AVForums moves to Xenforo

[SneakyDave]

I was reading some of the complaints from users over there. They probably don't realize how thankful they are that you didn't go with vB5, but most seem like minor issues

 

[Jeffin]

The forum looks great. I love the design and especially the way links on top adjusts when you scroll down. Good work!

 

[Alpha1]

I have to agree with your users in regards to the design. While I think the design does look very good on first impression I find it pretty bad for usability. Reading long posts is very hard due to the low contrast, choice of font, font spacing, white space and overall colour scheme.

Have you considered to add a second darker style that's easier on the eyes? It does not seem like your members will be happy with an improved version the current style.

Am I understanding it correctly that your audience is predominantly male 30+ ?

Maybe point your users to a vb5 installation they can try so that they understand why vbulletin was a no go. They will also see that the current change is 1000x better than an upgrade of vbulletin software.

 

[HWS]

I would never explain myself to my users why I use which software on my web site.

What you experience is just the regular "change" situation, where the users have to adapt to an all new situation. All new things are suspect and "bad" at first. I know it is hard if you paid a lot of money and worked for weeks to get the best result possible and are proud of the result and all you hear is how bad some customers react to it.

Never mind, some angry users are completely normal in your situation. No need for any justification.

 

[Carlos]

Check out who's giving me a run for my monies!

I would never explain myself to my users why I use which software on my web site.

I would. Especially if the situation was embarrassing to you in the first place. It's our way of saying "I apologize for the inconveniences if you had any, but we have rectified the situation by switching to a new, fresh software!"

What you experience is just the regular "change" situation, where the users have to adapt to an all new situation. All new things are suspect and "bad" at first. I know it is hard if you paid a lot of money and worked for weeks to get the best result possible and are proud of the result and all you hear is how bad some customers react to it.

Never mind, some angry users are completely normal in your situation. No need for any justification.

Yes, there's a need for justification - some users are afraid of change, so to alleviate any anger or any disdain to a major change like this - it's better to explain your situation than nothing. Leaving your users/customers hanging on "what's with the software change?" question... is a bad idea.

 

[s.molinari]

I would never explain myself to my users why I use which software on my web site.

I wouldn't explain so much the business reasoning for the change. But I would explain what is better, especially any advantages the user will get out of the change and point to them. for the user to learn them faster and go, "Oh, well that is better." There are a number with a stock XF over vB.

Fresher more modern UI (mini me, click on thread title to go to first unread post, user profile is cleaner more professional, etc.)
Alerts system
Copy and paste image attachments (my favorite)
A much nicer, faster, cleaner, and compatible editor
A faster system overall (when it isn't messed up with too many resource hungry or poorly designed add-ons)
A better PM system

Those are a few off the top of my head.

Scott

 

[Moshe1010]

Stuart,

I guess your mistake was that you didn't give a permission to a closed, trusted group of users to test the system before you actually made the move.
I agree with your members, the design, colors, and the post background just don't play along.
I would change the post background to gray (like the original background) and make more separation between each post. I will keep the background of the posts area (where the avatar is) white, so the background of the post itself wouldn't blend with the background of the entire website.

I'm not sure what bothered you with the original font that you wanted to change it.
It also looks like you haven't optimized the article area for mobiles, nor the navigation menu, which is pretty bad considering how many people are surfing through mobile devices these days, especially in a forum that big.

Not sure why you made the move so "early"; it is not like vB3 was dying or had a major (or any) security flaw that a move was needed TODAY (like you described on your posts that you were "pushed to upgrade," that's not really true). You could wait and finish it, but because you didn't, your users are frustrated.

Wish you best of luck.

 

[motowebmaster]

Gosh, gloom-n-doom

 

[Code Monkey]

The site looks totally fine to me for the genre. I am not a member there though. People are just resistant to any change. Just keep tweaking it and it will blow over in time. Long time active members will always feel like you went into their home and moved all their furniture around. They'll figure out where to sit eventually.

 

[Shelley]

@Stuart Wright - Although there is a lot of talk about "members don't like change argument" I'd encourage you (which I'm sure you and your staff are doing already) take note of the legitimate concerns and distinguishing them from the non-constructive posts since this will only help your site and improve upon. Some members will point out something they don't like and be non constructive (rage posting) but if that same issue is cropping up in posts by members posting constructively then it might be wise to take a look at that issue-x as there might be a solution that can be made to balance this out making it smoother for members entering this transition period.

Not that you need me advising since you've been doing this alot longer and way more experienced but thought I'd just say.

I'll be honest, at first the navigation following you down the page was something unique, atleast to me it was but after a long period of time it does get quite irritating with the navigation following you has you scroll. perhaps an option that members can select in their usercp disabling the navigation following you as you scroll down the page?

Hopefully, they'll be more constructive posts that members have issues with posted so it's something you can work off and try to resolve.

 

[Stuart Wright]

@Shelley the two elements of the design we are changing because of negative feedback are the brightness of the page - we are darkening it a tad, and the fonts, which we have already changed back to good 'ol Verdana. The site is more readable, and that's important
I'm ignoring subjective negative feedback about the pink red-violet.
Re headers, Mike (Sullivan) commented that the header might get irritating, so we provided alternatives as you suggest:
http://www.avforums.com/faq/can-i-change-the-header.9/
Thanks, all, for the feedback.

 

[estranged]

Verdana is much better than the old one but for message text it is too big. I think it should be a little smaller and the site width should a be a little wider. One of my favourite xenforo feature is that it goes to the first unread post when you click on a thread but on avforums some part of the newest post is blocked by the static header which is irritating. And finally if you get rid of that terrible pink you should be all right

 

[Luke F]

Just a heads up that the javascript issue is still present in the animated header mode, though it is not present in the other two modes

I noticed a few of your visitors are describing the new site as 'clunky' - this is probably a major part of the reason.

 

[Lee]

Are you looking to increase the width of the design? Looks way to thin on my big screen.

Nice on iPad though.

 

[Carlos]

@Shelley the two elements of the design we are changing because of negative feedback are the brightness of the page - we are darkening it a tad, and the fonts, which we have already changed back to good 'ol Verdana. The site is more readable, and that's important

Thanks, all, for the feedback.

My only suggestion would be to... "create" a new skin, based on the lighter skin you have now, to suit the "darker please" folks.

 

[Dad.]

The laggy scrolling in firefox actually isn't as a result of the position:fixed header, but rather Javascript:

The first and last results are a ~5-10 second window of scrolling
The middle result is the same amount of time but no scrolling
And for a fair comparison, continually moving the mouse on the page for the same amount of time = <10% of the calls/time.

The reason for this is because we are using XenForo's responsive function fix every time someone scrolls. Ideally, I only want to call this function when someone is near the threshold (meaning near the animation time, both before and after). I optimized the animations themselves, but jQuery animate function fails more times than it succeeds, so I keep calling it until it returns true. I honestly don't know how other people animate, since I just couldn't use the function very well. As a function, it seems buggy. Regardless, I might be able to find a fix for the top. Any suggestions, or javascript gurus, feel free to get in touch with me, would love to brainstorm.

 

[Brent W]

How is traffic holding up after the switch?

 

[kontrabass]

Wow Stuart I just saw this thread. Congratulations! Quite a style change!!! You have some guts Try to plow through all the usual critiques without letting them get to you. This will pass. I posted a test of our new style and reviews have been all over the map - most love it, but the haters are 5x as prolific..., others have legit feedback. That's why I'm going to release this vb3 retro style as an option. If anyone doesn't like the new site, I just route them to the retro style

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/vb-3-x-fluid-fixed.2151/

 

[Kevin]

@Stuart Wright Here's your chance for "AV.com".... just a million or so USD. http://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/66874924826/domainapalooza

 

[Carlos]

Wow Stuart I just saw this thread. Congratulations! Quite a style change!!! You have some guts Try to plow through all the usual critiques without letting them get to you. This will pass. I posted a test of our new style and reviews have been all over the map - most love it, but the haters are 5x as prolific..., others have legit feedback. That's why I'm going to release this vb3 retro style as an option. If anyone doesn't like the new site, I just route them to the retro style

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/vb-3-x-fluid-fixed.2151/

I said "woooooow." Out loud. Yes, out loud!

You replicated vB3 on freakin' xenForo!