Really struggling with this new lay out. HELP??

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I still don't like it. Pictures are better, embeded media is good, all the bells and whistles are very good. I find the posts though are lost amongst too much styling, unwanted content and that horrible colour. It just makes all the pages horrendous to read. Too much scrolling and instead of making me want to read on, the screen is screaming "close me". I don't use the site as much as I used to because of it and I'm sure there's fewer posts in the forums I go to.

Just so you don't all tell me to f**k off or set Rosie on me, I have taken the time to outline my problems and show some alternatives.

WebSuggestions.jpg


When I go to a forum, I get a complete, whole, 100% screen of nothing....

WebSuggestions_2.jpg


Not strictly true, its not empty, it has some stuff on it and a whole lot of that colour most horribleous. I then scroll down and even though my screen's not the smallest on the block, I only get 12 threads listed and plenty more of that colour. By which time, its getting painful.

OK, that's my rant over and I shan't even get into steaming off about the "responsive" stuff... you can set Rosie on me now.
 
Right, I've been playing around.

I always view the site in FireFox. It has a 'userContent.css' file that allows me to overwrite the style settings sites are using. I've used this to start tidying up the bits I can't get on with on LZ. It works a treat :)

I'm now seeing this thread like this...

WebSuggestions_4.jpg


So I'm a lot happier and can continue to tweak it :)

Note to developers : please don't change your class names!
 
I think I've got it how I want it now. At a page level I've....
  • Got rid of the coloured background I can't get on with.
  • Got rid of the oversized header at the top of the page.
  • Stopped the small header being fixed so there's more room for content (I'm usually opening links in new tabs so don't need to navigate that much).
  • Got rid of the Social Media bar - was just clutter to me and I paste plenty of links to LZ on Facebook.
  • Kept the Navigation bar - might be useful, but I may get rid at some point.
  • Kept the Google Ads - want to get rid, but it helps LZ
At a post level I've...
  • Got rid of all highlighting/background colours.
  • Kept the poster details to the left allowing messages to follow directly under each other and take less space (height/scrolling) on the screen.
  • Shifted post links to the right for the same reasons.
  • The details about the poster are useful, but generally only for new people I don't recognise, so I've made the pop up on the right when I hover over the posters name or avitar (see 3rd post in pic below).
This works really well for me. I always view full screen, so the message content spreads out to the page width unlike in this pic. I'll turn my attention to the forum post listings etc pages, but I'm really happy with this so far.

If anyone's interested in this, this is a link to my config http://www.mydocz.com/Landie/userContent.css.
For info on how to install it, this is where I found the info (the Help menu is now on the '3 horizontal bar' button in the top left of the screen and the '?' button from there) https://ffeathers.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/how-to-override-css-stylesheets-in-firefox/.
This works in FireFox, other browsers may have similar ways of overriding styling.

WebSuggestions_5.jpg
 
Too many ads on my phone. Its pants now using mobile site. I haven't been on a lot due to its being a lot if hard work.

Be interested in seeing stats of how many visitors per day now Vs how many a few months before the "downgrade"
 
flatlander said:
@GrumpyGel I am so impressed that, instead of just grumbling about the site, you dug down and improved it , or at least found out how to. If you can make it to LZ12 I'll buy you a pint - surely an offer you can't refuse:)
Click to expand...
I would love to come to the next LZ meet up - if you pay the airfare instead of a pint, I'll be there :)

Since I changed the way its presented to me, I'm so much more happy with the site and find it a great upgrade to the old LZ. As I said above, the technical improvements are great - it was just presented in a way that I couldn't (or rather desperately didn't) want to use. Now its displayed clearer I'm back to really enjoying LZ :) Yesterday I even posted into a forum I've not posted in before - and have a whole heap of new buddies :)
 
jai_landrover said:
Too many ads on my phone. Its pants now using mobile site. I haven't been on a lot due to its being a lot if hard work. Be interested in seeing stats of how many visitors per day now Vs how many a few months before the "downgrade"
Click to expand...
When I did my overrides - I left the Google ads in as they weren't getting in my way on the desktop to much and they are revenue to LZ - I'm sure they could be exterminated though.

I would also add that I felt a bit of a fraud complaining when I haven't donated. I did try to donate once - but the only way was PayPal and it was too much like hard work - an old account that I couldn't resurrect etc. Would have been happy to splash my CC number though and give a few $s. Maybe I should make the effort and sort my PayPay account out.
 
GrumpyGel said:
When I did my overrides - I left the Google ads in as they weren't getting in my way on the desktop to much and they are revenue to LZ - I'm sure they could be exterminated though.

I would also add that I felt a bit of a fraud complaining when I haven't donated. I did try to donate once - but the only way was PayPal and it was too much like hard work - an old account that I couldn't resurrect etc. Would have been happy to splash my CC number though and give a few $s. Maybe I should make the effort and sort my PayPay account out.
Click to expand...
forums prosper on numbers, that might be some one that gives a few quid, or attracts others to participate
 
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