Airliners.net Site Upgrade Announcement & Discussion

airkas1 · Thu Jun 23, 2016 10:25 am

ricox wrote:
1-Go in Profile Page
2-Select Photos
3-Select "DateAdded" as sort rule
4-The result is not correct ....

Yup, this gives a random order of photos every time. We are aware of this and it's on the list, thanks.

mariner · Thu Jun 23, 2016 10:49 am

airkas1 wrote:
This is not correct. Currently, there is no way to upload a photo to your profile like you could with the old site. The only photos you can upload to your profile are the avatar and cover photo.
Also, Mariner, if you need more explicit help with certain things, please feel free to PM me and I will try to guide you step-by-step.

Thanks, will do. Although I think I have most of it under control.

mariner

Starfuryt · Thu Jun 23, 2016 3:07 pm

I would like to request that you guys get rid of the overlay numbers on the top 5 photos on the front page. They make it hard to see the thumbnail and frankly I really hope that everyone here can count to 5 without having to look at the number.

ssteve · Thu Jun 23, 2016 3:17 pm

Revelation wrote:
It'd be nice if we were given some rationale for selecting phpBB. The obvious one is that it costs nothing. If that's true, fine.

Whenever you do a heinous migration to a new backend, you want the new one to be future-proof so you never have to do it again.

I just wish they'd spent an hour or two trying to use the result. Of course the end user doesn't care about IT strategy. They care whether they can still use the forum. And the new skin/format/style/layout--whatever you call it-- is just so heinously terrible. The contrast sucks even if you don't mind a white background, to the extent that we have a moderator manually making all his text black. And the amount of wasted space sucks, to the extent that people have simply stopped reading. But that has nothing to do with phpBB and everything to do with spending a few hours making it not be terrible to use. If they didn't want an avalanche of criticism about how that sucks because they plan to change it, then they damn well should've had the better layout ready sooner.

Mixed with that you have people not liking things like avatars, and not liking that there's not a 747 on every page. And those people are also allowed to state their opinions. But if the management around here is binning all the "I find this UNUSABLE" criticism with "I don't like the look" or "I don't like change," well then they're stupid. Because they made it unusable and they haven't f***ing fixed it yet.

hOMSaR · Thu Jun 23, 2016 4:03 pm

LAX772LR wrote:
airkas1 wrote:
You're the first one to report being logged out every few minutes. I have to sign in daily, I think that's the case for most users. Either way, the login problems on the list.

I think I've already figured out the issue there: switching comp used to access this site.

Due to the requirements of my job, I'm almost never at my desk for any lengthy period of time: always getting up and walking around.

So I might be logged in on my desktop, or my phone, or my laptop, or another computer here.
Every time I switch from one to the other, it requires me to log-on again.

When I don't switch, it doesn't do it.

It logged me off just a few minutes ago. I had been logged on with this computer maybe a half hour earlier, and hadn't used any other computer in the mean time.

airkas1 · Thu Jun 23, 2016 4:22 pm

Starfuryt wrote:
I would like to request that you guys get rid of the overlay numbers on the top 5 photos on the front page. They make it hard to see the thumbnail and frankly I really hope that everyone here can count to 5 without having to look at the number.

This is on the fix-list.

-----------------
For what it's worth, there is some progress with the forum. The crew have been given options for a new layout theme, and we all seem to be in consensus. If that theme is indeed chosen, some of the changes are:
- Avatar and info will move to the left of the post, in stead of above.
- Topic title will be removed from each post.
- Post ID's per thread i.s.o. entire forum (so like it was on the old forum).

Both should remove "dead" space vertically. In addition, it has once more been confirmed that blue is coming back.

DocLightning · Thu Jun 23, 2016 4:50 pm

Still getting kicked out of the site multiple times a day.

kanban · Thu Jun 23, 2016 6:57 pm

I'm struggling to find my way around the site and am continually frustrated by a few things
1) the small gray type
2) the even lighter font for links..
3) I used to be able to save a draft while I gathered citations or lines, however in the new process stuff gets lost.

Maybe the font size and grays are OK for younger viewers but some of us old farts really have trouble reading them. I did find where I could influence the size when posting.. but not in reading

speedbored · Thu Jun 23, 2016 7:15 pm

kanban wrote:
I'm struggling to find my way around the site and am continually frustrated by a few things
1) the small gray type
2) the even lighter font for links..
Maybe the font size and grays are OK for younger viewers but some of us old farts really have trouble reading them. I did find where I could influence the size when posting.. but not in reading

Try this:https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1335851

deltacto · Thu Jun 23, 2016 7:19 pm

I was very encouraged .... this morning I looked at a net .... then closed my browser and disconnected my internet .... i came home from work 8 hours later .... and I was still signed in !!!

then i did some errands for an hour .... i did not close my browser or disconnect my internet ... but by then i was signed out .... oh well

deltacto · Thu Jun 23, 2016 7:21 pm

And i will join everyone else in thanking speedbored for the awesome userstyles!!
it's awesome!!

ExL10Mktg · Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:12 pm

There are, at this point, some 23 pages of comments and 1100+ posts on this topic, making it one of the largest threads in the forum, and almost all of the entries are negative to highly negative. The only responses from the administrators are about specific bug fixes with search, uploading, login, etc., and no comments about the universal dislike for the basic layout of the new site. I am not someone who resists change. I happily welcome an improvement (such as Dunkin Donuts total revamp of their mobile app which was a revelation compared to the one it replaced.)

This is just change for change's sake and it is arrogant of the site's administrators to not recognize that this is a complete failure. Don't think you are alone in this, guys. Many websites have been sold a bill of goods by web designers who create a visibly flashy makeover that completely destroys functionality. Stubborn responses (or lack thereof) insisting that we will get used to it are (a) wrong and (b) stupid.

Reaction to a new website should be "Wow what an improvement!" If not, there's something very wrong. Yes there are always some things to get used to but when you've lost sight of who and what you are, it's a problem. This is a discussion site for aviation buffs. This is now a picture display site, and one nowhere near as easy to search on as the original. The discussions appear to be secondary and are cumbersome to follow. I'm sure you guys spent a ton of money on this but, please, chalk it up as a disaster and reload the original site as everybody seems to be asking for. If you try to "modernize" again, do some beta mockups and submit it to your faithful viewers first for reaction -- or at least find a tech company that has a solid track record in successful upgrades.

ssteve · Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:30 pm

ExL10Mktg wrote:
The only responses from the administrators are about specific bug fixes with search, uploading, login, etc., and no comments about the universal dislike for the basic layout of the new site.

I have to agree. They say they're working on a "dark" theme, but nothing about whether they're working on a layout that doesn't wear out everyone's scroll wheels.

ssteve · Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:31 pm

speedbored wrote:
Try this:https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1335851

Absolutely!

But if text size alone is an issue, in most any browser Ctrl+ and Ctrl- change that. Unfortunately they aren't able to recover all the wasted vertical space and make the stupid grey text black.

airkas1 · Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:32 pm

Did you read at all what I wrote above??

airkas1 wrote:
For what it's worth, there is some progress with the forum. The crew have been given options for a new layout theme, and we all seem to be in consensus. If that theme is indeed chosen, some of the changes are:
- Avatar and info will move to the left of the post, in stead of above.
- Topic title will be removed from each post.
- Post ID's per thread i.s.o. entire forum (so like it was on the old forum).

Both should remove "dead" space vertically. In addition, it has once more been confirmed that blue is coming back.

sandyb123 · Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:42 pm

jetmatt777 wrote:
airlineaddict wrote:
JohnKrist wrote:

Said nothing like that to my knowledge, what it did say though was that "We" had the right to change the service, with or without giving notice to the user base.

If you had the right to change the service, I deserve a right to a refund for services NOT provided (i.e., refund for First Class membership for ad blocking not delivered).

Did you pay for a full year and when did you pay it? If you were paying month to month, it has been free for more than half the year.

Matt B.
Airliners.net Support / Customer Service

Ok so I have been away from this site for a while as I have really lost faith in A.net. But I wanted to come back on this point.

When I signed up for a first class membership of A.net, the terms where as follows:

airliner.net back in 2007 when I joined up wrote:
The First Class Membership is an exclusive and highly beneficial membership of Airliners.net. It is a subscription service for our most dedicated and valued visitors which currently includes:
The ability to surf Airliners.net ad free! No banner ads (apart from the small aviation related ad on the frontpage) or pop-ups giving you an interruption free experience and quick download times.
A First Class username in the discussion forum, the most active aviation discussion forum in the world - this is the place to hang out if you're into aviation! You will have unlimited post and read access to all forums including the poll and article sections as well as the live chat channel as well as additional perks including instant messaging to other FC members, extended Respected Users list and more!
10Mb of image storage space and personal photo album for images and graphics you might want to include in your posts.
View photos in full splendor without watermarks! Some photos on Airliners.net are protected with visible watermarks. As a First Class Member you get to view the originals, without the watermark (same copyright restrictions apply - you may view the photos, use as wallpaper etc but other use require the permission of the photographer).
A subscription to our daily news service with news collected from thousands of online news sources during the previous day and night. Briefed of the latest happenings in the only industry that matters, you'll be ready for another great day! The newsletter is also available in a weekly version. Have a free sneak peak of what the daily newsletter looks like!
The "Fit Screen" view of photos, giving you a unique and uninterrupted view of any photo on Airliners.net (this feature works best on Internet Explorer and Windows and uses the big version photo, not any higher resolution).
Ability to compete for a top-list placement in our aviation quiz section!
The exclusive [email protected] email address with 2GB (2000MB!) of storage, pop, forwarding, chat and much more provided by the Google Gmail interface!
Additional features to the First Class Membership are added continuosly.

The cost of Membership is 5 US dollars a month.
We accept payment via:

Credit Card, US Check, Bank Wire Transfer:
$15 for 3 months
$30 for 6 months
$55 for a year (save $5!)
Lifetime First Class: $999*
PayPal:
$5 drawn from your PayPal account every month.

Click here to sign up!
If you already have a username on Airliners.net, please click here to sign up.

* The Lifetime First Class Membership expires in the year 2100 or in the unlikely event that we stop using memberships on Airliners.net (the First Class Membership has been around since 2002 and memberships since 1997)

So note that there is a clause that the first class membership will be lifetime until at least 2100 or until this site stops offering memberships.

Here is the original source: http://web.archive.org/web/200707072108 ... ignup.main

So you'd have to seek a definition of the term membership to decide if we are still members or not. Here is what Google says membership means:

Google define membership wrote:
noun: membership; plural noun: memberships
the fact of being a member of a group.
"countries seeking membership of the European Union"
synonyms: belonging, associateship; More
community, integration, clanship;
shirt, cap, cloth, seat, whip
"he recently resigned his membership of the Academy"
the members or the number of members in a group.
"our membership has grown by 600,000 in the past year"

So ther doesn't have to be payment to be a member of a club but he there does have to be recognised association.

Therefore, I would argue that A.net has broken the terms to which I became a member.

Sandyb123

kanban · Thu Jun 23, 2016 10:53 pm

airkas1 wrote:
Did you read at all what I wrote above??

airkas1 wrote:
For what it's worth, there is some progress with the forum. The crew have been given options for a new layout theme, and we all seem to be in consensus. If that theme is indeed chosen, some of the changes are:
- Avatar and info will move to the left of the post, in stead of above.
- Topic title will be removed from each post.
- Post ID's per thread i.s.o. entire forum (so like it was on the old forum).

Both should remove "dead" space vertically. In addition, it has once more been confirmed that blue is coming back.

I know you crew guys are swamped, however trying to find answers or improvement postings in 23 pages is daunting.. wish the good news you posted was on the FAQ thread(s) and they were the primary source of news.

jetmatt777 · Thu Jun 23, 2016 11:21 pm

sandyb123 wrote:
jetmatt777 wrote:
airlineaddict wrote:

If you had the right to change the service, I deserve a right to a refund for services NOT provided (i.e., refund for First Class membership for ad blocking not delivered).

Did you pay for a full year and when did you pay it? If you were paying month to month, it has been free for more than half the year.

Matt B.
Airliners.net Support / Customer Service

Ok so I have been away from this site for a while as I have really lost faith in A.net. But I wanted to come back on this point.

When I signed up for a first class membership of A.net, the terms where as follows:

airliner.net back in 2007 when I joined up wrote:
The First Class Membership is an exclusive and highly beneficial membership of Airliners.net. It is a subscription service for our most dedicated and valued visitors which currently includes:
The ability to surf Airliners.net ad free! No banner ads (apart from the small aviation related ad on the frontpage) or pop-ups giving you an interruption free experience and quick download times.
A First Class username in the discussion forum, the most active aviation discussion forum in the world - this is the place to hang out if you're into aviation! You will have unlimited post and read access to all forums including the poll and article sections as well as the live chat channel as well as additional perks including instant messaging to other FC members, extended Respected Users list and more!
10Mb of image storage space and personal photo album for images and graphics you might want to include in your posts.
View photos in full splendor without watermarks! Some photos on Airliners.net are protected with visible watermarks. As a First Class Member you get to view the originals, without the watermark (same copyright restrictions apply - you may view the photos, use as wallpaper etc but other use require the permission of the photographer).
A subscription to our daily news service with news collected from thousands of online news sources during the previous day and night. Briefed of the latest happenings in the only industry that matters, you'll be ready for another great day! The newsletter is also available in a weekly version. Have a free sneak peak of what the daily newsletter looks like!
The "Fit Screen" view of photos, giving you a unique and uninterrupted view of any photo on Airliners.net (this feature works best on Internet Explorer and Windows and uses the big version photo, not any higher resolution).
Ability to compete for a top-list placement in our aviation quiz section!
The exclusive [email protected] email address with 2GB (2000MB!) of storage, pop, forwarding, chat and much more provided by the Google Gmail interface!
Additional features to the First Class Membership are added continuosly.

The cost of Membership is 5 US dollars a month.
We accept payment via:

Credit Card, US Check, Bank Wire Transfer:
$15 for 3 months
$30 for 6 months
$55 for a year (save $5!)
Lifetime First Class: $999*
PayPal:
$5 drawn from your PayPal account every month.

Click here to sign up!
If you already have a username on Airliners.net, please click here to sign up.

* The Lifetime First Class Membership expires in the year 2100 or in the unlikely event that we stop using memberships on Airliners.net (the First Class Membership has been around since 2002 and memberships since 1997)

So note that there is a clause that the first class membership will be lifetime until at least 2100 or until this site stops offering memberships.

Here is the original source: http://web.archive.org/web/200707072108 ... ignup.main

So you'd have to seek a definition of the term membership to decide if we are still members or not. Here is what Google says membership means:

Google define membership wrote:
noun: membership; plural noun: memberships
the fact of being a member of a group.
"countries seeking membership of the European Union"
synonyms: belonging, associateship; More
community, integration, clanship;
shirt, cap, cloth, seat, whip
"he recently resigned his membership of the Academy"
the members or the number of members in a group.
"our membership has grown by 600,000 in the past year"

So ther doesn't have to be payment to be a member of a club but he there does have to be recognised association.

Therefore, I would argue that A.net has broken the terms to which I became a member.

Sandyb123

Did you purchase the lifetime membership?

If you were paying month to month, Airliners.net broke no terms as we no longer offer that product. If you purchased a year pass to the First Class lounge at an airline, and after your year has expired, and they end their club lounges, you are not entitled to a refund or damages as you used all that you paid for.

ssteve · Fri Jun 24, 2016 12:58 am

airkas1 wrote:
Did you read at all what I wrote above??

airkas1 wrote:
For what it's worth, there is some progress with the forum. The crew have been given options for a new layout theme, and we all seem to be in consensus. If that theme is indeed chosen, some of the changes are:
- Avatar and info will move to the left of the post, in stead of above.
- Topic title will be removed from each post.
- Post ID's per thread i.s.o. entire forum (so like it was on the old forum).

Both should remove "dead" space vertically. In addition, it has once more been confirmed that blue is coming back.

I have trouble reading your posts because with speedbored's theme, the text you make black is difficult to read on the dark background. But I did read the FAQ thread, and all that was mentioned in there was a new "color" theme. It's great to (finally) hear that some of the usability feedback on the forum *layout* has been heeded.

Why the heck it's taking so long, and why it launched with the world's most terrible theme, though, is a huge mystery to me. This isn't rocket science:
https://www.phpbb.com/styles/installing/

len90 · Fri Jun 24, 2016 2:16 am

Happy to report the picture size issue looks to be resolved. Looks like that head developer got the job done on the picture size. Just need to get that broken linking issue and copyright bar back now

canyonblue17 · Fri Jun 24, 2016 2:42 am

I have waited more than a week to see how the site owners would respond to the massive outpouring of dissent to the new site. So many well respected members have voiced sincere concerns. The response has been virtually non-existent. Fixing bugs won't fix the site. Changing the color won't bring back the Airliners.net we all came to know and love. I don't understand how the site operators can overlook the demand by members for a return to a site similar to what worked before.
I signed up tonight at Jetphotos.net and am now seriously considering pulling my photos from this location. I recommend others to at least consider doing the same.

Francoflier · Fri Jun 24, 2016 3:43 am

It's disheartening...

- Forum illegibility / contrast / color scheme
- Too wide thread formatting
- Sign on issues (can't stay signed on + sign on page redirects to home page)
- Hard to properly quote other posts (users now quote entire posts: annoying and even more waste of space)
- Formatting / usability on portable devices (I don't even try to access from my phone anymore)
- No info about posters (date of join, No. of posts, etc)
- And that's not even mentioning the issues concerning the photo database...

And many more. Yet not a single one of these has been resolved so far.
We're losing A.net.

(This pathetic 'sad' smiley is actually a telling image of how low we've fallen)

Edit: Oops, forgot again to manually change the whole text to black in order to not shred fragile eyeballs...

alberchico · Fri Jun 24, 2016 5:21 am

Just a quick question to the moderators what is the ETA on the Forum illegibility / contrast / color scheme issues ?

It was promised to be implemented this week and nothing so far.

BTW I do appreciate the other minor issues that have been resolved....

ricox · Fri Jun 24, 2016 8:08 am

...A.NETIX

Sorry!

airkas1 · Fri Jun 24, 2016 8:30 am

ricox wrote:
...A.NETIX

Sorry!

That makes no sense. And the joke you're trying to make would read "A.nexit".
But please keep this topic for feedback.

I also posted the forum update in the FAQ thread as per suggestion here.

ricox · Fri Jun 24, 2016 10:44 am

... would be only a little joke ... after 23 page of complain 2 rows of joke could be good no?
Thanks for correction... and take it easy!

airkas1 · Fri Jun 24, 2016 10:49 am

Ok ok, some lighthearted humor is welcome I guess.
As for an A.nexit, let's hope it doesn't go that far.

cx777fan · Fri Jun 24, 2016 12:04 pm

One small positive that has come of this upgrade for me is that I have discovered ad-blocking tools for my browser after reading complaints waaaaay up this thread about how to completely get rid of all the advertising that covers every page of the site now :lol:

Not only has it made A.net (or a.Nexit...I like it!) slightly less unbearable, most other sites now look much better without ads!

Developers: AdBlock for safari is a perfect solution to the problem I reprted some days ago about a grey box temporarily appearing at the top of the screen when landing on a new page within the site!!

Off to chat on the flyertalk forums now...

Revelation · Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:10 pm

ssteve wrote:
I have trouble reading your posts because with speedbored's theme, the text you make black is difficult to read on the dark background. But I did read the FAQ thread, and all that was mentioned in there was a new "color" theme. It's great to (finally) hear that some of the usability feedback on the forum *layout* has been heeded.

Why the heck it's taking so long, and why it launched with the world's most terrible theme, though, is a huge mystery to me. This isn't rocket science:
https://www.phpbb.com/styles/installing/

It's funny/sad how we need workaround after workaround to deal with this site now. In any case, if you can deal with a short period of scorched retinas you can switch off speedbored's Stylish work by (at least in my case on Firefox) going up to the toolbar and clicking on the 'S' icon and turning off the a.net style to read the posts made with black font specified then switching it back on after reading such posts.

Agree with the general point that despite the strong efforts of developers and crew/staff/whatever the net effect is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

I think I have a good understanding of all the things that did go well (like almost total preservation of data from the old site which is incredibly difficult to do) but it's clear as day to see everything that has gone horribly wrong.

In short the idea is to not hit the iceberg in the first place, and this iceberg could have easily been avoided by making small changes (such as doing a much broader alpha test and by preserving much of the old UI as speedbored's changes have done). Now the ship is gashed wide open and sinking at the bow as the passengers flee for their lives.

To me it reeks of the same kind of dysfunctional situation where management said we want to see how fast we can make the crossing and the crew warned about the icebergs but management insisted that they wanted to see how fast they could make the crossing so the crew said 'fcuk it, that's what they want, that's what they'll fcuking get'...

I suppose the good news is that it seems there will be some survivors, but a very steep price is being paid.

It would be so very nice if we could see some form of hope (like the Carpathia on the horizon) and have the old UI color scheme back. It's something that should have happened in hours or days rather than weeks. Meanwhile, man hours are being spent on the size of photos, ordering of queues, etc. To me it's an incorrect prioritization. No one will care about the size of the photos once the site is more or less abandoned.

N202PA · Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:21 pm

ssteve wrote:
Revelation wrote:
It'd be nice if we were given some rationale for selecting phpBB. The obvious one is that it costs nothing. If that's true, fine.
Mixed with that you have people not liking things like avatars, and not liking that there's not a 747 on every page. And those people are also allowed to state their opinions. But if the management around here is binning all the "I find this UNUSABLE" criticism with "I don't like the look" or "I don't like change," well then they're stupid. Because they made it unusable and they haven't f***ing fixed it yet.

ExL10Mktg wrote:
Reaction to a new website should be "Wow what an improvement!" If not, there's something very wrong. Yes there are always some things to get used to but when you've lost sight of who and what you are, it's a problem. This is a discussion site for aviation buffs. This is now a picture display site, and one nowhere near as easy to search on as the original. The discussions appear to be secondary and are cumbersome to follow. I'm sure you guys spent a ton of money on this but, please, chalk it up as a disaster and reload the original site as everybody seems to be asking for. If you try to "modernize" again, do some beta mockups and submit it to your faithful viewers first for reaction -- or at least find a tech company that has a solid track record in successful upgrades.

Thank you to both of you for saying exactly what I was thinking. The reality is that this design is a tire fire and the ONLY way to put it out is to admit failure, be honest with the community (or what's left of it) and go back to the drawing board with direct community input.

aerotrek · Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:23 pm

Nope, bloomin awful :cry:

and still have adverts

Bring old one back please :shock:

texas80 · Fri Jun 24, 2016 2:08 pm

I guess I have to chime in and say I'm not liking the new layout. It wastes too much space on my screen. I really want to like it, appreciate the effort to refresh the site yet going back to the old layout would be so much easier on the eyes. In the mean time I work to get comfortable with the new layout. I feel like I browse the site less these days because it's too confusing.

hOMSaR · Fri Jun 24, 2016 2:34 pm

Hopefully this bug report won't get lost in the oceans of whining, but I'm wondering if you could fix / get rid of the word wrap for the topic titles on mobile.

Browsing the board on my iPhone this morning, I saw a thread titled:

Any News About Air Tran
sat Latest A332s?

There is no reason for Air Transat to split across two lines. In this case, it makes it look like Air Tran, which is/was a completely different airline. But in general, the word wrap just looks stupid.

kulverstukas · Fri Jun 24, 2016 2:42 pm

Okey, so I uploaded 15 photos before "A.nexit" and already get 10 of them rejected. I doesn't look much on reasons because I was unable to check how this photos looks like on the site - I just saw them terribly compressed and washed out of colors and contrast on previews and trying to look at them fullsize I get crazy aspect ratios and upsized images.

Now when crew claims that photo size is fixed and on the list such cosmetic things as option to view always fullsize photo in the profile, I decided to go back and check what's wrong with my uploads.

Ok again, one of my shoots was rejected because "•Editing •Quality •Soft •Low Contrast •Noise •Banding". Yes, preview photo looks terrible with visible compression artefacts and banding in the sky. I open it full size. Ops. It's 1920x1280. I newer ever upload THIS.

I check couple of others. Another two get upsized by the site and was rejected for quality issues. Another one - are you kidding?! - I uploaded photo 1500x1000 with 936kb in size. Rejected photo is 382kb. It was rejected for quality. o.O

Ok, back to upsized photo. I uploaded photo which was 873kb and 1500x1000. Now it's 1920x1280 and 217kB! And it was rejected for quality.

Sorry, guys. It's not what site for aviation photography is for. Good luck in "keeping screening strict for making low quality uploads from site".

You spend $17 on style of site, I wonder how much new photo viewing engine cost.

airkas1 · Fri Jun 24, 2016 3:39 pm

kulverstukas wrote:
Okey, so I uploaded 15 photos before "A.nexit" and already get 10 of them rejected. I doesn't look much on reasons because I was unable to check how this photos looks like on the site - I just saw them terribly compressed and washed out of colors and contrast on previews and trying to look at them fullsize I get crazy aspect ratios and upsized images.

Now when crew claims that photo size is fixed and on the list such cosmetic things as option to view always fullsize photo in the profile, I decided to go back and check what's wrong with my uploads.

Ok again, one of my shoots was rejected because "•Editing •Quality •Soft •Low Contrast •Noise •Banding". Yes, preview photo looks terrible with visible compression artefacts and banding in the sky. I open it full size. Ops. It's 1920x1280. I newer ever upload THIS.

I check couple of others. Another two get upsized by the site and was rejected for quality issues. Another one - are you kidding?! - I uploaded photo 1500x1000 with 936kb in size. Rejected photo is 382kb. It was rejected for quality. o.O

Ok, back to upsized photo. I uploaded photo which was 873kb and 1500x1000. Now it's 1920x1280 and 217kB! And it was rejected for quality.

Sorry, guys. It's not what site for aviation photography is for. Good luck in "keeping screening strict for making low quality uploads from site".

You spend $17 on style of site, I wonder how much new photo viewing engine cost.

That's weird, since I guarantee we're seeing all photos in their original uploaded resolution during screening. What you describe was indeed the sitation before a day or 2-3 ago. But this has all been resolved now. Nevertheless, I just brought this up internally, and below is the answer of another screener who has put in a lot of efforts to get the photo quality up to par:

You can tell him that the screening page and the quality of the photos on the screening page had been very thoroughly and extensively tested and on the screening page we are looking at the exact same file the photographers submitted. We would not be screening if the quality on the screening page was not perfect.

You can also tell him that with the latest fix and the large expanded view, the photos that had been accepted should look good on the site. I could imagine that in his photo corner section he still can see some compressed photos, I didn't check that section. Any chance you or the guy could post examples please. The best would be if he contacted the screening team and would attach the original files to his email so we can double check what he is talking about.

coronado · Fri Jun 24, 2016 3:43 pm

Please consider a display version that uses less internet bandwidth. Besides finding the forums a lot more time consuming to navigate and read compared to the old site, I am finding I am consuming a lot more internet band width than I did with the old site. Unfortunately some of us who choose to live in the country and have to rely on expensive metered satellite internet. Even with the promised improvements to the new site especially the critical need to improve the readability of the forums, the amount and size of pictures and ads is consuming way too much bandwidth. I was always told by web designers to think in terms of plan for dial up connections and your site will shine in speed tests when the users has a high speed internet connection.

kulverstukas · Fri Jun 24, 2016 4:00 pm

Kas, thank you for working hard trying to cool down Anetgate :mrgreen:

As an answer on

Any chance you or the guy could post examples please.

can somebody check how ID: 2838333 and ID: 2844207 for example looks like for screeners? Also can somebody check sizes of JPG files of this and 2838315 (which not get upsized but is terribly compressed up to x3 times) photo ids?

EDIT: some accepted (long ago) photos also get upsized to 1920 wide for me.

scbriml · Fri Jun 24, 2016 4:03 pm

texas80 wrote:
I guess I have to chime in and say I'm not liking the new layout. It wastes too much space on my screen.

On my laptop, when I go to one of the forum, I can't even see a single thread without having to scroll down the page. There's very little of real use that's taking up all that space.

flymia · Fri Jun 24, 2016 4:09 pm

I see not much has changed. Really hope to see some MAJOR "improvements' that revert this site back to the previous looking format. Used to check this site 4-10 times a day. Big news: Came here, bored, came here.

Now? Last thing on my mind is to come here. Its odd.

kulverstukas · Fri Jun 24, 2016 4:20 pm

1) Wow! I just see familiar white aircraft in blue square at browser address bar and tabs instead of strange paper plane! :shock:

UPDATE: now it shows only till page is loaded :cry:

then back to paper plane :evil:

2) As developers ask to post examples of old URL not working, will they make old pattern of pictures direct links like "http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/X/X/X/XXXXXXXX.jpg " functional again?

airkas1 · Fri Jun 24, 2016 4:47 pm

kulverstukas wrote:
2) As developers ask to post examples of old URL not working, will they make old pattern of pictures direct links like "http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/X/X/X/XXXXXXXX.jpg " functional again?

Yes, they should work again (also see the issues FAQ). If you have any links that don't work, please report them.

kulverstukas · Fri Jun 24, 2016 4:53 pm

airkas1 wrote:
kulverstukas wrote:
2) As developers ask to post examples of old URL not working, will they make old pattern of pictures direct links like "http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/X/X/X/XXXXXXXX.jpg " functional again?

Yes, they should work again (also see the issues FAQ). If you have any links that don't work, please report them.

http://kulver-stukas.livejournal.com/
None of picture direct link works. At the same time URL links works.

airkas1 · Fri Jun 24, 2016 5:01 pm

Thanks, I've passed it on to the developers to have a look.

CAMPBELL · Fri Jun 24, 2016 5:56 pm

Having come to this website regularly since 1997 I must say I find the new layout a bit cumbersome. The Photo Index does not gather my search items as I would like it, Where can I search for photos of a particular year? All I get is a specific date....

airkas1 · Fri Jun 24, 2016 6:14 pm

CAMPBELL wrote:
Where can I search for photos of a particular year? All I get is a specific date....

https://www.airliners.net/search --> advanced search --> search by year

DIRECTFLT · Fri Jun 24, 2016 6:52 pm

Laddie wrote:
1. What happened to starred topics/bookmarks? I can create/remove a bookmark, but I don't see a way to go to my bookmarks directly.

2. I cannot change the default avatar. Clicking the "Change avatar" does not do anything.

FYI, I am running Mozilla Firefox on Windows 7.

I can't change my "Death's Head' Avatar. :cry:

I'm using Firefox version 47.0...

alberchico · Fri Jun 24, 2016 7:06 pm

Is it even technically possible to modify this basic phpBB platform into something resembling the old site ? I have a bad feeling that after fixing the minor bugs and glitches and adopting a blue theme for the forums DM will call it a day and not do any more major improvements....

Theseus · Fri Jun 24, 2016 8:58 pm

scbriml wrote:
texas80 wrote:
I guess I have to chime in and say I'm not liking the new layout. It wastes too much space on my screen.

On my laptop, when I go to one of the forum, I can't even see a single thread without having to scroll down the page. There's very little of real use that's taking up all that space.

Similar experience here. On most screen, no information appears before I start to scroll down. This issue has been repeatedly brought up by many people here. Not only this is not changing (I certainly expect changing the layout cannot be done immediately), but there has been not a single comment by a "crew" member on this point. Not even a "we will do it later", a "we will evaluate but this is lower priority than XYZ", a "this is a know issue", a "we like it better that way", or a "we will not fix it". Nothing. The messages about it just seem to go unnoticed, or to be ignored upfront.

Yes, they promised to change the colors (which is what ? a few codes to change here and there ? if it requires a lot more work then it means the current website code infrastructure must be "broken, unmaintainable and obsolete", yet 10 days after, still nothing), but the total misuse of screen real estate just does not even get commented on...

airzona11 · Fri Jun 24, 2016 9:10 pm

Used to love coming to this site multiple times a day for 15+ years, however the new interface it horrible. Maybe a few times a week ill come here but the experience sucks.

Pop up overlays and banners make the flow horrible. The color scheme feels like you used some free website creator and spent 5 minutes.

GO BACK TO THE OLD INTERFACE

Revelation · Fri Jun 24, 2016 9:50 pm

Re: going back to old look and feel:

Try the steps in viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1335851 ...

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