New layout.

I don't like it. Maybe it's because of the change - and changes are always a little weird. But I think the "old" one was clearer.

I agree with that thought.

Hi serkan,

Could you please elaborate on what it is that you don't like about the new forum layout ? Personally I feel that this new layout is MUCH clearer, which obviously conflicts with your opinion... Let me give you a little background on the subject

We've changed the forum areas to be arranged by product now for several reasons

a) Because this is how the majority of our site operates, i.e. if you go to the downloads page, they are arranged and separated by product
b) Because it actually gives visitors a clearer path to find the information/discussions they're interested in. If I'm strictly an ITCH DJ who uses Whitelabel.net, then having these two areas available to me is all I really care about
c) Internally, we have staff who work in more than just one area. For instance, personally I would be interested primarily in Website Discussion (so I can answer threads like this!) and Whitelabel.net Discussion, as I also look after some of the moderation in that forum. I also just like to cruise around sometimes and read posts in other areas when I have a little down time, but these don't exactly have top priority, so being able to collapse them gets them out of the way when I don't need to see them

The other big change we made was changing the spacing between the headings on the main forum index page and condensing each area on to one line, as opposed to two. This helps keep the hierarchy of the page, and allows the discussion areas to be scanned much easier when you're looking for something in particular. We found that without this change, even with the areas grouped by product, it just felt "cramped" and there was no distinct separation between headings and areas.

Yes, change can be a bit daunting at first... but please give it a few days -- I'm sure that it will grow on you! We do appreciate the feedback, and we're taking it all on board. We're just trying to create a great community for our users to share information, as well as for our staff and partners to give support. Hopefully we've made the majority of peoples' jobs easier!

Eru

You didn't ask me but since when did I ever learn to be quiet :)

I think if you made the main page heading a bold vs the way they are now it would differentiate the sections a bit more. There really isn't much change between the main pages and the internal topic headings.

What site are you guys using: scratchlive.net or serato.com?

scratchlive.net

serato.com

Also some additional info. At home I use snow leopard and safari and it looks like crap and at work I use vista/firefox and not only does it look better but also shows the itch forums as well.

On Serato.com, I don't care for having to scroll to the bottom of the Forum listing page [ www.serato.com ] to click on DJ'ing Discussions and Off-Topic.

I disagree. It loos too much condensed and all packed up. HAving them as two liners was better IMHO.

Not too found of the new layout either. Just as I was getting used to the "new" scratchlive.net layout compared to the "old" one that used used since the beginning in 2004, this new "new" layout looks a bitter cluttered. I particularly don't like how the Help forums are now subforums. IMO, they should be separate and have their own headings to make it easier for people to find. It took me a minute to find the SL Help forum, I can only imagine all those people who aren't "regulars" here trying to find the Help forums.



Agreed. Would it be possible to be able to move the different section headers around to the user's liking? I personally don't frequent the foreign language "Scratch Live Worldwide" sections and don't like it the middle, I would prefer it at the bottom, and I don't do video either so same with Video-SL stuff. All I need is Scratch Live Discussion at the top (which it already is) and General DJ Discussion second. But I think it would be best if the users could move the areas around to their likings.

Konix has spoken.

I concur...

+1

On that point I think it's better for new people looking for support to go through the support pages rather than coming directly to the forum. The support pages direct people to the appropriate help request forms and product specific help areas as needed, I believe.

As to the other points... I'm in the mind of waiting to see how everyone feels in a few more weeks time :)

It's kind of like the sub-groups on my ttm57...
-kind of difficult to navigate at first, but I'm starting to get used to it by now :)

You can close off the areas you are not interested in, and since we only have one line for each area this means no scrolling to get to the General DJing Discussion areas. Here's an example: serato.com


The help areas will be really easy for non-regulars to find. You'll notice that the help areas are at the top of the public areas for each product group (eg Scratch Live Help is the top public area in the Scratch Live Discussions group).

I am certain this change will not result in any reduction in the number of help threads that are created daily.


That's something we have talked about. Personalization can be cool, but it comes at a price (we are working on other features with other benefits).

There is a lot of confusion over the fact that you have serato and scratch live website as a-posed to just one decent one.