@skieurope, I’m confused. I have a “latest posts” link on the right side of the screen at all times. I do NOT have to go to the home page. I see it right now, along with my posts, bookmarks, etc.
Is this a difference between laptop layout and mobile?
The new format…well…you get what what you pay for (I’d add an eye rolling emoji but clearly I’m not smart enough to figure out how to do that - where did the button go?)
And dang, what some complain about, isn’t what others see. I’d quote what @MYOS1634 wrote, but this is page 24 and my only option is to hit the back arrow multi times, to find it. The only page number to choose is the one I’m on.
Plus, Auto Save Draft is not working for me. What Save Button?
What control key, on a cell?
I can read posts ok. But on my cell, in Bookmarks, eg, the listing is crammed into roughly 1" and the entire right side is blank, save for when the last date and forum name runs across…in minuscule font. Yes, we need to see the date of the last post, not hidden and teeny.
There are posts listed with just the word “New” in a box. I thought I read the thread, is it a duplicate? But if you click, it’s not “new.” It’s pages of comments. Only when you hit back does it say, eg, “50 New,” show as an ongoing discussion.
These are things any good junior programmer should know better than.
And any company care about.
@Nrdsb4 Yes, on most, but not all, pages, there is a link to "latest posts"on the right.
This rollout is WHY we need non-STEM folks in software and database design! Yes, I mean all those humanities majors! People who can see a goal, user needs, test iterations, before rollout, etc. Not just freaking code, not just get an idea what their clients “should” like…because you do. It’s a law if business to consider usability.
And, consistency in the user experience.
This isn’t really a STEM/non-STEM issue. Bad design/bad decisions can be made by anyone.
This format is so annoying. Before you could scan pretty quickly to threads you were interested with minimal scrolling and changing of pages. I feel like I am now being forced onto Business Route 15 so that more ads hit my eyeballs. Signing off for a week and will see if CC even cares to address the complaints.
Agree, too much white spaces and everything too spread out. Things were more compact before and easier to read and use. The new look is harder to navigate, not intuitive as the previous look and more cumbersome to use.
Whoa. What happened? My mama taught me to only say nice things or say nothing at all. Old habits die hard. But shoot, this really needs commenting on. Here are my quick thoughts: Is this to create more white space to feature paid ads? Where are all the threads? Seeing threads that interest me keep me on the site longer. This is a big mistake for all- advertisers as well as CC users.
Sometimes, the Highlights section, where Latest shows, is at the bottom, not the right side. You can scroll down and get trapped in the jungle of Recent Activity blather.
Good Grief, what happened?!? I can no longer find any of the threads I’ve been following for months.
This is HORRIBLE:bangbang:
Also, what happened to the undergraduate school majors? i.e., engineering, business, architect, math, etc.? Cannot find it.
Good thing my kid is headed to TAMU in the fall. Guess this page is no longer needed…I’ll stick to Aggie Parent FB pages.
I sure did gain some great info from CC, and I contributed, too.
Not sure what you were thinking CC, but you’ve lost me…
I actually don’t mind the look of the posts when I’m reading them. But navigating is brutal. I think we definitely choose “pretty” over functional. Good timing, I’m going on vacation next week. I think I’m going to go away for a couple weeks and see what gets fixed. Right now I think this is barely usable. Will people needing help still come here for advice? Probably. But If it is difficult to use you will lose the posters who come here to provide help.
Ok, I do like the way the reply box works now. I used to have to scroll side to side constantly, now it’s vertical but at least I can see a whole paragraph at one time.
I’m using a Pixel, I’m guessing that makes a difference. I’m not having some of the problems the rest of you are with ads or white space. But nothing is intuitive to find. I only am finding what I want to see because I know to look for it. I’m guessing the number of posts starting in the wrong forum and needing moved is going to explode.
Previous posters have already detailed the many problems with the revamped website. Just as with previous updates, not much is ever done about our complaints. So allowing us to vent is all that is going to happen. The admins don’t care what we think.
We’ll never hear the real reasons the website was changed, but it probably has to do with more clicks = more advertiser revenue.
What IS the target audience of CC? Is there more than one audience? Does CC even want the oldtimers who mostly post on the Parent Cafe? If CC can’t recognize the immense value of the parents who spend so much time helping students here, then there really is no future for the way CC was. Perhaps all they want is an echo chamber where the kiddies advise each other (with lots of ads to entice them to pay for what CC parents do for free now).
I know the mods were completely left out of any input prior to this revamp, but the mods have a lot of power to make changes. I know the mods are volunteers (we get reminded of that often). If they dislike the new format as much as the rest of us, then they shouldn’t put up with the current “working conditions” (website update). Boycott the site. Stop volunteering until the website is changed back. (And at that time there can be beta testing of any new website design.) This could go for the forum champions, also. Just what would CC do without the free labor they get from the mods and forum champions? This might be a good time to find out.
I am one (like many here) who could take it or leave it with regards to CC. Seems like many of us are already deciding to leave it.
Having been on the other side of this (and more than once), I almost wrote a post a couple of days ago called “First, do no harm.” And I would have tagged the pre-med forum but I can’t find it anymore.
Right now, there’s a (virtual) room of folks saying, “don’t worry…readers never like change…they’ll get used to this…plus, it’s just the old people mostly…the future is mobile-first…they’ll get over it.” And a few guys will point to the higher than usual traffic (though 70% of it will be to this one thread) and a couple of others will say, “it’s always slow in the summer…it’ll pick back up.”
But, like I said, I’ve been through this before and some don’t pick back up…the social graveyard is full of vibrant communities that were poorly redesigned and faded away. At least Reddit has huge cash reserves and they’ve been able to keep both versions running…i doubt CC has that.
My vote would be to roll-back and call it a day. But the team that built this will have a hard time endorsing that route…especially if its a McKinsey-level group…no way CC will pay that amount of $ and not get anything out of it. A tough situation indeed.
@UCBUSCalum it’s under college search and admissions. Scroll down.
Sorry… I hate it! I agree with the others that there’s too much white space, the ads running down the side are annoying, and it’s more difficult to navigate. You took something that wasn’t broken and broke it.
A lot of the problem is that the main forum page shows “Top Forums” (based on what??) as the main view, and it is not obvious that you need to click on “College Admissions and Search” to get to a list of most of the individual topics.
If you click “College Admissions and Search”, which is right under “Top Forums”, you get this page:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions-search/
and if you scroll down far enough, you get to the “College Majors” section.
Note that the high level topics are not alphabetized. If you don’t know it’s there, you may never scroll far enough to find it.
It does seem to easier on the eyes in the mobile version. Less advertising and the double spacing makes sense. But, I almost never visit this site while I’m traveling.