New Forum look - Comments/Feedback welcome

[Former Member]

Dear Friends,

Having seen some changes ( upgrades ) to the forum look today, i want to register my feedback here.

Its cool tha SCN Team is continuously working towards the improvements of the forum look and functionality. But this time i should say the changes in the Font and style is not too much appealing.

The decrease in size of the font and removal of underlines from links seems to be adding difficulty to read and navigate. Its not that much ugly but its really difficult to read compared to that of the previous setting.

I hope my feedback will be considered and i welcome other friends to share their comments and feedback in this thread.

Regards

Karthik D

[Lakshmipathi · Accepted solution]

changes in the Font and style is not too much appealing.

Yes if you ask some aged people [like me -:)], they will find it very difficult to read. It makes the readers to wear specs

thanks

G. Lakshmipathi

[former_member188685 · Accepted solution]

>

> 
changes in the Font and style is not too much appealing.
> 
> 
> Yes if you ask some aged people [like me -:)], they will find it very difficult to read.  It makes the readers to wear specs
> 
> thanks
> G. Lakshmipathi

Even me too..

[jurjen_heeck · Accepted solution]

I am not able to view the "comunity discussions" category but still can see all underlying forums. Has something changed to the user rights and/or its structure? I prefer viewing the category and seeing all recent posts n these forums in one go......

[michael_goeck · Accepted solution]

Hi Jurjen,

This was just a mis-configuration of the permissions. You should be able to use the category view again.

Regards,

Michael

[jurjen_heeck · Accepted solution]

> You should be able to use the category view again.

Yep. Much appreciated!

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

>

>

changes in the Font and style is not too much appealing.

> Yes if you ask some aged people [like me -:)], they will find it very difficult to read. It makes the readers to wear specs

Even with young people like me fonts especially in Italics are dancing and hard to read. Hope i should not strain hard and start wearing a spec

Cheers

Andy

[Jelena]

I think it would be safe to assume that many users are browsing the forum from work. Don't want to start the holy war here, but, if you haven't noticed, Windows and IE have become almost a standard in the workplace (at least in the US). And most of the companies do not allow any other software to be installed on their computers without a permission (which is usually not granted because no one wants to be responsible). So I don't think Firefox solution will work for most of us.

"Get used to it" is an option, but it's a synonym to "we don't care about you". Right now, when I have some time at the end of a day, I spend it answering questions on SDN. Maybe I should just go read Google News instead. I can surely get used to that...

Note that almost everyone commenting on the new forum look complained about the font size. Many of those users are top contributors. Font size is a major factor, it's not like we are wining about a color or pictures. It affects our vision and our health. I'm not a specialist, but I don't believe it's a huge deal to change the font size (I bet it's just a setting somewhere). But, sadly, what we've seen so far is complete lack of response and concern from the SDN owners.

One of the standards of programming is "usability". If the developers of SDN forum engine followed this standard, the font size could've been changed by the browser settings (that's what they're for!). But instead they have chosen this rigid format that was more convenient to them (I just can't imagine other reason). The result is an inferior product. It is very disconcerting to see that SAP agreed to accept it.

[ThomasZloch]

I mostly agree, let's keep bumping this up occasionally until there is a response. I'm sitting at a thin client with Citrix desktop and IE6 browser. No chance of installing any tweaks here. I'm sure we're not the only ones.

Thomas

[gaurav_kothari]

Same is the case here at the client location. But Since here the monitor is huge, I zoom the page to 110% and is perfect

Regards,

Gaurav

[ThomasZloch]

>

>I zoom the page to 110% and is perfect 

I tried, surprisingly it has no effect on the font size of the forums, it works only for other parts of SCN (e.g. blogs).

Thomas

[Former Member]

SAP Moderators - Please give a Resolution for the SDN Font size issue Quickly

The Font Size (Text Size) that's been used in the SUBJECT column is absolutely fine.

But the Font Size that you have inside the Body of the Message is really Horrible. I am not quite sure what really stops you guys to change the Font Size - Earlier it was doing good, why the Change?

Please tell your designers to make a website simple and user friendly

( I have Zoomed my page to 110% Still, No use)

[former_member184657]

>

> I am not quite sure what really stops you guys to change the Font Size?

Just a couple million more votes

pk

[gaurav_kothari]

Hi,

I am not sure why the zoom is not working for you and Thomas as well. It could be because of the screen resolution. Mine is 1680*1050. Where the 100% zoom looks very small.

But its is not a solution. We would still want to see the font size returned to the previous one.

Regards,

Gaurav

[Former Member]

>

> >

> > > I am not quite sure what really stops you guys to change the Font Size?
> 
> Just a couple million more votes 
> 
> 
> pk

Yeah , Everyone wants to have a increase in the font size but it seems like SCN support team has gone fishing.

I don't find any meaning for the existence of a Suggestions forum which is not receiving any response from the support team.

So its really sad to know that no body from SCN Team doesn't even care to respond to this thread.

Now i repent to have started this thread :(.

So the response for all the 65 replies for this thread from the support team is : "WE DONT CARE !"

Regards

Karthik D

[Former Member]

Hi,

>So the response for all the 65 replies for this thread from the support team is : "WE DONT CARE !"

I find also this attitude shocking.

I guess that the main problem comes from the Forum software which is the worse I know currently.

All other forum softwares I know

let the user choose its own font size....

let display images hosted on external servers...

don't use a cryptic Markup pseudo language...

Don't need a size message limit to be able to keep the message format...

Don't crash so often...

My vote is to drop this software and use a real one...

The problem is that it is also sold for customers...

Regards,

Olivier

[gaurav_kothari]

Just a small Question to the Forum Software guys. Does it really take sooo long to change the font size. Shouldn't it be just a small change in the code.

Regards,

Gaurav

[Former Member]

>

> Just a small Question to the Forum  Software guys. Does it really take sooo long to change the font size. Shouldn't it be just a small change in the code. 

May be they fear that increasing font size would increase the storage size It seems like a part of a data storage reduction exercise... 😛

Regards

Karthik D

[gaurav_kothari]

>

  >May be they fear that increasing font size would increase the storage size  It seems like a part of a data storage reduction exercise... 😛
 >
 >Regards
 >Karthik D

You've given them another reason not to increase the font size 😛 (Just in case they haven't thought of this)

-Gaurav

[Former Member]

Hope they have heard you saying 'We dont Care'

But i guess they heard only half.. so some partial changes is visible.

Font size has been increased in [some forums|;

I dont know the why this partial change ??! anybody noticed??

But it behaves weirdly.Once i edit the thread the font size is increased but when i view, it is decreased

~Andrew

[Former Member]

In Sd forum its looking Good. The font size has been significantly increased. And now i can read it without my Glasses

thanks,

Raja

[Former Member]

Awww... my glasses make me look and feel smarter... ;-(

BTW: If you cannot logon to SDN for some reason...

http => https

Cheers,

Julius

[gaurav_kothari]

The BI General and Data Warehousing forum still has the small font. Other BI forums are fine.

Regards,

Gaurav

[Former Member]

I can see where the problem is

While composing a message on the Right side in a window they have Plain Text Help - I am 100 % sure this is the one causing the problem - but when you have the forum in display mode - that Plain Text help is not there - so the fonts are Healthier

FI Fourm has the Tiniest Size in the World.

Adjudicators of SDN can you guys please check whats going wrong before we go BLIND Please????? My Brain went barren, please help me to protect my Eyes atleast. Appreciated

(I am in IE8 / Windows Vista) --- I tried in All the Browsers - Result same.

While composing a Message the TEXT size is so so so......so Small. Please help us.

I think SDN guys are on Vacation for Xmas and New year

I can see where the problem is

While composing a message on the Right side in a window they have Plain Text Help - I am 100 % sure this is the one causing the problem - but when you have the forum in display mode - that Plain Text help is not there - so the fonts are Healthier

Thanks

YV

[Jelena]

Seriously - the font is too small. It's almost painful. What is the reason that it still hasn't been changed?

[Former Member]

Personally I have gotten used to it, but I find it harder to discipline myself to sit with a straight back in the chair.

For folks who watch the keyboard when typing and post a lot without reading the question and existing answers properly it seems not to present a problem...

But seriously, I have noticed that my eyes are more strained by the font size now when I spend a lot of time reading stuff in the forums - though I did give it a chance.

This would be nicer...

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member]

Julius,

Is there any plans for changing the font size being considered at all? After all, there is no official comment by SDN yet on this topic. If the font size is going to remain the same, it might lead to reduction in time spend by members in SDN. It really strains my eyes if I use it for a long time.

Jai

[Former Member]

Hi Jai,

I have not heard anything special about this, but I wouldn't either - I am just a little security forum moderator

Cheers,

Julius

[Former Member]

Hi Julius,

I am here again after starting the thread before two months back. Don't know whether to close this thread or keep it as it is without having any updates from the SCN Support team.

What i feel is its natural for the members( we can say sufferers because of font change ) to expect atleast some explanation or update from the support team, if not any action to revoke the changes.

And the other thing i observe from other replies are such that people will refrain from staying long in the forum because of the smaller fonts. But i personally feel its not true as SCN is not just a Gaming Forum so that we can reduce the time we spend, its an essential knowledge sharing and collaboration centre that helps you in your day to day work.

I know that you cannot do anything to the changes but i feel, as a moderator you atleast know which doors to knock, to have the problem addressed.

BTW, i have no problems with the font now as i got used to it - So why i started this thread ? 😛

Regards

Karthik D

P.S.: So the answer for the problem, GET USED TO IT

[former_member185132]

>

> P.S.: So the answer for the problem, GET USED TO IT 

No, the answer is to use Firefox + Stylish as explained in the post you earlier made. Use it for a day or two and you'll forget that the font size is small

[Former Member]

>>I have not heard anything special about this,

That is too bad

>> but I wouldn't either - I am just a little security forum moderator

Lol.. You really know how to create a smile in such serious discussions too.

Regards

Jai

[Former Member]

If you navigateto from a forum to a user and then back to the forum, response is OK.

But if you navigate from a forum to a user and then to the user's businesscard, navigating back to the forum is much slower.

Rob

[Former Member]

When the font size is going to be increased..

I have started visiting this site less frequently just because of the font size..

I am sure the number of visiting users must have decreased significantly after this modifications..

Its like we have to come here to get the help but also have to take unwanted things in form of stress to our eyes..

Please do the needful at the earliest/...

Regards

[Lakshmipathi]

While I fully agree with you, thought of raising some questions

I have started visiting this site less frequently just because of the font size..

ok but who is the loser ????????

I am sure the number of visiting users must 
      have decreased significantly after this modifications..

Certainly not !!!!! Do you have any statistics for this ??

If I am correct, the concerned team (increasing the font size) are on the job and will update in this regard.

thanks

G. Lakshmipathi

[paruchuri_nagesh]

Hi,

Yes am agreeing with people who are expressing their disatisfaction against new look of SCN

usually i used to search in SCN whenever i am stuck up with issue.

Now am using other options rather than using our SCN search . Am appreciating people who are working to enhance SCN.

Hope they will consider our concerns .

Thanks & Regards

Nagesh.Paruchuri

[gaurav_kothari]

The font as mentioned by almost everyone is too small especially on my 1680 x 1050 resolution.

Atleast the search by category is now available and looks better than the previous one.

Regards,

Gaurav

[Former Member]

Respected SAP Guru's

I am using Windows Vista with IE7.

Default DPI Scale - 96 resolution : 1024 BY 768 Pixels

The text size inside your Message Box is tinier than an atom.

I would greatly appreciate if you could bring back the earlier Text size.

Also, what I noticed is Subject Column font Sizeis little bigger than Message Box Text.

Do you have an ETA on this issue please - this is really bothering the eyes and also the little brain I have

Thanks SCN Team - Please fix this issue, before SAPians lose their eyes

YV

[Former Member]

I would very much appreciate if SAP could reverse the forum to use the previous font size immediately. Don't we have enough people complaining about it already?

[Former Member]

Dear Friends,

If you are a Firefox user, you can use a tweak to increase the font size as instructed in the post : .

And this tweak would be very much useful till SCN team do some improvement in the font size.

Regards

Karthik D

[Former Member]

although I usually see very well, I also have big trouble to read that font size. funnily the whole new design 'looks' quiet stylish to me, I just can't read a thing without crawling close to my monitor.

anton

[Former Member]

And now i am facing more performance problems while replying or opening a thread.

It takes too long to post a reply and often ends with the following error;

Gateway Timeout
The proxy server did not receive a timely response from the upstream server.

Reference #1.488387d.1246431566.9ecd72 

Because of that if i try to refresh the page my replies are posted repeated times( today i got one reply posted 5 times, and had one moderator delete the repeats).

Also while opening threads it is dead slow and often ends with the same error.

so anyone else facing the same problem ?

P.S. FYI i am using FF 3.5

[Former Member]

>

> And now i am facing more performance problems while replying or opening a thread.

> It takes too long to post a reply

> so anyone else facing the same problem ?

>Andrew J wrote:

>And also i think it takes a little longer to load the pages..anyone noticed this?

hee hee..guess it spread to you too like swine flu.

I experience the performance problem from the day one of this upgrade.It takes a little long to load(open,post) the pages.

Cheers

Andrew

Edited by: Andrew J on Jul 3, 2009 10:23 AM

[former_member194669]

What are the new additions ? Whether its only look of the forum ?

a®

[Former Member]

Yes - the font is far too small.

I was able to increase it in IE7, but that introduces scrollbars and some overlaying. Font proportionality is a bit funky as well.

But maybe people can be encouraged to do this instead.

Rob

Edited by: Rob Burbank on Jun 30, 2009 5:17 PM

[Former Member]

Agreed, the font size is too small. I'm finding myself having to increase the text size on the tab that I have SDN open on. But then I run into letters and text boxes and links running into each other because of the resolution.

[Former Member]

Oh, the search option is very bad and not acceptable!!!!! I can't search something within elearning.

[former_member205352]

Ya also we cannot filter like search only blogs or forums like how we had it previously or its there and I m not able to find it ?

[former_member188556]

@Praveen G

I think we two are only worried about this problem, all r concerned with font size issue...

Regards

BP

[Jelena]

The font is way to small, even on my fancy monitor. Did anything actually improve? Or am I just going blind because of the font?..

[ThomasZloch]

Same here, font size is too small. Previously it was possible to adjust the size via browser settings, not any more.

I'm old and near-sighted!

Thomas

Edit: Adjusting the size with FF3 works, but not with IE6.

[Former Member]

Hi,

I used to consider SAP Search as the best on earth. But now this is not the case. SEARCH IS WORST NOW. The new look is really a trouble to read and use.

PLEASE PLEASE REVERT BACK TO THE OLD LOOK AND FEEL. You can make changes but these are not acceptable.

Regards,

Gaurav

[Former Member]

Hi all,

Thank you all very much for your feedback. Clearly the new font size is a painful issue, I can promise you it's not being overlooked.

Regarding the new search - please see Scott Lawley's blog: /people/scott.lawley/blog/2009/06/25/project-search-20-faceted-search

Please continue to share your thoughts and insights, your opinion is much appreciated!

Thanks,

Hilit

[former_member188685]

Thanks Hilit. Please share or update the forum upgrade details if possible. so that every one will give their opinions.

Once again thanks for your reply.

Cheers,

Vijay

[Former Member]

regarding the search I already commented in th blog, and the problems still prevail. maybe some more people should throw in their feedback to make the site owners aware of the shortcomings of the new 2.0 faceted whoaaa search.

there' something else I don#t quiet understand. Did they remove the SAP logos from people working for SAP? I don't understand why you, Hilt Fisch, are thanking the community for their feedback and stuff. Are you from SAP? From a consulting or design firm responsible for the new design? A third party QA agency?

Or just love thanking people who help other people?

Don't understand this as any kind of offense, I was just wondering....

anton

[Former Member]

>

>I don't understand why you, Hilt Fisch, are thanking the community for their feedback and stuff. Are you from SAP? 

Obviously he is from SAP it seems, i can see his sap mail id in the below blog;

https://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/Community/GettingStartedWith+Blogs

So got your doubt cleared, anton ?:)

Regards

Karthik D

[Former Member]

Thank you Sherlock Karthik!

[Former Member]

>

> Thank you Sherlock Karthik! 

Its all Google Magic , when will our SCN search 2.0 improve like that ?

[Former Member]

Actually I'm a she

And yes, I'm part of the SCN Team.

[Former Member]

Only thing i want is for the search functionality to come back.

It was so easy to search for blogs/articles/SAP Notes etc via "Advanced search".

My eye sight is weak so i need to get new glasses anyway

Thanks

Aamir

Edit:Looks like "Narrow Result by" option is working fine,but i m still unable to see all the options

If i search for " XSLT mapping" i get the below options

Forums (4000)
Library (41)
Documentation (27)
Wiki (23)
Code Samples (2)

In the past i would have got links to blogs and articles as well.

Edited by: Aamir Suhail on Jul 2, 2009 9:55 AM

[former_member195709]

All,

I agree with what Amir said ..

In the past search we could obtain blogs and articles. I couldn't get them anymore. Actually I try to avoid posting thread if the question was already discussed in blog. If the blog is not reachable by a search function, irrespective of logic/tool we are trying to use, we may not be able to satisfy this community.. Just .00001 cent worth.

Bala

[Former Member]

And also i think it takes a little longer to load the pages..anyone noticed this?

Cheers

Andy

[Former Member]

>

> And also i think it takes a little longer to load the pages..anyone noticed this?

But for me it seems like loading faster, may be its a dilemma because of the Style change

Regards

Karthik D

[former_member188685]

I am not facing any issues , except Font change. I think they will wait for some more time and definitely they will make some changes.

Edited by: Vijay Babu Dudla on Jun 29, 2009 1:41 AM

[GauthamV]

Can someone of the Moderators explain the reason for this font change.

Is it going to increase the performance of the forums or something similar ?

[Former Member]

>

> Is it going to increase the performance of the forums or something similar ?

But really this font setting is hurting my Eyes , so how to increase the performance of my Eyes ...

@Fun : I hope now this should be moved to

Regards

Karthik D

[former_member188685]

> Is it going to increase the performance of the forums or something similar ?

Certainly Yes, they are doing it to improve the cpu performance. But Even myself not sure of the exact information. May be Michael G will give more informaton.

[Former Member]

Even I feel that font is too small.

It is definitely going to increase stress to our eyes.

Request moderators to increase the font size.

[stephenjohannes]

I'm going to chime in and say the font is way too small. Especially at 1680x1050 resolution where it now looks like "Honey I shrunk the SCN forums".

I would go for increasing the font size to become larger again or an option for people to bring the font to something above 6/8 point font size.

Take care,

Stephen

[GauthamV]

Thank you Stephen.

[Former Member]

Hi ,

I am also feeling some difficulty in font size. Requesting the moderators to increase the font size .

And also i am able to see only 7 pages in the forums. Is there any filter settings for this ? How can i see the old pages in forums ?

Thanks & Regards

Pcrao.

[former_member205352]

>

> And also i am able to see only 7 pages in the forums. Is there any filter settings for this ? How can i see the old pages in forums ? 
> 
> Thanks & Regards 
> Pcrao.

The 7 page restriction is only for a particular forum like say Community Discussions but you should be able to find history under subdivisions though like 'Suggestion and Comments".

[former_member181995]

I've 6/6 eye sights. And I can read all text well. But it seems if SCN will continue with these fonts I'll have to wear specs soon!

[former_member185132]

I agree. The small font is awful. The change in the color scheme wasn't required either. The previous look was better, and I hope they change it or we'll have to resort to Greasemonkey scripts or something to modify it back to the old style.

Isn't it possible for these changes to be introduced as skins instead of being thrust out of the blue? That way people who prefer the old style get to keep it. In any case, the changes at first glance seem to be primarily CSS, so it should be possible.

Regards,

Suhas

[Former Member]

>

> Isn't it possible for these changes to be introduced as skins instead of being thrust out of the blue? That way people who prefer the old style get to keep it. In any case, the changes at first glance seem to be primarily CSS, so it should be possible. 

That's indeed a great idea to implement Skins/Themes to the forums so that members can choose their preferred one. Not if 5 or 10 skins atleast an option to switch back to the old style is okay. Will the SCN team consider this request? I hope some moderator can escalate this to the SCN support team.

Regards

Karthik D

[former_member184657]

My vote to the old fonts too.

Though Im a **** for small fonts, this one is way too small for my choice too.

pk

[former_member188556]

Search options has been gone!!!

That was a bad move....there is no way you can filter the results now...

Is the upgrade over???

regards

BP