The new Doomworld Layout

[unRyker]

Just a few days ago, Doomworld updated their databases and it only affected select-few users such as myself to see the new layout.

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Here's the site it did automatic referrals to the affected users before finalization: https://dev.doomworld.com/

Now, here's the site itself: Doomworld
It contains new features such as: likes, reputation, bigger avatar sizes, cover photos for profiles, the deletion of Post Hell and other miscellaneous changes.

I personally have some concerns about this, but feel free to discuss!

Edit: Added another preview for Profile page.
Edit 2: Updated information.

[torridgristle]

Yeah I've got a big opinion to weigh in with.

It looks terrible.

[Rachael]

So now we know what version of BB software they'll be using for the next 18 years.

It looks terrible.

Almost everything designed for mobile browsers looks the same way, just different colors. I'm not a huge fan of it either, but it's a sign of the times, I guess. >_<

[Nevander]

Oh fucking Hell. Here we go again with stuff that gets fixed that isn't broken. Personally visual layouts and styles are the main thing you DON'T change if all is well. Fix bugs and major issues please, but don't mess with layouts that users are accustomed to (this site is an exception, the reorganization was 100% needed IMO).

YouTube has a severe case of this problem and it infuriates me every time I go to YouTube and see that new layout that keeps coming up randomly. Luckily it can be reverted for now by clearing your cookies and refreshing the page.

[Kinsie]

Oh fucking Hell. Here we go again with stuff that gets fixed that isn't broken. Personally visual layouts and styles are the main thing you DON'T change if all is well. Fix bugs and major issues please, but don't mess with layouts that users are accustomed to (this site is an exception, the reorganization was 100% needed IMO).

YouTube has a severe case of this problem and it infuriates me every time I go to YouTube and see that new layout that keeps coming up randomly. Luckily it can be reverted for now by clearing your cookies and refreshing the page.

As Rachael mentioned, the forum software was completely replaced with something that isn't decades old and prone to corrupting itself if an unwitting server admin updates PHP or whatever it was that happened that one time. Keeping it looking the exact same wouldn't be possible.

[Nevander]

They could at least tone down the font sizes back to the way it was before. I feel like everything is bigger and bloated, like it was designed for mobile only.

[Caligari87]

I think it's kinda slick, actually. The font is annoyingly large and heavy when they really could it that part of a responsive stylesheet for smaller screens. Overall though it's pretty clean and feels nice to click around in. Like it or not, Doomworld has been long overdue for an interface upgrade.

[Rachael]

Well it's like how I got overruled with the site upgrade thing. You can't cling to the past forever.

I absolutely detest a lot of the ways "responsive" sites are created, but it's what you have to do to keep moving forward. The internet is getting to be ruled more by mobile phones than computers.

I even have one of those things... and I never even use it... it literally either sits under my laptop or on a charger.

[Hellstorm Archon]

I feel like this new interface should just be for the mobile version of the forums, not to mention the whole concept of likes and reputation. Apologies for being facetious, but are those forums going to turn into Reddit or Facebook now, in terms of the interface?

On a side note, I somewhat understand why Post Hell is being discontinued, and it's pretty much for the same reasons why the Worst Wad Cacoward also got canned. In the past, PH was supposed to be meant as a warning, an impromptu guide on how NOT to behave on Doomworld. That being said, just like the Worst Wad, this has resulted in attempts to get a thread helled or attempts just to create a stupid thread (which led to threads such as "Which anime character would you want to kick you in the balls?"), which has led to the rise of trolls and attention whores, causing Post Hell to lose most of its meaning. Despite that, I still found it to be a fairly effective way to teach newcomers how NOT to act on the forums, which in turn, has bred more civility among the members than most online forums (with a few hiccups here and there).

That being said, though, Post Hell will be gravely missed, as I always go there for a good laugh every now and then.

Can't it at least be archived?

[juizzysquirt]

I don't like how the page darkens, scrolls down and waits couple seconds unresponsively when loading a new page. It feels like I'm forced to watch it even if my bandwith should allow almost non-existant loading times. Is it really necessary to have "load screen", on a forum? Other than too big fonts, it's actually not so bad, I've seen much worse site redesigns recently.

I really hate this trend where perfectly fine and organized layouts get "modern and sl33k" look just because of mobile users. Already my online banking and webTV providers "upgraded" their sites "according to users wishes" to this modern style abomination, where everything is either hidden under nondescript buttons or in BIG LETTERS and lost like half of the usability in the process. So annoying when you have to crawl through several pages just to find what you're looking for. It's like back when Flash and Java were the next big thing in web design, and every page is like "watch my cool button animations WHOAH!"

e: Other notes of the new DW forum:

- I can't differentiate between read and unread threads (do I need to login?)
- Quotes are kinda blending in too much when they're exact same color and size as normal text.

[Caligari87]

I feel the need to point out that "mobile users" is a perfectly valid use case and there's absolutely EVERY reason to design with mobile in mind. Simpler, more intuitive controls are always a plus on any platform, provided that complex functionality can still be accessed relatively easily.

Where most sites fail is chronic overdesign and poor generalization. Take FimFiction for example, that's probably the best UX I've used in ages, looks great on a 22-inch 1080p monitor and gracefully collapses on my tiny phone screen while maintaining 100% desktop usability, because it's literally the same site with dynamic style rules.

On the other hand you have sites like Reddit and (unfortunately) this forum which provide great desktop experience but the mobile experience is absolutely atrocious (or vice-versa). It can be done, and I see where Doomworld is trying to go, but they're falling into that overdesign problem where EVERYTHING needs to look like mobile and have the fancy loading scripts and such.

[Graf Zahl]

Well it's like how I got overruled with the site upgrade thing. You can't cling to the past forever.

I absolutely detest a lot of the ways "responsive" sites are created, but it's what you have to do to keep moving forward. The internet is getting to be ruled more by mobile phones than computers.

I even have one of those things... and I never even use it... it literally either sits under my laptop or on a charger.

So why is the new layout wasting so much space then? On a small mobile display you need to be even more conservative with that.
Overall I do not like the software they use. It's full of this modern crap, like those ridiculous 'like' buttons but lacking everything that makes a forum good.

[Rachael]

That might be an issue with Invision more than Doomworld.

As an aside, I have *NO* idea why Doomworld would blow money on commercial forum software like that, though. That's a pretty huge money sink.

(Plus, let's not forget the irony of a community full of GPL fanatics on there...)

[Nash]

What is that, the Bethesda forums? Sheesh

[Graf Zahl]

As an aside, I have *NO* idea why Doomworld would blow money on commercial forum software like that, though. That's a pretty huge money sink.

That had me scratching my head as well when Linguica posted the bill a few months ago. There's certainly enough good free alternatives around, and yet, for the second time in 18 years, they rather go the commercial route. Let's see if they get screwed over by that again...