My strategy for using the new board, and it will probably change as I learn it more, is to enter at the "view unread posts" point.
I can then select the topic I am interested in reading and use the "first unread post" link. This is a minor irritation as the last board took me to the first unread post in a thread automatically.
I can then repeat the process until I have read all that I am interested in.
I can then go to the Board index and hit the "Mark forums read" link to reset everything.
My login status seems not to be stable. Failed again just now.
Subscribed threads aren't sending me email notifications any more.
On my phone (back now, all fixed) I can't see any link to quote a post. (Edit - well it's shown up now, after posting this message. A glitch now and then it seems.)
On the phone or on the PC I find it challenging to the point of being off-putting to have to read the titles and posting times of every thread just to see if its got new posts in it. The read/not read icons aren't working for me. Bold type worked. Easy to spot.
While PHPBB may offer dynamic scaling per device, it is hardly perfect. For my phone (Samsung Infuse running Android 4.4.4) I'm having to side-scroll a lot now. Only had to do that here before when someone posted a very large photo.
Does modern mean difficult? As a member of many, many forums over the past 14 years, and forum moderator for half that time, I'd have to say the net impression here is rather of reductions in facility and clarity, though the spareness of the look is certainly preferable to a cluttered interface.
Gerard wrote:On the phone or on the PC I find it challenging to the point of being off-putting to have to read the titles and posting times of every thread just to see if its got new posts in it. The read/not read icons aren't working for me. Bold type worked. Easy to spot.
Why don't you enter at the "view unread posts" point, as I suggested earlier
Sure, suppose I'll have to. Tried it just now and it means scanning through bullseye, small bore, buy and sell... stuff i never read. But I can live with glancing past those I guess.
Gerard wrote:Sure, suppose I'll have to. Tried it just now and it means scanning through bullseye, small bore, buy and sell... stuff i never read. But I can live with glancing past those I guess.
Once you've gone to the Board index and hit the "Mark forums read" link to reset everything the list coming up on "view unread posts" is normally quite short (for regular users anyway).
I know that this comes too late, but I wasn't aware a change was in the works. I suggest looking at the Bullseye forum - http://www.bullseyeforum.net/ . IMHO that board has just about everything the user would want; of course I don't know whether it's as good from the administrator's POV. One thing I really like about it is that when you click on the little "view latest post" box, it takes you to the first post that you have not previously read, and not just the very latest post. That can save a lot of scrolling around.
In any case it too often goes without saying that I greatly appreciate this forum no matter what the form it takes.
FredB wrote:One thing I really like about it is that when you click on the little "view latest post" box, it takes you to the first post that you have not previously read, and not just the very latest post. That can save a lot of scrolling around.
I agree that's a (minor) irritation.
Once you're in the thread, try the "first unread post" link. It's only 1 extra click but takes you to where you want to be.