Subza.?.

[Clive.]

Hello,
Very pleased to see that the options of format have been returned to health...thank you for effecting the repair KGAdmin.
..and I'm very embarassed how my intitial efforts at asking about the disappearance in this website help section in an attempted light hearted way...with plenty of added to my thoughts...got rapidly out of hand.

Thank you for the restoration....

Clive

[John]

Is it really 'free', Chantal. Is KG a charity?
Each time a mag is sold or people like me renew our subs, a tiny fraction of the price must go to pay for running the site. We contribute our thoughts and ideas to the forum for free and you mod. it for free so together we make this a great site that's really worth visiting. KG then gets a platform to promote more sales and subs for the mag. to passing visitors. They also get some space to give to advertisers through their offer promotions.
So I reckon we should be allowed a shout sometimes!

Anyway really glad to be back in Subza view!

John

[Chantal]

I hear what you're saying John and I don't disagree with your opinion. I'm sure the forum does enhance both the website and the magazine.

What stuns me is how nasty everything got and how quickly. I find the whole thing really upsetting to be honest.

[Piglet]

I think Chantal that most people were concerned that if you could only see the forum in wimpole then it would die a death as its hardly the most inspiring format for any potential newcomers.

The forums linked with magazines produce a vast amount of "hits" from the internet, all of which help publisise the magazine itself and help drive up sales and so the process then feeds itself.

I enjoy this forum greatly but you have to ask, is the " we do it in our free time" attitude linked to threads such as "its so quiet on here". Some days I log on and not a post has been added which is a shame as KG is by far the best mag of its type out there but its forum isnt in the same league and thats not meant as an insult to Chantal or Tiigger who moderate superbly.

[KGAdmin]

winpole is the default style for the forum for anyone not registered or anyone who has joined since 2007.

A lot of time and effort was put into the design by Mr PH (gawd bless'im) which was done to match the design of the rest of the site. (For which we don't hear complaints).

I'm sure most joining or casually viewing could not image it any other way. Whilst we respect your opinion on any design - it's a matter of personal taste, and to say it would 'die a death' because of one style is perhaps over-stating the mark.

KGAdmin

[Piglet]

But it isnt over stating the mark, how can a mag as good as KG have such a poor response on its forum?

There are about 20 regular posters on here and most times you can be logged on and you are the only member. Other forums have hundreds of posts a day, from many members, not "several" as on here, if you are lucky.

Since the new format the forum has stagnated and if you cannot see it, go look at other forums, even those not tied in with magazines and see how many members and how many posts they have. Then compare the tastes of britain forum with its dozen members and all of two posts, and this one to them.

There is such an opportunity being missed, for the mag and the forum.

[peter]

... I have to agree to some extent with Piglet on this occasion . Whether it is down to formats or other things or both I am not sure.

As far as formats go.
The only plus point of this forum over others in the layout & use arena is that one can use a large number of emoticons rather than be limited to say four per post.

On the downsides in layout and please note I am trying to offer some constructive criticisms here, are:
1/. The layout is biased to low resolution screens, on my widescreen laptop I have over a third of the screen to the right of where I am typing just pale gray with a "Subscribe Today" ribbon over its top right corner.
2/. Taking the columns lost to the main menu options and the post headings plus avatar pictures then just over one third of the screen width is used to display the posting content when viewing.
3/. This box I am typing in is laughably small, "screen to the" has just gone off screen as I type "just". It is less than a quarter of the screen width and height, thus it is one sixteenth of my screens display area.
4/. There are limited formats available, such as bulleted lists.

It should be possible to dynamically resize the width of the display according to viewers display and window settings.

Lack of traffic.
This forum is too quiet.

I keep coming back here for two reasons.
1/. The small group of regulars, who do not pop up elsewhere where I also pop up. i.e this is the only place I see them.
2/. The sage advice of almost the same group who really know what they are talking about.

The sole advantage of the quietness is the absence of "same question as yesterday" from someone else new.

So KGAdmin, please take my comments on board as constructive points from an IT professional and see if you can do anything about them, well the layout ones at any rate.

and another thing, having had a quick peek, Twist and Go uses nearly HALF the screen width for posting content.

More importantly, a discovery.
SubSilver addresses the display issues I mention above, (wide enough and resizes), but the typing window is still too small. So how about tidying subsilver up into corporate format headers etc and enlarging the posting window.