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.

  • I wasn't here for the change, but, really, how did they think a bunch of people on the spectrum would react to a major change in the format of the forum lol?

  • I love the picture of Oliver Cromwell locomotive!!!

  • We made a change today to allow the top banner to scroll off screen on all screen sizes (as it did before now on mobiles). We're working on another change for mobiles; at present, on "wider" phones, you get the boxes with various additional information on the right, taking up screen space. We're going to move those below the main message column unless you've got something approaching a desktop screen width. That should be ready soon.

    Hope these changes help with screen space.

  • Hi Trainspotter.

    I am by no means fluent at malopropisms - but I do enjoy making an effort with them when I get the oprah-tuna-tea.

    The odd one does occur to me along the way though, with my latest being 'socio-ILL-logical society' - which is a terror-bull affliction suffered most severely by those who actually don't have it, or really don't get it.

    I really enjoy double-entendres two - especially Frankie Howard's stuff. 

  • Hi Deepthought.  I've always been interested in wordplay and using deliberate malopropisms - a bit of the Hylda Baker in me (don't know if anyone remembers her!)  I often refer to things being 'omnibus' rather than 'ominus', the world being my lobster, having a 'haddock' (instead of headache), 'Gravely Ill' (spaghetti junction, in Birmingham, really Gravelly Hill)--- the list goes on!  And then neurotypicals try correcting me as if I don't really know the real words.  I'll never understand the neurotypical mind1 

  • Trainspotter said:

    I am not of the Facepack generation and can't really get round the real question of Facepack - why?  I know some things go fungal, once again I don't know why.  And I don't really understand the 'language' of facepack - or why we want to know.

    I love the terms 'Facepack', going 'Fungal' and the real question of Facepack ~ why? Made me laugh ~ really refreshing satire; nice one.

  • Yes, understood on screen space. As I think you are suggesting, it does depend on the screen that you are using, because of the responsive (mobile-friendly) design. For example, on a phone in portrait mode, you're probably seeing the top bar/strip scroll off-screen completely, with the rest of the page. Many desktop screens have more height that the 750 pixels you're describing; the bar is not such an issue on my current (1080 high) screen. As I mentioned, layout on mobile was the principle area of feedback when we did pre-launch user testing, so we made some changes then.

    As in my previous post above, please allow us a little time to look at this and see whether adjustments can be made. It is on a list of post-launch work. However, I would expect that any change would take a few weeks to put in place.

  • Just to help explain what I meant about how much space is taken with banners etc. This is a screen shot of my whole screen! I have got firefox in full screen mode to give me a bit more space but the white and purple strips are just taking up too much space. We are here to look at the content rather than to look at the NAS logo or to be badgered with the Donate button - I'm already a paid up member! The white space around the search box does not achieve anything. The purple bar could include the search box and it could be narrower.

  • I'm getting used to it - the old software just did not work on my windows phone and it clearly had a number of other issues and limitations. I have just found the buttons which allow you to see the Newest posts on top - this should be the default option in my opinion!

    Can I make another plea for the banners (logos, my account, search, breadcrumb strip etc) at the top of the page to be trimmed down. I'm using firefox on a windows 10 laptop with a screen that only has 750 pixels or so heigth. The banner area just take up far too much space. They also make it very clear, to anyone that is glancing at my laptop, that I am on the NAS website. Can this be reduced in size and prominence so that one can see more of the forum content? Can it be made to scroll away as you scroll down the content.

  • Try editing your settings. Change:

    (UTC) Coordinated Universal Time to:

    (UTC+00:00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

    I'm not sure the wording of those options is really correct: UTC is a time standard, more than a time zone. In terms of time zones, the UK is of course on GMT for half the year and GMT+1 (BST) for the rest. However, setting for London as above seems to produce the right result (at least while we're in BST!)

    I've flagged this to the software providers.

  • There's a limit of three indentations - as you've anticipated, messages wouldn't fit across the page with more. I'm looking into spell checkers. The licence we have does not provide alternative ones, but your browser's built-in spell checker should also come into play.

    The design is intended to be responsive for different screen sizes. I am finding that the squirrel image is resized so that it fits both, for example, a PC and a phone. If you're having problems, please let me know the device and (if possible) screen size that you are using.

    We've previously done some work on the space taken by the top panel. The size of this, especially on mobile, was one of the key comments that came out of the pre-launch user testing, so we made adjustments then. We may be able to reduce it further, but it will take time to look into this.

  • The time stamp on the posts seems to be an hour earlier than the clock time.

  • I think it was a glitch because when the phone froze. The message that someone else was typing was actually overlapping other text on the screen.

  • I am a laptop only techno-clutz type - so whether it was a smartphone glitch or what I do not know.

    Maybe WebPM or someone else who is tech-wise will be of more assistance with this one possibly.

  • I am exclusively accessing this site from a smartphone.  And still struggling to get used to it.  Not sure where the tool bar or the restore lost content option is !

    However what happened was, I was writing a short reply to a post and I pressed "reply" to post.  The whole phone froze and a message appeared that the other person was typing.  And the phone remained frozen. I switched it off and on again.

    When I got back onto the site. The other posters reply was there but my post never appeared.

    I have now found the tools menu and restore lost content option.  I had to change my mobile site to a desktop site.

    No sign of my old message.

  • I lost a bit of writing in a technical glitch, but found that the 'Restore lost content' option in the Tools bar resurrects the lost material. Perhaps it remains stored in the systems memory, maybe it is only temporary - but at least it is not a total loss in the short-term.

    Maybe then reply again to the said post, see if the restore function does the trick - and let us know if it works or not perhaps?

  • Another thing I have noticed is that when someone is replying to a post of mine.  A message appeared that that person is typing.  And I was posting to him at the same time.  And my post never appeared.

  • Interesting that a common diminutive for 'Richard'' should be censored with asterisks, I assume be the software.  The author mentioned was usually referred to by this name, not Richard.  Ah well, the times we live in .....!

  • Colour balance and luminous intensity problem solved with an 'add-on' - so thanks for the culminating lead to that one WebPM, nice on.

    With Robert123's really nice picture of a squirrel in the next post, it cannot be viewed as whole image due the top-panel taking up a third of the page. It has minimal functional priority for community members - so can the panel not be reduced to at least a quarter of the screen's size? At least limiting the size of the images would be useful perhaps? More so than having to use 'ctrl -', 'ctrl +' or 'ctrl 0' each time - surely?

    With the responding to someone's post thing, just how indented do things get - I mean will long discussions over time become more vertically pinstriped with one word to each horizontal line - sort of thing?

    Oh - and can the American spell check version be changed to an English one please?