Welcome Home Fellas…

[American Locomotive]

It looks really great! Much nicer, customized and well thought out compared to other XenForo migrations I've seen *cough*. You can tell a lot of care and thought went into the style on this site!

My only two concerns are:
1) The default post font has some readability issues. It probably looks in really large sizes, but it doesn't reproduce well on the sizes used for posts. The kerning space is also way too close, make it tough to differentiate between characters.

2) The information density is a little low. It looks great on my 1440p desktop screens, but on my older 1366x768 laptop, the site isn't really usable unless I scale the screen down to like 70%. For example, at 100% scaling, this quick reply message box takes up literally the entire screen. There are still a lot of laptops out there running this screen resolution. See attached screenshot:

 

[bbmach]

This is not really a bug, but is there a way to go to the first new post in a thread without opening it and using the "jump to new" button?

It does it automatically... no need for a "jump to new" button.

 

[Ryan]

but on my older 1366x768 laptop

This resolution and smaller represents 4.8% of my non-mobile traffic. I hear you though. Density is something I can work on.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Haven't read all the replies because it takes 27 swipes to get to the next post.

Ill agree with the font issue, I thought the same thing when looking at the test forum a few months back.

 

[ez-duzit]

Definitely going to take some getting used to.

Hard to see this as an upgrade. My most-used feature, "new posts" is gone too. Bad dog!

 

[bbmach]

Hard to see this as an upgrade. My most-used feature, "new posts" is gone too. Bad dog!

The "New Posts" link is under "What's New" - third from left on top.

 

[American Locomotive]

This resolution and smaller represents 4.8% of my non-mobile traffic. I hear you though. Density is something I can work on.

Kind of surprises me! I see so many cheap 13-15" class laptops and chromebooks at Best Buy still on a 1366x768 display. Guess the average GJ has a preference for slightly better screens.

Like I said though, this is an older beater laptop that just refuses to die. No issues with the resolution on my 2560x1440 desktop.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

This is not really a bug, but is there a way to go to the first new post in a thread without opening it and using the "jump to new" button?

On large screens you can select what page of a thread you want to go to.
You can also start scrolling and an arrow appears on the bottom right that will advance you to the top of bottom.

 

[Retctddvr]

I never have much to say, but I’m on the site just about every day. This a great place to hang out. I worried for the whole time it was down that it may be the end. Thank you Ryan for all the work.! The new site looks great!

 

[seber]

Looks good but I can't find a way to start a new thread.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Looks good but I can't find a way to start a new thread.

Look at the top of the list of threads where it says: "Thread Title", and type there.

 

[Ryan]

Look at the top of the list of threads where it says: "Thread Title", and type there.

Or hit the big red button that says, "New Thread".

 

[Gunfixr]

Well, I access this site via Tapatalk, and it looks the same as before.
This is not an insult, as it's not worse. It means the site is just as accessible as before.

 

[rharman]

Great job. I've done too many big app upgrades in the last 35 years to count so I really appreciate the work involved. Just pulled an all-nighter Monday/Tuesday for a production->backup(HA) system role swap... UGH.

I must be missing something though... Can't find anywhere in my profile/preferences to change the font. The serif font is killing me

 

[Jswain]

Looks good to me, like buying a new toy there will be some learning curves

 

[greenjeepers]

I don't see the "Style" change option either. But the site looks great!

 

[NUTTSGT]

Back on the phone, appears that the new layout has gotten better.

 

[Ryan]

Back on the phone, appears that the new layout has gotten better.

This thing kills on mobile... and it's gonna get even better.

 

[driftpin]

For those unhappy with the font, go to your preferences (drop-down from your user name at the top) and change the "style" to "stock XF 2.2 style". This is more like the old forum and waaaay easier to read.

Sorry, I need more direction on where to find 'style.' I see no heading for 'style' under 'preferences.' Thanks.

 

[bbmach]

Sorry, I need more direction on where to find 'style.' I see no heading for 'style' under 'preferences.' Thanks.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/work-around-to-change-the-font-for-now.481283/

 

[Ryan]

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/work-around-to-change-the-font-for-now.481283/

Again, that is cached... if you can see it now, you won't be able to for long.

 

[2lt1chevy]

My preferences start with time zone

 

[driftpin]

My preferences start with time zone

Me too

 

[doublearon98]

So far I love it! However I have one complaint/suggestion is the font, change is to Times New Roman. I think a lot will be much happier with TNR

 

[Ryan]

So far I love it! However I have one complaint/suggestion is the font, change is to Times New Roman. I think a lot will be much happier with TNR

I literally just changed from TNR after all the complaints... We are now using a font that I digitized in college... It's been tested as the most readable font in the world... You might recognize it from the US highway system. It's what they use on highway signs.

 

[Augus7us]

Ryan buddy, having done a lot of large IT migrations for corporate clients, I can say I am impressed with the speed and lack of issues with this one.

The haters will figure it out or leave and the new interface will attract some young blood to replace them.

Keep up the good work hombre!

 

[Ryan]

Ryan buddy, having done a lot of large IT migrations for corporate clients, I can say I am impressed with the speed and lack of issues with this one.

The haters will figure it out or leave and the new interface will attract some young blood to replace them.

Keep up the good work hombre!

You are being far too kind... I wish I had the resources to do this with no down time, but I don't.... Hell, I have to launch it before it's ready just so I can get some load on it to do the balance.

 

[pepi]

Good job very nice ........

 

[loganb]

2 day???? Super impressed on that...much appreciated on all the work for this online lounge and learning space to continue on!

 

[American Locomotive]

I literally just changed from TNR after all the complaints... We are now using a font that I digitized in college... It's been tested as the most readable font in the world... You might recognize it from the US highway system. It's what they use on highway signs.

The font you just changed to is very nice. I think there was something weird about the TNR that was being used before. The kerning seemed odd - the letters just seemed way too close together and the "e"s rendered very strangely. Also the capital "Q" was very bizarre with a super long tail.

 

[Ryan]

The font you just changed to is very nice. I think there was something weird about the TNR that was being used before. The kerning seemed odd - the letters just seemed way too close together and the "e"s rendered very strangely.

It's all a balancing act... I had the serif font sized as large as I could get it without really hurting page density. However, I just couldn't get it large enough for round letters to read well for some folks. I still prefer it, because I'm old school.... Headlines should be sans serif, body copy should be serif... But have to admit, "interstate" looks dope on mobile.

 

[American Locomotive]

The site (and the new font) looks amazing on mobile. The site is also extremely responsive, which is impressive considering a lot of sites run like garbage on my ancient Galaxy S5 these days.

 

[Slackerzinc]

Looks great, change is good!

 

[Ryan]

The site (and the new font) looks amazing on mobile. The site is also extremely responsive, which is impressive considering a lot of sites run like garbage on my ancient Galaxy S5 these days.

We aren't done tuning yet. In fact, there's a good chance we will have performance problems for the next week or so... but eventually, it should run REALLY fast.

 

[510ebl]

The site (and the new font) looks amazing on mobile. The site is also extremely responsive, which is impressive considering a lot of sites run like garbage on my ancient Galaxy S5 these days.

“Extremely responsive”... I didn’t notice until you mentioned it, but on my iPad via Chrome the pages seem to load faster than before.

 

[jdepiero]

I like it!! Great job!

 

[uart]

The haters will figure it out or leave

That's a bit unfair. It's early days and people are giving their feedback. Just because someone points out a negative it doesn't make them a "hater".

 

[KMScott]

I am very happy to see progress, I was so worried that the vise spreadsheet that has 3,000 links to your website still work. I was sweating bullets since I have been working on it since 2017. Life is good.

 

[Ryan]

That's a bit unfair. It's early days and people are giving their feedback. Just because someone points out a negative it doesn't make them a "hater".

Agreed. Negative feedback helps me fix ****... so long as it's constructive, I'm 100% cool with it.

 

[Ryan]

I am very happy to see progress, I was so worried that the vise spreadsheet that has 3,000 links to your website still work. I was sweating bullets since I have been working on it since 2017. Life is good.

I migrated that one manually. No ****... I was nervous on that one as well.