This new format
 

I think it's awful and very confusing. I wish well enough would have been left alone. Happy Travels!

Just exactly what's do you find so awful and confusing?

To me, everything seems the same, except to click on my own name, the name is displayed on the top right instead of top left.

I like the new look- just goes to show- different strokes for different folks!

I think it's great.....so far.

Happy Posting!

It's defintely different strokes for different folks. I don't know why the word "Talk" had to be changed to "Community". I was also fine being a forum and not a community.
I wonder if there have been other comments on the new format over in the other forums...oops...I mean communities. Happy Travels!

guen, I know what you mean....I now have to think where I am going on this site and all my pre planned hand clicks to get around this site have all changed, lol. :-B

Oh well nothing stays the same forever unfortunately.

I did notice that once you get to the talk forums they haven't change much yet but I do expect that to change shortly

I do like the new color scheme.

Aloha!

I don't care about what they call it. The web address is still fodors.com/forums, and the pulldown menu on the left still says "forums".

There may be more graphics or formats change on the front parts, but the forums here work the same.

Plus la change, plus la meme chose. In every organization, sooner or later someone new is going to arrive and institute a "wonderful and exciting innovation". As these tend to go, the change in format is rateher mild. The substance of the forum appears to have remained the same.

BTW, I refuse to be in a community with Bob. Come to think of it, doesn't that make him a communist? Perfect, workers unite!

If you go to the Asia forum page, and then ask your computer to add that page to your "favorites" list, and then name it fodors, it will take you directly to this page! No need to stop by the home page at all. Just click on that link from your favorites list and here you are.

(did that make sense???)

Carol

I agree about where they've moved things being confusing - I keep clicking the wrong button when I'm posting! (The buttons are in one position when you start to post, then flip after you've previewed. Wierd. In fact, there's all sorts of problems like this; seems like it didn't get reviewed before it went live!)

"Community" was a big dot-com buzzword - about six years ago. What bothers me about the name change is that they're not consistent about it. If you read the "Fodors New Look" post and other Fodors-generated info about the redesign, they refer to the forums as Travel Talk. But if you're new to the site and interested, you'd have no idea where to go for that - because Talk is now Community! duh. I'd say it was an identity crisis...

I also don't appreciate that they moved the Flash-y ads on the Post a Reply page to that obnoxious location adjacent to the text box, smooshing this box I'm typing in into a narrow column. Then when you go to Preview, the font is now large-size Arial - still smooshed in that narrow column!

It's all just a cosmetic change, nothing of substance - though they say that's coming.

Phew - glad I got that off my chest! Thanks Guenmai! ;)

Carol, I've had the Asia forum page bookmarked forever, it seems. So the only change I see is in the colors and where my name appears. I guess this means I should visit the Fodors home page to see the changes... ah, when I have time.

Honestly, it doesn't look all that different to me. I never looked at "talk" or whatever anyway. I just scrolled down to Asia and clicked on that. It still works.

Now that I've brought up the reply screen, I can see a difference. I've always bookmarked the Asia Forum (community) so its no problem navigating to it.

I'm always on borrowed computers. So, I start with the home page which now to me is a mess of color and busyness. Just too much stuff. Just let us get to the forum and quickly. And I'm used to clicking on "Talk".

On one computer, earlier today, the orange box on the home page was just that...an orange box. No info popped up into it. Now on this computer, info actually popped up in the orange box. So, this is the first time I'm seeing info in the orange box along with other info that didn't appear on the computer I used earlier today. Happy Travels!

Hmm, they seem to be making tweaks even as we "speak" - that large-sized font I mentioned before has thankfully gone away. And the Preview and Post buttons don't switch places like they were doing before. Odd, though, that Fodor's seems to do their QA after going live... Maybe instead of hiring someone, they just rely on us LOL. At least it's getting fixed though! ;)

same, same, but not really that different.

Thank you for your comments and reactions. We've already made some layout changes here in the Forums in response to your feedback.

Your confusion in regards to the various names is valid as well. We certainly aim to make the site easier to use; your feedback and opinions all always taken into consideration.

This was a major relaunch for us in regards to the exciting updates that we brought to our destination guides. We're excited to turn our attention to the forums, user reviews, and other sections of the site where our members have an opportunity to interact with us and with each other. Behind all of these changes is a desire on our part to deliver a better experience for you.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Katie, a long time ago I made a suggestion, I do not know if you saw it or you considered that it is not useful:

The scroll bar in the left side of the screen (to see different threats) should not include 'change forum" box and the name of actual forum (for instance Forum-Asia). It should allow to browse only the threads.
This will allow to change the forum without going up to the first message.

valtor--

did you mean that it should include the pull down box as you browse the threads so that you can switch to another forum without going to the top?

Sorry-- I think I'm misreading your suggestion, but I just want to be sure that I have it right.

Yes, the "change forum" drop down box should be fixed, ouside of where the scrolling threads are listed.
Thanks!