably been asked/discussed and I tried searching but because it's such a broad thing to search for I found no relevant results... but is there any point in time that the Hot Threads of the day and Top Flagged Threads (in the past 24 hours) side bar on the direct "Discussion Board" that used to be on the site will return? Or am I just missing it somewhere?

I really miss that as it really helped me direct my attention to what everyone else was very interested in during the day. Now I have to search through the most recent posts constantly and I feel like I'm missing out on some important threads.

Anyways thanks in advance if anyone has an answer/explanation.

reply to post by B.Morrison

I used to find ATS a subtle sophisticated but more-so a relaxing & calm scholarly atmosphere..

it feels like a rolls royce has been traded in for a festiva or something,
a festiva owned by a valley girl with bubblegum stuck in the carpet.

While I agree with you that the new design looks more "cheap", especially when compared to the sophistication and subtle brilliance of the old site, it is just cosmetics for the most part. If the members are the engine that moves this car, then does the body style really matter? Is a "festiva" really a bad car if it has a corvette, RR or Ferrari engine? Sure, the suspencion, tires and aerodynamics do make a difference (and is part of the experience) but the engine (members) is still the powerhouse of the vehicle (site).

I heard someone mention that the new layout was designed for those browsing the internet or surfing in from search engines and I don't know how true that is but it does make sense, after all this is a business. When it's all said and done, where the rubber hits the road, you adapt and overcome. What looks cheap to us, looks better to the next guy/gal. You can't please us all and all we can really do is roll with the punches and work with what we have. After all, it's not like we are trading that powerful engine for a cheaper one, right? The body style may be different but the members are the same dynamic and evolving bunch that powered the old site.

The brilliance of ATS is that it is a user generated content site (for the most part), though without the usual drawbacks to such sites, such as the bland, confusing and home-made BB construct or the spamming and uncivilized or childish discourse. We get all of the benefits to "article-driven" sites with the benefit of user generated content that is ever dynamic, constantly relevant (again, for the most part) and vast. IMHO, this is why ATS has become so popular and is so large and successful. As long as the mechanics stay the same (and a competitor doesn't emrge), this site could be pink with little fairies everywhere and it would still be better and more popular than most others, as it combines the benefits while nixing the draw-backs of the two dominant styles of information focused websites.


--airspoon

reply to post by changetheworld


I think those pages were replaced with the "NOW: Top Member Picks" and "NOW: Popular Topics" pages both of which can be found in the drop-down menu under "TOPICS" on the blue bar near the top of all pages.

Hope that helps

Not a fan of the new layout personally. Just seems a little Mickey Mouse in comparison to the old one. and the My ATS page is awful.

Whether you like the changes, or don't, I wouldn't get too strongly attached to your views, because if you know anything at all about SO, a change is always in the works. What you dislike today may be tweaked, improved, made worse or even disappear before you know it. The same for something you like.

I think many of us find the colours a bit garish. Whether they get toned down or not, we will get used to them in time so long as the content delivery is kept high. Its only decor and surely style is a very individual thing -- impossible to please everyone.

Functionality is another matter. I think that will take time to figure out whether it is actually more functional than before. Something new always seems harder at first, but once you get a little practice and familiarity, the benefits if they are there, reveal themselves and then you usually don't want to go back.

Originally posted by americandingbat
reply to post by changetheworld

 

I think those pages were replaced with the "NOW: Top Member Picks" and "NOW: Popular Topics" pages both of which can be found in the drop-down menu under "TOPICS" on the blue bar near the top of all pages.

Hope that helps

Ahhhhh!! Thank you so much. There they are I appreciate you letting me know that. I still would like to see it on the front page though (just my opinion).

reply to post by wayno


I am a member of 2 other forums that both allow the user to select the skin to be used while viewing that forum. You might not be able to please everyone, but you can get a lot closer with more options.

Originally posted by solidshot
Not a fan of the new layout personally. Just seems a little Mickey Mouse in comparison to the old one. and the My ATS page is awful.

Someone replied in the ATS issues thread that if the MyATS wasn't broken, why fix it? Skeptic overlord replied to that post by linking to a post in this thread about the recent posts page and said it was broke. I don't know if SO missed the point the poster wasn't talking about the recent posts page, it's the My ATS page that seems to be the big problem for other posters and for me as well.

I used to find it very annoying when someone would write too long a thread title with not enough spaces, and then that title would mess up the MyATS layout changing it from three columns to two. I can't even imagine that now we are stuck with the two columns now, the old layout was much better.

What exactly was broke about the old myATS layout and why does that need to be "fixed"? I agree with the other posters who say the MyATS page seems much worse now.

I'm not complaining about the recent posts page that SO referred to when replying to the post about the broken MyATS, the recent posts page is fine with me. Are you really getting better clicks on the new MyATS page layout? Because I find myself less inclined to use the site with the new MyATS layout, so I know you're not getting as many clicks from me, I use the MyATS page less which means I use the site less since MyATS was a common method I used to find threads of interest.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


Hmm since the myATS page is already set up to toggle between 5 different views, why not just add a sixth option, for the old style view?

That way, everybody wins!

Originally posted by Arbitrageur
What exactly was broke about the old myATS layout and why does that need to be "fixed"? I agree with the other posters who say the MyATS page seems much worse now.

Over time, we received (usually via U2U or contact email) many more complaints about the prior MyATS forum layout (and problems with long thread-titles) than we're seeing here about the new layout. Many complained that they simply couldn't read it because of the size of the fonts used.

I'm looking at a few methods of bringing back a "classic" forum list layout, but the structure of it is much more difficult now that we've migrated away from using HTML tables. However, there will at some point in the near future be a "classic" layout option available, but most likely long thread titles that would disrupt the layout will be truncated.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


Has anyone told you today that you rock Skeptic Overlord, you have been working so hard on this transistion and want you to know I appreciate all your efforts as I think most members do.

Thanks for all you do.

Originally posted by LadySkadi
Did the post font (not the thread title font) just get smaller?

Comment edited to say that the new font size (esp. in thread titles) is much better for zooming, if necessary as it no longer seems outrageously large. Better.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I luv, luv, luv the new MyATS layout! It is much easier to see and use. And I love being able to go to the last post. Very handy!

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
However, there will at some point in the near future be a "classic" layout option available, but most likely long thread titles that would disrupt the layout will be truncated.

Wow that sounds fantastic SO, and thanks for the update!

I just asked the qeustion in the issues thread, but I realised I should have asked it here.....

I was just posting in a thread wherein I was raising some medically oriented issues regarding which I was concerned.

I think the thread was just deleted.....& for what it's worth, I think that was a very good decision.

I can't see the thread at all.....either on my "My ATS" page, the op's profile page, etc..., where previously I would usually have seen the thread, selected it & seen the "404" page, thereby confirming the thread had been deleted.

So.....my question is.....

Has ATS 2010 changed the handling of deleted threads so that from now on, those threads are simply not visible at all, immediately upon their deletion?

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

What happened to the BTS smileys? You remember these guys;

:w::shk::bash::bnghd:

Why don't we have the BTS smiley buttons anymore?

Also.....

Just in case it's of interest &/or use.....

The "editing time limit" appears to still be a little flaky.

I just tried to edit a post that was approx 2 hours old, but I received the message that I couldn't because the "4 hour edit time limit" had lapsed.

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not