A change for the worse

"Autism friendly"? No, I don't think so. The original format worked and was a logical set up that was easy to use, this new format is a total illogical mess. The number of posts on this forum and the number of users making them were already in decline. I think this new layout will simply hasten that process. I for one won't be using or visiting this site in future. In fact as soon as I post this I'm going to close my account here.

Parents
  • Deleted user said:
    "Autism friendly"? No, I don't think so. The original format worked and was a logical set up that was easy to use, this new format is a total illogical mess.

    "Visual hypersensitivity friendly"? Not in my case no. My eyes keep tracking to the pink text and tabs all about, rather than having text-boxes for reference by which to focus on, read and use other text-boxes to track back from.The colour scheme is bad, no balance of colour as before, and glare factor is so intense that I have my computer brightness set at one click from black - making reading really difficult. The text in the reply box is also way to small, and with my eyes tracking from the text in every direction that is pink - I am getting eye-strain, head-ache and neck-ache.

    Deleted user said:
    I for one won't be using or visiting this site in future.

    This is not a surprise, as people with A.S.D. do not cope well in unfamiliar situations, especially without any information concerning changes to long established routines of productive and meaningful behavior. Confusion and frustration will at least result at one end of the spectrum, whilst at the other end of course, walkouts and meltdowns.

    The 'old-look' of the site was more comfortable, characteristic and softer in appearance, whilst the 'new-look' is rather more otherwise and stark. The top 'You are here:' panel could really do with being a quarter the size of the screen, rather than a third of the size - maybe on the home page yes, but not on the forum pages themselves. 

    Reasonable adjustments needed. Please - on health grounds.

    P.S. The typing reply functions are good though, which are an improvement.

  • I have managed to overcome the high glare-factor and visual miss-tracking problem by sticky-taping a piece of pink transparent plastic (a chapter divider for an A4 folder) to the top of my computer screen. When I go to other sites I can just lift it over behind the screen. I am though going to get some blue transparent plastic if I get the opportunity to do so.

    One of the problems with the new-look, is that it appears the N.A.S. have not considered what the affect and effect on those on the spectrum who have hyper-sensitivity to light and colour issues, nor that with intense whiteness - the red of magenta gains more emphasis while the blue more loses it.

    Blue for instance physically relaxes the body and mentally stimulates the ability to communicate, whilst red does the opposite in not being mentally relaxing but physically stimulating instead. Getting tired and agitated becomes as such more of problem then if one is sat still.

    From The Book Of COLOUR HEALING, by Theo Gimbel (who is or was the President of the International Association for Colour Therapy in 1994), here follows a few basic rules that are useful:

    Colour in the home and at work

    Hospital colour schemes can help the process. Specifically chosen colours in hospitals for the mentally ill have had dramatic effects. The following key words offer a useful guidance. They apply to all colour schemes (in buildings etc), but have particular relevance for the healing needs of hospitals. Use red to increase energy; orange for joy; yellow for detachment; green to create balance; turquoise for immunity; blue for calmness; violet for dignity, magenta to help bring about change.

    Using these guidelines, blue may well predominate in a hospital for disturbed patients. Use violet at the patients' entrance to give a sense of dignity; orange at the staff entrance to begin the day in a cheerful way. Individual bedrooms can reflect a patient's needs: a lethargic patient, for example, would benefit from a rose-coloured room; use turquoise for those of a nervous disposition, and blue for a restless patient.

    In offices, factories, and other work-places the management of colour is used to improve the working environment in order to increase productivity and efficiency. More companies and organizations are making colour an integral part of a building's structure.

    Green helps staff tolerate a noisy environment, blue is good for cooling down a hot work-place, and occasional architectural features painted red keep people moving. However, too much of a colour can have a different effect from  the one intended ~ excess red brings out aggression, for example, while too much green makes staff over-relaxed. Safety features, likewise, are based on the effects of exposure to particular colours. Firefighting equipment, for example, is coloured red, as are signs indicating "stop", "don't", or "danger". Green is commonly used to denote an "escape route" or emergency exit.

    The Aspie Village, Asperger and ASD UK Online Forum (and up until recently the N.A.S.) websites use blue as their basic colour scheme. Perhaps the above information will prove useful.

    With the 'voting-up' or 'voting-down' thing, I am not so sure about it personally, especially as I accidentally managed to 'vote-up' my own post from '0' to '1', but could not reset it to '0'. Could a Moderator reset that for me please?

    Also, I  do not think that voting for one's own work is all that good a thing really.

    Another issue with 'voting-up' or 'voting-down' thing is the issue of people who may not appreciate being 'voted-down', given that low confidence issues for those on the autistic spectrum is an extremely relevant concern. Is it not simpler to have someone write an explanation as to why a post is not befitting - as that at least opens the possibility for discussion and further understanding and comprehension to develop between people?

    I mean who would know that I 'voted-up' my own work if I had not stated that that was in fact the case?

    It seems that the 'new-look' forum set-up has very much the look and function of internet news 'papers' - with the top panel being where the news-picture or video-clip would be, the opening post the news article, and our replies being the reader's comments with vote-ups and vote-downs.

    QuirkyFriend said:
    I'm persisting but given I moderate on other forums that would have better mechanics I'm not convinced of this as the best solution

    I very much agree with QuirkyFriend here. 

    P.S. There is no option but to reply to the last person it seems, or the order of posts gets mucked up, as appears now to have happened,  so again would a moderator sort this one out too, please?

    P.P.S. What a disorganised mess I have made of things. I used to like not having to reply to a particular person and everything staying in order - whilst being able to directly write to them at the same time. Ah - the good old simple days. So yet again - would a moderator sort this one out as well please?

    PPP.S. Why is it necessary that when we quote people their N.A.S. number appears beside their statement, rather than their user name?

    Thankyou in advance for the corrections.

Reply
  • I have managed to overcome the high glare-factor and visual miss-tracking problem by sticky-taping a piece of pink transparent plastic (a chapter divider for an A4 folder) to the top of my computer screen. When I go to other sites I can just lift it over behind the screen. I am though going to get some blue transparent plastic if I get the opportunity to do so.

    One of the problems with the new-look, is that it appears the N.A.S. have not considered what the affect and effect on those on the spectrum who have hyper-sensitivity to light and colour issues, nor that with intense whiteness - the red of magenta gains more emphasis while the blue more loses it.

    Blue for instance physically relaxes the body and mentally stimulates the ability to communicate, whilst red does the opposite in not being mentally relaxing but physically stimulating instead. Getting tired and agitated becomes as such more of problem then if one is sat still.

    From The Book Of COLOUR HEALING, by Theo Gimbel (who is or was the President of the International Association for Colour Therapy in 1994), here follows a few basic rules that are useful:

    Colour in the home and at work

    Hospital colour schemes can help the process. Specifically chosen colours in hospitals for the mentally ill have had dramatic effects. The following key words offer a useful guidance. They apply to all colour schemes (in buildings etc), but have particular relevance for the healing needs of hospitals. Use red to increase energy; orange for joy; yellow for detachment; green to create balance; turquoise for immunity; blue for calmness; violet for dignity, magenta to help bring about change.

    Using these guidelines, blue may well predominate in a hospital for disturbed patients. Use violet at the patients' entrance to give a sense of dignity; orange at the staff entrance to begin the day in a cheerful way. Individual bedrooms can reflect a patient's needs: a lethargic patient, for example, would benefit from a rose-coloured room; use turquoise for those of a nervous disposition, and blue for a restless patient.

    In offices, factories, and other work-places the management of colour is used to improve the working environment in order to increase productivity and efficiency. More companies and organizations are making colour an integral part of a building's structure.

    Green helps staff tolerate a noisy environment, blue is good for cooling down a hot work-place, and occasional architectural features painted red keep people moving. However, too much of a colour can have a different effect from  the one intended ~ excess red brings out aggression, for example, while too much green makes staff over-relaxed. Safety features, likewise, are based on the effects of exposure to particular colours. Firefighting equipment, for example, is coloured red, as are signs indicating "stop", "don't", or "danger". Green is commonly used to denote an "escape route" or emergency exit.

    The Aspie Village, Asperger and ASD UK Online Forum (and up until recently the N.A.S.) websites use blue as their basic colour scheme. Perhaps the above information will prove useful.

    With the 'voting-up' or 'voting-down' thing, I am not so sure about it personally, especially as I accidentally managed to 'vote-up' my own post from '0' to '1', but could not reset it to '0'. Could a Moderator reset that for me please?

    Also, I  do not think that voting for one's own work is all that good a thing really.

    Another issue with 'voting-up' or 'voting-down' thing is the issue of people who may not appreciate being 'voted-down', given that low confidence issues for those on the autistic spectrum is an extremely relevant concern. Is it not simpler to have someone write an explanation as to why a post is not befitting - as that at least opens the possibility for discussion and further understanding and comprehension to develop between people?

    I mean who would know that I 'voted-up' my own work if I had not stated that that was in fact the case?

    It seems that the 'new-look' forum set-up has very much the look and function of internet news 'papers' - with the top panel being where the news-picture or video-clip would be, the opening post the news article, and our replies being the reader's comments with vote-ups and vote-downs.

    QuirkyFriend said:
    I'm persisting but given I moderate on other forums that would have better mechanics I'm not convinced of this as the best solution

    I very much agree with QuirkyFriend here. 

    P.S. There is no option but to reply to the last person it seems, or the order of posts gets mucked up, as appears now to have happened,  so again would a moderator sort this one out too, please?

    P.P.S. What a disorganised mess I have made of things. I used to like not having to reply to a particular person and everything staying in order - whilst being able to directly write to them at the same time. Ah - the good old simple days. So yet again - would a moderator sort this one out as well please?

    PPP.S. Why is it necessary that when we quote people their N.A.S. number appears beside their statement, rather than their user name?

    Thankyou in advance for the corrections.

Children
  • Just a few comments, because obviously we want to consider changes carefully, rather than rush them in and affect other users adversely. This is especially true for what you have said about colour.

    I commented on the threading previously in response to . I know that the two approaches to threading have been a matter of debate in forums in general over many years. There does not seem to be much agreement, although the nesting here will be familar to those who have used Facebook.

    I take your points about voting. The main expectation is for comments to be voted up. Perhaps, should someone make a comment that is genuinely unhelpful or unsympathetic, voting down might provide a means for the community to show that this does not meet with general support? I rather agree about voting up your own comments; I'm not sure whether we can reset that but, overall, one vote on one comment will not have a huge effect. It is the comments that receive lots of support from many users that will stand out.

    We have flagged to the providers of the software some places where the "NAS number" appears in place of a forum name, and we would not expect that. We're hoping for a fix in a future release. Of course, if someone has not chosen a forum name (via Profile and then editing), then the "NAS number" appears as a placeholder. It is not in itself of any particular significance - just a string assigned to identify the participant in the absence of a forum name.