Beta 2: Frontpage layout change + new thread preview feature

[slickdeals]

Beta 2 (Hybrid (http://beta.slickdeals.net/?styleid=14), Classic (http://beta.slickdeals.net/?styleid=16), Ice (http://beta.slickdeals.net/?styleid=15)) is now up and running. Thank you for the great suggestions. The feedback from the previous thread has been very helpful and we've incorporated many of them into this version. Let us know what you think.

Frontpage Changes

The default skin is set to Beta2 (aka Hybrid).
The frontpage has a 2 column layout. Makes it much less cluttered.
Consolidated UI Controls into User Central.
Hot Topics title is clickable.
Individual boxes are collapsible and saved.
Moved popular tag box to the bottom.


Forum Changes

Thread titles have a clickable http://i.slickdeals.net/images/buttons/expand.gif next to them. The thread expands and shows the first post when clicked.
A page reload is no longer needed when rating threads.
Half thumbs have been added to help provide instant feedback when rating a thread.

[redsolar]

One thing I would like to ask from those who vote.

If you vote one of the three bottom choices:

I like the new changes but it still requires more tweaking.
I don't like the new changes. Beta 1 was better.
I don't like the new changes at all. Go back to old school 1.0

please tell us what you specifically don't like, or would like to happen to make you like it more. We want you to be as much a prt of the decision as you can, after all you are the ones using it.

If you are specific - describe things you absolutely hate. This is still an experiment, and it can change. It will be harder to do once it's made public.

At the same time, if you love the new changes, you can mention things you love most - we will know what it is, and will avoid touching it so that not to make a good thing bad :D.

[Kramer!]

I love the expand feature for forums:nod:

[r1yan]

I love the expand feature for forums:nod::iagree: I also like this new layout of the front page.

[cogentman]

Huge improvement - cleaner look and easier to navigate. Thanks.

[gleed]

Looks good. Nice to see that a lot suggestions were incorporated.

Having hybrid as the default theme is an interesting decision. It's easier on the eyes then "ice", and it retains more of SD's personality. Is it still intended to be used as a segue to ease the transition, or will it remain as the default skin permanently (assuming the decision isn't revised in the next edition of the beta)?

I like the thread preview feature, it will be interesting to see how it effects SD in the long run. Maybe threads will average less "I'm in" and "thanks op" posts because people won't bother opening the full thread just to say that. Perhaps we will see more often that he or she will simply vote thumbs up and/or rep the op, which would be rather simple because the rep and thumbs up buttons are right there.

Making each individual component on the front page collapsible was a great idea :D
Last step to customizable perfection would be to make each item drag & droppable or otherwise arrangeable, but that would just be icing on the cake, it's fine how it is now.

I like the consolidation into "User Central" and having "popular tags" out of the way. IMO that's the best place for the tag box, but as a side thought, having it all the way on the bottom probably isn't the best way to encourage people to try it out.

I wasn't one of the people who had a particular problem with the three columns in the last version, but having only two columns balances out the focus nicely. I don't think your eyes are drawn directly to the hot deals as they were in the old SD, but it's still stands out just enough as the focal point.

I like the half thumbs concept. Having them all AJAXed up is nice, but once you vote thumbs up or down, you can no longer see the number of votes and score by hovering the mouse over the image (possibly browser specific - I'm using FF 1.5). Of course, hovering the mouse to find out the info might not be as necessary with the half-thumb implemented, but this is still annoying :scratch:
EDIT: I guess I was playing with the voting too much, it just told me to "Stop stuffing the ballot" lol.

[uraflit]

its very fresh and how i would like to say "conforming" to the new looks of sharp borders and text.

i personally like the look, but im sure a bunch of old timers from SD will be a bit annoyed at first, but once i used the "Hybrid" theme for awhile, everything seemed fine and dandy

[kpopartist]

Ahhh... I really like the new look.

One thing I found odd is that on the homepage, when I move the mouse cursor from the date (i.e. Sunday, August 27, 2006) banner, to one of the deals listed under it (and vise versa), there seems to be a 0.5 second of loading time with the hour glass icon appearing. A bit annoying, but doesn't lag the clicking of deals.

[Just_For_Me]

I recommend having all this:

"Copyright 2006. Slickdeals, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All Content Copyright Their Respective Owners.
About Us | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Copyright Notice
Design and Development by Phoenix Networks and Design.

This website requires javascript for optimal viewing. "

centered at the bottom, not aligned to the left.

[cipperob]

I really like it though, seems to be a step up. I never give a 10-10 on anything. I believe it's always good to leave room to grow, and to not grow comfortable.

How easy/hard would it be to have the ability for users to personalize the Slickdeals page through the options? Simple things like color choices etc. Also, what about the possibility to have on/off for certain features that a specific user may not use. It is getting so challenging to accurately "sift" through the site for the items I am attracted to, perhaps turning off features that don't interest me (replies, views, last post) would increase the efficiency of the page specific to me.

Just brainstorming, don’t bash me too bad, my mind only works fairly well around 9a-3p

[bryantq]

I really like it though, seems to be a step up. I never give a 10-10 on anything. I believe it's always good to leave room to grow, and to not grow comfortable.

How easy/hard would it be to have the ability for users to personalize the Slickdeals page through the options? Simple things like color choices etc. Also, what about the possibility to have on/off for certain features that a specific user may not use. It is getting so challenging to accurately "sift" through the site for the items I am attracted to, perhaps turning off features that don't interest me (replies, views, last post) would increase the efficiency of the page specific to me.

Just brainstorming, don’t bash me too bad, my mind only works fairly well around 9a-3p
Certain things are plausible and certainly in our minds for the future. At this point, we are looking to finalize the beta design before moving on to any additional advanced functionality and features in terms of user customization.

Regarding colors and optional boxes, this may be considered.

Regarding turning off forum features such as replies, views, last posts would require a significant amount of modification to the forum software. Of which would have to be re-done everytime the developer of vbulletin releases an update.

[widgit]

Though I still prefer the old SD 1.0, I do like beta 2 a lot more than the first beta. Much less clutter on the front page with the two column layout, and the 'preview' function on the forums is cool, too :).

However, I still have a bit of a problem with the colors in the forums. I'm using/testing the 'beta2' skin (Ice is still too hard for my eyes), and the dark blue bar between each post seem a little too dark. To me it looks almost black and it's kind of startling when you scroll down a page to see all these dark bars go by. And they kind of overpower/overshadow the post itself a bit. The focus of my eye tends to go more to the bar itself, first, rather than the post it's above or below. Is there any way possible to lighten the dark blue color a little bit? Maybe make it closer to the shade of the 'home/coupons/faq/forum' bar? Or somewhere in between the two shades?

And I want to say thank you for all of the work that you guys are putting into this and also for taking the time to ask us for our opinions and actually putting those opinions/ideas into effect. You folks, Mr. SD, the mods and bryantq, are all terrific :).

p.s And thank you for lightening the 'quote' bar in the quote box. Much nicer :)

[BlooQKazoo]

Beta 2 is a definite improvement over the first one. I still don't like it over the original, but I don't really see how you could improve the Classic (SD 1.0) look. For some reason, and this may very well be my eyes playing tricks on me, it seems as though everything is bigger. And I am not just talking about the text size. It seems as though the forums are more spread out I guess. The buttons are bigger, etc. Makes it a little too much "in your face" for my liking.

Also, could you maybe put the gray background back in the quote box like it is in 1.0? The white background still hurts my eyes. The gray is more subtle and makes it easier to read.

[acesmuzic]

2 comments
-the link to the "new thread" that we're supposed to be commenting in (ie this one) links links you right back to the old one, instead of this one, so you may be losing some potential commenters who are too lazy to find it themselves.

-The changes have helped a lot but I still have a comment about the forums. With the new styles I find that it's difficult to tell which page in the thread I am on (using the thread navigator, that is). There is not enough of a difference in color between the navy links and the black indicator of which page you're on (even with it shifted down below the other numbers). I notice that in the current forums, that the number is bold, so it's much more clear. Would love to see that integrated here, thanks!

(and yes, i know i posted this in the other thread, but it wasn't responded to and hasn't been incorporated so i thought it couldn't hurt to say it again).

[JLater]

Beta 2 is a definite improvement over the first one. I still don't like it over the original, but I don't really see how you could improve the Classic (SD 1.0) look. For some reason, and this may very well be my eyes playing tricks on me, it seems as though everything is bigger. And I am not just talking about the text size. It seems as though the forums are more spread out I guess. The buttons are bigger, etc. Makes it a little too much "in your face" for my liking.

Also, could you maybe put the gray background back in the quote box like it is in 1.0? The white background still hurts my eyes. The gray is more subtle and makes it easier to read.

Agree with bigtime22 about the text looking bigger. I realize I can just adjust my screen resolution but as a default, it just seems to big.

Nevertheless, the work you have done thus far has been fantastic.

One other minor change. The notification on the left side of thread (in the thread listings) that shows if you have made a post in the thread is difficult to see. Looks too much like th other "letters". In version 1, it was much easier to see if you had replied to a posting. Hope you get the gist of what I am saying.

Thanks again.

[cipperob]

Certain things are plausible and certainly in our minds for the future. At this point, we are looking to finalize the beta design before moving on to any additional advanced functionality and features in terms of user customization.

Makes sense to get the base and tweak as you go.

Regarding colors and optional boxes, this may be considered.

My thought was similar to Yahoo's "My Yahoo". Users could choose between classic, ice, etc., or elect a color of choice. e.g. User Pink would have pink & white, then others like Selma would have Black & Red (rock on Selma;) ).

I see that the forums shading has been staggered between columns. Have you tried the other way, staggering the shading between the rows? May help to scan down the page faster.

I lean toward agreeing with others that the default font size may be too small.

One more thought would be saved searches, similar to Ebay, where I could flip to my page and then select saved keywords to search the forums for things I am always hunting. e.g. "price mistake", "cigars", and "airfare"

Regarding turning off forum features such as replies, views, last posts would require a significant amount of modification to the forum software. Of which would have to be re-done everytime the developer of vbulletin releases an update.

I understand there may be many limitations due to the writing of the base program.

Again, It is looking really good though! :cool:

[widgit]

2 comments
-the link to the "new thread" that we're supposed to be commenting in (ie this one) links links you right back to the old one, instead of this one, so you may be losing some potential commenters who are too lazy to find it themselves.

:iagree:
The link that Mr. SD posted at the end of the first 'official beta' thread, that's supposed to lead to this new beta 2 thread, actually links to the original locked beta thread. The link that he posted for the 'new thread' is: http://beta.slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=1&t=308263 but it should be: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=81227&t=316937.

Just an FYI :)

[MissLeading]

Layout should be like this:


Welcome to Slickdeals.net .........................................................Search

Latest Deals ..............................................................................User Central

.................................................................................................Hot Topics

.................................................................................................Hot Offers

[wsm]

Quoting myself: "BTW, it just happened again. In Firefox 1.5.0.6 the beta pages don't adjust for width. I lose about an inch on the right side. The old pages are fine. The UI buttons don't help this."

Yeah, this still happens. All of the page displays, but I have to scroll sidways to see the right side. All of the old pages adjust to the width of my browser, but not the new ones, and only in Firefox with all the updates.

IE is just fine, though if I don't login, the advertising block that appears just below the first post in any forum is a bit wider than anything else. In Firefox, everything is the same width, but too wide.

[slickdeals]

Quoting myself: "BTW, it just happened again. In Firefox 1.5.0.6 the beta pages don't adjust for width. I lose about an inch on the right side. The old pages are fine. The UI buttons don't help this."

Yeah, this still happens. All of the page displays, but I have to scroll sidways to see the right side. All of the old pages adjust to the width of my browser, but not the new ones, and only in Firefox with all the updates.

IE is just fine, though if I don't login, the advertising block that appears just below the first post in any forum is a bit wider than anything else. In Firefox, everything is the same width, but too wide.
Made some changes. If it is what I think it is, that should fix it.
:iagree:
The link that Mr. SD posted at the end of the first 'official beta' thread, that's supposed to lead to this new beta 2 thread, actually links to the original locked beta thread. The link that he posted for the 'new thread' is: http://beta.slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=1&t=308263 but it should be: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=81227&t=316937.

:O
Agree with bigtime22 about the text looking bigger. I realize I can just adjust my screen resolution but as a default, it just seems to big.

One other minor change. The notification on the left side of thread (in the thread listings) that shows if you have made a post in the thread is difficult to see. Looks too much like th other "letters". In version 1, it was much easier to see if you had replied to a posting. Hope you get the gist of what I am saying.

Thanks again.
Unfortunately there aren't any free icons that look nice. We'll see what we can do.

The buttons use text w/ a small icon and will resize depending on your system & ui settings. So if you're using IE w/ large font system settings, it'll look larger. We decided to use variable fonts that will take into account user settings rather than fixed fonts which ignores user settings with IE. We still have to make the fonts uniform across all 3 skins.

Also fyi, SD1.0 has broken font sizing so things will look smaller in some instances.

test

test

test



test





test






Having hybrid as the default theme is an interesting decision. It's easier on the eyes then "ice", and it retains more of SD's personality. Is it still intended to be used as a segue to ease the transition, or will it remain as the default skin permanently (assuming the decision isn't revised in the next edition of the beta)?

I like the half thumbs concept. Having them all AJAXed up is nice, but once you vote thumbs up or down, you can no longer see the number of votes and score by hovering the mouse over the image (possibly browser specific - I'm using FF 1.5). Of course, hovering the mouse to find out the info might not be as necessary with the half-thumb implemented, but this is still annoying :scratch:
EDIT: I guess I was playing with the voting too much, it just told me to "Stop stuffing the ballot" lol.
Hybrid will likely be the default. It's a good compromise between Ice & Classic. I'm not sure why browsers arn't displaying the hover text even though the image has the alt info filled in. :shrug:

Also, could you maybe put the gray background back in the quote box like it is in 1.0? The white background still hurts my eyes. The gray is more subtle and makes it easier to read.
Done.

[richus]

I said: "I like the new changes", but then I looked at thread itself...I dont...white background?

Edit: oh I see... different styles

[BeBe2008]

I like the changes...Change is good. The only thing I dont like is the QUOTE boxes...Kinda big...The word Quote is huge.

:) :) :) :)

[bellasin]

I really like the 2 column front page it is so much easier to read than when everything was all hunched up. I can read everything better now, and I use the classic colors. Some of the new features won't make any difference to me because I do the same simple things on SDs every day. The one thing I don't like much is that this grayish border around the pages kinda blends in with my scroll bar, and also this gray color is used as a background at the top of the page behind the SDs logo and banner ad. It seems blah. Otherwise this is fine. Someone else said if we could choose color layouts like on yahoo it would be nice, and I agree. Thank you for taking our suggestions so seriously.

[shroomvalley]

The header, with the link to the forum and all that, seems to be broken in firefox. My firefox, anyway.

Tried disabling adblock, didnt work. Tried it in IE, works fine.

[BlooQKazoo]

Done.

Awesome :thumbup: I think I may start using the Beta more and more now. I was very skeptical when it first came out, but it has improved by leaps and bounds since then.

[wsm]

[QUOTE=slickdeals;3694992]Made some changes. If it is what I think it is, that should fix it.

I imagine it was a table def thing, but yeah, whatever it was, it's good now.

Otherwise, I like the new stuff, though the two-column front page looks like the other stuff is equal to the deals. I wonder if a multiple column setup with a couple of mini-columns before going with two equal ones would work better, like news.google.com, for the top of the page. But that's just me.

BTW, I was just commenting from memory. The large column on the left is better than two equal columns like I saw earlier. But I like the news.google.com arrangement a little better. It just seems logical to me when I see a large middle column.

[shuotime]

I like the look of the ice layout the best. It'll take some getting used to, for sure, but overall I think the new design more efficient and more professional-looking.

[bryantq]

The header, with the link to the forum and all that, seems to be broken in firefox. My firefox, anyway.

Tried disabling adblock, didnt work. Tried it in IE, works fine.

Can you please post a screenshot showing this bug?
We are unable to reproduce any issues with the menu.

If you are talking in regards to the rounded corners, please make sure you have javascript enabled (which, on a side note, the dependancy on js is being removed in the next beta.)

Thanks.

[SweetestDeals]

Overall I absolutely love the new changes--even many of the quips that are mentioned above. :thumbup:

(A) But here are two things that have bugged me for a looooooong time--and haven't changed with this new beta:

(1) The 15-second limit on searches. What's up with this? Being a very frequent Mod-Alerter, sometimes it takes 2 or 3 searches before I find the thread I'm looking for. Or if I mis-spell something, I have to sit there twiddling my thumbs for 15 seconds before doing another search. I'm sure there's a reason, but can't you find another way to do whatever this limit does????
(2) I hate not being able to search for two-letter words. Sure, some smart aleck might search for the word "of" and receive the error: "The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search". But it's extremely annoying to not have the ability to search for more important two-letter words. For example: XM, 8x, store abbreviations like CC, BB, OD, OM, etc. Two-letter words should not give the same error as a word that's too common--doesn't make any sense to me. Same question as above: I'm sure there's a reason, but can't you find another way to do whatever this restriction does????

(B) I noticed (by accident/habit :)) that I can now use common keyboard shortcuts when posting, such as Ctrl+B for bold, Ctrl+U for underline, etc. Does anyone have a full list of all the shortcuts that can be used in this way?? And if so... mods--please add this to the "RULES, FAQ, TIPS" sticky in Hot Deals, as I don't know of any other thread to refer to.

Great job on the new beta, and thank you for trying your hardest to address the aforementioned concerns. Please tell me there's a light at the end of my tunnel? ;)

[bryantq]

(2) I hate not being able to search for two-letter words. Sure, some smart aleck might search for the word "of" and receive the error: "The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search". But it's extremely annoying to not have the ability to search for more important two-letter words. For example: XM, 8x, store abbreviations like CC, BB, OD, OM, etc. Two-letter words should not give the same error as a word that's too common--doesn't make any sense to me. Same question as above: I'm sure there's a reason, but can't you find another way to do whatever this restriction does????


This basically boils down to processing and server load. With potentially (and there are) hundreds of thousands of posts, searching for a two letter term such as "bb" which can be used in context of many words such as "bubbles" would cause an enormous load on the server.

Apply that with economies of scale when there are thousands of visitors and potentially thousands of searches consequtively and you have a large amount of processing to do.

This load certainly can cause disasterous effects on the overall "health" of the servers. We are trying to balance functionality, with speed and quality. That being said, we are hoping the new tag functionality will help reduce a lot of the need to search for shorter queries.

Regarding your other comments, I am sure we can put together a list of the extended functionality for the FAQ.

[Aluvus]

Unfortunately there aren't any free icons that look nice. We'll see what we can do.
I think some of those linked here (http://www.maxpower.ca/free-icons/2006/03/05/) are rather nice. Whether there are any that are well-suited to this application is another matter, I s'pose.

[shroomvalley]

Can you please post a screenshot showing this bug?
We are unable to reproduce any issues with the menu.

If you are talking in regards to the rounded corners, please make sure you have javascript enabled (which, on a side note, the dependancy on js is being removed in the next beta.)

Thanks.

Sure thing.

http://www.shroomvalley.com/sdheader.jpg

[slickdeals]

Sure thing.

http://www.shroomvalley.com/sdheader.jpg
Interesting bug you found. I edited your account. Let me know if it's still a problem.

[gleed]

A great upgrade would be an AJAXed reputation system.

It would be easier to use, more efficient, and work nicely along side the improved thumbs up/down system.

Instead of the current method for giving a rep, which involves the clumsy and (IMO) really annoying external popup window, there could be something similar to the "Add tags" pop up box. All that's needed is a field for the comment and an "OK" button. As there is no nerping anymore, the "I Approve" radio button is rather redundant.

It may not be that simple, as some of that functionality might need to be preserved for those who have more repping options, e.g. mods, and also because of other things that might not work so well with a small popup, like the list of rep comments you get when you click on your own post's rep button, but if any of these pose a problem, there's probably a way to work around it or compromise.
If necessary, there could be a "Go Advanced" button to bring up an external popup window containing the full range of options, similar to how editing a post works.

[neonenergy]

Well- some constructive feedback

Its looking nice layout wise, but the color just doesn't match. The yellow and the blue are just yucky together.

otherwise it is OK

By the way- i have another suggestion. How about we have a <> button for the larger scaling layout separately for the front page and the forums? I liked my frontpage smushed together and easy to read, but i liked more info in the forums :D

[SweetestDeals]

Okay, a few more things...

First a suggestion: I prefer the user ID larger, like it was. Size 3 (vs. size 2) makes it stand out just enough.

And a couple bugs:
(1) When I click on a link at my ModAlerts page, the link begins with http://forums.slickdeals.net so I'm taken back to the current (non-beta) version of SD.
(2) When I'm at a user's profile and click on either "Find all posts by xxx" or "Find all threads started by xxx" any thread in the results gives me a 404 - Not Found error.

[iliketoread]

I think one thing that needs to be improved is the search engine. I can't find anything with it.

[iliketoread]

I take that back, it has been improved and it works well.

[shroomvalley]

Interesting bug you found. I edited your account. Let me know if it's still a problem.

Works fine now, thanks :nod:

[mterlouw]

Wow, what can I say...this is great. :) I'm changing my slickdeals bookmark to the beta page to see if it holds up for daily use. I'm assuming I won't miss any deals using the beta (Is it updated as frequently as www.slickdeals.net?).

[acesmuzic]

The changes have helped a lot but I still have a comment about the forums. With the new styles I find that it's difficult to tell which page in the thread I am on (using the thread navigator, that is). There is not enough of a difference in color between the navy links and the black indicator of which page you're on (even with it shifted down below the other numbers). I notice that in the current forums, that the number is bold, so it's much more clear. Would love to see that integrated here, thanks!

(and yes, i know i posted this in the other thread, but it wasn't responded to and hasn't been incorporated so i thought it couldn't hurt to say it again).

Well, no comment has been made about it, but I wanted to say thanks to both Mr SD and everyone else involved in the development process, because I noticed that my suggestion was indeed incorporated. It's awesome to be able to not only give feedback, but to actually see results based on our comments. :hug:

[tripp]

I think when you click on the "Search This Forum" and the little window drops down...there should be an option to select "Search Titles Only".

I find it a pain to click advanced search and then change it there.

[gleed]

Wow, what can I say...this is great. :) I'm changing my slickdeals bookmark to the beta page to see if it holds up for daily use. I'm assuming I won't miss any deals using the beta (Is it updated as frequently as www.slickdeals.net?).

You wont miss anything, they are both tied to the same information (so they "update" simultaneously)

[SlickDealio]

Do you think we can have more subforums? Like a travel section, electronic section, etc. for hot deals. Might make it easier to sift through all the deals.

Maybe have a seperate subforum for instant win games to seperate them from the other sweepstakes/contests.

Anyway I like the site. Thanks :)

[gomike]

Ok now just take the HOT TOPICS and bring it back to the top right.

I would like a link on the frontpage to take me right to the Hot Deals forums.

I do not like the new big edit reply and Mod Alert buttons, smaller is better

I like the old quote style better.

[slickdeals]

Ok now just take the HOT TOPICS and bring it back to the top right.

I would like a link on the frontpage to take me right to the Hot Deals forums.

I do not like the new big edit reply and Mod Alert buttons, smaller is better

I like the old quote style better.
The Hot Topics box is as close to the top right as it can be. It doesn't make sense to put the Search & User Central boxes below the Hot Topics box. You can collapse the Search & User boxes to make the HT box move up.

For now, clicking on the Hot Topics heading will bring you to the HD forum.

The size of the button will depend on the size of the text. The beta2 skin currently has a larger than normal text size for the buttons. Eventually, it should be the same size as buttons for the Ice skin.

[Seihaku]

Not a huge fan of the new layout, largely because it reminds me too much of those temp sites they put on domains that haven't sold yet (The ones with random links to other places on a set topic).

But as long as it's functional, I'll keep coming back.

[sinik]

To expand on the bug acesmuzic mentioned: In Firefox (2.0b1 and now 2.0b2), when viewing a thread or forum, the selected page number in the index in the top right isn't in line with the rest of the page numbers. This isn't affected by Adblock or NoScipt. It only appears in the Ice and Hybrid skins (appears normal in classic). Shows up fine for me in IE.

If it helps any, one time when I was reloading the page I saw that the numbers were in line until the down-arrow to the right of them was rendered.

Keep up the good work.

[Jerbear]

If there's one minute detail that I'd like to see changed is this: when you're in a forum like "Hot Topics" and you do a search for keyword, the results come back in no apparent order. I'd like to see the option to be able to click on the heading "post date" to be able to sort the results from newest to older, or vice-versa since most of the time if I'm looking for a keyword I have an idea of how many days have gone by since the thread I'm looking for and seeing it in order would be a helpful tool. Thank you for your consideration.

[sparxe]

One other minor change. The notification on the left side of thread (in the thread listings) that shows if you have made a post in the thread is difficult to see. Looks too much like th other "letters". In version 1, it was much easier to see if you had replied to a posting. Hope you get the gist of what I am saying.
I agree with this one. In the old version, I would always check up on threads I had already posted in. Now it is much harder to see the little pencil when it is a "hot thread you have posted in" since it is yellow on pink. I wish it was more obvious... more contrasting colors or something.

[redsolar]

I agree with this one. In the old version, I would always check up on threads I had already posted in. Now it is much harder to see the little pencil when it is a "hot thread you have posted in" since it is yellow on pink. I wish it was more obvious... more contrasting colors or something.
I will see if I can find a better icon for that, and add it over. I did change the one you are talking about before, but I think you are right, especially on a washed out monitors (my laptop LCD being one example) it looks quite indistinguishable.

[AR 24]

wheres beta 1?

[edavid]

Please move Hot Topics higher up on the page... that's the first thing I look at... the only thing if I don't have much time.

[slickdeals]

You have the option of collapsing the boxes above Hot Topics.

[wsm]

I will see if I can find a better icon for that, and add it over. I did change the one you are talking about before, but I think you are right, especially on a washed out monitors (my laptop LCD being one example) it looks quite indistinguishable.

You know, most of the colors on all but the Classic look washed out on LCD monitors, which tend to fluoresce and turn some colors overly transparent. Maybe a slightly darker alternate of the new Beta2 would be good. But I have to agree about the pencil icon. I like to find mine quickly too.

Anyway, I suppose you have turned off Search and Forum Tools in the Beta site. Had to go back to the original site to search just now.

[SweetestDeals]

For some reason the drop down menus (search, quick links, etc.) don't work in Firefox. Anyone else having this problem????

[redsolar]

For some reason the drop down menus (search, quick links, etc.) don't work in Firefox. Anyone else having this problem????
Should be fixed now, also described in this thread (http://beta.slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=325271).

[wsm]

Not fixed, Thread Tools, Forum Tools, and Search are completely dead in Firefox on the first visit to the page. True, if you refresh the page, you can use those tools. But they are dead when first opening the page. This is just weird.

Played around some more and it does seem that the cache in Firefox keeps something that isn't right. Now I have to refresh all beta pages wherever I have used the beta site. That could take a while.

[sinik]

Not fixed, Thread Tools, Forum Tools, and Search are completely dead in Firefox on the first visit to the page. True, if you refresh the page, you can use those tools. But they are dead when first opening the page. This is just weird.

Played around some more and it does seem that the cache in Firefox keeps something that isn't right. Now I have to refresh all beta pages wherever I have used the beta site. That could take a while.
It might be easier to just clear your cache.

[disk]

I'm really lazy and I don't like to scroll down the page. I think that the "Hot Topics" should start higher up, right where the "Welcome to Slickdeals.net" is. and then move that and all the other stuff below that.

I like the classic look. It's the font. Easier to read at the default setting. I'm not old but for some reason the other two aren't easy to read. And yet I have little problem with the regular slickdeals.net font which appears just SLIGHTLY different. This is all with XP SP2 FF 1.5 standard settings on a 1024x768. With some websites including regular slickdeals.net I will hold down the CTRL key and use the mouse scroll wheel to scroll down two or three clicks, making the font bigger. When doing that with the betas, I can make all the pages equally readable (to me).

At this point I'm reminded of a good feature that I never had the chance to incorporate myself in order to allow users to set the font for a website by returning the variable associated with the users profile via PHP. That might not be the technical way to put it so no need to nitpick anyone you can shove it.

Also I renew my previous requests that your site information be categorized more specifically like a drill-it-down type approach. I always have to manually search through the hot deals forum no matter how I sort and I'm LAZY as I've mentioned. And I hate when I click a link that starts on slickdeals (like they all do) which then redirects to a marketer 3rd party click through which then times out instead of going to the actual site. the site is free and I understand why you do it that way but it just blows. i'm out of runons. go here:

PHP Font Size (http://mikecherim.com/gbcms_xml/news_page.php?id=8)

Not fixed, Thread Tools, Forum Tools, and Search are completely dead in Firefox on the first visit to the page. True, if you refresh the page, you can use those tools. But they are dead when first opening the page. This is just weird.

That didn't happen to me. I started a new Firefox 1.5.0.6 profile to check on that but it's not happening. The menus worked fine the first time. Forum Tools, Search. Maybe your extensions? Javascript extension or something?

[slickdeals]

I'm really lazy and I don't like to scroll down the page. I think that the "Hot Topics" should start higher up, right where the "Welcome to Slickdeals.net" is. and then move that and all the other stuff below that.
Already answered:
http://beta.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=3726963&postcount=46
http://beta.slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=3786436&postcount=54

For the welcome text, you can remove it by clicking on the Click to hide this welcome message.


I like the classic look. It's the font. Easier to read at the default setting. I'm not old but for some reason the other two aren't easy to read. And yet I have little problem with the regular slickdeals.net font which appears just SLIGHTLY different. This is all with XP SP2 FF 1.5 standard settings on a 1024x768. With some websites including regular slickdeals.net I will hold down the CTRL key and use the mouse scroll wheel to scroll down two or three clicks, making the font bigger. When doing that with the betas, I can make all the pages equally readable (to me).

At this point I'm reminded of a good feature that I never had the chance to incorporate myself in order to allow users to set the font for a website by returning the variable associated with the users profile via PHP. That might not be the technical way to put it so no need to nitpick anyone you can shove it.

PHP Font Size (http://mikecherim.com/gbcms_xml/news_page.php?id=8)


I did not check your PHP font sizer but have you tried clicking on the http://beta.slickdeals.net/images/slickdeals/ui_textup.gif button? It's inside the user central box on the left.

Although not required, the Beta FAQ (http://beta.slickdeals.net/forums/faq.php?faq=sd_faq_item#faq_slickdeals_20_beta_faq) explains some of the new features added. Most of it should be intuitive even w/o reading the guide.


Also I renew my previous requests that your site information be categorized more specifically like a drill-it-down type approach. I always have to manually search through the hot deals forum no matter how I sort and I'm LAZY as I've mentioned.


Sounds interesting. Please explain how you envision it to work.

[luxuryoils]

I'd like to see the "Filter by Category" feature implemented as a drop down list (see the picture for location).

[Con-Artist]

I'd like to see the "Filter by Category" feature implemented as a drop down list (see the picture for location).


great idea!!!

I wouldn't mind another skin - darker, black/gray/dark blue... its easier on many peoples eyes than staring at white - especially when you're lookign at this site 23.5 hours a day:eek:

[disk]

Most of the time I don't check the forum pages, I just check the hot deals on the front page.
I realized that the other items in the right column could be collapsed, but I thought it would be better to remove all of that, put the HotDeals at the top of the column, or even the top of the page. I experimented in Firefox using "remove this object," but I couldn't make the page appear the way I thought it would look best.

I did not check your PHP font sizer but have you tried clicking on the http://beta.slickdeals.net/images/slickdeals/ui_textup.gif button? It's inside the user central box on the left.

Yeah that's what I'm talking about. I think it should be the type of thing that's available right on the front page. You might remember that digg.com used to have something like that. It was a font thing on the front page.

Although not required, the Beta FAQ (http://beta.slickdeals.net/forums/faq.php?faq=sd_faq_item#faq_slickdeals_20_beta_faq) explains some of the new features added. Most of it should be intuitive even w/o reading the guide.

I'm reading it, thanks. There are a few spelling errors. (http://www.siteowner.com/system/socheckspelling.cfm?url=http://beta.slickdeals.net/forums/faq.php?faq=sd_faq_item#expand_all&RequestTimeout=1000) Also I think some of the wording is kind of awkward and unnecessary. (It's beta, I know)

Also I renew my previous requests that your site information be categorized more specifically like a drill-it-down type approach. I always have to manually search through the hot deals forum no matter how I sort and I'm LAZY as I've mentioned.Sounds interesting. Please explain how you envision it to work.

More like a database. The users could relieve you from most of the work. When they post, they should be able to classify their post much more explicitly than you currently allow. Like instead of just "tech" or something, and then the user making the subject something like this...
Compaq SR1900NX $300 w/MIR @ Outpost

Add more of a form so the user can fill it out:

Price:$350
Rebates?(Manfacturer, Online)$50 Man.
Store:Outpost
Where?(Local, National, Internet Only)Internet
Shipping?(Free, Over $100, whatever)$15

And then you could use the information from your database to spit out a similar title. Doing it this way allows you to sort by price, locality, whatever. The system could do some minimal stuff for a user, like set up for a locality.

For example, I live in NY and I will never be in Utah. So I don't need a topic about some $5 batteries on sale in Utah B&M. Example 2 I don't need a topic about a Sam's Club anywhere because I don't have a Sam's Club where I live. Example 3 I see a post on an Intel Chip or something and when I click on it I can see comparisons of other deals submitted on that specific chip, or all chips, or whatever.

The abstraction could be left to the discretion of the user. This might sound hard, but when you have the users classifying the information (a la web2.0) a lot of the work would be done for you. We'd all just be cogs in your machine! So to speak :)

EDIT: Reading this over just now, I will add that I'm not talking about "tags," I'm talking about all information being classified specifically (and tags could supplement that)

[gleed]

There is a http://beta.slickdeals.net/forums/images/slickdeals/ui_textup.gif button on the front page. It's in the "User Central" box, beneath the "Welcome, ____".

[knee2retread]

[QUOTE=Also, could you maybe put the gray background back in the quote box like it is in 1.0? The white background still hurts my eyes. The gray is more subtle and makes it easier to read.[/QUOTE]
I agree, only I would like the white/off white background changed everywhere. I feel like my eyeballs are going to melt and I am seeing this in the daylight. I cannot imagine how difficult it will be for me to view these pages at night in an unlit room.
Everything else seems to have great possibilities. thanks for all the work you folks do maintaining and tweaking this site. Knee

[Jbrock718]

The 2.0 Beta is an improvement over the 1.0 Beta. It is nice to see that people's comments and suggestions have been 1) paid attention to and 2) implemented (for the most part).

After my comments about the 'tags' I have found myself using it to look for deals. Not really looking for anything in particular just trying to see how it works. My personal preference is to browse through the forums.

Is there a way to set up a search agent that will notify me when something I am interested in, something I pre-define, hits SD? Similarly to a job search agent that only sends me jobs that I have pre-screened.

[slickdeals]

The 2.0 Beta is an improvement over the 1.0 Beta. It is nice to see that people's comments and suggestions have been 1) paid attention to and 2) implemented (for the most part).

After my comments about the 'tags' I have found myself using it to look for deals. Not really looking for anything in particular just trying to see how it works. My personal preference is to browse through the forums.

Is there a way to set up a search agent that will notify me when something I am interested in, something I pre-define, hits SD? Similarly to a job search agent that only sends me jobs that I have pre-screened.
Deal alerts are in the works.

[slickdeals]

More like a database. The users could relieve you from most of the work. When they post, they should be able to classify their post much more explicitly than you currently allow. Like instead of just "tech" or something, and then the user making the subject something like this...
Compaq SR1900NX $300 w/MIR @ Outpost

Add more of a form so the user can fill it out:

Price:$350
Rebates?(Manfacturer, Online)$50 Man.
Store:Outpost
Where?(Local, National, Internet Only)Internet
Shipping?(Free, Over $100, whatever)$15

And then you could use the information from your database to spit out a similar title. Doing it this way allows you to sort by price, locality, whatever. The system could do some minimal stuff for a user, like set up for a locality.

For example, I live in NY and I will never be in Utah. So I don't need a topic about some $5 batteries on sale in Utah B&M. Example 2 I don't need a topic about a Sam's Club anywhere because I don't have a Sam's Club where I live. Example 3 I see a post on an Intel Chip or something and when I click on it I can see comparisons of other deals submitted on that specific chip, or all chips, or whatever.

The abstraction could be left to the discretion of the user. This might sound hard, but when you have the users classifying the information (a la web2.0) a lot of the work would be done for you. We'd all just be cogs in your machine! So to speak :)

EDIT: Reading this over just now, I will add that I'm not talking about "tags," I'm talking about all information being classified specifically (and tags could supplement that)
I thought about doing something similar awhile back but after taking a look at the forum db structure, it's quite complex. :eek: So I moved it to the back burner for now since the forum format is working perfectly fine.

[chadchadbinks]

Scrap the "Ice" one. It's too cluttered. It's really nice to be able to see the days that you missed if you've been away from your computer for a few days.

[widgit]

I wouldn't mind another skin - darker, black/gray/dark blue... its easier on many peoples eyes than staring at white - especially when you're lookign at this site 23.5 hours a day:eek:

Looks like that may already be in the works, according to this post (http://beta.slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=81227&p=3631819&highlight=midnight#post3631819) from bryantq in the original beta1 thread. :)

[pixogen]

I have the "Hot Deals" section RSS'd to my custom google homepage, but when I try to add the beta rss'd information from "http://beta.slickdeals.net/external.php?type=rss&forumids=9", I get a 404, page not found error.

[prence]

Boo AJAX
Boo Web 2.0

thumbs down :(