New Look & Feel - Updated

[Med Help]

Hi,

First off, we'd like to thank all of you that have provided feedback regarding the new look and feel at MedHelp. Your feedback is extremely valuable to us and we take it seriously.

We received feedback mainly in regards to two areas: 1)The new look is harder to read, in particular when on the site for an extended period of time and 2) The new look is too cluttered

In response to this, we've already made a few changes and we're working hard to build several others. Here is what we are doing:

Harder to Read:

* We will be adding a background color to the discussions to reduce the glare while reading
* We will add a new setting so that you can chose the size of the text in the discussions.
* We will be increasing the size of the discussion title.
* We will be changing the date format back to the old format, but keeping the time stamp.

Too Cluttered:

* We have already reduced the size of the right hand column if you are logged in.
* We have already changed the forum so that replies are listed by default, just like the old design.
* We have changed the order of replies so that the newer replies are now on top.
* We will be expanding the "preview text" in the forum so that it stretches more.

Regarding to the new right hand column, over the coming weeks and months we will be rolling out a lot of new features that will leverage this column. This way we won't need to keep modifying the forum panel every time we want to roll out new functionality. Please bear with us as we believe you will see the value as we start rolling out more features.
We hope these changes will address all of the key issues that have been raised. Our members are what make MedHelp the best health community on the web and your feedback is what allows us to become even better. Keep it coming and thank you.

MedHelp

[triggertime]

WHY?  If it aint broke. Dont fix it.
Triggertime

[Willy50]

I'll also thank you for a prompt response and future adjustments.

Here are summary of a few compaints.  I think the majority of us appreciate all you do.  We know that nothing will ever be "perfect" for everybody; we all have different tastes and needs.  Nevertheless below are a few common complaints that may be issues.

1) "Was this comment Helpful?"  No...... we find this an extraneous, annoying, cluttering use of bandwidth.

2)  Some people have concerns/ complaints about having their photos up with each and every post.
     a)  A membername is sufficient and perferable
     b)  and uses less bandwidth
     c)  making the page load faster and less "laggy"
     d)  preserves a little more sense of "anonymity" or privacy

3)  As mentioned having "tags" on the side is useless to most members, cluttersome and makes the forum smaller.

4)  any related clutter on the right hand margin (Recent activity, Community Members, or Related Communities) might be better placed at the bottom of the forum or in a "collapsed" content or accessible by link.

5)  Since many people here are challenged by a form of chemotherapy with attendant "brain fog" frequent forum changes will be challenging for some resulting in displeasure.

6)  The demographic of this group makes us older and more cantankerous and resistant to change anyway, the "chemo" makes some of us even more so.  I hope you'll excuse a little fun and complaining that we had yesterday (and probably today....and tomorro...)  We appreciate this forum.

      Although we may be whining, complaining and hostile to change ( ; ) )  we are trying to provide feedback that may be useful to you ....in spite of the fact that it isn't always given with a "spoonful of sugar"

best,
Willy

[geterdone]

Thank You! for your prompt reply to the viewers concerns regarding the recent changes and also explaining that those changes will be modified as much as possible in the near future.

jasper

[kagkag]

My body itches so bad I've done every thing help I can't keep takeing staroids there bad for you but its the only thing that helps and makes it go away.

[Willy50]

copyman, glad you are staying.

Good posts Mre and Jim.  I'll note that right now both boxes..... the "Recent Activity" box and the community members boxes are just taking up a few column inches of space waaaaay at the top of the forum and there is about 2-3 foot of empty space below the boxes; absolutely wasted space.

And just what is in those wonderful boxes? In the recent activity box there are 5 male or female default icons.  Like we need to see that. : (

Below that in the "Community members" box...... is the same deal 3 blue headed and 3 red headed default dummies.  Who needs to see that?  Not I......

IF that stuff were pitched, condensed or moved the forum would feel less claustrophobic.

Willy

[copyman]

thanks for listening to the negative feedback and agreeing to make some changes to forums. guess these guys are stuck with me for awhile :-)

[jmjm530]

To keep the unique independent (for lack of better term :) )nature of MH intact, I like best your idea of providing links to other sites, assuming MH will cooperate. Call it "Useful Sites" or something equally original and catchy :) In addition to different FAQ's such as the CDC, etc --  HR, or someone in his behalf, could also  have a site linked with his posts organized. But I still think a better seach engine would go a long way to help. As to writing our own FAQ, in order to do this properly, I see it as a very large undertaking by more than one person, with fireworks sure to follow when finally published. But what's new about that here.

[mremeet]

Regarding the HCV FAQ: there are some good ones already out there elsewhere on the internet that cover the basics very well, but I doubt medhelp would want to provide a link to them (at least to the private or commercial sites). Although I don't see what's wrong with linking to sites associated with the CDC, NIH and other governmental sites that also provide non-commercial authoritative information about hep c (and other forms for that matter). I also think it would be good to provide links to the various drug manufacturer sites, especially where the specifics about interferon and ribavirin are described (including their side effects).

And I agree with what you said about the "treat no treat" scenario (amongst many others) and how one person's subjective opinion on such a complex issue should not be solely/permanently affixed to the FAQ. But a good writer that is fair, balanced and well informed could type something up for that too I believe. It simply has to be properly qualified and reviewed by a coupla knowledgeable people (who agree it's ok). Maybe we can ask HR to take a look too, but again don't want to be presumptious. We could also simply add at the end of a description links to multiple existing medhelp threads that have already discussed that very topic so the viewer can easily access a whole breadth of discussion and opinion on such a complicated matter. And we might also have a way of easily adding more pertinent links as they develop over time for each subject, which would basically build a very easily accessible database for anyone that might want to research a particular subject that do not have cookie cutter answers to them (like to "treat or not to treat"). I also think it would be cool to start a compendium of what HR has said, especially about antifibrotics. I mean that's some magic stuff there and right now it's scattered all over the place. And I know he gets worn down rehashing the same stuff over and over, so it would be nice to have a "sticky" (as called on other forums) that displays what he's already said about subjects like fibrosis and what might be done to retard it (amongst other things).

And yeah, the friends list thing is kinda gay. But I don't really care that much about it because it's out of the way on the main forum. The only time you see it is if you're in "mymedhelp", and even there it's easy enough to communicate privately with others without the friends thing getting in the way. But yes if I had my druthers it'd be gone, it's pretty dumb.

[jmjm530]

Mre:  I also think we're long overdue for a really good hepatitis FAQ. We have some pretty hep-smart cookies here who could probably write up the best hepatitis C FAQ in the known universe (I vote jim in for this job ;-)
---------------
I think an FAQ would be very problematic in the context of a forum where different opinions exist on many topics. Imagine writing the Q&A on "to treat or not". Or, "I'm SVR can I have a glass of wine with dinner". That said, I'd be happy to do it as long as I had the final word on copy :)

But seriously, what might be more helpful would be a  more powerful search engine that could help match frequently asked questions to relevant previously posted threads. That way, new people can at least get an idea of what has been posted before on a given topic.

But back to the format thing -- if there was a way for the user to change formats such as how you can swtich from Windows XP view to "Classic View" in Windows XP. That way, those who like the current format, can keep it -- and those that like the older format, can change back to it.

As to working with what we have, I agree with most of Mre's suggestions -- has anyone clicked on those tags BTW? They invariably take you to another topic with no relevancy to HCV. And that underline thing really does interfere with copy and paste, which is a very important part of responding to people's posts. I'd also like a sexier default Avatar, cause I still have no friends on my list and am starting to develop a complex.

But seriously, what's with this "friend's list" thing? Are we in high school here? Does that mean that if I don't have someone on my list -- or if we're not on their list -- that we're enemies? Better not answer that :)

-- Jim

[mremeet]

I second everything thing willy said above. Also, I'd especially like to re-emphasize the importance of using a streamlined format that emphasizes and prioritizes the text of the member's posts. Maximum space and priority should be put on that one thing, to do otherwise would be a disservice to medhelp members (and to the popularity of the site). And I understand you have to pay the bills through ads, but they should be incorporated in a manner that is as non-intrusive as possible, and NOT at the expense of actual forum content. Also, there are many extraneous, redundant and superfluous "features" that should be done away with (instead of just shrinking the right hand column) for the following reasons:

1. "Recent activity" - I can see just fine what recent activity is by simply scanning the posts and the timestamp on who said what, when. It's easy and direct and I don't need some box on the side to inform of me of that (taking up space and cluttering up everything).

2. "Community members" - I don't care who community members are, or more precisely I can instantly see who members are simply by observing the active/current threads. I've been a regular here for over a year now so I already know who they are, and in the event I was new I wouldn't know them anyway so what difference would it make? Again, it's easy to directly see who members are simply by perusing the threads and getting to know people directly through discussion (both public and private). I don't need some space consuming box on the side to inform me of that (taking up space and cluttering up everything). And you already have a "members" link at the top of the page as well as a "people" link as well, and I also believe other members/friends can be looked up in "mymedhelp". There certainly are an awful lot of ways to skin the same cat here.

3. "Related communities" - The related community is already listed at the top, this is another redundant/extraneous reference which takes up more space and produces a more cluttered look. There is also a link at the top of the page called "forums" which can also be used to look up related forums in the event someone wanted to do that. Again mega-redundancy = clutter = an overly busy and confusing website.

4. "Related Tags" - We certainly don't need to see that, and although I'm not a web designer I suspect this can be made transparent in a tucked away manner that does not clutter or consume space on the forum (using invisible text with the same color as the background etc).

5. At the top of the page it has a link to "discussions", even when I'm already on the page that displays discussions. Am I supposed to click the link to discussions in order to take me to the very page I'm already on? Or am I supposed to click it after I'm done reading a particular thread in order to return to "discussions?" Because what I always do is open a separate browser for whatever thread I'm interested in reading, and then close it out when I'm done reading it. Otherwise I simply click the "back" button on my browser to return to discussions (and I think most everyone else does too). And, again you already have another redundant button called "Back to Forum" at the top of the thread anyway. Is that the one I'm supposed to click to get back to the forum? This is another example of unnecessary clutter, over-redundancy and "busy-ness" that increases confusion and reduces efficiency for the reader (many of which are confused and irritated from the drugs we have to take).

6. Another thing that I really don't like is the automatic underlined text in our posts. First off it's distracting to the eye and makes it harder to read the posts. Secondly, if you attempt to cut and paste an excerpt of selected text that has underlined words in it, it will completely screw up the format when you paste it. The pasted excerpt will also include the "laundry list" of things that medhelp has associated with that underlined word. For instance, if I cut and past the phrase "my liver hurts", where “liver” is automatically underlined, it will come out as:
"my liverhepatitis
hepatitis C
hepatitis A
hepatis B
gallstones...(etc etc etc) hurts." This is a real pain in the butt when trying to respond to another poster and you wish to quote their statement so it's clear what you're responding to (especially in a lengthy thread with many responses). It's also a pain in the butt when you want to select and save text that is meaningful to you or contains information you wish to save for your own records. We even had a real doctor on this forum (hepatitisresearcher) that was attempting to respond to a member by quoting them and he was basically prevented from doing so because this feature screwed up his whole post. And there’s some really critical informationIn my opinion the underlined hyper-text feature definitely should be left out. If you must retain its functionality, then maybe include a glossary box to look words up on top somewhere out of the way (or have a medical dictionary located somewhere on the site).

7. The post comment box should be enlarged so that much more text is visible as you type your message. Right now it’s too tiny, it’s like trying to write a letter on an index card that’s been cut in half. I mean have you guys seen the length and complexity of some of the posts here? Trying to compose some of those posts through that tiny box is a PIA. It should also have a post preview function that allows you to see the entire post prior to submitting it.

8. I also think we're long overdue for a really good hepatitis FAQ. We have some pretty hep-smart cookies here who could probably write up the best hepatitis C FAQ in the known universe (I vote jim in for this job ;-). Hepatitis A and B we might be a little more shaky on, but I'm confident we can handle hep C. We also have a first class research hepatologist here (sometimes), and although I'm certainly not signing him up for any voluntary work without his permission, we might be able to get him to at least read our FAQ and approve of it (or suggest revisions). He also gets worn down answering the same questions over and over again all the time too, so it would also be a good place to put some of his thoughts down so this place can have some kind of "memory." Right now many of the discussions are like conversations with an alzheimers patient.

Anyway, sorry to be so tough on your guys, but you are asking for constructive criticism, so here it is. Also, on a more positive note, I do like the fact that the search function has been enhanced and I do like that any member's posts can be looked up easily now. I also really like the "sneak preview" of a post that's now possible without clicking on the thread, and the improved clock timer indicating when posts were posted is good too. Although I'm not so sure about the default icon for a member's profile. I think it looks like a beheaded gummy bear with a grape on top, but I suppose that's a subjective thing. I dunno, maybe it's better than the rain cloud trapped inside a neon sign look that was used previously. ;-)  In any event, thanks for making medhelp available for all of us.

Mr E. Meet

[Myown]

The only way I can (or maybe I can speak for the rest of the members too) explain how this "new look" has HIT me is,,,,think of it this way,,,,all the Amish people were sound asleep in their beds. They woke up the next morning and their horse and bugy were gone - replaced with a Mercedes, the clothes in their closet were all gone replaced with ~designer clothes~ and the list of changes go on and on.....now MOST people who AREN'T AMISH would think,,,why are those people complaining????

The people that gave us the Mercedes were very nice to do that, but we didn't want it. We liked our simple life.

I hope I didn't sound rude. I don't want you to take my post in the wrong way.