Website ReDesign - Let's Talk about What We Like

Elaine, this thread is a great idea!

I like that we can read the content of a PM in our email notification. It allows me to decide if it's something to respond to quickly or whether it can wait.

I like the Preview window when composing replies.

I like being able to give longer replies and longer PM's without being cut off.

I like that on threads with many responses they are all on one page, though a 'to the bottom' and 'to the top button' would make it easier for PC users. I use an iPad so it's not a big deal to me.

@ George: I use a Netbook and NOPE - no Home, no End, no Top, No Bottom

I like the individual countries being listed for posts...I hated scrolling through To the West, etc. I hope they add more than just the 4 countries on the Hotel and Restaurant Reviews section...those 4 countries are not the only places with good food and lodging.
:-)

I like being able to scroll down to the last post, rather than the time consuming page after page after page, on some of the long posts. If that very first post with 150 posts at the top of General Europe was on the old website, we would have had to click through 9 pages, as there was no way to just go to the last page.

"@Andrea - doesn't your PC keyboard have Home and End keys?"

@George - I said I use an iPad, not a PC. It isn't an issue for me, and I like the posts all on one page rather than clicking in multiple pages.

Page links vs. scroll vs. newest first, none of that is a big deal with me, at least on the RS Travel Forum. Page links would come in handy for the current discussion about the web redesign but they are not needed most of the time. Unlike the current web design matter, discussion threads here rarely go to 150 posts, and they usually wrap up after a few days. In any case, I find it quick and easy to spin through threads to get to the final post.

On TripAdvisor, the “Don’t Use X Business” poison-pen attacks are kept going for years by people who either have an obsessive grudge against a company or are part of a deliberate attempt to drive business away from a competitor – or both. Most of them are single-issue users who never post about anything else. Many look so suspiciously alike, I suspect they are avatars for one or a handful of people. The zombie threads are sometimes entertaining, but otherwise are a waste of time. (Yeah, you could say about that a lot of posts, including this one, but I don’t feel like someone is trying to pull a con when I read other types of posts.)

One reason I like the Rick Steves site better than TripAdvisor is that the webmaster keeps the poison-pen posts off here. However, if you cannot resist opening those zombies on TripAdvisor, the page links are handy for allowing you to skip directly to the last page for the current month’s posts; the option for “most recent first” works just as well, and I like it sometimes.

Anyone can report a nasty post on Trip Advisor. Once a post gets 3 reports, it is gone. This is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The site is moderated heavily, and all those shill reviews also get removed as soon as they are reported by either 3 people or a Destination Expert. I report dodgy posts and reviews all the time. Compare that to here on this forum when someone writes something on a Fri. evening. It stays here until sometime Mon. afternoon as there are no moderators.

You are so right Jo. I have reported bogus posts on TA and they deal with them quickly. I also think that this "shill" idea is very exaggerated when it comes to TA reviews...the community there is usually pretty quick to gun them down. I also like that each country has many experts dealing with the many cities/areas of that country, they are not shills or (usually like here) not snobs.
As I have done on TA, I bookmark the countries I am interested in so I can go directly to the area I am interested in.

Trying to get back on topic: The posts counter actually counts posts correctly now....another nice enhancement.

I, too, like the enhanced search box at the top. Like the Size button at the top. Like the font. Fingers crossed for a quick link to "Traveler's Helpline." :)

This is a good idea for a thread, and to give Andrew and Kate something to feel happy about...

Shame it rapidly fell into a this-is-what-is-still-missing thread.

I agree that plenty is still missing but I will concentrate on the positves:

1. I'm so glad we have lost the incredible shrinking text.
2. The pictures are nice, throughout the website, although it would be nice if they scrolled slower and instead of 3 images there were more.
3. The font is nice - although I have one machine it looks less good on.
4. When the formatting is cleared up the white space will be well balanced and look good.
5. It is good seeing the power behind the changes coming out to take some of the flak, although it is obvious to me from something she said that many of the changes have come from further up the tree.
6. I think that Kent - the creator of the former stickies - would be pleased that, with some work, the graffiti wall knowledge base will eventually be areas of focused FAQs in the two right hand pull downs.
   
7. It will be nice to be able to point people to packing, scams, rail travel hints, avoiding ZTLs without having to rewrite all the time; but it will take work from all of us.
8. I think it is wonderful that the regulars and new people together are talking about things they both like and dislike.

Now I could go on about all the things I don't like, and have done elsewhere. Good job, Elaine, for looking for the good stuff.

Here are a few features that I really like:

I very much appreciate the single-page format for each thread. Along the same idea, I would like each forum page to be longer, viewing more threads in one scroll (maybe double the current count?)

The navigation bar just above the thread title. It allows me to stay within the forum without going back to the drop down menu. Any chance that we could, directly below it, also have a discreet link to the "classic view"?

The little bar above enabling users to change the font size that they are reading. This is really great for users that need it. Also the print button is a plus.

Instead of the horizontal rule, could we get a line spacer? So that we can get a real break between paragraphs? This would improve the look and readability of our posts even more.

I miss the visual cue letting me know that I had read a thread in the old format, this really helped me quickly zoom in on the threads that I was actively following.

Personally, I like it a lot! But then as I didn't use the former site very often, I didn't have to "unlearn" anything. For me, it's very user friendly and I consider myself among the technologically challenged.
Andi

The design is very pleasing to my eye. I love that I can read it on my phone without reading glasses. (On the old site, it killed my eyes even with reading glasses.). I like being able to read an entire thread without having to change pages. It is easier to look for threads about individual countries, although there are too many of them. (Some grouping would be an improvement.) I find that I no longer read through the entire site every day. I just look at a General Europe on a daily or almost daily basis. The countries that I've been to (and might have something to offer) I will only check once a week.

This is such a simple thing but I love not having to scroll down on the home page to get to the Travel Forum...it's right there at the beginning. The font size is much nicer and it looks a lot cleaner and less cluttered. Easier to navigate than before. You don't have to look at the detail of everything until you actually go to that page and, even then, it's arranged in a way that is easy to use intuitively.

What I like most is being able to go to a website about Germany, and not having to read through a lot of questions about Spain, France, and Benelux. On the other hand, when someone wants to ask about a trip from Paris to Munich, where do they post? If it's not about transportation (or if they can't find the Transportation board), do they post on France, or on Germany? If on one or the other, they might not get answers from everyone who knows. But if they post on both, we get two threads of answers, which used to result in a post about double posting. The thread about Frankfurt, Prague, Vienna, and Budapest was posted on Austria and Transportation, although a lot of it was about Germany.

Honestly, the only thing I like about the new page is the larger type on the screen.......the rest of the site should be 'redesigned' to its prior appearance.....but I sense that ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

I think the Beyond Europe section is a plus.

Great having the Jump to Top and Jump to Bottom buttons now

(Perhaps this feature has been here for the last 6 years, but) I just discovered the 'Search' button for my Private Messages! Boom! That just saved me from clicking through untold numbers of pages of old PMs 8^D

Thanks, WebPeeps!