# Poll: What do you like/dislike about the new "look" of SDMB? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 13, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250 "2004-01-13T15:15:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![yellowcakesolid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cdc98d/32.png) [@yellowcakesolid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowcakesolid)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/41 "2004-01-14T16:27:13Z")
Bow down to your new, giant-icon God, vBulletin. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/42 "2004-01-14T17:25:06Z")
> [@Lisa-go-Blind](#): > > **minor7flat5** , I was just going to say how much I like seeing the titles of the most recently posted threads on the main forum menu. I rarely visit Great Debates but I read at least two GD threads today because the titles sounded interesting. It’s a good way for people to break out of the fora they usually visit. I like the titles too! If I see a particularly enticing thread title in a forum I don’t frequent, I will go there, as you did. It would be nice if the Pit titles didn’t appear there in their full glory, but that may not be feasible. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/43 "2004-01-14T17:35:47Z")
I think the board looks a lot slicker. Of course, that’s when I can even log in, which is only about 50% of the time I try. :rolleyes: Is the SDMB, by chance, hosted on the same server as Ain’t It Cool News? ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/44 "2004-01-14T18:28:48Z")
Just when I have a fresh-new website, which I was all excited about linking to, the www buttons disappear. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/45 "2004-01-14T19:06:45Z")
If somebody’s mentioned this before, I missed it: I like that, when I’m notified of a new post to a thread that I’ve subscribed to, it actually includes the text of the reply in the email notification. Other than that, the bottom line for me is, if any of the funky new features are making the board noticeably slower than it would be without them, they are bad. Otherwise, I’m cool with them. ---
**Author:** ![Foolonthehill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Foolonthehill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foolonthehill)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/46 "2004-01-14T19:34:38Z")
The ham§sters must be dying from exhaustion. The reply box seems easier for the _technologically challenged_. Can we insert images now? That’ll kill the ham§sters. ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/47 "2004-01-14T19:47:19Z")
I don’t mind that it was changed and I have the feeling that there are more features added then what has disappeared. There are many you can discover under the member/thread name or the boards texts. Nobody mentioned the post-numbering, but I find that a very good reference tool when you want to reply to a post after several other members posted in between. Or when you want to refer to one of your former posts when writing in an other thread. The format is not that nice leaving a lot of grey at the side. But even when it is permanent I think it is only a matter of a short time to get used to it. I’ve seen other message boards where similar empty spaces are used to put advertising adds, which can work very distracting. Salaam. A ---
**Author:** ![Aldebaran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Aldebaran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aldebaran)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/48 "2004-01-14T19:49:52Z")
OK… One thing I don’t like for now: Must think in time at clicking the option for not showing my signature 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/49 "2004-01-14T20:47:38Z")
There’s nothing I really strongly dislike about the current setup, but there’s a couple of things that bug me. The lesser of those is the lack of location. I like knowing where people are from. But the one that’s really bothering me is the forum jump menu has moved to the other side of the screen! For YEARS I have been jumping from forum to forum with it without even thinking. Now I can’t. AAAAAAAGH! ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/50 "2004-01-14T20:51:59Z")
I like that when you reply and are not logged in, the login procedure picks up where you left off instead of starting you all over again. (like what happened to me just now) The preview popups are handy. I like how each screen refreshes when you get to it, even though it probably makes the server have to compile more. _But it’s supposed to be able to handle it. Don’t you know today’s silicon chips can do a trillion commands a second?_ The font size for usernames could probably be a size smaller, so that a couple more lines of text can be displayed. The colors are fine. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/51 "2004-01-14T21:10:56Z")
Mostly hate it. The popup on mouse-over is nice. There must be something else that I like but it isn’t coming to me. The colors are tolerable but I liked the old color scheme better. The Godzilla-sized fonts have got to go. Nothing bigger than 12 point Helvetica except for the Straight Dope logo. Which I miss. As does the interspersion of user names with thread content. Put them back to the left. Oh, OK, the search engine has some nice additions (find all threads since I last logged in that match the parameters I put in). That’s a positive. It’s actually SLOWER. (may be coincidence, I don’t know). This is not good. It wasn’t fast before. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/52 "2004-01-15T00:35:13Z")
As others have said: too narrow! And the over-sized user names have to go … actually, as **AHunter3** says, the way it now has the user info at the top of each post … breaks the flow. It makes the thread read as less of a conversation, more of a disconnected series of entries. Not good, IMHO. Anything else, I guess I can get used to. Though, at the moment, it _is_ still awfully slow … ---
**Author:** ![MaceMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@MaceMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaceMan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/53 "2004-01-15T01:15:39Z")
Because certain websites have finally forced me to change from my preferred resolution of 800x600 to 1024x768, I set my IE to “larger” font size to prevent eyestrain. It seems that this new version fixes the fonts to their original sizes, however. Too small!!! I like the usernames being so large as compared to the posts, either. New features I like: the functionality of the reply box, the appearance of the quote box, and the pop-up descriptions when you hover over a link. ---
**Author:** ![bittersweet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@bittersweet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bittersweet)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/54 "2004-01-15T01:21:40Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > New stylish look, same crappy engine. **BINGO!** My sentiments exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/55 "2004-01-15T03:16:37Z")
When you reply with a quote, the first block of quoted text (that includes the name of the person who posetd it) is automatically in italics; subsequent quote blocks are not. Is there a way to get control of this? There should be. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/56 "2004-01-15T04:30:23Z")
Has anyone else noticed that the sticky threads appear at the top of every page? With the narrowed view field and stickies on every page I know that I’m seeing fewer threads per page. I like the new color scheme; if the HUGE usernames go away and the text area gets widened I think it will present a nice, no-nonsense format. If anyone is listening, I would: 1. Use the empty space to the left for the username and all info: join date, posts, and LOCATION. Then expand the text area to use the empty space to the right. I really, really don’t like having giant usernames interrupting the flow of conversation. 2. Only have sticky threads stick to the first page. I like the old system of having the last couple of threads from the previous page be the first couple on the new page - at least then you knew where you were and that nothing got lost in the (usually slow) page transition. 3. Hi Opal! ---
**Author:** ![yawndave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/43a26b/32.png) [@yawndave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawndave)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/57 "2004-01-15T17:55:13Z")
I don’t have any beef with the new look, but the board is so SLOW now! I’m assuming that it’ll speed up as the bugs get worked out, but it takes 3 times longer to load a page than it did before. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/58 "2004-01-15T18:11:36Z")
The only change I would like to see is to make the default notification either “do not subscribe” or “no email notification”. I keep forgetting to change it and my mailbox is jammed with useless emails. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/59 "2004-01-15T18:43:13Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > When you reply with a quote, the first block of quoted text (that includes the name of the person who posetd it) is automatically in italics; subsequent quote blocks are not. > > Is there a way to get control of this? There should be. The new version has a time-saving feature in the code. If it looks like this (change to appropriate brackets, etc.)— \text text text\ —it comes out looking like this: > [@username](#): > > text text text That is, it puts “Originally posted by” at the top with “username” boldface, and “text text text” in italics, without having to include any of that text or coding. It’s automatic. This is what happens when you click Reply (i.e., this version’s “Quote w/Reply”). If it’s coded like this: \text text text\ …it comes out like this: > [@](#): > > text text text See, it doesn’t do any of that automatic formatting, with the inserted header or anything. This is what happens when you break up a quoted post and put the quote tags in yourself. If you put “=username” back in the first tag, i.e. \, you’d get the automatically inserted header and the italicized text: > [@username](#): > > text text text To get control over it, just remove the “=username” from the first QUOTE tag, and format the text in the quote block yourself. You’ll have to manually insert the “Originally posted by…” thing that the old board used to put in for you. I have no idea whether this is a board preference that will be set back to the old style as part of TPTB’s ongoing customizations. Doesn’t bother me either way, but I can see how if you prefer the old style quote boxes, you might find it annoying to have to reset the tags manually to make it look like that. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250/60 "2004-01-16T04:11:15Z")
Per the width problem. If you go to ATMB there is a thread there with a fix for Netscape and Mozilla. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-do-you-like-dislike-about-the-new-look-of-sdmb/224250.md?page=4)