OT: The New Sidebar (FAQ and Feedback)

[Caeldan]

You've probably seen it by now. That thing on the right side of the screen that lists HF articles and HF's twitter and some thread links. Yes, it's new this morning. So here's our attempt to answer some questions about it:

Why?
This was initiated by Crave (the folks who own Hockey's Future and HFBoards) in an attempt to help drive more traffic to Hockey's Future. We (the mods) were just as surprised to see it this morning as all of you are.

Can I turn it off?
No, there is no way to disable, shrink, or otherwise alter it through the User CP or website. It is the way it is, for now at least.

Where does it show up?
As far as we know, it only shows up (or primarily shows up) when you're on a specific board, or making a new thread. It will not show up when you write a post or on the main pages: www.hfboards.com or hfboards.mandatory.com.

What does it show?
When fully active, it should show:

• A list of the most recent articles created on Hockey's Future
• The most recent tweets from HF's official Twitter account (mostly links to newly created articles which, yes, seems redundant)
• A list of the most recently active discussion threads on HFBoards

I'm not seeing all of that?
Use of certain plugins for your browser may interfere with what is visible.

Will there be updates?
Most likely, yes. Site ownership takes your feedback into consideration for future updates.

Where does the Latest Discussion thread list link to?
We're not positive exactly what does and doesn't get linked to. We know for sure that it should link to all the major Hockey discussion boards like NHL talk, Prospects, Business of Hockey, Fantasy Hockey, etc. It also for 100% sure links to team board threads, including maybe potentially this one. It could potentially also link to the Page 2 stuff like the Lounge.

Because of the team board links, BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN VISITING LINKS FROM THE SIDEBAR. You might see a thread that riles you up, but note where the thread is located when you go there. Because if it's on a team board and you respond harshly to the posts you find, you could end up receiving a warning/infraction for trolling even if you had no idea you were on another team board and not the main board.

If you have any other questions, post them here. Comments too. Personally I'd appreciate things beyond just "this sucks, I hate it". Thanks!

Click to read more...

 

[Sun God Nika]

It looks really unattractive, and I haven't found any use for any of the links in it, all in all really pointless and a eye sore.

 

[MainDotC]

I love it - keep up the good work!

*kisses*

 

[HavlatMach9]

looks great, awaiting a top bar, and maybe even another sidebar on the other side

 

[Qward]

Trust me when I say that everything you guys are voicing about it, the Mods have voiced it more loudly first lol.

 

[Benjamin]

Its not even the bar that annoys me. Its that everything isn't centered anymore.

 

[SilverSeven]

It looks ike garbage. TERRIBLE design.

 

[BonkTastic]

Sweet Baby Jesus, it looks like a Geocities page from 1999.

 

[The King of Town]

The only good thing I have to say about it is that the mobile version of the site doesn't show it.

Kind of reminds me of when Rogers introduced that new eyesore of a guide overnight, hiding the actual channel guide. A week later I had sold all my Rogers gear and cut the cord.

 

[Super Cake]

I honestly just noticed it now.

 

[Six Assets]

looks ok

The Hockey's Future block/section looks cramped. It would look better if only the article title was shown.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

It would look a lot better if it had the same design and layout as the rest of the boards.

Overall, I do like the idea of having an easy to see link to some of the main articles and such. Just.....make it look better. Looks a lot like a cheap advertisement now.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Truth be told, I like the general idea of some of the things on it like:

Latest threads created. That would definitely get more involvement/traffic. It just needs to be in better looking manner and uhhhhh get rid of the other crap.

 

[saskriders]

Awful looking. Useless too.

 

[Micklebot]

The latest threads section should show what forum it's under, not who posted the thread. I mean, it's nice to know Bonktastic posted a thread about re-alignment, but before heading into it, I'd rather know whether it's on the sens board, the business board or the NHL talk board.

You could save space on the twitter field by making it a a scoll box (I think TSN does it that way for example), and the bright baby blue is hideous; why choose a colour that clashes with the colour scheme of the site?

 

[Engineer]

It's horribly ugly.

It honestly looks like something from a website in 1999, not 2014.

Increase the font size from 12 to 13px, remove the grey 1px border, increase the white space (add a 5px margin or padding to the text areas), remove the hideous twitter blue background, remove the underlines for the anchors/links except for on hover, increase the margin around the title from 0 to 5px and increase the title font size from 15 to 20px and remove the bold.

That will look much better.

Then theres the red border black-no-underline-links latest threads section. I won't even comment on that, just completely re-do it.

Like honestly, give me the CSS stylesheet and I will have it looking decent in under 10 minutes.

 

[sens83]

Yeah, whoever their web designer is should be ashamed. The idea itself isn't bad, but the execution is terrible.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

 

[BUCKLE UP]

If sponsors had an option to turn it off, I think they'd make more money from sponsors then traffic.

 

[Spire2000]

It takes up about 40% of the screen when viewed on an iPad. Probably not what is intended and makes the site very hard to read.

 

[Caeldan]

It takes up about 40% of the screen when viewed on an iPad. Probably not what is intended and makes the site very hard to read.

My understanding is that they have returned the fixed width style which helps that to an extent.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I really don't mind it but it was jarring yesterday when it popped up out of nowhere

 

[OmniSens]

So I've been idle for a while and just noticed it. I heard that this bar remains for those of us sponsors. I had been a sponsor for a few years now, but sorry to say if it stays (or no way to disable), I won't be renewing.

Alright mobile, do your work!

 

[MainDotC]

Look - this is a forum that you all have the right to use FOR FREE. None of us have any right to argue about the design or beg for changes - this is not your job (even though some put in more than 40 hrs a week). The admin will do as he pleases regardless of whether or not you like it and that's his right. No one should be complaining unless they want their account removed and frankly he'd be well within his rights.

 

[Super Cake]

The latest threads section should show what forum it's under, not who posted the thread. I mean, it's nice to know Bonktastic posted a thread about re-alignment, but before heading into it, I'd rather know whether it's on the sens board, the business board or the NHL talk board.

You could save space on the twitter field by making it a a scoll box (I think TSN does it that way for example), and the bright baby blue is hideous; why choose a colour that clashes with the colour scheme of the site?

That latest threads section is going to open the door to more trolling imo.