This is awful!

30 March 2002 | Me

[Nogbad]

No, this is awful!
I don't know where anything is anymore!
Where are the sidebars?
I used to go straight to them
to find out
what was going on.

[Revel]

"How about reducing server burden and network demand? What is wrong with you people?"

Wrong! You are obiously no techie to be making such sensless comments. It is obvious that FR Now has longer loading times.(Read all the comments) Longer loading times mean more Server burden not less. So you sure get egg on your face for that comment.

[ArneFufkin]

Well, I guess I wasn't talking about you then, was I?

[HairOfTheDog]

Not into Harry Potter, but if you would like a map to all things Tolkien, then I am your gal... maybe you have me confused, maybe you are just kidding me in an inaccurate direction.

[gopheraj]

THis will cull membership

Maybe this is what is intended with the "new" format. Same way TOS lost so many good posters with the crapola moderator stuff that went on. Did they do it on purpose? Who knows. But this new format is the pits for those who don't have all day to check different threads. THe old format was way better. The sidebar was better. I saw nothing wrong with the whole site....... then. My money will go somewhere else I guess.

[Sabertooth]

Oh great, now the profiles aren't working?

I was able to get to your profile, though a lot of the links to your graphics appear to be busted.

Not the Vargas girls, though... thankfully.

[Bella_Bru]

Oh, this blows big time. I though it was my hangover, but, I see I am not alone in disliking this.

[LenS]

It's the double columns and the flag in the left background. It condenses the information in the center, even on my 19" monitor, so I have to scroll more frequently as I check out headlines looking for stories of interest. But more frequent scrolling adds more movement of text - which is annoying. My eye is distracted by the colors and double sidebars as well, leading to a more visually confusing experience.

[ArneFufkin]

Longer loading has usually, little to do with servers. Hard drives send data faster than a fat assed DOT civil servant walks to the copy machine when she's annoyed with you. That can't help but be fast ... er. I suspect that there may have been some network adjustments as well. Work in Progress baby!

[tpaine]

"I was around, and I remember. What I remember is that Jim and John listened to the posters (Even talked back to them) then they made many changes until in most ways the format was exactly the same as the old format with just a few bells and whistles added."

----------------------------------

I was here too, and a 'classic format' option was added. -- I've been using it ever since to get full page text & graphics. -- It no longer works except when I am on a thread & refresh with MY options feature. --- If I use FR's 'last post' button, I get a 2/3 display of text, and blank on the right.

And no matter how I refresh the main page 'latest posts', -- I get a miserable 1/3 page of text, & blank on both sides.

Its like trying to read a newspaper column thats only three or four words wide, and goes on forever.

[Semper911]

There is just one question I would like to ask:

Why?

What was wrong with the old FR format? This defeats the whole point of FR: Quick and easy scan of every news item available in an easy to read and customizable community. Now it is just a, well, a... website.

Here are some tips to make it usable until they make all the fluff go away:

In your browser preferences, turn off style sheets. That will make the tiny fonts behave normally again. Then deselect "allow page-specified colors and fonts" or whatever your browser calls those options (for Netscape it is "use my fonts (colors) overriding page fonts/colors." That will make the flag go away (God I never thought I would say that!) Select a nice light graphite background color and a font you like.

It is sad that I will have to change my browser configuration every time I visit Free Republic. I will be interested in how much $$ they collect in the next freepathon.

[shattered]

I am not happy. Even with a cable modem it is very, very slow. I got the breaking news to show up at the right side but the column is way too narrow. It is hard on the eyes and I can't find anything.

[ArneFufkin]

I was actually curious if that Rowling lady dumped her no-good hubby yet. I know, it's three weeks but that's two weeks longer Dennis and Carmen.

[old blue beemer]

(AF, just usin' your post to pivot on..)

last time i saw this much whining in one place was in browsing
my Sent Items folder in Outlook^® after splittin' up w/the mrs. !

(... but this is even more pathetic )

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, I have my screen resolution set really high, so I usually narrow the windows down anyway for easier reading... Long unbroken lines are harder to read for me than narrower columns... back to the newspaper thing. I hope you like it fine in time. My eyes arent' distracted by the the sidebars... They are like a frame that blends in for me.

I really like how the "My Comments" (Self Search) lights up in the sidebars... when you refresh a page and have new messages. No more having to do a self-search to know if anyone has replied to me.

[ArneFufkin]

I take it that FR is one of your probation mandates.

[hole_n_one]

I simply created links on my browser's toolbar to all the forums I wish to view, and the only forums I "subscribe" to and have shown on the FR sidebar are News/Current Events and Breaking News.........

It works rather well............

[HairOfTheDog]

I know not the answer to your question! Sorry!

[LarryLied]

FR is loading a lot faster now than two hours ago. And I discovered the lastest post page has a flag on it and both sides of the page are white, not black(I surf with graphics off). FR looked like an anarchist site to me when I came on this morning. I feared red lettering on black was next.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Thank you for taking the time to scroll to the bottom.

Many of my photos are busted because Photopoint went belly up and took my photos with them.

[ArneFufkin]

You slept like a baby that night.

Slept 15 minutes, woke up and cried. Slept another 15, woke up and cried ...