New layout/navigation issues

Please share 'em here!


UPDATE FROM ~MATTHEW: 

Thanks, everyone, for combing through the site and posting the new layout/navigation bugs here!  Moving forward, if you find any new glitches, please post them as separate threads.  You can do that by going here and clicking on “New Post” (up above the listing of topics).  Or, if someone has already posted about the issue, you can add to thread with any additional information you may have.

Please remember to list your browser along with its version number whenever posting about a glitch you are experiencing.

Thank you!

~M

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Hi Chris,

Just a heads up on the Q&R
The banner is running over to the right side of that panel
where the tags show.

HERE

FF 3.0.03

Thanks for all the work!
Hugs, Lb

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Good catch, LB!  I'll put a ticket in for this.

~M

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Thx LB :) The code has been changed and it will be up later this afternoon. 

We are getting rid of banners (which I confess I was partial to!) like that and using simple headings instead to be more consistent.

Ryan

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Thanks,
Chris, Matthew and Ryan!

I mention one little issue and get responses from the heavy hitters
or I should say, the busy bees!

Hugs to you XOX
;-)

Re: New layout/navigation issues

One question, I notice that we can no longer open someone's icon image to make it larger from their profile page. including our own.
we have to take an extra step now to go into their photos.

WHY?

and I remember talk about the spell check being deleted from email.
I'm happy to see it's still here now, but is that going soon?

I guess that's 2 questions!

Love you team & truly do appreciate all you do for us here.

Hugs XOX

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Yeah, Lb, I think the friend icon should pop the picture as before… going to get that in.

And for now, the text editor is staying the same.  We still need to experiment more with other options – we'll try to pick the one with the fewest compromises.  Might be the same thing we have now! 

More soon!
/c

Re: New layout/navigation issues

THANKS!

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Yep…they rock and so do you winner…;-)

Re: New layout/navigation issues

A change in the look sure is exciting.I'm still getting used to it.It looks great.:)

But I wonder where the 'ideas' thing went.

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Hi everyone,

I really appreciate all that the gaia team does to keep this place running smoothly and nicely. I appreciate all the care and wisdom you put into it.

I am sure the new look, scrunching everything toward the center, was not your doing but a “bottom line” decision coming from the top. So I don't mean to blame you for this at all.

But I just wanted to report, as you probably already know, that it makes the place decidedly less pleasant and user friendly. It now feels like I am looking at a billboard.

It is like running television commercials throughout the television program or having a pop-up advertisement continually pop up as you try to read an article.

I'm not saying this because I like to compain or say mean things. I am just saying this in the hope that whoever made the decision will change his or her mind. It makes me, and I am quite sure others, feel like spending my time in a more pleasant, customer-friendly atmosphere.

Even the decision is to keep it, I still love you!  :) I think people might start spending their time elsewhere, however.

Love,

David

PS. I may have a constructive idea and a compromise position-if users had the option of making the left-margin sidebar go away if they wanted, like we can make our “favorites” go away on windows, that would make more room for the group and also keep the new, added space for advertisements. If it is not possible to make the sidebar go away and come back as one pleases, one, two, or more boxes could replace it along the top (to the right of  “browse groups”) with all the options (“conversations,” “creative spaces,” etc.) inside.

I imagine that what people care most about is a good group space. That is what I most care about.

That added space might make it pleasant again.

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Hi David!

You're such a wonderful communicator. Thank you.

I'm not sure what you mean by a 'bottom line' decision coming from the top; as the “power-that-is” on this division, I need to make sure we have enough income to keep the site afloat, so advertising is a part of that. (It beats charging everyone, I think!) And I don't think people are going to leave–were I a newcomer to the space, I'd find this new setup much more intuitive and easy to get around than the old versions. :) Also, please not that with this change we traded six ads (those in the 'forth column') for two, and to my mind this seems a fine swap. Much less 'busy.' 

And while I can see what you mean by the 'schrunching' objection; I, personally, prefer the long columns of text. There's a reason newspapers have columns rather than spreading the text wide–it's easier to follow longer blocks of text.

Still, I know you're an active Groups user, and those areas are by no means finished–we'll be working over the next releases (Phases II and III and beyond!) to redo those interior spaces. I have a feeling you'll find them to be much more spacious and pleasant soon. Hang in there. :)

Re: New layout/navigation issues

I loved this site when it was Zaadz. I've loved it for a long time as Gaia too but this is what I was afraid of  … that the big company coming in, even a company as cool as Gaia, would let it become about money. That the initial vision of Zaadz would get consumed by consumerism.

All I see in this new design is the ads and a list of links on my own page. There may even be less ads but they are much more “in your face.” But I actually care less about my own page than my favorite part of Gaia, which is my friends' blogs. I have a lot of friends that post beautiful images, most of which they create themselves, and now these images and their words are crammed into a narrow strip between a bunch of ads.

This seems to me so antithetial to what Zaadz was all about. I know it's not Zaadz anymore. But this is too much. Too much.

Shame on your Gaia.
DiamondLil

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Oh, DiamondLil… I'm so sorry you feel that way. We do, though, need to support the site somehow. As Zaadz, we never once broke even and we can only afford to lose money for so long. Now we're closer to making that goal. Again, I wish  there were other options (everyone chipping in to cover the costs, maybe?) but given that we want the site to remain free, ads seem the best bet.

And please note that we did create the Plus option before the change, so that if you really, really don't like the advertising and want the extra space, you can chip in about 75 cents a week to get an ad-free version (after all, no one should HAVE to look at ads if they don't want to)!

So again, I'm sorry, terribly, that you don't like this solution, but I'm also not ashamed of our site. I think our Team has done a beautiful job meeting the needs of both the community and the fact that we do need to keep this site running, and I'm proud of the result. I want us to be here next year, and the year after, and the year after, and the only way we can is by paying the bills.

PS. There's a screen shot of the ad-free page here, if you want a look. :)

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Perhaps we could move the AD area to a more unobtrusive zone, like the bottom of the page? Not sure if  I am suggesting a stupid idea, but that's the thought which came to my mind

Re: New layout/navigation issues

hello wonderful gaia support team! I really appreciate all that you do for us … and recognize that you're working overtime right now with this new change.

I just want to say … It's not easy to navigate. I'm feeling lost. I miss the simplicity of the old format. I like the look of this new format … but then again, looks can be deceiving. I miss seeing the status of my friends … up close and personal … right there on the left side. I now have to go hunting for my friends status …. I have to scroll way down and look over to the right. why? I think the status line and yah, the grapevine are our main ways of staying in touch with each other.

I also miss that I cannot click on someone's icon and see the photo enlarged … and the instant ability to comment on that photo.

I think too that the navigation is more complicated. I cannot get back to my profile as easily as before. I hope that you'll respond to these comments and make some changes …

all in all … I'm happy that I pay this minimal amount for Gaia Plus … and am AD FREE … I encourage others to explore this. I hope the prices are still reasonable.

much love to all of you hard workin' peeps,
peri

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Peridot! Thank you, always, for your wise perspective. I can completely relate… I found the navigation a little clunky for the first day or so, too–I was so used to the old that my mouse would glide over to certain areas out of habit–but it didn't take long to readjust. So would you deeply mind waiting a few days and seeing whether your own muscle (eye and brain and finger and all!) memory recalibrates and attunes? I have a feeling it won't take long. :)

And I agree about the importance of the friends status and activity. What we'll have planned is your own 'Activity' page, so that your personal profile for others and your personal pages for yourself will be two different things, and you'll have your own beautiful area to see notes and Grapevine posts and your friends' activity and all sorts of dynamic goodness–no scrolling necessary. I think it'll be a vast improvement.

The icon-enlargement has already been ticketed and should be out soon, so just keep an eye on the Team blog; we'll let you know when it's back!

Much love reflected right back at you….

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Siona,

I think Peridot expressed it much better than I did. It's not that I mind ads in general. Of course you have to pay your bills. There were ads several days ago, in the old format, and I did occasionally click on ones that interested me, but they did not consume the layout.

What Peridot explained well that I did not is the movement of all the fun features to the lower right so that you don't see them anymore without scrolling. Replacing the grapevine and friends' activity (with my friends' icons visible right there) with a long list of links has removed a lot of the personal feeling of the pages. What before felt like a a warm social networking site, so much more inviting that something like, for example, Facebook, now feels very streamlined and corporate.

Lil

Re: New layout/navigation issues

DiamondLil: Unfortunately (and I know, I know… I'm not thrilled either), a certain percentage of ads need to be above the fold or we can't really sell them.  (Eli's suggestion is a great one, and I can say that if we could have tucked them away, we would have. ;)

Again, I'm sorry, and please please please know that we spent weeks playing virtual “Tetris” trying to puzzle out how to place them in such a way that would be minimally invasive.

I do think once the internal pages are finished you'll be much happier–we'll do more with the rest of the space on the right-hand side. And again, please do consider, if it really bothers you, the ad-free version, even just for the month or two it takes for us to the get the “personal page” up and polished; it brings all the activity right to the top of the screen. It'll be streamlined, yes (what's wrong with streamlined? I'm proud of it!! :), but hopefully less corporate.

Hugs as always…

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Thank you very much, Siona. Honestly you have inspired me in your correspondence with me to become a better communicator. The heart and care you put into your letters inspired me to do more of the same.

I have an idea that I think everyone might like: What if ads were placed above and between blog posts while maintaining the old width? Something similar might be done with threads to unscrunch things there as well. Even an ad running the width of the page between boards might be preferrable if we can have the old width.

So, on a blog it would look like:

   an across the top (as well as the older narrow ads along the margins)

a blog

an ad, running the entire width of the blog

another blog

another ad running the width of the page before the next blog

Perhaps an ad every few blogs would be enough and everyon 10 posts or so on threads if there is an issue with width there as well.

This would create the same space for artistic expression while providing perhaps even more space for ads than what is there currently. If we could do that and maintain the old width I think it would be a great trade off that would perhaps make everyone happy.

I suppose it would take some experimenting to see what would work best, but it seems to me that the space is there and it's matter of arranging things in a way that keeps everyone happy. I also think that long ads running the entire width of the page underneath “Gaia, community, What do you seek” while maintaining the old width would be a really good option. Advertisers might like that as well. That might be the least obtrusive to user content. It could be a huge ad, tall and all the way across the page, and I don't think people would mind because it wouldn't downsize user space.

It also seems to me that the two most valuable things are advertising space and user space and that the other stuff (like navigation, member pictures, etc.) could be shrunk and marginalized and no one would really care.


Love,

David

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Again, David, this is just Phase One. I have a feeling that you'll be much more happy when we're done with the interior pages, not just the navigation.

And please please please trust that we didn't just slap up whatever seemed to work–we tried as hard as we could to incorporate the bottom-line 'givens' (ads of a certain size and placement) with the community ones (a usable, friendly, spacious, site) and we'll continue to do so.

I, personally, like keeping the central area 'sacred' (no advertising between or mixed in with member contributions) and the sides for navigation and fun, but I understand completely the value of 'space.' Breathing room is crucial.

Re: New layout/navigation issues

So who's from Microsoft here?  Although I'm a relative newcomer the navigation before was easy & intuitive.  This is simply frustrating.

Re: New layout/navigation issues

So who's from Microsoft here?

I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. ;)

Give it a few days, Jack, and if you still find it frustrating, let us know. I really do believe that this is a far more logical setup than what we had before, which was basically a mish-mash of areas that we'd created with no sense of how they related to each other. This way there's a structure and order to their arrangement.

Though perhaps in a community of right-brainers the briar-patch version would be appealing… Hm.

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Siona, you're really gracious, as usual.

I, however, find myself very annoyed at comparisons to Microsoft and corporate layouts and other such judgments. If Gaia were such a place, none of you would be talking to Siona at all. Step on over to Facebook and see what I mean, if it's so terrible here.

What? You mean you don't have any personal contact with anyone at Facebook? Huh. Go figure.

People, please step back from the keyboard and think how you would like to be treated before saying whatever your first reaction is. You owe it to the people who work so hard to bring you their very best every single day. And most hours of the day, frankly.

Siona, I love the new GaiaBall (that's what I've dubbed it).

Liz

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Thanks Liz, for bringing your heart into this conversation, and acknowledging ours :)  I appreciate you.

~Matthew

Re: New layout/navigation issues

You're welcome, Matthew. I was a bit testy and I shouldn't have used sarcasm, but I feel protective of you guys.

Liz

Re: New layout/navigation issues

I understand, Liz.  We usually don't feel too upset when people constructively criticize our updates.  We understand that they do so because they care so much about this space that we've created.  And it feels good to know that people care enough to voice their opinions, even if those opinions disagree with some of the decisions we've made that frankly, we're excited about.

But I saw that you were taking a different angle, and revealing your beautiful heart to us.  And I just wanted to recognize that and let you know that it means a lot to me (us) when you do that.  One of the things I like about this community is the willingness to be human in a digital atmosphere.

Hugs,
~Matthew

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Liz: The GaiaBall! The best thing about it is that it's bouncy. I'm all about resilience.

And thank you so much for the 'do unto others' reminder. I know it's easy for a 'Team' or company to feel faceless, but we're all human beings too, with our own squooshy hearts, and we're all trying to do the best we can to keep everyone here happy and content while still, um, sticking around to be that place.

:bounce bounce:

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Hi Siona,

I'm glad you mentioned that getting used to it time cause I realised reading that why I didn't rush over to discuss the initial roughness I was feeling with it. Also, cause I already have plus, I don't know what David and others are experiencing…

I will let you know when I've had time to settle in more.

In the meantime, though, would it be difficult to have friends' activity above our own activity? I mean, I know what I've been doing - LOL!

Thanks a million for all the hard work,

Nicole

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Don't get me wrong, I totally appreciate your diligence trying to get this to work both smoothly and seamlessly.  And additionally recognize that you're doing this out of a love for the community.  My reference was merely along the lines of “if it ain't broke…” as well as the frustration of learning a new methodology.  My feedback is only intended to be constructive, never take potshots.  Microsoft's right down the road from me so it's easy to take potshots at them.  As a business owner I don't operate in a vacuum and rely on the market to help me tweak my offering - it's smart business.  In any event, I recognize that change is the one constant in life.  Thank you for all your work.

Re: New layout/navigation issues

I haven't read all the posts, so maybe this was already known;

If you click on a photo, there is no menu to close it. So you have to navigate back with the browser.

Having said that, I much appreciate all the work the Gaia team has put in to the new layout, the effort being put in to smoothing the glitches and the positive responses to all the posts.
Yeah you guys rock!

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Deepak: Are you sure? When I click on a photo, it opens in a lightbox, and that lightbox has a little [ X ] and a 'CLOSE' button in the lower right corner. (Sometimes I need to scroll to get to it, but it's there!). Are things different for you

And thank you! :)

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Yes very sure. Up to this afternoon, there was only a blank page with the photo.
But now it has been fixed, the light-box is back.

I also noticed that I have 3 login options, on both the login and logout page. It disturbs the layout.
Just in case this is also different for you, I placed a screen-shot photo on my profile/photo page.


Love and laughter

Re: New layout/navigation issues

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

                                                                    ~ Anatole France

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Awesome quote, Christopher. Have you put it in the quotes section?

Liz

Re: New layout/navigation issues

..indeed every ending is also a beginning

Re: New layout/navigation issues

“As Zaadz, we never once broke even and we can only afford to lose money for so long. Now we're closer to making that goal.”

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Thank you, Siona. Sorry for the impatience.  :) I think you all do a great job, including with the intersubjective stuff as Liz mentioned. I was just kind of operating on the squeeky-wheel-gets-the-oil principle. You continue to give the place a great feel.


Love,

David

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Thanks for the thoughts, all.  We will def get the things like Friends Activity over My Activity set right.  And soon you'll be able to arrange your page exactly as you like (without myspace craziness, promise).

Thanks for playing with this new setup.  As Siona will testify, the only two modes we discussed were 'simplify!' and 'clean!'.  In a few ways the site did need 'fixin', and there's still more ways we can make the experience less 'clunky', and more elegant.  But the heart will stay, and will stay the same.

Promise.

/c

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Just wanted to say  …… that the new format actually doesn't bother me! I too kind of like the “column down the center” feeling, and the layout (at least on a wide computer screen) actually feels more spacious to me.

That said, I know there are probably glitches that need to be fixed, although I haven't encountered any as yet. And if people really prefer to go back to the previous format, I'm okay with that too…

Or: could Gaia possibly offer people a choice of the old or the new format? (I think that is what Facebook is doing now). That way, people get to stick with what they prefer.

My two cents – with thanks for all that you support peeps do – !

Mary

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Mary, Facebook won't let you use the old format anymore. And that would doom Gaia to constantly having to maintain twice the real estate. It's a very nice, enneagram 9 idea, though!

Re: New layout/navigation issues

It's a very nice, enneagram 9 idea, though!

        –LOL: Okay, you got me on that one!

         (Plus, being a cybertard, I tend to think that space / bandwidth, or whatever you call it, is somehow infinite ….)

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Did you all try putting ads between the purple Gaia band on top and the group? Because I think you could put really big ads there, tall and extending from one side to the other. More than one two.That (or they) would be the first thing people would see logging on to a group, and then they would just scroll down to the group. There could be smaller reminders of the big ad(s) on top in the margins. That way the previous width could be restored.

~David

Re: New layout/navigation issues

PS. I really just enjoy throwing ideas out. I'm not criticizing. I am sure the other phases are going to be great, and I will just wait patiently for them.  :) I echo the comments about this being such a great site, and it's great to be able to talk with the people running it.

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Hi guys
The link <Add a book> is not working.

It is possible to by-pass it through doing a search and then adding the book.

Aroha nui

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Mornin' Liz, check your Grapevine if you haven't already…..

To save us some time, it would be great to have you say some of the “features” you have found.

It's quite hilarious, often after changes people discover “It's not a bug, it's a feature.” Very amusing !!!

Thanks Chris for the Team's opening so many lines of feedback. You all rock !!!!

Hugs to all, OM Bastet

Re: New layout/navigation issues

A couple of features I love in the new formate are that in  “me” under Blog/Journal there is a listing that says “Friends'” and when I click on it I have a lovely long uninterupted list of my friends most recent Blog postings which I can read and respond to without loosing my place on the site. Because of this, I found that I it was way easier and faster to comment on postings yesterday than in the old format. I also liked being able to read the whole post without having to open it up in another window.

In addition, I like that the middle of the site stays stationary and I can move between “Gaia”, “me” and even a members listing if I am posting on their blog simply by opening up whatever I am wanting in a new window.

Congratulations! Nice work!

P.S. I haven't quite figured out how the “subscribed” listing works but will keep poking around.

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Yes! 

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Hi all,

Since the new layout, Add and Search for a book (if it's listed only on the Amazon choice) lead to the error message.  I cannot find a way to bypass these glitches.

Thanks!

Re: New layout/navigation issues

love the new look.

where's the link to add a bookmark to a website?

P.S.  For those who wants to add a bookmark, for now all you can do is just add

/add_bookmark

at the end of the URL address of your “my bookmarks”

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Hi Samme,

We're still working out the details of what we want to do with the bookmarks…

~M

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Okay, I found a workaround to adding or searching for a Book.

Still getting error messages when trying to add or search for a Book within my own profile pages, but if I go to the main page and go through Book Clubs, I can add Books from there.

E.

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Can you post this bug in a new thread CT, along with your browser and its version number?  I'm not able to duplicate the issue on my end.

~M

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Sure thing :)

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Other members' tags left open can range from mildly irritating to wrecking complete havoc.

For example, a marquee tag left open in a user's status will cause not only their page to become unreadable, but all their friends' pages as well, since the open tag in the activities section affects the entire page, and everything becomes unreadable for the person who owns the page.

Also, in an attempt to turn off that widget, it seems there may be a bug since clicking on the “deactivate the friends activity widget” seemed to net no results.

Similarly, unchecking the “status” box within that widget settings did not work for me.

So, for me, a friend who accidently leaves open a tag adversely affects my ability to review my own page (yes, I am that narcissistic - but I'm sure others use it as a baseline/foundation for navigating, too!).

~~~

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Thanks jeepdog.  One of our devs is working on the tag glitch.  I'll get a ticket in for the friends activity issue.

~M

New layout glitches

(Not sure if this is the correct way to create a new thread?  Please feel free to move it wherever it needs to go.)

Since the new layout, I've encountered a glitch with adding or searching for a Book.  Previous to the new layout, no glitch.

I have IE7, fully updated.

I found a workaround to adding or searching for a Book.

Though I'm getting error messages when trying to add or search for a Book within my own profile pages, if I go to the main page and go through Book Clubs, I can add Books from there. 

But if I try to add a book or search from my page, I get the following error message (cut and pasted):

Sorry…

Re: New layout glitches

Oh, ok.  Gotcha.  We'll have a look at this error and get it fixed as soon as we can.

By new thread, I meant starting a new topic in this group, but it's ok.  We'll get this taken care of.

Re: New layout/navigation issues

Thank you all for helping us swat the bugs from our latest release.  I've locked this board for now.  Please see the first post in this thread for an update.

Cheers,
~Matthew