Wow, everyone has an opinion, yet aren't doing anything productive themselves. Shame @Stoaty doesn't spend time creating a forum, or staying with DPreview, and disappearing with it....
Big mouth, no action.
I must agree, that somehow, in some way, either by length and amount of forums, structure, graphics or otherwise, it feels messy to me too. But it´s not a total dealbreaker. Community is more important.
Alan, here:
It´s not just after my posting, but even when someone else posts a response.
I don't see the condition described right now. But I have in the past.
They don't necessarily last long as some later thread with more activity pops up to override the situation.
So by the time you see a notification, it may be gone.
Perhaps a "screen shot" is the way to go.
I wouldn't call it a mess but it just looks unfinished. It has the appearance of an early work in progress. Maybe a larger bold font for the category titles or even a different color to distinguish the main titles from the sub titles. As it is everything appears to be running together . It works for me because I've seen it a lot now but at first glance it is like one of those old DOS programs with a non intuitive UI. An old 69 Bonneville will get you where you are going as well as a Ferrari but I'd rather ride in a Ferrari.
OK - I see what you mean. So what happens is that for each level 1 and level 2 category (so in your example, News & Discussions is level 1 and Photography discussion is level 2) the latest post is displayed. Of course, if the latest post is in the level 2 category at the top, it will appear that the post shows twice.
We are looking at revamping the front page - and that may well change or disappear in a future version.
Again, why can't you duplicate what was there on DP?
If you need to change it slightly for nonexistent legal reasons, do so, but it was a good layout, and even more importantly, people from DP ARE USED TO IT.
I really think lots of people come here based on posts from DP, and seeing that first page, just give up.
Which bit do you want duplicating? This is not DPReview and was never intended to be so.
On there, people generally went to a forum that they'd bookmarked and viewed a list of threads. Nothing to stop them doing that here.
If they wanted to see all the forums, they clicked on a link and they got a 2 column list - but no idea if there was anything in there that they hadn't seen until they went into them.
In my opinion, the home page view we have now is far better that that offered by DPR. Especially for those who visit multiple forums.
Yes, it's different from DPReview. And if people can't cope with change, they don't have to join in. But it only takes 30 seconds to find your forum, go into it and then bookmark the page.
Yes and no. The explanation is understandable, but then i find this levels hierarchy very disfunctional. Also I do not know where the highlighted response belongs in the third level. So if the topic is interesting, I will open it, and possibly open it again in next tab for opening new entries to read on third level forums news.
I have no hard feelings about it, but I have no good thing to say about it either. It's a trainwreck of a topology/system. It was a terrible idea on the paper before it get to application. 🤦😅
I've been trying to plough through the threads on here via that nightmare of a first page since this site opened and I'm still getting nowhere with it.
I posted a comment back then that that appalling mess would cause visitors to become disillusioned and stop looking and it's happening to me.
Doubtless, since you're brushing off everyone else's criticism, you'll now tell me that I'm in a minority of one but I'd find that very hard to believe.
On this I have to disagree - it is very inconvenient especially for people who visit multiple forums.
Otherwise I too think that we should not create exact DPReview clone. Even worse is to create 95% similar site - then people will cry about missing 5%. Of course this doesn't mean that we should not aim for better usability.
I'm trying to follow this conversation but it isn't clear as to whether you are the creator of this new free forum (as you use the term 'we') or just someone with strong opinions who should perhaps create their own utopian site using their own resources elsewhere?
I'm trying to follow this conversation but it isn't clear as to whether you are the creator of this new free forum (as you use the term 'we') or just someone with strong opinions who should perhaps create their own utopian site using their own resources elsewhere?