New Layout for UKworkshop

[houtslager]

Sorry people but I am finding the new weblayout for UKworkshop cr*p.
Too big a side panel for adverts, is there a way to reduce the size ?

k

 

[Charley]

Unfortunately not at the moment but will look into it. Out of curiosity, what's your screen resolution?

 

[flying haggis]

Sorry people but I am finding the new weblayout for UKworkshop cr*p.

k

have you seen the new screwfix forum, now that is cr*p, why do IT people have to change things for changes sake? Is it to justify keeping their jobs as, if they are seen to be doing something, then it must be productive!

 

[RogerS]

Sorry people but I am finding the new weblayout for UKworkshop cr*p.

k

have you seen the new screwfix forum, now that is cr*p, why do IT people have to change things for changes sake? Is it to justify keeping their jobs as, if they are seen to be doing something, then it must be productive!

Not IT's fault but marketing or senior management.

 

[matt]

Sorry people but I am finding the new weblayout for UKworkshop cr*p.

k

have you seen the new screwfix forum, now that is cr*p, why do IT people have to change things for changes sake? Is it to justify keeping their jobs as, if they are seen to be doing something, then it must be productive!

Not IT's fault but marketing or senior management.

I'd argue that IT are not especially good at challenging change and suggesting alternatives. The problem usually lies in lack of commercial experience in IT resulting in a "if that's what they want to do then who are we to argue" mentality - kinda echoed in your comment. Not always helped by the commercial side of a business not crediting IT with sufficient commercial awareness to make a good case. In my time in IT as an analyst I benefited from 20 years experience in the business side of things and successfully argued a "do nothing" (with the system) option more times than we actually made change.

 

[cambournepete]

I'd like to hide that side panel...

On my iPhone 4 it's awful, and just as bad on my netbook

 

[9fingers]

Another vote to move the side panel.
I'm viewing in 1280 x 800 - the maximum on my lappy and after the bowser toolbars and the extraneous UKWstuff, the active window must be around 1000 x400.

The user tools would fit in the gap between the UKW logo and the sponsor advert box top right.
The date line could go to the left of the Search UKW
The whitespace could be more effectively used to give more space for useful content.

Cheers

Bob

 

[Pvt_Ryan]

I'd argue that IT are not especially good at challenging change and suggesting alternatives. The problem usually lies in lack of commercial experience in IT resulting in a "if that's what they want to do then who are we to argue" mentality - kinda echoed in your comment. Not always helped by the commercial side of a business not crediting IT with sufficient commercial awareness to make a good case. In my time in IT as an analyst I benefited from 20 years experience in the business side of things and successfully argued a "do nothing" (with the system) option more times than we actually made change.

Actually it's not. It's more to do with companies not knowing what to do with IT, so it gets stuck under some random department (generally finance) who's execs don't support IT because they know nothing about it. So when a marketing VP comes to the IT director and says "Do x, y, z" the IT director can't over rule and if their advice is ignored (which it generally is because VPs know best) then the result is a load of crap which IT get the blame for. Trust me I've seen this 1st hand, we gave a presentation to a VP with a list of pros and (a lot of very serious) cons, he removed the cons and showed it to the board. The project was given the go, we took the flak until eventually people saw whos fault it really was.

 

[Dibs-h]

The problem usually lies in lack of commercial experience in IT resulting in a "if that's what they want to do then who are we to argue" mentality - kinda echoed in your comment.

The number of folk who work in the "commercial" side of things that haven't got any commercial awareness is also staggering. They'll more often than not want change implementing in some way but ask them if they want to "baseline" their current system or process before ££'s are spent, so the effectiveness of the change can be measured - it's like discussing the benefits of a tan to a vampire!

As for the change here - it's probably more to do with getting up to date on the forum software, which has addressed countless bugs\holes that most here haven't got the foggiest. As for the ads - well someone has to pay for bandwidth and hosting somehow.

Dibs

p.s. Mods\Admin - PhpBB must have a way to recognise mobile devices and therefore adjust the layout as necessary.

 

[mickthetree]

well done on the upgrade and moving to version 3. Very good.

But that side bar!!

YUCH!

 

[RogerS]

Sorry people but I am finding the new weblayout for UKworkshop cr*p.
Too big a side panel for adverts, is there a way to reduce the size ?

k

I'm with you on this.

Why the blue column? That i can live with but why shove the main navigation tabs over on the rh side? What was wrong with leaving them where they were ? top lh corner?

 

[Dodge]

I'm not actually seeing this huge block you are all on about on the side - I am viewing using Google Chrome and have the adblocker programme running associated to this which stops all the ads coming through.

I have got to say I preferred the way the old forum was too - Sorry Chas

Rog

 

[Gary]

I have got to say I preferred the way the old forum was too - Sorry Chas

Likewise, it's slower than the old one, anoying blue bar and if you click on a link it doesn't open a new page. #-o

So much for progress but some don't like change.


EDIT: It also says I'm off line when I'm logged on. My avatar and signature have changed and post count gone down.

 

[tom owens]

I personally think its pretty good. Very similar to a fishing forum i go on.. The adverts dont bother me. I can still read posts and view pictures so i dont see what the problem is with the ads.

 

[RogerS]

I'm not actually seeing this huge block you are all on about on the side - I am viewing using Google Chrome and have the adblocker programme running associated to this which stops all the ads coming through.

I have got to say I preferred the way the old forum was too - Sorry Chas

Rog

Just checked with Chrome on a Mac and I get the blue bar still.

EDIT: Just worked out why the board navigation links on the rh side top are so annoying. The way I use the forum is to start at the top menu (with all the forums listed) then click on For Sale and check that out. If I'd opened up a few posts to see what was what, the back button on the browser wouldn't be that useful but it was a simple matter to move the mouse straight up to the main board index and then click on Board Index. Now it's a drag (literally and metaphorically) all the way over to the right of the page then ALL the way back to the left of the page to click on specific topics.

Please please please move the Board Index back to the left hand side. It makes no sense having it over on the rh side.

 

[mailee]

Yep, same here, not impressed with the side bar either. My typing seems slower too or is that just my ageing laptop? :?

 

[matt]

I'd argue that IT are not especially good at challenging change and suggesting alternatives. The problem usually lies in lack of commercial experience in IT resulting in a "if that's what they want to do then who are we to argue" mentality - kinda echoed in your comment. Not always helped by the commercial side of a business not crediting IT with sufficient commercial awareness to make a good case. In my time in IT as an analyst I benefited from 20 years experience in the business side of things and successfully argued a "do nothing" (with the system) option more times than we actually made change.

Actually it's not. It's more to do with companies not knowing what to do with IT, so it gets stuck under some random department (generally finance) who's execs don't support IT because they know nothing about it. So when a marketing VP comes to the IT director and says "Do x, y, z" the IT director can't over rule and if their advice is ignored (which it generally is because VPs know best) then the result is a load of rubbish which IT get the blame for. Trust me I've seen this 1st hand, we gave a presentation to a VP with a list of pros and (a lot of very serious) cons, he removed the cons and showed it to the board. The project was given the go, we took the flak until eventually people saw whos fault it really was.

That's kinda some of what I was saying. By the sound of things your "cons" were dismissed because you were not regarded as credible. There's a huge divide between IT and commercial and fault lies in BOTH sides. I wouldn't disagree that in some cases blame lies with an IT Director but in my experience it's more failing to employ sufficient commercial experience within IT versus promote from graduate programmers. That's not a criticism of programmers but more a generalist view of where their real skill lies - not, in my experience, presenting a comprehensive and compelling business case; demonstrating a thorough understanding of the commercial environment they serve. IT has a significant contribution to make to a business case but should not (cannot) be a lone voice. Unfortunately I've seen too many instances when IT thrive on being the lone voice and regarded as an authority on areas beyond their remit leading to a situation where everything goes off a little half-cocked where their "authority" is subsequently dismissed, especially where the less favourable "cons" are concerned and, well, the rest is history...

I've worked both sides at varying levels and the shortcomings of the set-up and knowledge is really quite troubling; especially when combined by the naivety and blame culture on both sides.

Back on the subject of the upgrade... The clock is wrong - my profile board pref's had changed to GMT+1 (just in case anyone else has experienced the same). It's an easy problem to solve via the pref's - just select the correct time zone.

 

[xy mosian]

Logging in is a more round-a-bout route.
I miss the name of the day in the 'Last Post' column.
I'm not sure I need to know the time of day that someone joined the forum 5 years ago.
I suppose we have to live in a commercial world but there does seem to be less screen estate for woodworking.

First thoughts from me. Otherwise a clearer layout but I haven't fathomed the 'breadcrumb' trail yet.

xy

 

[squib]

Firefox Adblocker works so well i didn't know about the ads but the rest is working ok for me.

 

[xy mosian]

Why am I required to log in to view a post on a public forum?
xy