Consistent multi-site navigation

I didn’t notice a speed issue either.

Me neither!
It’s more an issue about not having a ‘double burger’, and the styling/position of it.

Paul

I noticed a speed lag when browsing the forum on a mobile device.

I must of missed the hamburger trials on mobile view so I cannot comment on the lag.

It’s not ideal having 2 hamburgers in the same corner region but at least they are not side by side or directly above the other. I can’t see any other way of navigating away from the forum in mobile view.

I assume there must be a technical reason we can’t have a left hand hamburger menu for inter site navigation?

There is no technical reason, it would make sense too. I did think of swapping the hamburger icon on the blue tab for a downwards pointing arrowhead, or similar.

The lag was noticeable on my mobile (Android/Chrome) and on a desktop (Ubuntu/Firefox).

The mobile site-menu is looking much better now, and the chevron does not look out of place.

Any views on changing ‘Community’ to ‘Forum’, as mentioned here and here.

Also, in mobile view, the black background to the site navigation chevron doesn’t seem to be within theme with the rest of the site, have you tried white, blue, grey etc.

Paul

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It does indeed look and function much better, well done Gwil :grinning:

I think the darkish grey would look best, the blue will be way too bright, but the black not only looks disconnected to the theme as @Paul says but I also notice the black clashes with the screen surround and can make the carefully centered list look lop sided, (doesn’t show up on a screen dump so unfortunately I cannot illustrate)

Absolutely!!! at the end of the day G,G & T can call it anything they choose but only “forum” will make any sense. “have you searched the community?” sounds like something you would ask someone that has lost their dog. The “forum” is the place, “community” is the occupants or contributors etc any links that say “community” should end up on a page along the lines of this page,

Since the label “community” (or anything else) wouldn’t work exclusively without some use of the word forum, the label “forum” should be used to avoid confusion as it can be used as the single consistent term.

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I just felt the word ‘forum’ is dated and and better reflects the early days of internet forums. I now feel our new ‘forum’ has grown up (technology & users) into a ‘community’. I don’t believe all forums are communities (think company support forums) but what we have is certainly a community :blush:

“Community” connotes a gathering place, a sense of sharing, and warm feelings about being part of something bigger than one’s self. If the aim is to improve the imagery and level of care around your organization, going to a word with those properties is a solid move.

Maybe we could use both in the title: ‘Community Forum’?

I’ve changed the menu to a white background with blue text as a trial.

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“community” is indeed a nicer word, much like “meta” makes perfect sense for the discourse forum after you figure it out but it is of no use what so ever when you are looking for the forum until you find it and can relate the cryptic name.

I can’t argue with anything you say there, I’m not saying this isn’t a community, or that what you are promoting isn’t a good idea. I just think when I’m looking for the forum, a button that says “forum” is better and likewise when I look at a webpage and see a button that says “forum” I am pretty sure I know where it will take me. The very fact this is being discussed highlights the uncertainty of where a “community” button might land me.

If you are looking for an address “10 Anystreet”, a street sign saying “the Blue house” will not do you any favors until you have been there and found out it is blue, then you need to remember each time you go to “10 Anystreet”, it’s actually the blue house you need to look for. “The Blue house” is a fantastic name for a house that is blue!

Surely, the community discusses matters in a forum?

Hey! How come Paul R gets a chevron and I don’t? No fair!

 

EDIT: we discuss things in a tavern/bar   :wink:

I’ve got no real preference. to me community sounds softer and more modern (whatever that means). Either work for me. Seeing as the URL is community, I’d be inclined to stick with that what ever the semantics of the word.

What are you using to view this, Jon? Have you tried emptying the cache?

It is an iPhone 6s and iOS 9.3.2 via Safari.

I did Clear History and Website Data in Settings > Safari. And I then tried Remove All Website Data in Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data. It sounds like cache but I am not sure it is clearing cache (I need to research).
EDIT: Yes this cleared the cache.

Might CloudFlare cache something?

Yes it looks good but we are back to the question of consistency. Go to any of the links and you get a Hamburger menu with no way back to where you came from. In the community it has OEM at the top and community below that. The other 2 new sites, have just OEM at the top with a hamburger to the side.

In the menu itself, I think have all the sections including the one you are on, then make that list consistent across all.

I think this is the one to go for though.

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I agree, well done @Gwil :thumbsup:

I’m working on this right now. Apart from the main site (the elephant in the room) there will then be a consistent theme across all the new sites.

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It does indeed. Hopefully you will see the changes soon; I’ll try and see if there’s a problem.

@Gwil - I have a theory. Is the chevron a button that is hosted via an external website? I think the chevron is being blocked…