Rangefinderforum landing page suggestion

[olakiril]

As many have already mentioned the landing page of this forum has stopped being very useful.

I have made the following design:
1. IT includes a compact list of the latest topics sorted by latest activity as we had in the previous version of this forum.
2. Removed a lot of wasted space at the top
3. HOF on the right

Tell me what you think and if it is possible to have sth like this.

 

[lynnb]

This looks much more user-friendly to me. I support this suggestion.
Thanks for your effort!

 

[p.giannakis]

This is great - is it possible to get to something like this. The way the inital page currently works is something i dont particularly like.

 

[silvano]

I Agree.. I finde quite complex to have at first glance an a
idea of recent topics in the current home page configuration.
IMHO

 

[Larry Cloetta]

That’s a huge improvement, for me at any rate. This is my first post after the redesign as I’d found the new landing page so discouraging. Yes, yes, “ that’s just you” and “ you “just need to get used to it.”
When I first saw the new layout, with all the wasted space, which meant that there were only a handful of newly posted to threads visible, I immediately regretted that it hadn’t been obvious to me when the mockup was floated, and comments were asked for, that this was going to be a problem. My only small gripe with the old format was that the landing page didn’t have enough threads visible at a glance, because the classifieds took up space at the bottom. Once you went to page two, and the classifieds disappeared, you could get more information faster, which is better.
So, yes, please, get rid of all the dead space, and just let us see, in one spot, at a glance, the largest possible number of thread titles for recently updated threads.
My only other minor gripe is the constantly increasing red number of “notifications” that there has been activity in a thread I subscribed to. Would love to be able to turn those off, and maybe I just haven’t found that trick yet. The only reason I subscribe to threads, is so I can go to my list of the subscribed threads to which I regularly post photos. If there is new activity in a subscribed thread, or any thread, that thread should have moved to the top of the normal landing page, so I’d see it immediately, because there should be a large number of thread titles instantly visible on that page, and I’d be able to look at it if I felt like it. Having a constantly increasing red number at the top of my page is just like walking into a room and seeing that your phone is telling you that you have 16 new messages to attend to. Not everyone finds that calming. Or useful.
For those who are emotionally needy, there’s now a “like” button, so now we’re caught up with the culture’s need to either be constantly affirmed, or reach for the bottle of antidepressants/antianxiety meds when we aren’t. Way to go.

 

[KoNickon]

I agree -- I liked landing on the page and seeing the current threads. If we can reconfigure the new setup this way that would be great.

 

[lynnb]

Don't forget in the meanwhile you can use this workaround posted by olakiril in another thread:

You can use the following to include all of them but it takes a bit longer to load:
https://www.rangefinderforum.com/sea...%7D&btnSubmit=

That is what most people expect at the landing page and should be the default without taking so much time IMO

 

[olakiril]

Don't forget in the meanwhile you can use this workaround posted by another user in another thread (sorry can't remember who).

It was me 🙂

 

[Saganich]

Agreed. I like to land and see everything recent, like the last 24-48 hrs, which usually isn't too much. It's trouble to have to click around just to make sure you're not missing something. For example today that wonderful M3DS isn't on the landing page.

 

[Dralowid]

Yes please, excellent and particularly good for those of us who 'browse'!

 

[MP Guy]

it can definitely be reworked. But, its not that much different than the old one. Look at the attached image. Its almost identical. gallery on top, recent forum stuff middle, ads on the bottom etc ...

Bythe way, as far as the announcements on the top of the page, you can hide those.

 

[MP Guy]

Also latest section in middle I believe is showing threads with latest replies

 

[keytarjunkie]

Also latest section in middle I believe is showing threads with latest replies

Already a huge improvement to the site, thank you for all your hard work!!

I don't mean to critique, but only to be helpful to others here who have a difficult time with the new site. I think it would be useful to restore the original "The Forums" sidebar as seen in your screenshot. The current sidebar is "Tag Cloud" "What's Going On" and "Trending", I think none of these are remotely useful. At least "What's Going On" could go at the bottom of the page somewhere. It would also be super useful within the "Latest" section, to show in which forum each topic lives in. I hope this feedback is helpful to you, and again my sincere thanks in the work you have done!

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

The new page I just landed on this morning is GREAT!

By the way, I don't think there was anything really wrong with the old format, it was more the mechanics of the software behind the scenes that was problematical.

 

[p.giannakis]

Can we get back the thing i circled in red? It is helpful when there are multiple pages within a thread.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I like the new layout better than this morning's. Closer to the original.

 

[nightfly]

In general get rid of as much stuff at the top of the page as possible. Get the meat of the forum above the fold.
Make the default font larger.
Loose the stuff in the left column and just have the a directory of sub-forums.

It's getting better. I was about to abandon it entirely but coming back today I see it improved. Also changed my default to the dark theme and I like this much better.

 

[Leica0Series]

In general get rid of as much stuff at the top of the page as possible. Get the meat of the forum above the fold.
Make the default font larger.
Loose the stuff in the left column and just have the a directory of sub-forums.

It's getting better. I was about to abandon it entirely but coming back today I see it improved. Also changed my default to the dark theme and I like this much better.

Agree with all of this. I liked it before, so I'll like this more when it looks more like the old one. Don't see much use for the tag cloud for sure. Switching to the dark theme helps a lot!

 

[oftheherd]

it can definitely be reworked. But, its not that much different than the old one. Look at the attached image. Its almost identical. gallery on top, recent forum stuff middle, ads on the bottom etc ...

Bythe way, as far as the announcements on the top of the page, you can hide those.

I am just an old fuddyduddy, but I have always been happy with the RFF landing page, including the option to switch between black on white and white on black. A lot of that is no doubt that I am just used to it being that way.

But if it is decided to rework it, I will stay with it and learn how to use whatever. I enjoy RFF and the good members too much to leave.

By the way, kudos to MP Guy for all the hard work he always puts into RFF. That goes for the Head Bartender as well. Thanks to both of you.

Thanks also to the OP. Never anything wrong with looking to try and make better place. I am just happy with the way it is, old fuddyduddy and all that I am. 😀

 

[rulnacco]

it can definitely be reworked. But, its not that much different than the old one. Look at the attached image. Its almost identical. gallery on top, recent forum stuff middle, ads on the bottom etc ...

Bythe way, as far as the announcements on the top of the page, you can hide those.

Is it just me, or did the old page just look *way* better than the current one? I mean, it wasn't going to win any awards for stupendousness in design, but it looked good and worked very, very well indeed. Simple and classy--and very useful.