Polycount Update - BUGS & SUGGESTIONS

adam

Use this thread to post any bugs you notice or suggestions you have on improving your experiences on the site.

Please use images whenever possible so we can see the bugs you're seeing, or to help us understand your suggestions better.

Alternatively, if you wish to keep your thoughts private please send me a Private Message directly.

COMMON/IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS & BUGS

Below is a list of common suggestions or bugs we're seeing users report in this thread.

1. The front page won't load on mobile and the forum is loading a default Vanilla skin. The front page should be loading and the forum skin needs to be Polycount themed.
2. The site could use a pass on overall spacing of information, make things a bit tighter.
3. Quote button doesn't work.
4. The WYSIWYG editor can bust formatting at times, making it difficult to fix.
5. Many users used the 'New Posts' button from vBulletin and would like to see it back.
6. The notification window that pops up from the bottom left of the screen has white text on a whitebackground, making it illegible. 
7. There is some confusion over when and how threads get updated. Some users cannot tell where there posts are going when they reply, others have a hard time discerning if a thread is updated since they viewed it last when looking at the thread list. There is an icon indicating this, but it needs to be more apparent.
8. There is a missing step in the forum breadcrumb that is omitting the main Forum name. See here.
9. Emoticons are appearing in the Lightbox and when sending content to the front page. This shouldn't happen.
10. Many users are hoping for redirects from old forum links, as many of them have specific threads bookmarked that no longer work.
11. This member's name is all kinds of buggered.
12. Users reported that Facebook & Twitter links is broken. I need to investigate this bug for better details.
13. Clicking on a front-page news post that comes from a REPLY does not link to the reply, it links to the page it was posted on.
14. Bring back custom Polycount emoticons.
15. The website favicon is missing.
16. Users are reporting some poor performance happening in the WYSIWYG editor.

Lazerus Reborn

Love the visual feel of the new forum. Just nitpicking on UI/ information presentation. It's been grouped oddly (in my opinion) and a ton of space is wasted on the right hand side by the user information and reply/quote buttons.

Still it's a massive overhaul and the backend must have taken a crazy amount of work. So congrats and get drunk for a successful update

walterlow

I am used to clicking the "whats new" button to see what's happening. seems like its gone. but overall the site looks refreshing!

Konras

Like all new things time is always needed to get used to
However one feature that I am missing, but that is maybe just me is being able to see images in original full resolution.
Last UI had this that there was a tiny bar at the top of each image that after clicking on it I was able to gaze upon details in full size.
I hope you will bring this feature here as well. It was really neat

I definitely like new comment box
Cheers and good luck!

fearian

My biggest issue is with the information on the right of a post. (I'll not screenshot it, look to your right :P)

Dark grey text on dark grey text is okay... but TINY dark grey text on dark grey is quite bad. This is probably exacerbated by "Send Message" being in the brightest possible color on the whole site.

fearian

linking to facebook is down:

{
   "error": {
      "message": "Missing client_id parameter.",
      "type": "OAuthException",
      "code": 101,
      "fbtrace_id": "GVJ9ryR2Zdi"
   }
}

aristides

Uploading animated avatars doesn't work. Only first frame of the animation shows up.

slipsius

So now that we just paste the vimeo links in full, it seems as though all the previous vimeo links are broken? Is that fixable or do we just have to live with it and move on? we use to type [vv]141163044[/vv], but now all the threads just show it exactly like that. Half the animation threads are pretty boned because of it.

skyline5gtr

Love the look and feel. Only thin I miss is thread title colors are all grey, which use to mean previously viewed. I liked that 

praetus

Overall it's nice but I think even something as simple as the "New" button next to a thread could be improved if it were green.  Having it grey right now makes me gloss over what threads I have visited.  Also, how do I link to a specific post now?  There used to be a post # link but now I don't really see anything. 

Steve Schulze

The "commented on" pop up that appears in the lower left corner currently has white text on white.

Also, where's the danged Quote Game?

Jeff Parrott

Is there a way to reverse the thread order before? So most recent reply is at the top of the thread.

adam

Hey guys -- Just a quick note to say I am loving the engagement we're getting from you guys in pointing out problems you're having with the site, whether its a bug or a personal preference.

I've updated my OP to outline some common bugs, or things I feel are important to address. I am going to be using that list - and I promise to review all the bugs you've reported in full detail - and get them to Vanilla for addressing. It's important to note that this will take time to address.

Arahnoid

Greate update!

Suggestions :

- as @Pleasure said would be great to get back "mark this forum as read" button

- Move reply and quote buttons in the post box as them are post related will make also more. Mentioned by @LANKUS MAXIMUS 

- move signature to the right under the user profile. Mentioned by @LANKUS MAXIMUS 
- maybe make sense to move flag message button to the right top corner of the post and make it less visible (maybe as a link not as a button). In 99.99% of the cases, you don't need to flag the post so it maks no sense to make it very visible.

Editor:

- change the attach icon with a clip icon as it is a more common metaphor for attachments

- If you type column ":" appears dropdown what helps to select an emoji(smile). Maybe better would be to show this dropdown when you type double column like so "::".  

Bugs:

In the editor when you type @username appears dropdown after you press enter key you also move the cursor to the new line

Suggestion for far far future:

- add full emoji list as here http://www.emoji-cheat-sheet.com/

- add possibility to write post/reply with markdown

slipsius

Bug- The share button appears black to me. The button next to the Flag button?

When browsing the forums, I already miss it saying who replied last. The "New" is fine, but I guess Im just use to looking to the right side of the screen to see who replied last that the "new" goes unnoticed to me.  It would also be fantastic if there was some sort of notice like the NEW icon, that tells you when the OP has posted again.

Any chance we can get the Hex code for the colours of the forums? The 2 greys. for the comment and the background? For icon purposes.

beefaroni

When I search for this on google and click the link, it just takes me to the main forum and not the thread !!! 
https://www.google.com/search?q=youre+making+me+hard+polycount&oq=youre+making+me+hard+polycount&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.2715j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q=you're+making+me+hard+polycount

EarthQuake

I find it very difficult to see if someone has responded to a thread, the threads no longer show the last poster's name, so for instance, when I'm responding to questions on the Marmoset sub-forum, every thread shows my name and I'm not sure until I click through each if someone else has posted.

pior

Here are a couple more thoughts after letting it sit for a while, in the spirit of PC-style constructive criticism :

- The header line (with the forum home/logo button and the News/Forum/Wiki/Shop links) staying at the top of the window while scrolling is unnecessary. It was probably an interesting feature to play with from a technical standpoint, but as far as user experience is concerned I don't see why it is needed as it just eats up vertical space.

- On a similar note, while I was intrigued by the new ability to pin the first post of a thread to the top of all the thread pages, seeing it in action in this example thread leaves me unconvinced. Again, definitely interesting from a technical standpoint but from the end-user perspective I cannot quite see how it adds anything to the reading experience (it actually somehow detracts from it ...)

- Overall the forum is quite jittery on mouseover. Hovering gets distracting , and even affects alignment : 

I think that for some important links a subtle highlight would be fine, and furthermore in most cases the mere indication of the mouse cursor turning into a hand would be enough to indicate that something is clickable. 

- About the mobile version : as mentioned earlier, the mobile skin has not been turned on yet ; that said I think it is interesting to mention that PC on mobile looks pretty damn great using the default Vanilla skin. 

http://imgur.com/uaCLxSb

By that I am not saying that there shouldn't be a custom PC theme for mobile - I just mean that a simple coloring job could be enough, without the need to bring in complex layout elements.

I hope this makes sense.

slipsius

EQ, the hierarchy linkes are still there. They are at the top, tiny print, above the titles
The only step back you cant do is to the main forum. You have to click the forums button for that. 

EarthQuake

Derp, yeah see it now, ignore that one.

shakesoda

Contrast is a bit too low on navigation, user info on the right of posts, signature text, search bar, probably some other stuff... difficult to read.

adam

@pior -- Its a standard for websites with heavy navigation to have a nested menu at the top. Reddit, Facebook, Twitter. It's not wasted space, in my opinion, but very useful. For all the complaints I am seeing about scrolling, consider this a treat in that you will not need to scroll to search for something, check notifications, flip to the front page, check your profile, and so on

It hasn't been 12 hours yet, lets see how Pinning pans out.I've already used it twice now and I quite like knowing I have a single home for my content to go to. To me, its one of those new muscle-memory things we'll need to learn with the site. What I feel its lacking is more prominent notation that a thread is pinned. Right now its just this...


Did I mention how badass the drag & drop of images is? Try it out (No more imgur, for example).

Your other suggestions or comments are pretty useful, thanks!

m4dcow

It would be nice to have info in the sub forum sections Technical Talk for example. It used to show the last thread, author and time among other things. Now it just shows titles. Also the description text which is only on the idTech sub forum IMHO should be in a tooltip instead of taking up display space.

pior

Another thing I noticed : power users relying on middle-mouse scrolling cannot do so on the main forum index page, since the whole surface is clickable (as opposed to just the titles being clickable). A minor issue, but I thought I'd mention it.

notman

Again, loving the new look/feel, so please don't take insult to any of the following.
My feedback:
- When editing a post, it appears that the line-height changes, or the font shrinks. (maybe both)
- My avatar gets squished, which I can change, but when go to my profile, to upload a new one, it looks fine. I understand why, but it should be consistent between the two locations (so it previews properly). I think the avatars are now only scaling the height, and not width though, which may resolve it, without requiring reuploading images
- The 'paging' through comments, it's refreshing the whole page. Though, these days, I'd go with dynamically loading the comments (via ajax), to avoid complete page loads (and reloading content).
- Paging part 2: Full postbacks aside, when loading the next page, maybe automatically scroll, to the first comment (instead of top of page). I kind of like having the original post on top, but when it's a really long post (like Adam's announcement post), I have to rescroll past a lot of text. I'm in favor of keeping the original post, but just moving past it, then I can scroll up, if I want to reference it again.
- The buttons for 'flag', and what I assume is share on Google+, do not appear to be loading correctly. They function properly, but just appear as black boxes (except for the work 'flag'). Additionally, there are no tooltips, to know what those items are
- Clicking the 'quote' button, appears to take me to the 'new topic' page. 
- I agree with some of the other feedback, that there should be some more contrast between backgrounds, and the text. I like having a softer tone, but it's a bit too close, and causing extra focus to see things.
- As I mentioned in Adam's announcement post, the padding/sizing of items seems to be focused on mobile (bigger for touch). Problem is, with desktop, it's bigger than necessary. Maybe use @media css to adjust according to the device.

I disagree with others though, about removing all the spacing. I like the black spacing, between posts. The rest of the sizing suggestions, I'm fine with, but a margin to break up the wall of gray, is fine with me. Maybe just reduce it to 5px or something like that.

Edit: Just saw Pior's post, and I agree with Adam. Fixed headers are very common, and I find them very useful. Instead of scrolling to the top, to navigate again (or see a notification), is a terrible user experience. If anything, I'd argue that the header could use the forum breadcrumbing.

OrganizedChaos

I'm not sure if this is something that's happened to anyone else, but on my first post on the thread where I listed out patreons I've lost over half of the 2d artists. I'm not sure if the post was cut or if when I edited it to add Craig Mullins something screwed up, but if there's any way to get that info back it would be great.

Tekoppar

The size of the signature text is to small, I can barely even read what yours says Adam. In the quick message box it's bigger then what the font size ends up being in a post. My only other complaint is that the post text isn't what's centered on a page but "everything", you've got a tiny gap to the left and a huge gap to the right unless the information about the one who posted is there.

SonicBlue

- The Technical Talk section has descriptions only for the idTech subforum

- The "Remember me" icon is misplaced



- A "coloured" suggestion to mark new messages for the threads



- On the Attached files (in the actual thread, not on the post new reply mode) is almost impossible to read the name of the file


- There's no Greentooth icon on the browser tab

-As others already said, there's not enough contrast

Arahnoid

Suggestion to improve notifications area



on the left Is hard to distinguish the author, what happened and where
on the right author, action and the post are more distinguishable
highlight notification under cursor, make it clickable without need to go with mouse over post link

adam

@Arahnoid  That looks nice!

Arahnoid

Vote and Rating suggestions

For technical talk forum I guess would be a great feature to have vote system for answers like on Superuser or StackOwerflow where other users can vote for the best answer, or at least to give a possibility for the person who created the post to mark most useful answer what helped to resolve issue.
Maybe a button  Useful as on CGTalk

Also would be great to be able to give at least a + to the rating for users personal rating for their help or to appreciate them  

adam

@EarthQuake We can definitely review that with Vanilla and see about getting the Last User Who Posted to be the one whose name appears on the right column. In the mean time, there's a grey NEW icon that appears to the left of a thread title to indicate if there is new content in the thread since you visited last.

seth.

not having the year after the day and month on threads makes it tricky to do a relevant search, oct 26.....which year

sorry if its been mentioned, at work so no time to read

beefaroni

Hmm, so I tried another thread from google and it looks like it isn't re-directing properly to threads. 

bounchfx

i'll second some great suggestions already as far as reducing the amount of 'dead space' vertically between posts, and the notification window, etc. just overall making the information here more compact instead of more spread out, as well as reducing the text size a little. Right now the main page is like all 'sticky'  threads and I have to scroll down a bunch to see any recent posts.  Even inside a thread maybe it would be best if the avatar was on the right side with the post info, and then we could give more room to the actual post content.

I'll also agree with EQ about seeing who the last poster was, and on top of that, I really miss the "1..2..3..4.....last" way to jump to pages in a thread right after the thread title. It's a small thing but I think it was nice.

lastly after messing around for a while I just felt my issue was everything was just 'too big'. I used shift+mousewheel on my browser to zoom out to 90% and everything just *clicked*, it feels a lot better to me like that, and I made some gifs. It basically zoomed out everything including the title bar, post boxes, and text size. (ok here I go trying the drag and drop image thingy):
you're going to have to right click> open image in new tab to really get the 'feel' of it'




wow that was easy, and the gifs even play in my draft view, cool! Also, as I was writing this I saw pop-ups in the bottom left corner saying when other people posted on a thread I'm following - that's super rad!

adam

@Dado Almeida  We use Trello and Slack.

@bounchFX Damn yeah, 90% looks proper. Noted.

ZacD

This is annoying

adam

That's a measure we've put in place to ensure you click on every thread. Viewed threads don't wiggle.

I'm kidding, thats a bug. But it does go away on clicked threads.

ZacD

Okay, cool. I added one more gif to that post, with the ## new.

Sketchfab

Congrats on the new site!
Let us know if you need support from us to fix the Sketchfab embed

Arahnoid

Suggestion about the Post/Comment/Notification time
Would be more user-friendly in notification and in posts instead of  adding exact time when event happened to say 
- a minute ago
- 2 hours ago
- a day ago
- a week ago
and for much older posts (events) to say  
- on June 13, 2015, at 10:15 AM 

If you mouse over time mark it will show a tooltip with exact time (on June 13, 2015, at 10:15 AM)

alban

Sketchfab not working for me

oxygencube

I know you are getting bombarded with bugs / suggestions..  Don't fret... we are appreciate and patient.  

Haven't seen this mentioned but incoming links that went to the old forum don't point to relevant/correct/current post. I have tried links from Google and Pinterest that used to work correctly but don't any longer.  Is this planned to be addressed? 

Here is an example link: (http://polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=122359&page=2)

Additionally,  the inconsistency of the display and location of users in threads is quite confusing.... The authors avatar, reply, quote and stats is large and to the right... The authors of the replies are split., their avatar and name are to the left and their stats and send message are to the right. Why split up all the info.  I suggest pick a side and keep it all consistent. I like the larger avatar of OP but placement of other users info feels fragmented.

Thanks again!  

Pedro Amorim

Main thing for me is that the title threads with new posts aren't colored green. I know there is a new button on the side that says new. But it's not as intuitive as having green color from the get go. And also, big spaces everywhere

Gungriffon Geona

Is there a way to not have the first post of the thread not be at the top of each page? also, is there a way to globally change the font size? What about being able to move post/poster info back to the left side? I would super appreciate any of these things, my eyes are having a hard time adjusting to the layout after decades of getting used to standard forum structure.

Arahnoid

Is there a way to not have the first post of the thread not be at the top of each page? 

I agree with @Gungriffon Geona, may be much better to have post fully visible on the first page but on other pages to keep it collapsed. And allow users to expand it and read if needed.  In other cases, it will become an issue with some very long posts.

BUG:

- If you try to edit your post  all margins in editor disappear and formatting looks weird. 

- Sketchfab icon is not in place 

adam

@alban Shit, yeah its broken. Grr this was working on our staging site the day before we launched. I'll add it to the list.

adam

@oxygencube  It's a balance of relevant data. The OP's avatar is the way it is for relevance. Its their thread, so they get something front & center. After that what matters in a comment is who is commenting. Thus, its their avatar and their name. The secondary information, like their post count, joint date, status, etc. is off to the right. It's not important information to know and since we read left to right, it gets dropped down to the less important space of the site.

PolyHertz

I noticed I was getting a lot of notifications all of a sudden, and for some reason I have 31 pages worth of 'favorites' that are causing them? Wtf? I didn't even know how to favorite a thread until now...

adam

Is it actual "Favourites"? Can you show me what that looks like? Check the notification settings, it may be retroactively notifying you of replies to threads you had previously made or commented in.

slipsius

Suggestion

While I absolutely love the idea of a stickied post at the top for the OP, is there any chance that when you go to page 2, or 3 or whatever, it goes to the second post on that page? Not the original stickied at the top of the page? Im finding it a bit frustrating to go through pages and pages of things when there is a long stickied post at the top. If it goes to the second post (aka the next actual comment in the thread), then we have the option of scrolling up to see it again or just continue on with our comment viewing. Not sure we need to see the OP every single time. Especially when its one of those big ass projects people will keep updating. Sometimes we`ll want to scroll up to see what a comment is referring to. Sometimes we`ll just want to continue on with our reading.