The New VJ (3/2010)....What do you think?

[Captain Ewok 1,930]

No one has yet mentioned the "View New Content" and "Popular Topics" buttons. I like these a lot less than what was previously offered (though, I cannot for the life of me remember what the button in that same location used to be called). It seems a lot messier and confusing than the previous option, and the other one was more succinct/had more information (you could look back various pages), etc.

I have the same reaction to the home pages new layout. Something about it makes it seemed "unorganized"....and I am not sure what makes a thread a popular one vs the ones that have been written on recently. Just a lot of headlines on the home page (I prefered getting a glipse about what the topics discussed)

Maybe I need to learn more about this "orange button" that others have discussed....any word on if it is working yet and where it can be found??

Thanks!

The main homepage is now very similar to before (just updated per your request).

[Mo_Mati 2]

The main homepage is now very similar to before (just updated per your request).

Hey Thanks! Looks great. And, the View New Content section looks better, too.

Thanks for all of your hard work, Ewok, and quick responses.

[Captain Ewok 1,930]

No probs!

The FAQ section has (finally) been converted. This should be the last major section of VJ to make the transition to the new look and feel !

[Knobby_Wheezer 0]

I haven't logged in since I received my 10 year permanent resident card and so knew nothing of the proposed changes.

I like that I don't have to save the link as a separate bookmark to find my "edit timeline" page.

I like that I don't have to go to the Forums tab to log in.

It took me a while to figure out how to look at my timeline WITHOUT getting to the add/edit page, but I see it still says, "Click to view member's timline" when looking at Similar Timelines. Timline?

The other thing that has irked me for a while is this part:

Petitioners First Name

Beneficiaries First Name

Shouldn't that be?---

Petitioner's First Name (as in the name belonging to the Petitioner)

Beneficiary's First Name (as in the name belonging to the Beneficiary)

OR

Beneficiaries' First Names (as in names belonging to k-3s?)

Not bugs, per se, just things that have always bugged me since joining in 2006.

I probably won't know if you ever change them as I don't plan on logging in again until I choose to naturalise (earliest will be 2018---less paperwork and get our money's worth out of the funds paid for the 10-year card). If the new health care legislation goes belly up, I probably won't ever bother naturalising.

[Captain Ewok 1,930]

Petitioner's First Name (as in the name belonging to the Petitioner)

Beneficiary's First Name (as in the name belonging to the Beneficiary)

Ask and you shall... fixed .

[Sinergy 3]

I love it!!!!

[TBoneTX 48,114]

Uh, Admiral, can you please restore all of my previously archived PMs as they were? I then promise to go through all of them and perform a selective purge, si man.

[Captain Ewok 1,930]

I found a way to run the script and restore "only" one persons PMs (but all of them). I will run it during the slow hours later today.

[TBoneTX 48,114]

I found a way to run the script and restore "only" one persons PMs (but all of them). I will run it during the slow hours later today.

Gracias, si man. Meanwhile, please participate in the new "Wedgies" poll in the Polls forum, si man.

[Aubrey 10]

I'm a designer by profession, so perhaps I can provide some insight? Or maybe this is just overload. Either way, there are some problems that really make me avoid the new VJ. From a UI/UX perspective, the new look is more difficult to navigate. Here's a few tips on why/how to fix:

Forums:

While I find the collapsible panels in this section useful, it seems to me that the header font size is too large (you already have a dark blue to differentiate this area) and collapsing the panel, therefore, does not really remove the intrusive appearance of the other sections. The forum sections (e.g. under "Family & Marriage Based Immigration (K1, K3, IR1, etc) to the USA" you have "K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures" etc) are now so similar in color that they blend together visually as one massive block of text. I can see you have a pale blue on one and white on the other, but I think you need to make the difference in color more significant for it to help with readability.

The font size for forum topics seems unnecessarily large, which also impacts and reduces readability.

Emoticons: when View All is hit, I have to both scroll vertically AND horizontally to view. Use a pop up window instead.

Navigation:

The top menu is still information overload (which inevitably will make people avoid reading it). Have you considered a drop-down menu?

[Captain Ewok 1,930]

Gracias, si man. Meanwhile, please participate in the new "Wedgies" poll in the Polls forum, si man.

Your PMs should be restored.

[TBoneTX 48,114]

Your PMs should be restored.

And ergothuswithforthly they are. Super-gracias, si man!

[Nik+Heather 122]

I did the hard refresh and still have issues with the links bar at the top. I've got a high res. screen, and if VJ takes up any less than 3/4 of the width of the thing, the white headings fold down into the nearly white-blue below the header bar and over top of the forums navigation link (VisaJourney.com>General Discussion Area>Site Related Discussion- Updates, Ideas, etc. > The new VJ.....) I got a screen shot and attached it...or at least I tried to. When I click browse...click on the file (directory appears) and then hit the attach this file button below that, it says no file was selected. Ah, when I use the advanced uploader, only NOW am I told that my screen shot was too big - Obviously shouldn't be a resolution issue!

VJ links.bmp

[Captain Ewok 1,930]

I did the hard refresh and still have issues with the links bar at the top. I've got a high res. screen, and if VJ takes up any less than 3/4 of the width of the thing, the white headings fold down into the nearly white-blue below the header bar and over top of the forums navigation link (VisaJourney.com>General Discussion Area>Site Related Discussion- Updates, Ideas, etc. > The new VJ.....) I got a screen shot and attached it...or at least I tried to. When I click browse...click on the file (directory appears) and then hit the attach this file button below that, it says no file was selected. Ah, when I use the advanced uploader, only NOW am I told that my screen shot was too big - Obviously shouldn't be a resolution issue!

VJ links.bmp

I think I can make an adjustment to help. I appreciate the feedback and screenshot! It is much easier to see an issue with a picture . I will fix in the next day or so.

[jlvr 1]

I had some messages saved to refer back to as I moved to another stage. They seem to be gone, is there any way to get them back?