To be genuinely sad about the MN format changes?

[Sarahcoggles]

I’ve been on MN for nearly 17 years. I tend to read it in bed on my iPad. It’s relaxing at the end of the day. I also glance at it while cooking etc.

The new format doesn’t work on my iPad (it’s 6 years old) - it keeps crashing, as does the app. I can’t afford to buy a new iPad. I’m on the PC now, but I can’t read that in bed. My phone is too small to read MN.

So that’s it - the end of an era, until I can afford a new iPad. It makes me quite sad.

Oh I had to log in and everything I’m all over the place. I don’t like change. It’s been the same for 18 years it’s going to take a bit of getting used to.

Change is always a bit hard to get used to but it won't be long before most of us won't even remember what the old site looked like. MNHQ are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Plus I bet over half the people moaning have been through the countless Facebook changes and are still on there.

Reject all is great 👍

Is there a dark view? I find the new site very bright and white

Agree. It’s horrible. And the Trending list is really old.

They need to seriously tweak the colour scheme it's just really hard work to follow a thread.

What’s reject all?

It seems fine on my crappy tablet, haven't encountered any glaring issues. I am pretty sensitive about layout, I immediately uninstalled reddit when they did the latest crappy update to their app, made it unusable.

I really hate it. I have astigmatism and I just can't read it without it all blurring together in one big block of bright white and grey bits. Horrible. I speed read and I just can't with the way it is now.

Sorry OP you can’t access it on your iPad any more, that’s a big change for you.

I am fortunate I can so don’t have it so bad, but I’m disappointed that the see all function so you can see all comments on one page and how I like to view a thread is now only available if you pay to be a premium member.

Sorry to hear, would inverting the colours so the background is black help possibly?

You just can’t see as many posts on a page as before - I preferred the old font and colour layout which was easy on the eye. I actually liked the no nested quotes feature as I got so fed up with using forums where some posts were just repeated nested quotes. Plus one feature I liked has gone - the ability to see on “active” pretty much all of the posts since your last read/bookmarked post, so you could quickly jump to any new posts. Now only three posts seem to display, and when you go to them (via an irritating little arrow button at the side rather than just tapping on the post title itself) - the thread doesn’t automatically go to your bookmark. You have to scroll up and down to find where you last left off. (In fact bookmarks overall don’t seem to be working so well).

Just that little loss of a quick bit of fast functionality has really put me off - I usually check back frequently on a thread I’m interested in, and it used to be easy to do. Now it’s just that bit more of a pain scrolling up and down so I’m just less likely to do it.

I used to find the look of the page really easy to read quickly. Now it doesn’t feel either as fast or the functionality as smooth.

It’s always bad when an update introduces more steps and levels you have to do to achieve the functions you used to have! Part of the appeal of MN was how streamlined and barebones the look was, compared to other platforms and sites which have fussier, more annoying interfaces. When will people learn that users often don’t want extra, more fussy functions, and often prefer fewer but faster and smoother ones?

it looks awful.

but I’m disappointed that the see all function so you can see all comments on one page and how I like to view a thread is now only available if you pay to be a premium member.

That's not the case for me although I'm using a laptop, so not sure if that's the difference?

The 'see all' part that tells me is only available to Premium members, is the bit where you click to see all of a certain MNetter's posts.

It sucks hind tit.

I miss the “refresh” button too.

Hey Mumsnet - why couldn’t you have let well enough alone? Sheesh.

Just to add, I can still 'see all' on an OP's post without being a Premium member.

@mnhq if I pay for premium please can I have the old format back

I read it in bed too and use the "Last Day" button and it's no longer there. I think a relaxing youtube video will be replacing this from now on.

And everything Is just taking so long to load! The ads and the pinned threads take up masses of the screen and are loading so slowly. It used to be quick to post and now it takes ages just for pages to load in the first place! Agh.

I needed to cut down my MN aide do this I think is going to give me the push I need to stop reading and using the site. What a shame though!

Aide? Usage!

The only thing that really bugs me is the way quoted posts are displayed.

I'm on an Australian mum's forum and they have this neat system that collapses long quotes. Maybe MN can do something similar?

Example: www.everybump.com.au/community/topic/6515-school-holidays-are-expensive/#comment-307981

Me too. I'm really struggling to read this new format now.

Yes, this new format will take some getting used to by me, but I'm not finding it too bad so far, just a bit bright.

Instead of eventually replacing your iPad with a newer one why not have a look at other options - keep the iPad for everything else you currently use it for and look at cheaper tablets for things like Mumsnet. I use a 2 year old Kindle and it seems to be displaying perfectly fine, they are normally about £90 for this one but have been on sale for £55 recently. Much cheaper than an iPad and you can load it with books to take on holiday etc with you. It is also smaller so fits in my handbag much better than the iPad so goes everywhere with me. It might be well worth you looking at the range of smaller tablets out there and keeping the old iPad rather than forking out a small fortune on a new iPad.

I’ve found it fine. I’ve not lost any functionality and I like that Threads I’m Watching is now sorting by recent activity. I like that I can reply to a reply. Pretty mild updates considering where they are in relation to other forums - they could have just dumped us all straight into standard forum functionality without keeping any of the traditional feel. They can’t really optimise around six year old devices. I imagine they’re trying to future proof themselves somewhat.

I’ve had to log in a few times, but, day one, I can handle that.

Op, your old iPad is not MN’s problem! I get it’s annoying, as Netflix and YouTube didn’t work on my old iPad but you can’t expect companies to support iPads that Apple themselves aren’t supporting.

It’s not the the end of an era, it’s the end of an old iPad.

I never said it was MN's problem. I just said I felt sad that I was going to have to stop doing something I've done for so many years, simply because I couldn't afford to upgrade my tech. I'd planned to buy a new ipad this year, but then the price of oil and electricity went up, and my garage door broke, and DS2 got a place on a school residential trip and so on - all these things have shunted "new ipad" down the list!