[condor]

Originally Posted by emkay.india

.. more and more wider monitors .. The issue I face when browsing the site in such monitor occurs when I'm reading a paragraph that has 5-6 lines. When I finish, let's say, the 2nd line and move my eyes all the way to the left of the screen to read the 3rd line, I mostly end up with 2nd line again due to the length of the line in these wide monitors..

Noob solution suggestion: what if you resize the width of the browser window to something narrower ?

[emkay.india]

Originally Posted by condor

Noob solution suggestion: what if you resize the width of the browser window to something narrower ?

I'm looking for a permanent solution. Of course I tried this but it's affecting my other tabs. Or I need to keep a separate window for TBHP which isn't optimal either.

[GTB]

So when we scroll down, the following/next page will be loaded, So that we don't have to click on the 'next' page. Can we have functionality for previous pages as well?

[am1m]

Suggest a complete re-look/re-vamp of the landing page.

Needs to be more modern, more visual and less obviously like categories pulled from an underlying forum.

I guess we have the numbers/webstats for the clicks on each element/block/category on the home page? So let's use that to get rid of categories that aren't being clicked much and use that valuable homepage real estate to make things more visual and re-arrange categories that are being used more to be front and center.

Examples:

*The complete bar on the right side- first I'd get rid of most of the category title text. 'Used Cars', 'Car Care', 'Spare Parts', 'Pre-owned cars' - the visuals are obvious, no need for the title text that just adds space.
*How many people use the Newsletter block? If not many, remove it.
*"Stay updated" - people are used to the social media icons by now, no need to have any text above it, just the icons will do.
*I'd let the first block, the carousel of home page threads with the big image expand and stretch to the complete width of the home page.
*Not sure if the "Got BHP" block is required.
*Overall, just redesign and rearrange the remaining blocks in decreasing order of clicks. Some of them can stretch out some more, have accompanying images, at the expense of blocks that aren't seeing many clicks.

[ron178]

Is this specific to me or does anyone else get this error when trying to access PMs?

Database error
The Team-BHP database has encountered a problem.
Please try the following:
Load the page again by clicking the Refresh button in your web browser.
Open the www.team-bhp.com home page, then try to open another page.
Click the Back button to try another link.
The www.team-bhp.com forum technical staff have been notified of the error, though you may contact them if the problem persists.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

It's happening on multiple devices and on both types of network (broadband/LTE)

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by ron178

Is this specific to me

I am getting the same error in mobile site. I don't have a laptop to check whether it happens in desktop site.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

whether it happens in desktop site.

Works fine for me just now.

[adisan]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

I am getting the same error in mobile site. I don't have a laptop to check whether it happens in desktop site.

Originally Posted by ron178

Is this specific to me or does anyone else get this error when trying to access PMs?

The error was coming on both mobile and laptop, now it is working fine. And this is not the first time this error was encountered.

[tilt]

Originally Posted by am1m

Suggest a complete re-look/re-vamp of the landing page.
Needs to be more modern, more visual and less obviously like categories pulled from an underlying forum.*SNIP*

Er... why?

A redesign just for the sake of a redesign is not something I am in favour of. If it would give us something that we currently lack and something that would actually benefit us, then I am OK with it.

I am more in the "function over form" camp. A revamp that provides *more* functionality (and not just a different way of doing the same thing) would be welcomed.

Cheers

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by am1m

Suggest a complete re-look/re-vamp of the landing page...

Originally Posted by tilt

Er... why?...

I'm with tilt. If there is change, let it be for good reason. Anyway, the front page is surely not set in stone, and I'm sure it is always under review.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by tilt

I am more in the "function over form" camp. A revamp that provides *more* functionality

Yes, why utilize valuable real estate for things that aren't being used? And this certainly should be data-driven, based on the number of clicks on each block. If you guys find that several blocks (such as the newsletter, I suspect) just aren't being used, why not get rid of it. Similarly, there's too much text that describes the obvious. For example:
"Stay Updated

Keep yourself tuned in to the Indian automotive scene via Twitter, Youtube or RSS feeds."

(I'm obviously not saying the Twitter and YouTube links should be removed, just that the text is superfluous, all web users instantly recognize the icons. For screen readers, you can have alt text on the icons themselves, no need to take up space with titles and category descriptions.)

All this was standard 10 years ago, modern sites and home pages have moved on.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Anyway, the front page is surely not set in stone, and I'm sure it is always under review.

Yep, that should be the point of a home/landing page. Whatever is fresh, new that you want to communicate to your users, goes up and gets prominence. Right now there is that carousel of hot threads, of course, but we can make that more visual, give it more real estate. While I'm sure there have been several incremental updates, overall, I'm afraid the landing page as I've been seeing it for the past few years does seem cast in stone


Anyway, these were just suggestions. I just think the homepage looks more like the way the homepages of internal corporate intranets used to look like (I used to write copy for those back in the early 2000s ) rather than the home page of modern websites today, that's all. I understand the hesitation to change things just for the sake of changing them, but modern site design is UX and data-driven, not just beauty for the sake of it. And whether we like it or not (I'm a long-form text guy myself), the present and coming audiences are more visual, video consuming, left-swiping, and quick searching/page scanning, than they used to be.

[adisan]

I am more in the "function over form" camp.

So was I, until I moved into product engineering.
Then I learnt that both function and form are equally important.

[BhaskarG]

The way I use and navigate this forum, I really think that adding the following functionality will help me (and people like me):

When going through a thread, have you ever come across a question that someone asked, that you are also are interested in? Now you are scrolling though the rest of the thread looking if someone has answered the question? And what if the thread is 10 pages long? You have no way of knowing if it has been answered until you scroll through all the pages.

For example: a question in page 2 by bhpian A is quoted and answered by bhpian B somewhere later in page 6 amid various other discussions.

In the example above, if there was a button available in bhpian A's post to search for wherever the post is quoted, we could have located bhpian B's post easily. The button (or icon) could be called "see where this post is quoted".

I believe this will improve navigation. I can help out the team regarding the technical aspects on how to implement this, if required.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by BhaskarG

In the example above, if there was a button available in bhpian A's post to search for wherever the post is quoted, we could have located bhpian B's post easily. The button (or icon) could be called "see where this post is quoted".

I don't think I have ever seen that in any of the many forums (fora, for pedants ) that I have used. This, I doubt it can be done, but: I do think it is a really good idea!

[BhaskarG]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

This, I doubt it can be done, but: I do think it is a really good idea!

It is technically possible, just need a specialised database query. Question is, is the feature desirable enough to be implemented?