We're proud to release the latest update to the ScoobyNet layout.

Some very important points have been listed below which, I hope, will cover many of the standard negative points we tend to see whever there is any kind of change :D.
PLEASE READ THEM BEFORE POSTING.

This new format gives us a platform to release some really exciting new features over the coming months, and I am absolutely positive you're going to love them.

Comments, questions, requests, all welcome :)

Regards

Simon

PS. Check out the new home page :)

--
I DON'T LIKE IT BECAUSE....

This is only the first initial release... If there is something you don't like about the layout, feel free to politely tell us about it, but any ranting / aggressive posts will receive infractions, or be ignored. We WANT to hear from you about it, so while we are sure that most will be delighted with the layout, there are always those who hate ANYTHING new, and those who find fault in everything. Aside from these people, we also want to hear about any genuine problems / disappointments with the layout, and I promise we'll take everything into consideration / discuss it.
WHY?

This new layout is to facilitate a whole host of exciting new features that are planned to come online over the next few months. In addition to these feature, the following is a list of important reasons for the new layout.
Full Screen featureAs we promised we would, we have now included a proper, fully functional, Full Width feature, so you are not limited to the fixed width layout, and the slightly dodgy, full width layout we cobbled together. Check it out, to see which you prefer (check out your user control panel options).
Make better use of spaceWe have moved the banner advert out of the navigation bar and into the top section, we've reduced the size of the top section, to get the content higher up the page, and have reduced the height of the nav bar section for the same reason.
Commercial / Revenue
With these changes, we have managed to squeeze in a banner advert on the right hand side. I truly hope this won't be a problem for people, but, we are planning to introduce a facility to switch these off for paying members.


The banner advert on the right

Now I know some of your are going to hate this banner advert, but I would just say three things :
PLEASE, give it a try. It is a content targeted banner advert, which means it will be relevant to the thing you're looking at, so it really might be of interest.
It isn't the end of the world is it? I would really ask you to think to yourself "This kind of revenue is vital to ScoobyNet's survival, and in all honesty, it really doesn't do anyone any harm". I would really appreciate your support with this, so we can see how it goes. It's only a trial, and may be removed if the benefit isn't strong anyway.
We are looking at introducing a feature for paying members to be able to switch these banners off, should they wish. Although I would strongly advise people to keep them in view.


WE'RE ON YOUR SIDE

If you're thinking "this is a disgrace, I hate it" then something is seriously wrong. We're trying to do the best for everyone. So please be sensible in your approach to this, by all means talk to us, in a tone which signifies that you appreciate that we're doing our best here, and we'll engage with you and make changes as appropriate. As stated above. If you rant and abuse, we'll just ignore you.




EVERYTHING IS OVER TO THE LEFT

The reason for this, is that we're making most use of hte screen area now for people running 1024x768, which is still the most popular resolution. If, however, you don't like this :
1) Go to your control panel and select the full width option.
2) We are planning to introduce a centered option anyway.


No matter what. I just can't live with it.

[edit. The old style of scoobynet has now been closed. There were a total of 12 users using it, and of those, only 5 have been logged in within the last 3 days. Apologies to those few, but we can't justify the complications of running a duplicate style for such a small number of people.]

Tiz your website and whatever floats yer boat but one thing I have found annoying is the one for a laptop (New colours) that is constantly changing it is distracting and makes reading the thread much more difficult as your attention is not on what you are reading but more on what is flashing and changing just to the right, if you want banner adds there please make them static so as not to distract you from why you were in the thread in the first place.

Cheers
Steve

PLEASE READ THEM BEFORE POSTING :lol1:


As I said in the last post I think it looks okay, its just the placement of that ad on the right I do not like.

First function on the list installed :

Viewing Mode selector
See the menu bar at the top of the screen, and select the viewing mode you want. Either left, centered or full width.

First function on the list installed :

Viewing Mode selector
See the menu bar at the top of the screen, and select the viewing mode you want. Either left, centered or full width.

Hi webby- none of the 3 options seem to make a difference on my machine - i'm using Firefox though, so will this make any difference?

Cheers

Hi webby- none of the 3 options seem to make a difference on my machine - i'm using Firefox though, so will this make any difference?

Cheers


makes no difference to mine either to be compleatly honest, and not at all in an agressive or ranting way :lol:

Hi webby- none of the 3 options seem to make a difference on my machine - i'm using Firefox though, so will this make any difference?

Cheers


No difference here either.

thanks guys.. will work on it now.

OK.. can't see any reason why this should be the case, as its working fine here.

To keep this thread clean, please use the following thread if you are having problems with the mode switches
http://bbs.scoobynet.com/bugs-feature-requests-31/623081-mode-switching-not-working.html#post7130768

Oooo I likely even more, back to full width with me widescreen:thumb:

oooooooh variable width :norty:

I can see what you're trying to do here, and in general I like it. Just a few wee things though for you to consider. I have it set up to log me in automatically, so it was handy for me when you could see if you had any messages at a glance on the home page when you first come on site. Now you have to click on forum to see it. It's just a tiny thing, but something to think about.

I don't really have much of a problem with the banner adverts, but they don't seem that much content based, just general insurance etc, not really that specific. Just an observation.

It's good that you can choose to have a wide screen format, but when I select WS format, it doesn't seem to save my preference. That is, each time I come on site, I have to go and select it again. It's a minor inconvenience, but one which I'm sure could be set up to save the preference. I'm sure that's one most people would appreciate.

And lastly, I told a friend about the site. He hadn't been on before and had a look. He made the comment that the home page seems a bit confusing because it's so busy. I don't find it confusing, cause I know the site and where to go for what I'm looking for. But I just thought I'd let you know from a 'first time user' perspective.

All in all, if those minor points were addressed, it'd be great:thumb:

View mode buttons work fine for me, IE 7.0.5730.11
Ta for the centered view back.
I still cannot get my head around why you would move it to the left, even AFTER reading your changed initial post Simon?
Anyway, i can change it now, so i shall have to try my best not to lose sleep over it.
Any tidbits or teases of information as to what is coming in the future that meant these changes had to be done?

Hi Scooby Girlie

Thanks a lot for your comments.

I'll add responses to the first post.

so it was handy for me when you could see if you had any messages at a glance on the home page when you first come on site. Now you have to click on forum to see it.

This is on the list to be added :)

I don't really have much of a problem with the banner adverts, but they don't seem that much content based, just general insurance etc, not really that specific. Just an observation.

No, I've noticed this as well. They are clearly more directed at the site rather than the individual pages. I am going to look into this in more detail, as all I've seen so far is the admiral banner.

I'll have this sorted within a day or two.

It's good that you can choose to have a wide screen format, but when I select WS format, it doesn't seem to save my preference. That is, each time I come on site, I have to go and select it again. It's a minor inconvenience, but one which I'm sure could be set up to save the preference. I'm sure that's one most people would appreciate.

OK. That's really strange as that should definitely not be the case. The preference is set in the database as to what you've selected. So as long as you are logged in with the same account, it should always be the same.

If this is definitely not the case, could you please start a thread in the bugs forum so we can investigate further?

And lastly, I told a friend about the site. He hadn't been on before and had a look. He made the comment that the home page seems a bit confusing because it's so busy. I don't find it confusing, cause I know the site and where to go for what I'm looking for. But I just thought I'd let you know from a 'first time user' perspective.

Yeah, I agree. The last homepage was too image heavy.. this one is currently too text heavy. This is just the first draft up and running, to get the functionality underway. The home page will change gradually over the coming weeks. Please thank your friend for the comments also :D

Cheers webby. Yeah I'll start a thread about the WS problem, not sure why it's doing that then?:wonder: Thanks.

Oh and yeah you're right, I've only seen two adverts in the banner, admiral and elephant.

madass

like I said, I'll explain fully in a week or so when I have more time. :)

I personally MUCH prefer the centered view. But there are fundamentals to consider unfortuantely.

PS. Do you remember you stern objections to the (now) previous version of scoobynet, hating the centered view and being quite annoyed about it? :D

View buttons work fine for me, I'm on firefox on my macbook pro. got it on wide to suit my widescreen display.

I welcome the new look of scoobynet, its nice to see a change for once !

Keep up the good work !

First New Feature Installed

Scooby Avatars - For Full Members and ScoobyNet Plus Members

Go to your user cp, and click "Edit options".

Scroll to the bottom to find the options to set up your Scooby. Select the options that are closest to your car, and you're away. This will be upgraded to have more models and more features shortly.

where's my infractious post gone:Suspiciou(only joking for cryin out loud!;))

not being pedantic at all webby,genuinely want to know, but can you tell me what sort of features i'll be missing out on if i use the old layout style?

i do like the new posts/threads thing you can click on the front page, very natty:) can't think why you'd need it to be honest, but cool feature! finding out little bits in the new layout as i'm going along and just clicking stuff, one seems to be when i change to 'new SN' all the adverts on the right disappear:thumb: no idea why, but it's just a grey band.

saves me sticking masking tape down the side of the monitor:cool:

This will be upgraded to have more models and more features shortly.


Wagons, for the love of gawd where are the wagons :cry:


:D:D

I like the avatar, but please add DBM :)

Oh, and while I am here - the left/centre/full-width doesn't really bother me at all.

The one thing I would say, although you have previously commented on it I know, is that the actual content starts very near the bottom of the page?

On saying that, its no biggie scrolling down - everybody is used to that these days and the scroll wheel makes it a doddle.

might actually be a glitch with the newSN selector? when i choose it to change from SNwide it says i am viewing in the old format? or is this what it's supposed to do?:confused: site is quicker on old style though if that info helps.

hi hoskib

Something must be very wrong with your system, as it should be physically impossible for that message to appear on the new layout.

In addition, everyone else so far has reported the site being quicker on the new layout.

If you are absolutely sure about these two issues, could you please post independant threads in the bugs / features forum so we can investigate? :)

-

lol
the wagons are coming.. it just takes about an hour to set up each model, and my fingers hurt!

oooooh......Avatars :cool:

...and thanks for adding the central viewing option :thumb:

I don't have a Scooby anymore so can I have a Skoda please? :D

Like the avatars option - white wheels would be good when you get a spare minute or six webby!

hi hoskib

Something must be very wrong with your system

lol, this is quite possible;)

as it should be physically impossible for that message to appear on the new layout.

In addition, everyone else so far has reported the site being quicker on the new layout.

If you are absolutely sure about these two issues, could you please post independant threads in the bugs / features forum so we can investigate? :)



will do, but at the risk of looking a tit just please confirm that if i click the bit in the pink banner that says 'to change simply click here', that once it's changed it shouldn't change back to the old style unless i select it from the link in your first post?

it's not that the pink banner is appearing within the new layout, it's switching it back to the old style when i select newSN.

i've tried this a couple of times now and it deffo switches as soon as i select newSN from the menu thing in the bottom left corner.

using IE6 if that makes any difference.

I think it's fine. Re banner ads - it's a commercial site after all !

aah.. ok.. "NewSN" is no the old style. "SN Wide" is the new style :)

Those names were never intended to be see by the masses, so we haven't made them say anything descriptive.

I like it. Nice work guys. Yes it is a bit different and some new features to try out like the page width thing, b ut its all going to take time.