Thanks Katie and others at fodor's !!
 

I'm feeling very guilty about all the negative comments I posted regarding the new look at fodor's, although I haven't changed my opinions. I did post a positive response on the "site down" thread but it seems to be sinking and I'm not sure Katie saw my or yk's responses so I'm reposting mine below.

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Thanks Katie and others at fodor's for working so hard to improve the site. I'm one of the complainers on the other thread about the new look but that does not diminish my appreciation for all your efforts.

The bolding of the thread titles does help them stand out so thanks for doing that today. The search function is so much better now and I like the trip report section.

I'm sorry you folks have to work throughout the night doing updates so you don't inconvenience us by taking the site down during prime time.

Keep up the good work!

Yes, regardless of people's reactions to change, I can't imagine that anyone thinks Fodors made these changes to tick people off and drive them away from the site. This has been planned for a long time to answer many of the requests posters have made over the years for various items to improve things. No one was trying to make things worse. Let's all just hang in there and keep working on getting this to where it will provide the best service for everyone. Thanks Adrienne for bringing this back up.

Although I do have some issues with the new forum,
I think they are willing to work with us to make this forum the best it can be.

Katie always answers people and keeps the comunication going. That I like.

I hope the pink goes away. I hate pink.

Katie,

Ditto for me. I have always appreciated that you are very responsive . Obviously, there is nothing personal in our criticisms.

And, what is the "pink" everybody talks about? On the left I see blue thread titles with a light yellow background.

cruiseluv - some folks have mentioned they see the left bar as peach. I see pink. I know that computers vary in the screen color but yellow is far from pink or peach. How odd. I'd prefer the yellow.

Another attaboy (girl?) from me. All change is disconcerting at first, but I plan to adjust and adapt to continue to receive all the benefits the Forum offers.

Yes, Katie, thanks for listening to us and implimenting some of our suggestions so quickly. I'm sure it's not easy to read hundreds and hundreds of angry emails sent by many of the posters here.

Another thought just occured to me... many people keep complaining about the lack of the "next 50 threads" button and said they now have to click more to get to each day etc.

But for the busy forums, like Europe forum, if I click on the day archive, I get ALL the topics from that day in one screen, which can easily have 200-300 posts in a 24-hr period. So, one click in the new format replaces 4-5 clicks (on the "Next 50 threads") in the old format. So I just don't get it when people are complaining about having to click more... esp on the busy forums.

Yes - THANKS Katie and the rest of the team! I actually like a lot of the changes and am hoping everyone else will get used to them and see the positives.

(And thanks Adrienne for starting a positive thread.)

The site is getting better, or I've had an attitude adjustment, or both. Thanks.
Kay

Thanks for the support and feedback---everybody!

We've received so much feedback. We're having daily meetings and pow-wows to determine to rank priorities for improvement. We're a small team so we can't make all the improvements/changes at once but we're doing our best and it's been great hearing from so many of you.

Improving the site's speed, improving the recent activity section and pages, adding a preview, tweaking the colors and adjusting the tag pages are top priorities---they're followed by many other things as well.

Thanks for all of your ideas and input.

I too have to add my THANKS!! I've been on this site for years and don't plan to leave. I'll deal with the changes and go with the flow.

Thanks Katie and everyone at Fodors!

Monica ((F))

Katie, we all appreciate the fact that you're listening (even though my top priorities aren't your top priorities :-) )

Hi Katie; Thanks for being 'patient' with all of us. Travelnut had a good comment and now this site is working for me. This morning the site was 'very fast', but now seems to have slowed a bit. My left hand column is blue print on a pink backround. No problem. I think people are adjusting. Good job. Iris

I just saw that there's a new "Back to the Top" link at the bottom of the pink column on the left. That's a great addition. Thanks!

Yes Katie - a big 'thankyou!'

Now I've taken the guided tour, the new format is growing on me each day.

Familiarity breeds ... content :). This is still the best forum around.

Steve

Katie - thanks as well. I've directed some questions to Katie on some things I couldn't figure out and she's responded within the hour. That's prompt! and it's been very helpful.

I'm getting use to the format and the threads by the date instead of "next 50" is working pretty well.

Still not crazy about the pink, but let's put things in perspective - not a huge deal. And the "Trip Reports" don't pull up all of the reports (some pretty recent), but I figure that's a kink that's being worked on.

The only that's still driving me a little crazy is not having the separate scroll downs for the various threads on the left and the main thread you're reading and/or responding to in the center. Maybe that can be considered on the "to do" list.

But thanks again!

The only

O.K. so the first day I really hated the new forum(obviously I don't like change), the next day I just hated it, and today I'm at the "I don't like it, but I guess I'll get used to it" stage. Tomorrow, who knows!

Katie, I do like the fact that you are listening to us and making some changes on a daily basis.

My biggest complaint right now is the lack of a"preview" and "edit" key.

I just look at the "Activity by Day" page (aka archive page), and now all the thread titles have been made <b>bold</b> which is much easier to read now!

Also, the topics which I have already read are now in GREY, even in the archive pages.

Both are new improvements since this morning! Thanks again for listening.

We manually had to go back and tag the trip reports---so there's many missing. I tagged the ones I received from members in the [email protected] box first and then went from there to tag other reports in the other sections. If you see a topic that's not tagged a trip report but should be, please click the feedback form in the left-hand category and just say "trip report". I'll get an email with the link and can then tag it.

The blue/grey linking is <i>almost</i> working correctly; it's not right yet for search results and for the profile pages. We're working on this.

Preview will be added--

I do not believe that we will be able to use the dual scroll bar feature since we are not using frames anymore. We could have a scroll for the recent topics but I'm fairly certain that it would significantly limit your view of that column; you'd only be seeing basically one or two topics at a time as you scrolled. It's hard to explain; but I'll check with our producer who is more knowledgeable about the limits of the scrolling.

We're also investigating being able to break the topics back into groups of 50 instead of by day; this would be an immense help for the tag pages and for slower forums. It would also allow us to further pursue the possibility of displaying the times for the topics in the time zone that you're in. I'll let you know if this becomes closer to being a possibility--I just wanted to let you know that we're working on it. Thanks for the great ideas.

One other item---we have in the last 24 hours put the topic titles in bold, increased the size of the info with them (the recent activity column) and decreased the space between the lines in the topic. We've also made the space between lines smaller. I think the color of the links turning to gray when there's no new posts since you last viewed the thread is also now working.

I wrote that last post over many minutes---the grey/blue is working (like I mentioned at the bottom of the post). In the profiles that is; not yet in search.

Thanks Katie! All these changes are really helping to make the site better. The blue/pink is much easier to read now (more contrast) and graying out the topics as they're read makes it easier to figure out where I left off.

Agreed! One formatting request - would it be possible to bring back the shading of all the comments I've made on a particular thread? That was helpful, I thought. I know a few people have mentioned it, but hadn't seen anywhere where you addressed that; maybe I just missed it. Either way, the recent improvements help a lot - thank you!

I don't know if anyone else is experiencing trouble clicking around and posting but there are some problems with the overall site's database today. Our team and a larger team from Random House's IT support is looking into it right now. Thanks for being patient--I know it can be frustrating.

Just to clarify--in my last post on this thread I think I said the grey/blue links weren't working in the profile; they should be now.

Thanks again adrienne for the feedback---

gray!

So many different threads commenting on the good, the bad and the ugly of the changes... so, I'm not sure where to post this - - but this thread looks like one that Katie is following...

...and with a little reluctance, I will say... I'm coming around to see that for all practical purposes, we haven't lost anything that constitutes the real reasons we "veterans" have kept coming here for years.

That said, I offer my minor constructive criticism(s)... and one question...

1. A better divider between oists in a thread - - the faint gray dashed line barely shows up.

2. Any of us who were here when registration began (Jan 2003) are listed as "members since" Jan 2003 -- but we are easily identified way further back than that (I have ALWAYS been "rex" at [email protected] (even though I occasionally used "xxx" and other unidentifiable aliases occasionally back before registration) - - it would be nice to allow us to document our "start dates" and then plus that into our respective profile(s) - - a minor issue, I know...

...and as a corollary, this leads to my question - - why is it at a name can (apparently) not be searched? A search for "rex" over any time period yields nothing - - likewise "rbmd" (always in every one of my posts).

Oddly, it IS possible to search for << wishes, >> (with the comma) - - an identifier for my posts...

...since I always put << Best wishes, >> as the close - - or at least the first time I post on any given thread.

like this...

Best wishes,

Rex

Rex, I may be wrong, but it seems like the basic search only searches topic <u>titles</u>. When I searched for "wishes," in the basic search box, I got only a list of threads with "wishes" in the title. When I did the same with the advanced search (with "Search full topic and replies" checked), I see a list of threads that you've posted on. When I typed in your name, it gave no search results, but does give a link to your profile, which also has the threads you've posted on.

<b>Katie</b> - if that's correct, would it be possible to make that clearer somehow - maybe by saying "search topics" instead of "search forum"? It makes sense that searching all the text by default would take up a huge amount of site resources, but I didn't think about that distinction till just now, and I can see how it's frustrating if you think it's searching the whole site.

I would just like to add my thanks to you Katie too. You are so responsive and have been very patient with everybody. I like the new format more each time I use it. Admittedly I do not have any speed issues. And I find it easier to reply in this format for some reason.

Also a big thank you to all the helpful hints from many of the posters on how to improve things. It is a learning curve for all of us; which will only make us stronger!!

<< When I typed in your name, it gave no search results, but does give a link to your profile, which also has the threads you've posted on.>>

That makes no sense - - my name "rex" is a word, like any other word. And by inference, it is not possible to search for << Hotel Rex >>?

As for searching <U>titles</U> versus <U>titles</U> AND the <B>replies</B> as well... well, that seems indicated quite clearly, doesn't it? (when the "results" come back - - and it leaves you poised to do an "advanced" search, including the replies if that is what you are seeking).

You're so right, Rex. The search used to work for words within the responses. Now it appears that only titles come up when you search, even with the advanced search.

This type of search is very limiting.

adrienne- I don't know what you mean by
<i>Now it appears that only titles come up when you search, even with the advanced search.</i>

When I used the Advance search earlier today, to look up "Damme" by searching both titles and replies, I get lots of hits which I was not able to do so in the old Search engine when I was researching for my Belgium trip last year.

Allow me toadd my thanks to the others being posted here:

Thank you Katie Editor and the other nameless hardworking editors!


Actually, I haven't been upset at all by the change and am enjoying learning how to navigate around the new Fodors. Yes there are some bugs - that's always to be expected when starting a new piece of software.

So, what's the new technology called now, since we're not on Frames any more?

rex - it may be clear when the results come back, but if I'm expecting to get results from a basic search when I type in "<Hotel Name> London" (and know there's been a thread that mentioned it), that's when I'm thinking a little clarification up front might be nice. It's a relatively minor quibble for me, though.

Hi yk,

Try searching on "rex." As he says, and I have seen many times, Rex signs his posts with his name which is part of the response. A search for rex comes up with nothing. Try also searching on sox (as in red sox) theroux (as in paul theroux) and there is only 1 response for theroux yet the thread I looked at where this name appears does not come up in a search, search for psa (the code for Pisa airport) and also for DSM (these are just a few examples).

I think this site uses a search engine that only looks for a proscribed list of words. Searching is much better than it was but not completely fixed.

You are correct that the search locates both titles and responses search but not all words/names are searchable.

For sure we appreciate the work & efforts Fodors putting in to keep the forums up to date and they all deserve a big thank you.... I am still missing the old version, bolding helps too yes....But keeping the last posted message on top is an eye catching positive issue so people do not have to check old posts and have a minute to spot whats new and which posts has an answer.

These specialities makes Fodors different than any others.

Cheers,

Murat

Thanks for the bold titles and the blue/gray links.

Now please just bring back the gray backgrounds highlighting a thread-starter's posts, and the forums will be as great as before. The gray/white separation was especially helpful when reading long trip reports with many replies and comments.

the new format is called css - cascading style sheets (I think) - pretty much standard for any decent web site.

Would it be possible to put a <i>to the top</i> link in the middle of threads with many replies? Since we do not have the frames anymore, scrolling is a lot more work...

And, I echo, a gray background on posts when you do a search on yours or someone elses' name - makes it much easier to find what you're looking for.

Momliz - you can use the "control" key (hold it down) and the "home" key to quickly get to the top. Lot's easier and quicker than scrolling to the top.

Alternately, shift (hold the key) + space bar will allow you to go up one screen at a time.

<< I think this site uses a search engine that only looks for a proscribed list of words. Searching is much better than it was but not completely fixed. >>

Omigosh - - never occurred to me - - maybe it rejects words of three letters or less as not "searchable".

Searches for "Aix" or "Eze" don't work either!

So, I should have been using "Reginald" all these years?

I think you've sort of cracked the code, Rex. I just searched for "end" and "lot" and found nothing, yet these words are part of a response.

But we still have Theroux not coming up as part of the search either. My name is 8 letters and I can no longer search on it (I used to be able to find threads by typing in my name). It's more than words of 3 letters. I think fodor's is using some sort of "canned" search dictionary which needs to be modified for this travel forum. We'll have to wait for Katie to advise us.

Hi; I think what is interesting, is all these so called regulars on the forum who havn't 'stepped up to the plate' to at least recognize that the Fodor's people are working hard. Imagine, only 39 replies to a Thanks Katie and group, post. Of the 39, many are by the same people. It's pathetic. ENJOY Iris