What do members think of the new web site & forum structure?

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AlanSh
Forum Admin 3141 posts

March 27, 2025, 4:41 p.m. March 27, 2025, 4:41 p.m.
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Bryan,

Thanks for your comments and links. Here's my comments back again.

We are not changing forum s/w. We would lose everything we have done so far. I've spend a lot of time looking into this and it's not practical to do so at the moment. If Misago fails (for whatever reason), then we may have to do that, but apart from Threaded view, it does everything we need (or it will do once we get to the next major version).

The cameraderie site looks nice, but to my eyes, has far too much on the home page. If I were a newcomer, I'd get lost knowing where to go first. It's also not that friendly on a mobile phone.

There's only me editing the web site and the forum structures. So, whatever is planned has to fit into my timetables. And I am not available 100% of the time. Martin (the maintainer of Misago) has even less time than me. Arvo has been really helpful modifying the CSS code so we can hide things/change colours etc and that has helped a lot.

Given the above, I think we are in a reasonable place to move forward.The aim is to help people produce and enjoy photos - do we meet that aim? I think so.

Nigel, thank you for your comment above.

Mike, Yes, I think the web site meets the aims you mention.

I intend to get another URL which has 'the-photo' in it so that we have a web site link and a forum link.

There MAY be a possbility (but there may not), than I can embed the forum inside the web site, but that relies on Martin doing something and it may be that the structure there won't allow that.

Alan
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xpatUSA
Members 776 posts

March 27, 2025, 6:12 p.m. March 27, 2025, 6:12 p.m.
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@Bryan has written:

@AlanSh has written:

@MikeFewster has written:

I think it looks old fashioned

You keep saying that. But no-one has shown me a "modern" site. Go on - show me!

I suggested ages ago looking around at all the other sites and picking what works.

Just an example:

cameraderie.org/

It's not quite what I would do. Although many seem to like dark theme these days I prefer something in between (theme selector is down the bottom of the page).

The displayed photos are nominated by users and then (I believe) the admins select from the nominations (or it may be a vote count or something)

Importantly, there is a traditional banner including logo and menus.

At 85, the dark theme suits me better than the gray-on-gray found here in DPrevived.

Screenshot - clicking on buttons/links won't work ...

cameraderie.jpg
JPG, 564.6 KB, uploaded by xpatUSA on March 27, 2025.
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ArvoJ
Team 840 posts

March 27, 2025, 6:18 p.m. March 27, 2025, 6:18 p.m.
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@xpatUSA has written:

the dark theme suits me better than the gray-on-gray found here in DPrevived

Have you tried to choose dark theme from "Choose style" popup here?
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xpatUSA
Members 776 posts

March 27, 2025, 6:45 p.m. March 27, 2025, 6:45 p.m.
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@ArvoJ has written:

@xpatUSA has written:

the dark theme suits me better than the gray-on-gray found here in DPrevived

Have you tried to choose dark theme from "Choose style" popup here?

Yes:

The URL in blue is not possible to read with my vision. Remember Y'=0.3R+0.6G+0.1B ?

Other sites offer white text on black or dark gray which is easy for me. My eyes need high-contrast text.

dark.jpg
JPG, 208.0 KB, uploaded by xpatUSA on March 27, 2025.
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ArvoJ
Team 840 posts

March 27, 2025, 6:54 p.m. March 27, 2025, 6:54 p.m.
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@xpatUSA has written:

The URL in blue is not possible to read with my vision. The post text is readable but not easily.

Can you please hit Ctrl+F5 to reload site fully? At least for week (if not two) dark theme should look like next:

image.png
PNG, 112.8 KB, uploaded by ArvoJ on March 27, 2025.
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xpatUSA
Members 776 posts

March 27, 2025, 7:34 p.m. March 27, 2025, 7:34 p.m.
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@ArvoJ has written:

@xpatUSA has written:

The URL in blue is not possible to read with my vision. The post text is readable but not easily.

Can you please hit Ctrl+F5 to reload site fully? At least for week (if not two) dark theme should look like next:

Slightly better but:

dark comments.jpg
JPG, 654.0 KB, uploaded by xpatUSA on March 27, 2025.
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ArvoJ
Team 840 posts

March 27, 2025, 7:35 p.m. March 27, 2025, 7:35 p.m.
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Totally wrong. What browser you are using?
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xpatUSA
Members 776 posts

March 27, 2025, 8:21 p.m. March 27, 2025, 8:21 p.m.
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@ArvoJ has written:

Totally wrong. What browser you are using?

Sorry for the delay, my router is acting up.

FireFox, Wndows 7, old 4-core Dell.

Found this under settings:

I set it to automatic and the appearance has changed. Because FireFox is messing with theme appearance on my screen, I withdraw my comment.

Thanks for the help!

firefox theme.jpg
JPG, 175.5 KB, uploaded by xpatUSA on March 27, 2025.
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AlanSh
Forum Admin 3141 posts

March 27, 2025, 8:25 p.m. March 27, 2025, 8:25 p.m.
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The web site also has a dark mode - have you found that?

Alan
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ArvoJ
Team 840 posts

March 27, 2025, 8:28 p.m. March 27, 2025, 8:28 p.m.
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Can you tell me Firefox version? I created theme to be compatible with last year CSS options, it is possible that I didn't declare enough fallbacks for older versions - and browsers do not offer updates for Windows 7 for some time already.
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xpatUSA
Members 776 posts

March 27, 2025, 8:31 p.m. March 27, 2025, 8:31 p.m.
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@AlanSh has written:

The web site also has a dark mode - have you found that?

Alan

Arvo has already pointed that out, Alan.
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xpatUSA
Members 776 posts

March 27, 2025, 8:35 p.m. March 27, 2025, 8:35 p.m.
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@ArvoJ has written:

Can you tell me Firefox version? I created theme to be compatible with last year CSS options, it is possible that I didn't declare enough fallbacks for older versions - and browsers do not offer updates for Windows 7 for some time already.

115.21.0esr (64bit). Good point about Win 7.

For the time being, I will continue with the DPrevived 'original' theme.
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ArvoJ
Team 840 posts

March 27, 2025, 8:47 p.m. March 27, 2025, 8:47 p.m.
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Well, sorry, Firefox 115 is not compatible; most likely even current 'light' theme looks wrong. Means that I need to define couple of fallbacks for older browsers (on Windows 7) - nothing impossible, but takes some time.
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xpatUSA
Members 776 posts

March 27, 2025, 9:19 p.m. March 27, 2025, 9:19 p.m.
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@ArvoJ has written:

Well, sorry, Firefox 115 is not compatible; most likely even current 'light' theme looks wrong. Means that I need to define couple of fallbacks for older browsers (on Windows 7) - nothing impossible, but takes some time.

Thanks Arvo. No need to rush for me and you have opened my eyes as regards theme appearances.
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Bryan
Members 1363 posts

March 27, 2025, 10:39 p.m. March 27, 2025, 10:39 p.m.
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@AlanSh has written:

Bryan,

Thanks for your comments and links. Here's my comments back again.

We are not changing forum s/w. We would lose everything we have done so far. I've spend a lot of time looking into this and it's not practical to do so at the moment. If Misago fails (for whatever reason), then we may have to do that, but apart from Threaded view, it does everything we need (or it will do once we get to the next major version).

The cameraderie site looks nice, but to my eyes, has far too much on the home page. If I were a newcomer, I'd get lost knowing where to go first. It's also not that friendly on a mobile phone.

That's called throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I said it wasn't what I would do. It's just an example.
I have also said at various times, pick out what works, ignore what doesn't. Use the "nice" bits...

What I see on their site is photos. It smacks of a photography site.

Quoted message:

There's only me editing the web site and the forum structures. So, whatever is planned has to fit into my timetables. And I am not available 100% of the time. Martin (the maintainer of Misago) has even less time than me. Arvo has been really helpful modifying the CSS code so we can hide things/change colours etc and that has helped a lot.

Given the above, I think we are in a reasonable place to move forward.The aim is to help people produce and enjoy photos - do we meet that aim? I think so.

Nigel, thank you for your comment above.

Mike, Yes, I think the web site meets the aims you mention.

I intend to get another URL which has 'the-photo' in it so that we have a web site link and a forum link.
There MAY be a possbility (but there may not), than I can embed the forum inside the web site, but that relies on Martin doing something and it may be that the structure there won't allow that.

Alan

Why can't Misago be installed in a folder under The-Photo?

The-Photo/Index.html - the landing page

The-Photo/Forum/
The-Photo/Forum/All Misago stuff...
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AlanSh
Forum Admin 3141 posts

March 27, 2025, 10:49 p.m. March 27, 2025, 10:49 p.m.
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@Bryan has written:

Why can't Misago be installed in a folder under The-Photo?

The-Photo/Index.html - the landing page

The-Photo/Forum/
The-Photo/Forum/All Misago stuff.

It probably can - or I can frig the system enough so it appears to be like that. To be honest, I hadn't thought of doing that. I will see if Martin can provide me with enough information to do that. But it depends on where they've put everything (the-photo.org is actually in dprevived.com/download)
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MikeFewster
Members 1896 posts

March 28, 2025, 1:01 a.m. March 28, 2025, 1:01 a.m.
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@NCV has written:

I took a look at the home page.

It is fine in my opinion. I disagree that it looks dated. I find it simple and functional.

Thank you NCV. That's the information we need before we can move forward. Do you think the web page adequately describes what The Photo is about? I'm especially interested in whether you read the "Our Focus box and then clicked on "read more."
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MikeFewster
Members 1896 posts

March 28, 2025, 1:22 a.m. March 28, 2025, 1:22 a.m.
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@AlanSh has written:

@Bryan has written:

Why can't Misago be installed in a folder under The-Photo?

The-Photo/Index.html - the landing page

The-Photo/Forum/
The-Photo/Forum/All Misago stuff.

It probably can - or I can frig the system enough so it appears to be like that. To be honest, I hadn't thought of doing that. I will see if Martin can provide me with enough information to do that. But it depends on where they've put everything (the-photo.org is actually in dprevived.com/download)

What would be the advantage to us in doing this?

I'll say it again. Whether or not the web page explains the concept of what The Photo is trying to do is critical. If it isn't doing this, we can't proceed. Ben and NCV have given the only feedback we have on this. Ben seems to say he didn't get the concept. I'm not sure what he looked at and so I asked him more specifically but he hasn't replied. NCV says it works Check his post in this thread and my reply.

What we have to know is whether the web/landing page gives newcomers an idea of what we are about. If it doesn't, we have to understand and fix it, We will only get one chance at the current strategy to get more members. We have quite a small time window in which to try the membership plan and time is running out.
My big worry is the Our Focus and "read more" section at the bottom of the page. I didn't want to point this out to Ben, I needed him to find or not find it himself. Is this section cut off on browsers? Do people bother reading it? If they do, do they get it? If feedback suggests it isn't working, we have to re do the web/landing page so it is taken on board. Apart from Our Focus, we only have the slogan at the top of the page and the selected quotes.
Does anyone else have a comment to make on this?