Please, Why this redesign? I thought Apple should make things better... not worse.

Not gonna happen

They went through too much trouble to build it. There are a lot of new features available. It will take some getting used to...for all of us.

I find this new forum a lot more complicated and diffiicult to navigate. It was so easy before — why did they have to make it more difficult? :S

Sandra Foster wrote:

I find this new forum a lot more complicated and diffiicult to navigate. It was so easy before — why did they have to make it more difficult? :S

You were also used to it.

It isn't that they "made it more difficult" on purpose, they upgraded their discussion software and it came with a lot of new bells and whistles and some different behavior. It isn't so easy to pick and choose which ones you want.

It will take some time to get used to. The new system is much easier to use and more inviting for people who have never been to the discussions before. Unfortunately, it is a big change for us old-timers.

You're right about that, etresoft. For one thing, I don't see a way to see the new stuff, the way we used to be able to do. You say to select Discussions, but I don't see how to do that. :S

You have to go to a community page like Mac OS X Technologies.

There should be tabs right under the title. The Discussions tab is the one you want. I really haven't found much use for the other ones.

One of the problems with the new system is just getting used to it. There are a number of different ways and places to view the discussions.

Actually I think the new design is extremely conservative. It could have been a lot worse. Navigation will take a while to get used to, but like most things apple, you have to give it a chance to see what their intentions were. Anyone who has ever used Aperture knows exactly how that goes. In the end, usually worth learning. We'll see.

This reminds me of the latest version of Quicktime Player. They took everything that was great about QT7 and threw it out. Then they took what was left over and lit that on fire, then stomped the flames out, picked it up off the floor and handed it to us with a little red bow and a card that said "Trust us, this is a much better user experience".

Am I becoming a bitter angry old man? A bit obstinant to change, perhaps? For good reason? Yes.

I think this is awful. Vastly more complicated than it needs be. Safari 4.1.3 barely does a job of formatting the pages correctly and these pages load so slowly on my Powerbook on fast cable internet. I won't even try this on my iPhone or iPad.

I've been though the "tutorials" and through the user preferences and for the life of me, these won't format into a threaded view, I can't see who started a thread -- very important in the Pro App forums as some of us won't go near some threads depending upon who started them -- or who's replied to any threads.

Navigation is PITA and perhaps this is a sign for me to move on. Terrible forum "redesign."

Zebulun wrote:

I think this is awful. Vastly more complicated than it needs be.

It is an abrupt change, no doubt. I think the idea was to push back the learning curve. It is designed to be easier for new users to get on, get their questions answered, and encourage them to hang around a big active community with lots of places to explore. The new system is hardest on those of us who already knew their way around the old system. We are just as lost as new users. New users, however, expect to be lost - we don't.

Safari 4.1.3 barely does a job of formatting the pages correctly and these pages load so slowly on my Powerbook on fast cable internet. I won't even try this on my iPhone or iPad.

The new system seems to be giving some (but not all) people's browsers as much of a jolt as it gives the users. Maybe try to clear out your caches and Apple Discussions cookies. I haven't tested it on Safari 4.1.3, but it runs fine on Safari 5 and great on my iPad 1.

I've been though the "tutorials" and through the user preferences and for the life of me, these won't format into a threaded view, I can't see who started a thread -- very important in the Pro App forums as some of us won't go near some threads depending upon who started them -- or who's replied to any threads.

Navigation is PITA and perhaps this is a sign for me to move on. Terrible forum "redesign."

If we all jumped ship at the first big redesign we would all still be using DOS now. Just give the new design some time and learn your way around. If you have specific problems like not being able to get a threaded view, bring those up in their own questions so they get more attention than they will in this "growing pains" thread.

I'm actually liking it a lot. It has all the features of the old forums, but uses a far more organized structure. If you explore it and learn it, it will likely grow on you.

Yes, it is new and will take some getting used to, but it is a mess, plain and simple. It was so easy, for example, to go search for some issue in mail in one of the versions of the OS. Now, it isn't easy and isn't working either. For example, I wanted to go look for issues with undeliverable e-mails in OS 10.5. When I try to do so, and select only in OS 10.5, I end up getting redirected to mail problems with the iPhone....then, when you try to return to the previous search you try, it is wiped clear and you have to start all over again. Like many others, I agree that this is not a good idea.

Like everything Apple, it appears 'stupid', 'dum', 'backward', 'silly' at first. But learn it. Appreciate it. Trust me, even I thought it bad. But once you learn it, it becomes very efficient and easy to use. Above it, it becomes 'intuitive'.

Thanks, etresoft. That did the trick, and I've figured out how to customize my viewing. That does help somewhat. 🙂

Try clicking the "All Content" tab in the "10.5 Leopard" community, and then click the large "Edit This List" link at the top of the page. Under there you will see a list of the sub-sections. It would be nice to have this more out in the open, but is is there.