I think it's time to seriously consider moving to either an upgraded or different forum platform. This one is still very functional, but it lacks the niceties for mobile users (and that would be the primary reason for change). My huge concern with moving to another platform is dropping some of the customizations. If you use another forum system regularly and find it to be superior, I'd appreciate you letting me know about it (either through this thread or a PM), so I can investigate further. Thanks.
I'm on several forums, and have always thought this one had among the best user-friendliness, far better than clunky old sites like gardenweb. I'd say no need for change.
Except that handheld functionality does need to be catered to by anybody that wants to reach the current audience.
Personally, I like the layout here and consider it superior. I don't participate in any other forums mostly because I don't like how things are displayed there. If you really want to do something to better accommodate mobile users definitely consider an upgrade rather than switching to a completely different software.
Agree with Sundrop and Michael F. When I read Daniel's post my heart sank and I said aloud 'O no, not here too!' Daniel, why not take a poll and see what members want and use? Do use and would use? If the thing is about to crash and blow up, fine. If not---if most of us like it---why change it? My guess is that if you reorient the Forum to 'niceties for mobile users' you will lose some of us who are not. Can you modernize and improve, or must the excellent format we have currently be sacrificed for one that will fit on a small screen? Perhaps other members are like me: using an older laptop with small capacity on which stuff designed for mobile use just does not work very well. From whence comes this? Is there a big demand from mobile users---or maybe a big demand from the powers that be to 'update now---or else'? Again, Daniel, I suggest that you take a poll to see what we think. And Ron, I think that all of us are included in---and should be considered as---'the current audience'!
In partial response to people asking why, I think almost all the postings you see with photos on their side are from mobiles. I was asking people for a while, and that was always the answer. And moderators do not have any easy way to fix the photo orientation. Also from mobiles might be ones where people have had trouble uploading more than one photo, thus have done additional postings to get another photo uploaded. Before I gave up using just my mobile on vacations, I had to install a different browser in order to select photos at all from the phone. Or the alternative was to upload them to photobucket, which is coded in such a way that the photo upload was possible with my existing browser on the mobile. I do find that all the forum sites I like have been vBulletin. I haven't used any other forums on the mobile, as I kind of hate the mobile device. I think the prediction that it would entirely replace the desktop was a little wide of the mark, though the kids seem to be having a different experience from what I get, but they are using apps designed for the device. The only usability thing I don't like is the limit to three photos at a time, and having to select them one at a time. I can see, though, that it does to some extent keep down the number of photos posted, except for some very enthusiastic Cherry Scouts who want to show off a lot of photos (not only me). I do like that the photo upload is in a separate window, so I can type while that's going on. And I really like being able to place the photos within the text.
There isn't much point to having a poll if there are no realistic alternative options to compare against. This is what I'm looking for as a first step in the process:
Is the statement to be qualified by "when viewed with a mobile device"? This forum's software is the best that I've encountered. Another was a close second, also running vBulletin, until it recently underwent a change to accommodate mobile devices. A number of users, myself included, were not impressed by the change.
No, if there is a superior one in general, I'd be interested too. Can you PM the link to that forum to me so I can look at it?
Although I am an infrequent poster I am a constant lurker here. I spend a lot of time on another board that I think has a somewhat similar structure to here and works well. I personally don't use a mobile device but I know a lot of the participants do. http://www.ultimatedressage.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=9
Sure. The site that underwent the change is Smart Car of America. There's a drop down selection box near the bottom of the page that allows you to select the skin. The current default is 'Smart Car Forum'. Select 'SCoriginal' to see what the site used to look like (more or less) before the change. There's also 'Smart Car Mobile' for mobile users. User feedback on the change can be found in this thread.
