Fixed width is terrible. Everything else looks good.

Whoa! Finally a website that looks good on my 9" monochrome monitor (still works after 32 years!) Fixed width is awesome! Reminds me of my youth and fills the space on my Motorola flip phone nicely.

I agree with post 3 about not having a fixed width

Fixed width is LAME.Can't wait to hear the geeks 'reasoning' on this one.
Where's the 'Last Page' option arrow? Don't you know that threads with high page counts need that?
If you Need to accomplish something,give Terry a facelift.
Overall a big yawn.
Really noticed the BIG ASS AD DISPLAY AREA THOUGH!
I'm gonna go glue my fingers together.
J

Fixed width is terrible!

Originally Posted by Terry

Thanks for all the feedback.

So far the comments seem to center on two issues:

1. The fixed width is not well-liked.
2. The old style had more contrast.

Everyone's feedback is very helpful! We're already working on improvements!

Terry o-[ : ) ]

OK Terry, come clean now! Tell us the real reason this site is changing.

Do you have so much disposable income from this site that you are forced to hire programmers to change it?

If you really want to be helpful, don't ignore your members ... leave the site alone. It's just fine the way it is.

Or, tell us right here and now that we will have the ability to choose either the original display or the new display and not lose anything!

Just what improvements are you working on? More advertizers? Why not ask your members if they want to see more of them? Are you just not getting enough revenue from this site already?

Pi$$ed Off !!!

What is broken that needs fixing?

Gary

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Sounds like some of you are scared, but we've taken all the feedback and fed it into our next revision, which should be available sometime tomorrow.

Might be a good idea to just relax because we've heard you.

Terry o-[ : ) ]

all I can ask is, please don't.....

SteveT

The two main technical issue have been addressed.

One thing that I think is being missed is that R/C hobbies, in general, are in decline, and it's being kept alive by the "Old Guys." As someone pointed out, many people have difficulties with their eyesight as they get older, so anything that would aggravate that would be bad for the forum. Additionally, many people don't like change for the sake of change.

On a forum I'm on for a completely different hobby, they changed the layout, and tons of people disappeared, something like 40% of the daily readership. They ended up putting in a "Classic Skin" and got a vast majority of those readers back. I would encourage you to do the same.

On what basis do you say that the hobby is in decline?

RCG visitors are of all ages. It's pretty much a bell curve centered around 35 to 45, from memory.

However I completely agree that accessibility is important. We want the site to be usable for everyone.

Also, I would love to know the name of the forum you referred to. That sort of anecdotal data is very valuable. Pm me with it if you don't mind.

Thanks for your helpful comments.

Jim

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Yep, looks like a dying hobby to me

Every fly-in I have been to has seen increases in attendance and registered pilots. I also see plenty of people under 25 getting into this hobby. It has never been cheaper or easier to get into this hobby and it will only get better.

Originally Posted by carlsoti

One thing that I think is being missed is that R/C hobbies, in general, are in decline,

Guess I better stop buying aircraft then...

I've responded to Jim by PM.

For those of you that need me to support my statements, here's where I was coming from with that:

Local shops closed in the past 2 years:

Hobby Hanger
Adventure Hobbies
Royal Hobbies

Events that have stopped:
The Expo (Indoor R/C event at the Phoenix Cardinals Stadium)
and at LEAST 2 others on the west end of town. (Can't remember the names of them right now.)

Most of the events in AZ have fewer vendors than they did just a few years ago, as well.

Additionally, a number of Car-centric R/C shops in the Phoenix are have closed in the past, and we're down to just a few places to go.

On top of all that, membership in a number of local clubs is down and fields are being taken away to prepare the land for "urban sprawl."

I did not mean to suggest that we're old and decrepit and will soon dry up and blow away with the wind.

What I intended to say was that RCG should take a good hard look at keeping "the masses" happy. The masses, in general, are people that have been doing this for a while, and will likely keep doing it. In general, "The Masses" are not the 10-25 year old never flown(Planes or helis), driven(cars, trucks, motorcycles), or piloted(boats, blimps, etc.) demographic.

You're free to disagree with me, but this thread is not the place for that discussion.

This thread IS about BETA, and I'm with most of you.

More contrast. (I like the solid blue bars of the current config.)

Something different that the "set" width. I did try using BETA by "zooming in" using "CONTROL+the mouse wheel" and it still wasn't perfect, but it certainly got rid of the big ugly bars on the side of the screen.

Hobby Hangar.....unless it's a different Hobby Hangar....

SteveT