Changes to the Forums

First, I want to go on record to state that I'm really not resistant to change (provided that change is positive). =)

Work has kept me from perusing DG for a couple of months, and I was surprised when I logged in last week to find everything looking quite different. I spend most of my time here in either the Plant Identification forum, or in Computer Talk. I have no issues with the new layout in the Computer Talk forum, but I absolutely detest them in Plant Identification. I used to be able to scroll through the forum, and because the initial image in each thread was fairly large, I could often tell (before opening a thread), if I might possibly recognize the plant in question, and THEN open the thread. Now, the images are so small, I have to open EACH thread, to actually see what the question is. This is most inefficient and cumbersome! Is there a setting somewhere that I'm missing, that would allow me to tweak how the forum is displayed to me? Or, is this just "the way it's going to be"?

Again, I'm trying very hard not to be negative about the changes, but in the Plant ID forum, these changes are not for the better, sorry.

1lisac - Thanks , I went back to Augest posts- not there . I am not going thru 790 something pages looking for something that might not even be there .

Is there still a market gardening forum?

skip to new function is back -- hooray!

That's an interesting insight into how you use (used) the ID forum. I can understand your concerns - and definitely appreciate the input. But...on the flip side, you have to open the thread to respond to it, so other than the added click to expand an image, is this just a new behavior to learn, or a major stumbling block to the usefulness of the site?

I'm guessing the reason the images are smaller is for mobile devices. I know it probably seems like that's our standard reason for every recent change, but as someone who is now online via a phone almost as much as my laptop, I'm increasingly sympathetic to the plight of mobile users and the inaccessibility of sites that aren't optimized for smaller screens. We're trying to strike a balance between the needs/preferences of those with larger screens, and the needs/preferences of those accessing the site with phones or tablets.

I understand wanting to make this site mobile-friendly! I also use my phone often, as most of the time I'm "out in the field". However, wouldn't a better choice be to create a site-specific app (optimized for mobile devices), as opposed to adversely affecting visitors that aren't connecting via a phone or tablet? I'm having this (viewing) difficulty on a desktop. I won't dare try and view the site on my phone (even with it's 5+" screen). I would love nothing better than to see the Plant Files on an app! Each plant with a specific page would be more than perfect! =)

As to the Plant ID forum, I suppose I'll either have to try and adapt how I use it, or drop it from my favorites. I don't usually have time to look at every thread. There just aren't enough numbers on my clock. =(

You should definitely check out PlantFiles on your phone - you may be very happily surprised by how easy it is to check out a plant's details, the photos, the comments, sources for it, etc.

As to the difference in sizes between the old thumbnails and the new ones, I did a side-by-side comparison here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=10173190 - now, granted, I didn't use a photo-rich page when I took the screen shots, so it's kind of hard to tell much, but I don't think the old posts had that much larger thumbnail on the summary page. However, I will see if we can tweak the size of the thumbnails on the new format (once we've cleared out the bugs) and make them a little larger. In my own experience, I found I was often mistaken about a plant's identity from just the smaller thumbnail, so I learned to not rely on it :-).

Where did the trash to treasure go, it had a large following & a lot of posts.