Welcome to the new Pocket PC Thoughts Design

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com' target='_blank'>http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com</a><br /><br /></div>I'm pleased to announce that after many weeks of work and tweaking, our new template is ready - and you're looking at it! I'm immensely proud of the work that Fabrizio and our team have done on this new template, and I firmly believe this new template will allow us to grow and become an even better site. Here are the three main factors that shaped our thinking in developing this template:<br /><br /><b>FASTER PERFORMANCE &amp; REDUCED SERVER LOAD:</b> As our traffic continued to grow (1.14 million visitors in December alone) we were faced with the ugly reality that the design and functionality we had created didn't scale very well as more and more people hit the server. We've struggled with finding the right balance between useful features and a fast, stable server. The new home page is considerably faster than our previous version - there's 50% less HTML code, we've used a lot of CSS, and still managed to add new features. We've also reduced the total number of graphics on the home page, and focused on making everything as light and fast as possible. Here's the down side: in order to keep things fast and stable, we've had to remove the ability for subscribers to customize the number of front page news items.<br /><br />That's not a decision I made lightly, because I deeply value the support subscribers give us, but it was a severe performance hit on our server to dynamically generate a custom page for each subscriber. This was even harder for our server when some of the more zealous subscribers maxed out the settings, loading 30 posts on the front page and delving back 30 days. ;-) By fixing the number of posts on the home page, we take a lot of pressure off our server, which means it will be fast and stable for <i>everyone</i>, subscribers and non-subscribers alike. We've retained all other subscriber customizations - you can turn off/on ads, adjust the columns on the right side, etc. We're also going to think about (and are open to suggestions for) new subscriber customizations...ones that won't kill our server. :mrgreen:<br /><br /><b>ENHANCED CONTENT EXPOSURE:</b> One of the complaints I've heard many times over the past two years is that there's so much content flowing on our home page, if you miss a day or two it's hard to find what you've missed. Also, our home page could get to be massive in size with ten full posts - with a few animated GIFs in posts we'd easily hit 600K to 900K. To combat both of these problems, we've reduced the number of full posts to five. That gives repeat visitors roughly 12-18 hours worth of posts (depending on the day) without any clicking to sub-pages. Posts beyond the five full are listed in a format showing the headline and the number of comments - we list seven days worth of posts, so we're giving you access to more content before having to go back into the archives.<br /><br />In the upper right corner we have a news feed from <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com">Digital Media Thoughts</a> and <A HREF=http://www.smartphonethoughts.com" target="_blank">Smartphone Thoughts</A> - I've heard many times from people who didn't realize we even <i>had</i> those sites. This news feed will remind you those sites exist, and you'll be kept in the loop on the news they're publishing. And you'll click to read them right? Right? ;-)<br /><br />Our awesome review team continues to crank out some of the best reviews around, and I wanted a way to highlight their work and keep the "once a week" visitors up to date with recent articles. We've also cleaned up and centralized our navigation structure, while still adding much-needed navigation elements. There are now new ways for you to interact with the content - a permanent link to easily find articles again, a printing function to get hard copy, and an "email to a friend" function for you to pass on interesting stories to others. The layout has been kept at 800 x 600 resolution, which wasn't easy, but <a href="http://www.fabriziofiandanese.com">Fabrizio</a> did a fantastic job of taking all our ideas and putting them into place.<br /><br /><b>MARKETABILITY:</b> Pocket PC Thoughts is a business for me (<a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com">Thoughts Media Inc.</a> is my full-time job), so like any good business person I have to make sure we're doing the right things to stay in business. One of the realities of the current advertising market is that most businesses don't want to buy 468 x 60 banners - they're too small. And if I can't sell banners, I can't keep running the site. It was a pretty easy decision when you get right down to it. ;-) So we've gotten rid of that small size and replaced it with a 728 x 90 leader board - it's a dominant position on the page, and when you click on it and check out what our sponsor is offering, you help us out <i>immensely</i>. I'm going to write up a full explanation of how the online advertising world works later, but I will say that I've said no to some very well-paying types of advertising (pop-ups, pop-unders, full page flash ads) because I personally dislike it when sites I visit get too aggressive with advertising. So if you dislike the new 728 x 90 ad, just remember it could be much worse. :lol: Keep clicking those ads and buying from our sponsors - we appreciate it!<br /><br />Ultimately I realize that, just like the last time we changed our layout, some people don't like change. I'm open to feedback, but please understand this change was <i>necessary</i>, and no change was made lightly - we thought long and hard about everything we altered. We're not completely finished either - expect to see subtle enhancements to the front page over the coming months, new article templates, and new forum templates.<br /><br />Special thanks to <a href="http://www.fabriziofiandanese.com">Fabrizio Fiandanese</a> for his awesome and mostly volunteer design/development work, and to the people whom I showed this to and gave us valuable feedback. Your ideas were appreciated.

[TzviYosef]

Very nice. I like the new look.

[Paul Martin]

As with any change, it will take some getting used to. I really like the tie-in with other thoughtsmedia site news. I like the look as well.

[suhit]

Site looks great. Awesome job guys. :). Hmm, maybe we will get a lot more traffic at DMT now. ;-)

Suhit

[Steven Cedrone]

It looks awesome! :way to go:

[acollet]

The beauty of RSS is that changes to a site which I may or may not like become irrelivant :)

[JonnoB]

I want my money back...

Just Kidding -


Even though I am already a subscriber, I will continue to help PPCT however I can. At least by making sure when I purchase products, I check first to see if it is available through an affiliate link. Site looks good Jason.

[Vincent M Ferrari]

Frickin' A man! It looks great! Excellent redesign, and excellent finally adding a menu bar.

Love it.

[Ed Hansberry]

This flat rocks! Looks better than mock ups I saw. :way to go:

I'll be curious to see how the server load goes over the coming days. Would posting a 700K+ animated GIF to the front page help test it? http://www.hongfire.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/4632/cat/528 :lol:

[Janak Parekh]

Two words: it's awesome. I really like the new logos -- they have a much "fresher" look. Plus, as I told Jason earlier, the "delayed button release" on the menubar is so freaking cool. :rock on dude!:

--janak

[Kevin Remhof]

Wow! Nice job guys!!! This is quite a change. Seems a bit "bluer" than before... The new header is great. I like it much better already.

[Anthony Caruana]

Great job to jason and the team. Building great web sites is a tough job. There are many out there that try but very few are able to get so much function into a great looking interface.

Congratulations to the entire PPCT team!

[Mike Temporale]

Excellent work as always! :D

[Mitch D]

My compliments on the new layout Jason, (and the much forgotten) Fabrizio and team!

[Dar]

I have not a chace to visit in awhile, but today I had time and what a great suprise 8O . I love it 8) .

[stevew]

Well done. I appreciate all the work the Thoughts team puts into this site and the mobile community. :way to go:

[shawnc]

Best site on the web just got better. All you've done is widen the already significant gap between you and 2nd place.

Nice job!

[applejosh]

The new layout will take a little getting used to. (I was just beginning to find my way around the old site's preferences, etc.) One thing I would really like to see is the ability (as a subscriber) to turn off the intellitext stuff only. I don't mind the non-popup ads, etc., but the intellitext stuff drives me nuts for some reason.

[Darius Wey]

Nice, clean blue layout. Much better than the design templates I had a look at. :D

[T-Will]

I really like it! :D The new site theme matches perfectly with the Windows MCE skin!

The only thing that came to mind right off the bat is that I didn't even notice the "Thoughts Media" section because when I glanced at it I thought it was a banner ad. Now that I know about it though I'll be checking it out more often.

Also, that top banner ad is big, but the nice thing about your site is all the banners/ads apply to Pocket PCs or computers so it's not like going to a computer site and getting ads for a dating site or something (although that might not be a bad idea considering many of us are Pocket PC/Computer nerds). ;)

[WyattEarp]

I think this new setup is swe-e-e-et :) . New year new look Perfect time guys.

[Taltoz]

I love the new layout. The text on the front page is much easier to read even if it is still 800x600.

[Godsongz]

Fantastic job Jason &amp; Fabrizio! The new design is great, and I agree with Suhit... maybe this'll drive more traffic to DMT!! YAY

[GoldKey]

Very nice, especially the linking to the other two sites. Will we be seeing the template moved to their also?

[Foo Fighter]

Fabrizio does it again! Another homerun design. Awesome new look. :D

[andbrown]

I can remember suggesting you add links to Smartphone and DM Thoughts from the front page, and the frame/news feed goes one better! Nice work!

[galt]

I've always loved the design of PPCT, but the updated design is even better. I'd go as far as to say it's actually beautiful. Looks great in Netfront, Firefox, and even my Sidekick's web browser.

Congrats to those who must have worked very hard on this, the effort shows.

[Jeff Rutledge]

The new look rocks! :rock on dude!:

[CTSLICK]

Terrific job, another great step forward. The new design is much better in my opinion.

[JF in Detroit]

I appreciate your business. Thanks for a job very well done. :D
JF

[Jerry Raia]

Looks damn good to me :)

[marcm]

Wow. 8O Love the new look!
It is SO nice.
:drool:

[Abba Zabba]

What's the deal with everyone changing their site's lately :?: I love the new website and have been a reader since the beginning. It has a great reading "feel" to it. Atleast you didn't make a huge mistake like www.pocketthemes.com what were they thinking with that design :pukeface2:

[Kris Kumar]

Congratulations Pocket PC Thoughts team on your new look. :-)

And once again Fabrizio, you have outdone yourself. 8)

[OSUKid7]

Wow! I couldn't think of a much better site design than the previous version, but this rocks. Great job guys. :D

One small complaint so far. Could you possibly make the right column of the homepage (Top Pocket PC Software, Recent Posts) have a static width rather than expanding with the window size? On a large resolution, the column takes up a lot of space, while there is only a small amount of text.

[T-Will]

Atleast you didn't make a huge mistake like www.pocketthemes.com what were they thinking with that design :pukeface2:

Oh man, I completely agree with that...PPCT is one of the classiest designs around.

[James Fee]

Atleast you didn't make a huge mistake like www.pocketthemes.com what were they thinking with that design :pukeface2:

Oh man, I completely agree with that...PPCT is one of the classiest designs around.
That looks like McDeb (http://www.mcdebproductions.com/) did it. Not my style, but she does love color.

[bigkingfun]

I haven't been visiting the site nearly as often since I got into RSS. The new design is quite nice though - I might just switch back from the RSS feed. Those RSS text posts just don't have the same impact.

[Adrian Knack]

The new look is very nice. Good Job!

[Stone]

This is a great new look, very well done! 8)

[Jonathan1]

Woah. 8O Where the heck did this come from?!?! I like! Congrats on the new design! :beer:

[Jason Dunn]

I haven't been visiting the site nearly as often since I got into RSS. The new design is quite nice though - I might just switch back from the RSS feed. Those RSS text posts just don't have the same impact.

That's because we don't publish the full text of our stories in the RSS feed - if we did, you'd have no reason to visit the site (although it seems you weren't anyway), no banner impressions/clicks would be used, and hence we'd have no business revenue and shut down in, oh, about 30 days. :wink:

[Jason Dunn]

One thing I would really like to see is the ability (as a subscriber) to turn off the intellitext stuff only. I don't mind the non-popup ads, etc., but the intellitext stuff drives me nuts for some reason.

Sure, that's something we'll consider adding - thanks for the feedback!

[Jason Dunn]

The beauty of RSS is that changes to a site which I may or may not like become irrelivant :)

But don't you want to see more than the 50 word summary? Or read the user comments? At some point with RSS you usually need to load the actual site...or are you using a scraping tool?

[Jason Dunn]

Will we be seeing the template moved to their also?

Yes, that's the plan. It will take a while, probably not before the end of this year, but all three sites will have unified templates.

[Jason Dunn]

I've always loved the design of PPCT, but the updated design is even better. I'd go as far as to say it's actually beautiful. Looks great in Netfront, Firefox, and even my Sidekick's web browser.

You can give Fabrizio all the credit for that - he worked hard to make sure it was as standards-compliant as possible and looked good in the major browsers. I doubt he tested it on a Sidekick ;-) but that means the Sidekick browser does a good job of following HTML standards. :-) There's one minor glitch that we know about in IE, but so far no one has found it. 8)

[Jason Dunn]

One small complaint so far. Could you possibly make the right column of the homepage (Top Pocket PC Software, Recent Posts) have a static width rather than expanding with the window size? On a large resolution, the column takes up a lot of space, while there is only a small amount of text.

Interesting - in Firefox it's fixed, but in IE I see that it does expand. I'll talk to Fabrizio about it, but not for a bit - he's taking the weekend off after a very hard week of working on this new template. :mrgreen:

[ragintajin]

As a fellow webmaster, I must say that the new format for content exposure is pure genius.

Jason, Fabrizio &amp; Co, you guys are truly one of my biggest inspirations because of your value and emphasis on user-friendliness for the site. Hats down to you guys...I'm looking forward to several more years of first-rate content and innovative user-centric designs. :mrgreen:

[g0097]

I visit everyday, but rarely post :oops: but I had to chime in a say how much I love the site redesign. The Thoughts Media Link is extremely helpful. I visit digital media thoughts everyday also but I forgot that smartphone thoughts was around till I heard Jason got a PDA2k. You know you did a good job when the first thing someone says when they visit your site (even though they visit everyday) is "wow!"

[KTamas]

I love the new design!

[donbacardi]

Great improvement. Keep up the good work.

[dean_shan]

The new heading looks like a Mac. I like it, much cleaner and streamlined.

[dommasters]

Gorgeous deisgn. Fabrizio goes from strength to strength. Wow !

[Wiggster]

Quick question, though:

When will the mobile logo change from

http://www.wiggster.com/images/mobile_logo.gif

to

http://www.wiggster.com/images/mobile_logo_new.gif

[yslee]

I'll be the bad guy here and say I don't like it. Content has been pushed way way down the page. I'm using Opera, and this is all I can see before I have to start to scroll:

"I'm pleased to announce that after many weeks of work and tweaking, our new template is ready - and you're looking at it! I'm immensely proud of the work that Fabrizio and our team have done on this new template, and I firmly believe this new template will allow us to grow and become an even better site. Here are the three main factors that shaped our thinking in developing this template:"

In IE 6 it's that plus

"FASTER PERFORMANCE &amp; REDUCED SERVER LOAD: As our traffic continued to grow (1.14 million visitors in December alone) we were faced with the ugly reality that the design and functionality we had created didn't scale very well as more and more "

And I'm on a slightly higher than standard resolution of 1152x864.

I know you have to face market realities, but right now it just feels unusable. Woe to DMT when you switch over to this design, which uses a fixed width layout; I don't think I can see any news stories without scrolling when that happens!

I do like the inclusion of the "Previous Stories" section at the bottom. That's really handy!

[surfer]

Really cool design Jason :D

[Mike Wagstaff]

Very nice work. Strikes a great balance between the harsh realities of necessary advertising and content.

From a technical point of view, however, the reduction in HTML is very impressive. Is it just my imagination or are there now fewer embedded tables, resulting in faster browser rendering?

[Albegor]

One thing I would really like to see is the ability (as a subscriber) to turn off the intellitext stuff only. I don't mind the non-popup ads, etc., but the intellitext stuff drives me nuts for some reason.

Sure, that's something we'll consider adding - thanks for the feedback!

Another thumbs down for the intellitext stuff, I never liked them and hate when my mouse moves over them. :twisted:

Great the new design, no wonder it's Fabrizio's work! :D

Ehi, those curly brackets make me remember of something on my website... at least I didn't put a banner inside them! :devilboy:

[Silencer]

Wow, you folks did a great job!

Let me complain a little bit: the news articles should be placed at the top of the forum index page. The big banner is quite ok, but the "Featured Article" and "Recent articles" boxes should be placed somewhere else.

That's all I wanted to say except once again: great job. You're the best!

[bjornkeizers]

Looks great! I did run into a slight problem though - sorry if this has been mentioned before.

When I put my mouse over the menu bar, the white text partially appears in the white strip below the button. I can read it, but it just looks strange.

I'm using IE 6 @1024768 res.

[Bob Anderson]

I wasn't really expecting a change... but wow... here it is.

I've been following this website for quite some time, and with every new "evolution" it just keeps getting better and better.

Jason &amp; Co. keep up the good work!

[Phoenix]

I really like the new look! Like it much better.

Great job, guys!

[gregmills]

There's a lot that I like about the new design but the advertising kills it for me.

The big banner ad isn't really a problem by itself but there's three more ads (including a large skyscraper) on the left. "Featured Articles," "Recent Articles," "Featured Product" and "Top Pocket PC Software" are all essentially advertising positions as well.

Since I have to scroll now to even read the first news item there might as well be one of those full screen Flash ads in that space.

I might change my mind after I get used to it but right now I'd say that for the overall user experience the change is negative.

[bjornkeizers]

Sadly, that's the way the internet works - not to mention a business. Thoughts need that ****ty wallpaper-sized banner to make cash, and since we both know we aren't going to look at it if it's way down at the bottom of the page, it *has* to take up that space for it to actually make any money.

I don't like it, but I can understand it. Besides, after a while I totally tune out the banners anyway. The only ads that I actually look at and click on - believe it or not - are Google's text ads because they might actually offer producs and services that I can take advantage of, being in europe and all :roll:

I really hope ads will get a bit smarter soon.

[racerx]

I'll be the bad guy here and say I don't like it. Content has been pushed way way down the page.

Well, after 6.5 pages of way to go, I'm glad I wasn't the first to say I don't like the new layout.:? Which is not to say I don't like the new design elements, because I do. But the layout, for me, pushes the content - the reason for coming to the site - too far down the screen for me. The featured and recent articles either belongs on a side-bar or the bottom, not on the top- not when its that big.

But I think you guys did a great job with the new logo, navbar, etc. Just let me see my content without scrolling so much :)

Thanks for all the hardwork you put into this site!

[Don't Panic!]

I still get that annoying "Press OK to continue loading the content of this page." box when I got to the mobile forums. That's why I don't post here that often. Any plans to fix, or does someone already know how to make this stop?

Aside from that it looks really cool. 0X

[Jason Dunn]

When will the mobile logo change...

Soon. We have to change the mobile site, the email blasts, the newsletter, and a few other things. Getting the site template launched took a massive effort, and we simply didn't have the resources to change everything at once.

[mcsouth]

Overall, I love the new site look, but I guess I would like to see the Featured Articles box below the banner ad cut in half. I am using Firefox release 1.0 at 1280x1024, and even at full screen, it is over half way down before I see the new posts - I would rather the Featured Articles was reduced in half to allow the news to take a more prominant position.

The banner ad I'm okay with - at the end of the day, I want PPCThoughts to stick around. I tend to visit several times a day, every day (even holidays), and PPCThoughts is one of my Home Page loads in Firefox - I can't imagine it not being around, so I don't have a problem with the ad.

I guess the best thing the new site design does for me is reinforce the fact that I am way overdue to become a subscriber.... :oops:

[Jason Dunn]

I'll be the bad guy here and say I don't like it. Content has been pushed way way down the page...Woe to DMT when you switch over to this design, which uses a fixed width layout; I don't think I can see any news stories without scrolling when that happens!

That was, unfortunately, a side effect of what we had to do. I couldn't sacrifice the big banner, and I didn't want to sacrifice the article zone...and here we are. ;-) When we apply this template to Digital Media Thoughts, we will not used a fixed width design.

[Jason Dunn]

From a technical point of view, however, the reduction in HTML is very impressive. Is it just my imagination or are there now fewer embedded tables, resulting in faster browser rendering?

Yes, that's correct - Fabrizio used CSS for much of the layout rather than tables. End result is less HTML code, and faster loading/layout. :way to go:

[Jason Dunn]

When I put my mouse over the menu bar, the white text partially appears in the white strip below the button. I can read it, but it just looks strange.

That's the one glitch we still have - it's a DHTML rendering bug in IE. It works perfectly in Firefox, but the same code in IE results in the white bar going through the text. Fabrizio will look at it on Monday - we may just remove that first white bar, because I think it will look fine without it. ;-)

[mcsouth]

When we apply this template to Digital Media Thoughts, we will not used a fixed width design.

Thanks, Jason! That is probably my only complaint with DigitalMediaThoughts - PPCThoughts has always expanded to fill my screen, but with DMT, everything is 'compressed' into this tight column, forcing more scrolling....(oooh, my sore index finger.... :D )

[PR.]

Looks great, I like the darker blues.

If I had one suggestion it would be: Could the PC version of the forum have a "Quick reply" option at the bottom of posts rather than going to the "Post Reply" then after typing click "Submit reply"

[DaleReeck]

Banners are OK, no one minds seeing easy to ignore banners to get a great web site like PocketPCThoughts. Just as long as there are no popups like over at Brighthand. Those popups are really starting to become unbearable. And they are sleazy popups too - designed to defeat popup blockers. Nothing burns me more than "forced, active" advertising.

[Jason Dunn]

I guess the best thing the new site design does for me is reinforce the fact that I am way overdue to become a subscriber.... :oops:

If you become a subscriber, you can turn off ads - that eliminates the 728 x 90 banner, which pulls the content up by 90 pixels or so. Problem solved. ;-)

[hawkeye]

Great new layout from the humble beginnings :D

The best get even better!!

This is the first site I sent 3 friends of mine who purchased x50v's. Keep up the great work.

[yslee]

That was, unfortunately, a side effect of what we had to do. I couldn't sacrifice the big banner, and I didn't want to sacrifice the article zone...and here we are. ;-) When we apply this template to Digital Media Thoughts, we will not used a fixed width design.

Well, from here, as of now, there's a lot of wasted space in the article zone. Me thinks a slight change and tweak can do something about it. I mean, your daily news/updates is one of the major attractions, and pushing something so important so far down isn't so good.

[fostermom2]

:clap: i think you done a good job keep up the good work

[gandi]

I like it a lot! :)
Do not listen to those I-am-afraid-of-changes-people.

[OSUKid7]

If you become a subscriber, you can turn off ads - that eliminates the 728 x 90 banner, which pulls the content up by 90 pixels or so. Problem solved. ;-)
Yep. :D I know leaving the ads on helps you out more, but the ads are really a lot bigger/more obtrusive with the new version. Maybe that'll get some more people to subscribe though. :) lol

[arnage2]

this new design is awsome.

ppc thoughts is still the best

[Ratel10mm]

Great new design, chaps. However, could we have one additional change? I'd love to have a 'go to first unread post' button at the top of the thread. I can't keep an eye on the site all the time, and that would help me a lot to rapidly follow a chosen thread. Perhaps it would also help with the server load if we all got straight to where we wanted to be in long threads?

[buzzard]

Great new layout...having view new posts right under forums is a super time saver

[farnold]

Hm, I may be one of the few who are not happy of the new design. I dislike the relation between advertising and content. When you open pocketpcthoughts you see almost nothing but advertising. I understand that you make a living of that, Jason, and of the other jobs you have. But there is a point where I start loosing interest and I am afraid the new design crosses this line...

[Janak Parekh]

Great new design, chaps. However, could we have one additional change? I'd love to have a 'go to first unread post' button at the top of the thread.
The only problem with this is it involves hacking phpBB itself instead of the frontpage portal code... and we're looking at new forum engines, which will solve a class of forum navigation problems entirely. So sit tight on this, something may solve itself in the medium-term. :)

Hm, I may be one of the few who are not happy of the new design.
Well, of course not everyone is going to be happy with it. ;) Jason knows the ad revenues better than everyone else, though, so I'm going to have to assume he's not doing this because he really wants to, but rather has to. Hosting your own website with such traffic is really expensive... and I don't know of a better model (subscriptions help, but only to an extent).

Besides, as a subscriber, you can turn off the ads. This is what it looks like when the ads are off:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/281/PPCT-no-ads.png

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

Just as long as there are no popups like over at Brighthand. Those popups are really starting to become unbearable. And they are sleazy popups too - designed to defeat popup blockers. Nothing burns me more than "forced, active" advertising.
No kidding. I'd probably stop reading PPCT if it started getting popups. :P

The big banner ad isn't really a problem by itself but there's three more ads (including a large skyscraper) on the left. "Featured Articles," "Recent Articles," "Featured Product" and "Top Pocket PC Software" are all essentially advertising positions as well.
The left skyscraper was always there, as was Featured Product and Top Pocket PC Software. Featured and recent articles are not advertising; they're original content produced by us. There may be the occasional "sponsored" article, but those are always clearly labeled and not nearly as common.

--janak

[Macguy59]

I like it but FWIW the new layout doesn't display correctly in Firefox.

[OSUKid7]

...we're looking at new forum engines...
mmm...awesome. Any more info on this? IPB? something else completely? You guys have done a terrific job in modding phpBB, I can see how it would take some time to convert to an entire different engine. Good luck with that. :) :way to go:

[Sully]

Change is good.

[shawnc]

Besides, as a subscriber, you can turn off the ads. This is what it looks like when the ads are off:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/281/PPCT-no-ads.png

--janak

How can I do this? I went to my preferences, but didn't see this option.

Thanx,

[OSUKid7]

How can I do this? I went to my preferences, but didn't see this option.
Customize (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/customize.php) > Ads (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/customize.php?&amp;ENV.set%28cid%29=46&amp;) > No > Update.

:D

[Janak Parekh]

mmm...awesome. Any more info on this? IPB? something else completely?
Sorry, I'm going to hold off on details until we figure out what we are doing. There are simply too many variables to consider right now. As of this moment, assume phpBB is going to be the bb for the present, but that we're always looking to improve the site. ;)

--janak

[OSUKid7]

mmm...awesome. Any more info on this? IPB? something else completely?
Sorry, I'm going to hold off on details until we figure out what we are doing. There are simply too many variables to consider right now. As of this moment, assume phpBB is going to be the bb for the present, but that we're always looking to improve the site. ;)
Ah alright. Guess I'll just have to keep speculating some more. ;)

[T-Will]

How can I do this? I went to my preferences, but didn't see this option.
Customize (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/customize.php) > Ads (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/customize.php?&amp;ENV.set%28cid%29=46&amp;) > No > Update.

:D

Wow! I know Jason is gonna hate this, but I love it without the ads, it is way cleaner. I might turn 'em on again later to help the revenue a bit.

[alabij]

When you increase the IE text to Largest, the sub menu text is partially visible. Not Good.

[OSUKid7]

Wow! I know Jason is gonna hate this, but I love it without the ads, it is way cleaner. I might turn 'em on again later to help the revenue a bit.
Haha...I have the same guilt, but especially with the new design, it's much nicer with them off. Hmm...maybe I'll visit DMT more to help out. ;) heh.

[OSUKid7]

When you increase the IE text to Largest, the sub menu text is partially visible. Not Good.
Ah yes, it looks like that text is posisioned absolutely, so it'll always display in the same position. Any way that could be rewritten to position itself relative to the main navigation links?

[Darius Wey]

I like it but FWIW the new layout doesn't display correctly in Firefox.

In what regard? I've run the new site in Firefox and everything displays fine. However, if you're referring to a fixed text width in the right column, that was identified earlier. We'll be looking at that.

[Darius Wey]

When you increase the IE text to Largest, the sub menu text is partially visible. Not Good.

Hmm... Good find. I can see that too now. We'll look into it.

[Dave Beauvais]

... and we're looking at new forum engines, which will solve a class of forum navigation problems entirely.
Wow... if you guys can find a way to switch forum software without breaking every link to forum content that people have in their thousands of posts, I will be impressed. ;)

Oh yeah... I love the new layout!

[OSUKid7]

One problem I've noticed in Firefox, both with the old and new designs, is that many forum posts have a horizonal scrollbar. The width seems to be just over 100% of the window.

[arnage2]

yeah thats wierd. im on a widescreen laptop (1280x800) using firefox, and ive got the side scroll bar

[Janak Parekh]

Wow... if you guys can find a way to switch forum software without breaking every link to forum content that people have in their thousands of posts, I will be impressed. ;)
Me too. :P That's one of the major concerns...

One problem I've noticed in Firefox, both with the old and new designs, is that many forum posts have a horizonal scrollbar. The width seems to be just over 100% of the window.
That's not new, actually, it's been there for as long as you've been using FF. There seems to be a little quirk in phpBB's tabling that's causing it. I've never found it pressing enough to report it as a high-priority todo.

--janak

[surur]

Any chance of getting rid of the "Featured article" and "Recent article" columns at the top, even as a subscriber feature. Ive never found anything useful there, and Im sure the $2 per month you get from subscribers far outweigh the 0.02 cents per month you make from each paid featured article.

With
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/281/PPCT-no-ads.png

Without
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4259/nofeaturesarticles.png

Surur

[OSUKid7]

One problem I've noticed in Firefox, both with the old and new designs, is that many forum posts have a horizonal scrollbar. The width seems to be just over 100% of the window.
That's not new, actually, it's been there for as long as you've been using FF. There seems to be a little quirk in phpBB's tabling that's causing it. I've never found it pressing enough to report it as a high-priority todo.
Yep, I just thought I'd mention it since we were talking about site changes. It hasn't bugged me much either, just a small annoyance. ;)

[Robrecht]

When you increase the IE text to Largest, the sub menu text is partially visible. Not Good.Yes, or even completely invisible on some screens, like my work Dell laptop (crappy 1280x1024 resolution).

Wouldn't you like the "Search" feature to be more prominant than a submenu item so as to discourage redundant threads?

I'm new to the site (and to PPC) but am very pleased with the site and want to thank you all for all of your work to keep it going. Thanks! :beer:

[shawnc]

How can I do this? I went to my preferences, but didn't see this option.
Customize (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/customize.php) > Ads (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/customize.php?&amp;ENV.set%28cid%29=46&amp;) > No > Update.

:D

Thanx OSU. This is much better. Another question, on my PPCT Home page to the left of the "Recent Columns" section, my page is blank (been this way since the switch, before I turned off the adds). I noticed on an earlier post from Surur that there appears to be something ther (looks ad-related).



With
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/281/PPCT-no-ads.png

Surur

While I'm not big on ad-content (though I understand it's necessity) I'd rather have something display than blank content. Any suggestions?

[Jason Dunn]

When you increase the IE text to Largest, the sub menu text is partially visible. Not Good.

Yes, it's a known issue we'll work on later.

[nz0eBoy]

I'll add my support for the new design to everyone else's. With the reduction of the number of posts on the front page soemthing i would like to see is a "Next" and "Previous" on the individual posts.

Because I do not visit on weekends my first experience with the new design was a monday morning and I had to dig back into previous posts to catch up. After reading each i had to use the back button on my browser to go back to the main page. If you are trying to reduce server load from loading the front page then one way around this might be next/previous buttons.

My $0.02

[Macguy59]

I like it but FWIW the new layout doesn't display correctly in Firefox.

In what regard? I've run the new site in Firefox and everything displays fine. However, if you're referring to a fixed text width in the right column, that was identified earlier. We'll be looking at that.

I should have added ". . . under OS X" Below is a capture of FF window. Notice the top graphics

http://home.insightbb.com/~macguy/FirefoxOSX.jpg

[Kati Compton]

I should have added ". . . under OS X"
That looks to me like the same problem as the font resizing issue. If it bothers you, you could Ctrl+ or Ctrl- until it looks right... at least until it gets fixed.

[Macguy59]

I should have added ". . . under OS X"
That looks to me like the same problem as the font resizing issue. If it bothers you, you could Ctrl+ or Ctrl- until it looks right... at least until it gets fixed.

That has no affect on the problem

[butch]

I should have added ". . . under OS X"
That looks to me like the same problem as the font resizing issue. If it bothers you, you could Ctrl+ or Ctrl- until it looks right... at least until it gets fixed.

That has no affect on the problem

Try View - Text Size - Normal Size

[Macguy59]

Try View - Text Size - Normal Size

Been there done that.

[butch]

Been there done that.
:? It must be another setting... look at my font setting here : http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/assets/common/FileObject/jpg.gif firefox.JPG (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/65/firefox.JPG) (Size: 151.3 KB)

[Macguy59]

Been there done that.
:? It must be another setting... look at my font setting here : http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/assets/common/FileObject/jpg.gif firefox.JPG (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/65/firefox.JPG) (Size: 151.3 KB)

Thanks. That was helpful. I had forgetten that I was a forcing a minimum font size which also explains why I have the same problem in Safari. This site seems to be the only one that doesn't display correctly with a fixed minimum font size.

[macs4god]

Hey Guys,

I love the new look, especially the tie-ins to the other Thoughts Media sites, keep up the good work! :mrgreen:

[Prevost]

Absolutely nice. Good!!

[Dave Beauvais]

I think the only "problem" I see is the Search feature is buried too much. There's already a lot of people who don't search before they post, so locating the Search button under the Forum menu makes it even less likely that people will use it. I'd suggest that the Search button be on the main menu bar. (Though that could cause the menu to exceed the 800x600 width that was targeted in this design.

[Wiggster]

I think the only "problem" I see is the Search feature is buried too much. There's already a lot of people who don't search before they post, so locating the Search button under the Forum menu makes it even less likely that people will use it. I'd suggest that the Search button be on the main menu bar. (Though that could cause the menu to exceed the 800x600 width that was targeted in this design.

At the risk of being blunt, if they couldn't find the search button back when it was on top of the screen, I don't think that putting it as a sub-item on Forums will help at all. Those people aren't going to try and search before they post, even with giant red "Search before you post a new topic" popups on the forum.

[surur]

The search function is pretty useless in any case.
I have difficulty finding posts I have made. :?

Surur

[juni]

The logos are very sleek, I like the colors a lot :).

I didn't realize how huge the ads were until I got to work. But I understand there is no choice so I'm not complaining.

[wocket]

Eh? what the, oh I see.. I've been away from computers all weekend and arrive in work with the Monday morning blues, make my coffee and sit down to read PPCTs and now i'm positively a glow. The site looks fantastic. :D

A great job indeed by the PPCTs gang.

[GoldKey]

I am noticing that even though I have my subscriber customizations turn on to allow more stories on the front page, I am stuck with only the five most recent. Is this a known bug?

[Dave Beauvais]

... Here's the down side: in order to keep things fast and stable, we've had to remove the ability for subscribers to customize the number of front page news items.
It's not a bug, but something they had to do in order to maintain the sanity of the server. The old design was slamming it very hard to generate a custom front page for every subscriber.

[jasondearyou]

I don't particually like the change however i welcome it but not with such drastice change, something over time and with notice

AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LINK FOR THE MALL :evil:

but anyway good job guys. 0X

[GoldKey]

... Here's the down side: in order to keep things fast and stable, we've had to remove the ability for subscribers to customize the number of front page news items.
It's not a bug, but something they had to do in order to maintain the sanity of the server. The old design was slamming it very hard to generate a custom front page for every subscriber.

Understood, the option probably needs to be removed from subscriber options. Again, I completely understand the need for this change, just kind of sad to see one of the paid benefits go away.

[Jason Dunn]

I should have added ". . . under OS X" Below is a capture of FF window. Notice the top graphics

Hrm. Do you happen to have adjusted the DPI setting on your Mac? To, say, 120 dpi?

[Jason Dunn]

I don't particually like the change however i welcome it but not with such drastice change, something over time and with notice

Notice ruins the surprise. ;-) And you can't do a completely new template "over time" - that's just not possible. You'll see THIS template evolve over time with minor adjustments and tweaks.

AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LINK FOR THE MALL :evil:

I can't tell if you're kidding or not....it was removed because there was nothing there. I haven't had the developer resources to create what I want, so we removed it. Once I have it created, I'll add it back in. ;-)

[Jason Dunn]

Understood, the option probably needs to be removed from subscriber options. Again, I completely understand the need for this change, just kind of sad to see one of the paid benefits go away.

It was something I agonized over for a month, but there was no way around it. The problem isn't that that we couldn't show subscribers more news stories, the problem was the customization for each subscriber was causing load problems.

Theoretically, we could create a page with 15 full news items and re-direct 100% of subscribers to that page. We'd make it static so that it wouldn't have the painful load issues of a dynamic page. The question is, would all subscribers want 15 news items? Maybe it's survey time. ;-)

[GoldKey]

Dont know what the right number is, but I think it is more than 5. Personally, I would like to be able to see all of today and yesterday without having to click.

[Kati Compton]

Theoretically, we could create a page with 15 full news items and re-direct 100% of subscribers to that page. We'd make it static so that it wouldn't have the painful load issues of a dynamic page. The question is, would all subscribers want 15 news items? Maybe it's survey time. ;-)
Well, this wouldn't help subscribers who want to keep the number down for bandwidth reasons, but could you have the page have 15 or so items on it, but have a javascript thing that would hide the "excess" ones a subscriber doesn't want to see? I think you could do that client-side. Not exactly efficient, but would provide more customization.

[sub_tex]

Man, I don't check the site for 3 days and everything changes!

I love the new look, guys. And permalinks! Yay!

I know I raised my voice on that a while back and got the tease of knowing that it's on the way.

The new look is clean and very easy to navigate. Not sure if it's just me but right now, i'm getting some lag on page loads. ?

The front page # of stories thing doesn't bother me since I never changed the default # anyhow.

But really, great job. :clap:

[OSUKid7]

And permalinks! Yay!
What exactly are permalinks? Hasn't PPCT had those for awhile, but with a different name? Isn't permalink just a fancy word for a link to the news item, not including the discussion?

[Darius Wey]

And permalinks! Yay!
What exactly are permalinks? Hasn't PPCT had those for awhile, but with a different name? Isn't permalink just a fancy word for a link to the news item, not including the discussion?

Wikipedia Definition. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permalink) :mrgreen:

[ADBrown]

Alright, I have to say that I hate the new design. It barely functions at all in Opera, and it looks like hell. Everything is mashed together and it's almost impossible to determine what's what at a glance. Yeah, it's better in IE, but I don't use IE. :evil:

[Jason Dunn]

Alright, I have to say that I hate the new design. It barely functions at all in Opera, and it looks like h-ll. Everything is mashed together and it's almost impossible to determine what's what at a glance. Yeah, it's better in IE, but I don't use IE. :evil:

I know we did a lot of testing in Firefox and IE, but I don't know that we tested it in Opera. I'll talk to Fabrizio about testing with Opera.

[OSUKid7]

Alright, I have to say that I hate the new design. It barely functions at all in Opera, and it looks like h-ll. Everything is mashed together and it's almost impossible to determine what's what at a glance. Yeah, it's better in IE, but I don't use IE. :evil:
It looks fine in Opera. Exactly the same as it does in Firefox. I noticed a few problems when "zooming," but nothing other than that.

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/12845/PPCT-opera-small.png (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/12845/PPCT-opera.png)

[surur]

But cant we do something about this

WASTED SPACE!!! :roll:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4259/wastedspace.png

Surur

[GoldKey]

But cant we do something about this

WASTED SPACE!!! :roll:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/4259/wastedspace.png

Surur

I second that. A subscriber option to turn those off would be great.

[sub_tex]

I second that. A subscriber option to turn those off would be great.

I'll third that.

It's a bit annoying that the news doesn't start until a third of the way down the page. I never even look at that top area. I want the news!

[OSUKid7]

I second that. A subscriber option to turn those off would be great.

I'll third that.

It's a bit annoying that the news doesn't start until a third of the way down the page. I never even look at that top area. I want the news!
I agree as well. I read PPCT enough anyway, I'm sure I'll at least glance at the featured article when it's released initially. I do understand that they're featured though, so not sure if it's worth arguing to get the option to remove them.

[surur]

I agree as well. I read PPCT enough anyway, I'm sure I'll at least glance at the featured article when it's released initially. I do understand that they're featured though, so not sure if it's worth arguing to get the option to remove them.

Ive become so attuned to filtering out banners etc, that I dont even register the words in that area, even if it has changed. To me its just a coloured blob that gets in the way of reading the headlines for the day, requiring me to scroll and scroll, and spoiling the visual appeal of the page. It has doubled at least in height from before the new template, which really makes it more intrusive. I would not mind it half as much as a side column, although even better would be the ability to switch it off altogether (and save jason some bandwidth :) )

Surur

[T-Will]

Is there any chance you could increase the number of news items to show all the stories from the current day? Today is a good example of why it would be nice to have this, it's only 1pm where I am and there are already 3 news items that have been pushed to the "Previous Stories" section. Thanks!

[yslee]

Whoa, what happened to all the ads? Is this some sort of preview you're giving us?

BTW, the more I look at it, the more I feel the Featured and Recent Articles are a Waste Of Space. The ads themselves weren't that bad.

[Janak Parekh]

Whoa, what happened to all the ads? Is this some sort of preview you're giving us?
The ad server crashed last night. :P Should be back now...

BTW, the more I look at it, the more I feel the Featured and Recent Articles are a Waste Of Space. The ads themselves weren't that bad.
To each their own, I guess. I really like the new article area myself. ;) I'm sure Jason and Fabrizio go over what can easily be customized and what can't -- as Jason said, this site is going to be tweaked, so let's see what wizardry they can cook up.

--janak

[ADBrown]

It looks fine in Opera. Exactly the same as it does in Firefox. I noticed a few problems when "zooming," but nothing other than that.

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/12845/PPCT-opera-small.png (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/media/users/12845/PPCT-opera.png)

I stand corrected--it works fine in Opera 7. I've still been using Opera 5, in which it doesn't care to function. I'm trying O7 out now, and I suppose I really should upgrade, but I hate to upgrade software when it still works. I used Windows 98 until 2003 for that very reason. :lol:

[SassKwatch]

I just picked up an MPX220 SmartPhone and installed NewsBreak on it. And FWIW, the PPCT logo is all but illegible on it. Dunno if it's the s/w, the device, or the way it's designed, but it certainly doesn't do the business of Thoughts Media justice.