*** New Messageboard Format ***

Well Duh!

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond, CA

>I didn't just fall off the Turnip truck Garrett. I know that the ads generate the sites income. I think there's a better way to do it than to slow down the whole loading of a page.

Yep, A true neander!

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond, CA

>I'm going to make the leap to DSL soon. I give Comcast way too much $ already.

Looks Fine To Me

Jim Shaver - Oakville, Ontario

>Hi Ellis,

This works fine for me. I think as in my work things are constantly changing, sw changes, new products emerge, I am in a cycle of constant change in my life so this is maybe easier for me to adjust to than it maybe for some others.

So did you close your eyes before you hit the post button that changed the site? I know the changes will be fine and in time most people will find ways to make it work for them.

It's still about woodworking , right?!?!?

Take care,

Jim

Re: Slower loading for each post/message

Marv

>I have to wait several seconds for each message to load. No doubt due to all the ads that are loading and reloading at the same time. It was so simple and fast before. I have a cable connection. It was instantly before. I don't see it as an improvement from my standpoint. However, it's free. I've always thought of WC as being the easiest to use and have avoided most of the other forums for the most part.

Re: The problem that I'm experiencing...

Marv

>Must be your computer.....on my screen I see the read message in green, the unread messages in blue and the message I'm presently reading in black, just as it was before.

Right on !

Steve Mackay

>

Re: * New Format * VERRRY SLOOOWWWWW....

John Aniano in NJ...

>Ellis,

I've always felt I have a pretty fast Optimum Online service but each new page opening takes quite a bit of time, actually a very long time as compared to many other sites.

Other than taking A LOT MORE time to read through, the overall format seems OK. Is there any other way to have the ads (that bring in revenue) pop up faster?

Slowly, over and out, very slowly...

John

Re: The problem that I'm experiencing...

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native, Presently Away

>Same here Marv. When I finish a thread I merely hit the "Return to Index" button, and it returns to where I was, just like before as well. So far I have no problems with the new format, other then at times it does seem to be a bit slower then it used to be, but it's nothing that I can't live with. Hey, if this new format helps to pay the bill at Ellis' House then I'm cool with it.

I haven't tried it yet, but I like the idea of when responding to an old thread that the thread will return to the top of the board.

T.O.

Re: Well Duh!

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native, Presently Away

>Now Scott, calm down, calm down, there will be no throwing of turnips in Ellis House. got to wonder tho, what truck did you just fall off of? ;~)

All will be sorted out soon enough I'm sure.

T.O.

Ducking and running from flying turnips, and all the while snickering profusely.

Re: *** New Messageboard Format ***

VLParisian

>as was discussed earlier regarding the ads, I have pretty much learned to ignore them. They do tend to be a bit distracting.

I know in Windows xp you can change the browser to text format only.

How do you change Firefox to text only? I would think this would speed up the messages, and eliminate the ads at the expense of not being able to view picture postings.

Thoughts?

Victor

Hadn't checked that, Dave

Ellis Walentine

>We'll have to review the guestbook display settings once we've resolved the response time problems and other things that are not well received.

This is day one.

Cheers,

Ellis

Shouldn't have changed, Andy

Ellis Walentine

>If you're using the same browser, you shouldn't see any difference in the font styles of visited and unvisited messages. We'll put it on the list to fix.

Thanks for the input.

Ellis

Nah, you're guests

Ellis Walentine

>I wish there were a way to pay the bills without advertising, but reality intrudes. We're trying to solve a problem in many variables here, and, clearly, it isn't a fait accompli as of yet. I don't ask a lot, but this has been a really big effort and I am doing my best to find a way forward for our messageboards. This is a first step and totally subject to revision. We're thriving on your feedback and making changes on the fly. All we ask is your patience and your awareness that we won't rest until the complaints are assessed and dealt with. Your objectivity and restraint are welcome.

Best,

Ellis Walentine, Host

Re: Suggestions

Dan Donaldson

>Note the "suggestion box" at the top of the page. If you have specific suggestions, kudos, complaints, etc., it would be good to list them there. This can help get everything in one spot so that any future changes/improvements can take them into account. This thread is a good place for the "I do/don't like......", while the suggestion box is a good place to list specific suggestions, likes, or complaints so they are sure to be collected.

No, Steve, I'm not joking. Are you?

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>

Re: And...

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>And I'm no longer able to set each window with a different font size, one for reading the body, another for scanning topics.

Would that it had been so easy...

Ellis Walentine

>...as hitting a button. No, this change that has met with such mixed reviews, came about through weeks of strategizing and programming. We know it is slow, and I should probably have made a bigger deal out of that, coupled with promises that it won't be for long. But, we thought we'd get the unvarnished feedback from you folks first, and the reactions, while mixed, have been on the negative side. Slow loading is the biggest complaint and you can bet that we're analyzing this to death as we speak. We won't be satisfied until these issues are resolved.

Thanks for the continuing feedback.

Ellis

Re: Pam, a possible fix for you...

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Thanks, Denny, I downloaded it, will give it a try next time I have to restart Firefox.

Pam

Re: And...

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Well, Brent, how many ads do you think I should have to see to view a single page? And should I have to see any to contribute pages? Or should Ellis pay me? And should I expect the ads to be germane if I've got to suffer the speed hits and screen stealing?

Pam

I like this new format

Angus Barclay, in New Zealand

>Hello Ellis,

I had my preferences on the previous incarnation of Wood Central set to make it look very similar to this new format, except without the advertisements on the right hand side. I had a "no frames" preference and used tabbed browsing to keep the index in one tab and message threads in other tabs.

I use Internet Explorer 7 on on a 6 month old Dell home PC with WindowsXP and a cable-modem. Pages travel the 8900 miles from your server to my PC just as fast as they did before. A few kilobytes of data for the advertisements shouln't slow things noticeably, so maybe the speed issues from people earlier in this thread were external to Wood Central and just happened to coincide with you making the change.

FWIW, I see unread messages in blue, read messages in green, current message in black and cherries on new postings since last visit, just like before the new format.

The upshot is that I see very little difference between the new and the old. The menu on the left has changed and there are a couple of advertisements on the right that weren't there before. If it takes a few extra advertisements to ensure Wood Central continues then I'm more than happy for you to shill for relevant vendors.

regards

Angus Barclay

Re: HELPFULLNESS

paul womack

>can the people who don't like the new format come up with actual suggestions for changes, as opposed to just going "wah!"

BugBear

But I didn't have a problem with the frames...

Mark Harrison - Brisbane, Australia

>The only thing I would have changed would have been to optionally have the frames split vertically as so many of us now have wide screen monitors.

I'm really not sure about this new format.

Re: What's up with all the ads?

Kevin French, Antrim, NH

>Scott I'm not sure about PC but on MY MAC if I press the Apple key as I open a link it opens it in a new window. Or couldn't you right (?) click to open it. then you wouldn't have to call up the index each time, just close the window.

Kevin

Re: Nah, you're guests

Jeff

>Well, it is a case of the chicken or the egg, is it not? Without potential customers, there are no advertisers. Without advertisers, there is no forum.

Question

Bill Tindall, E.TN

>What you suggest sounds helpful. Now will you provide details on what you are talking about and how to use it?