While the added updates and other stuff may be a great idea... I still prefer seeing my comment notifications and updates in one page/click. I don't know about the rest of The O people, but can something be done about this?

Thanks Adam! :D

Just popped in for the first time in a while, saw the new separated backroom, and it looks pretty good. The extra step is worth it to see more updates listed at a time.

@Kastom:

i SO agree w/ u cuz im stuck with a slow dial-up thats lucky to even show the movemeants for the faces!!!(like the smily, ninja, ect.) so yea.........and its hard to get used to....

Awesome!^__^ Thanks so much for all the hard work!^^ Just one little criticism though... Personally, I think it's just a tad bit annoying that you can't go directly to the updates:3 In other words, I agree with animepulse...^^ Or maybe it would be an idea to put a direct link in the section with the favourites and MyO and such?^^

Take care, and thanks again, Bossman!^^
~S.G~

I like the other changes, but separating the backroom and the updates seems to be too many steps. I prefer the previous way better. But again, it's up to the people and you, Bossman.

Oh wow! XD I like it. I can't get online as much now that school keeps me busy so more updates means I won't miss as much stuff. Thanks!

~Sarah

that is great that gives the members a way to organize their portfolio

Sweet ^^ Especially the display of gifts <3

Well the bolding doesn't work right for me. First look, everything was highlighted, second look a few seconds later, nothing was. But I figure you're still working the kinks out of it. :p

Also, regardless its not that hard to look at dates to know what's new. That's what I've always done anyway so longer time frames for stuff being highlighted doesn't really matter to me.

Good luck getting the bugs worked out. =P

~Crystia

Hm... Well, it was considerate of you to try to make the backroom faster, but, do we really need to have it separated, and to see 100 updates? I really miss the old one, and it was less confusing. I preferred the simple "all in one page" look to it. Is it possible for you to change it back with fewer updates to look at? That would be much simpler.

However, I like the gift thing. :)

Z

I appreciate the fact that you're taking time to improve the website Adam, let me say that first; I especially like the gifts. ^^
But the 'Separated Backroom' isn't really working that well for me; the bolding wasn't showing up at all when I first went there. T_T I know that you fixed it, but it still isn't working. I could get used ot the new Backroom, but it'll take a little time.
~Song-chan

I'm happy with all the new updates but I also agree with everyone 5 min is way too short for most of us who keep forgetting about stuff all the time and especially when we only check this place a couple of times during the day.

And also, the bold part is not working for me either. Sorry. ._.

Edit: I just read your comment about the five minutes part, sounds so much better now. =)

I think Im not working well with the new one, i got used to the old one better since its just in one page to see all the updates and things (all at once) even if it is slow at some point but at the same time I like it as well so ...neutral?

Im not really sure bout the bold one.. when i check on the updates, they werent in bold but i could tell that theyre new update so its hard to figure it out :S

Yay! Fantastic news ^^

What about having it bold for the whole day? because sometimes you might want to check everything really quick and want to go back to the ones later but forget what ones it were. *forgets too fast*

What if you switch the initially displayed page? I.e., put the Update pane on the left and have it be the one auto-directed to, and place the Notifications pane on the right, so the first thing someone sees when they load the page is updates.

Also, yeah, the bold issue isn't working at all.

YAY for updates!

Not that I don't appreaciate the work your doing on this, I honestly couldn't tell anyone updated until I looked at the other box... and even then, when I'm not on that page, I can't tell if anyone updated or not... I liked it the other way even if it was slower because I can tell immediately when someone updates

><' I'm really sorry again if you think I'm putting this down and don't appreciate it. I really do appreciate... I'd just maybe like to have a PM notification if something updates maybe?

@Mercury Dragon:

See, I disagree here. Streamlined means everything is in one place and easy to locate. These are separated pages.

I personally liked having everything in one spot. Now you have to go to a separate page just for updates. That's kind of inconvenient.
~~~~~
Anyways, I have a few suggestions.

Looking at the Updates tab, the color and the amount of updates is simply too much to look at at once. It caused me a headache just scrolling down on the page. So maybe if you could shrink down the number of entries or maybe include some sort of archives page that reads "Older entries". And perhaps changing the color to the default blue or something that isn't so loud would help with the amount of entries.

Also, I'd like a more customizable backroom to where I can select what I want to be on my backroom. No offense to anyone who does use the new member introduction feature, however I find it really unnecessary for myself. Challenges would fall under that spectrum too. I don't use that feature, so why would I want to know what the latest challenges are? Just sayin.

Fantasmagorical! 8D

@7thEvaChild:

Adam already cleared it up, but I think it was obvious that it was for five minutes after you log in, not after the person updates. I mentioned it since I'm sure it's nothing more than them working out the glitches for implementing the new system.

@Adam: Speaking of that. It's still not working for me. I tried both Firefox and IE. My updates still aren't in bold anymore. o_O

@Adam:

I'm glad that was a misunderstanding then and you're just working out the bug on that (I usually opened updates in new tabs anyways, so I could still track everything), but the whole two-page thing is still annoying. I realize you mean well though.

...and hey, I get to display tons of gifts at once. :D I like that.

Sorry for the confusion but it's not bold for 5 minutes AFTER the update. It's bold for 5 minutes AFTER you look at it. Big difference.

The old way was you visit the backroom, new entries are in bold, and the second you refresh everything unbolds.

Now if you refresh it stays bold for 5 minutes.

There was some glitches.

I like the new backroom, it's easier to check the comments now without losing the updates. Hmm is it possible to make the unchecked updates in bold (messages too?) - it would be a great help. We can use tabs for PMs, but it would be great if a PM would be in bold until we open it.
The new number of updates is really useful, because it's less possible to miss something.
The gift thing seems to be fair =^..^=

Oh and I support Timber's idea about challenges tracking.

AAAAAH! EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS BOLDED!!

*rocks back and forth in a corner*

I'm not a fan of the new backroom. My run on theo was pretty much: Check for comments, press space bar, check for world updates. Now there's so much clicking involved.

The bold thing needs to get fixed and pronto, gave me a heart attack when I saw it for the first time.

@kittens 3:

Okay, so I wasn't the only one concerned with this. This bothers me to no end - especially since I have this thing called "a life" and cannot be on every second of the day. :

I'm not digging one of the new updates, hate to say Bossanova-kun. When I would refresh, getting to see everything I had not read/saw on one page was really nice. Getting more updates could come in handy, but I, like many people, easily forget things and if I'm away for a while, I might not remember which update I had viewed last. Having all my notifications and subscription updates on one page was so handy because I didn't have to check between two separate pages for my comments, member content and categorized updates. Also, five minutes for bolded updates is made of fail, even for someone who is on constantly like me. D:

I love the separation. <33 And being able to see 100 updates is stellar. *__* But I agree! I can't see the updates...since apparently it's only 5 minutes after they updated? So yeah, that should be tweaked...maybe back to how it was. The gifts thing is nice, although then people can be obnoxious and display a billion gifts and take up their whole portfolio, lol, so maybe an even limit should be set. Um, but otherwise, these are great improvements!! ^^

Oh, and I agree with Timber on the challenge updates...that would be an amazing addition. So keep that in mind. ;D

When i wake up from sleeping for hours, i usually plan to go check my bold updates. Since they're only bold for 5 minutes now, its hard to tell what happened during my slumber. Also, I think it'd be a great if you made it so we had a choice between them being on one page, or on two pages like now.

Thanks for the gift change and the quiz stuff. And the backroom stuff, cuz i still sorta like it.

Nah, I just checked it and the bolding isn't working at all. I made an update to my Tales world just about two minutes ago and it never bolded in the Updates when I checked the subscribed categories.

The separated backroom is SOOO much more streamlined!! I like it!!

Mkay, feedback from Timber.

I'm pretty much neutral on all 3. I don't love them, but I don't hate them. They feel kind of unnecessary to me, honestly.

A crit on the bolding: It looks like you have it so updates are only bolded for 5 minutes after they happen. I think the way it used to work was better, since most of us cannot check our updates every minute of every day. People who can have bigger problems than missing an update. It's a nice thought, but the application seems a little poor.

Overall, though, like I said, these updates feel a bit unnecessary, when there are other updates that we need that are more practical than aesthetic.

Like the ability to track Challenges. We've been needing that since Challenges were implemented. It would be nice for us to be able to see all challenges we're interested in one spot, and to be able to go back and find them easily when we want to check how they're progressing or when they're ending. This is especially necessary with fan art Challenges, just because of the sheer amount of them.
PM notification for Challenge creators would also be a nice update. Also, after we get Challenge tracking, a nice update farther down the line would be PM notification when a Challenge you're watching is about to end.
I am going to keep nagging you about this until it gets implemented, so you don't forget. >>

Now I can't see what updates are new that I haven't looked at yet :(

Otherwise, meh. Doesn't really matter to me all that much. The only thing is that, yes, this does make it seem less...tidy I guess the word is.

EDIT: After using it for a while, I have to admit that the loading a second page to see updates seems like an extra hassle. It's especially annoying for people like me that are on dial-up.

@Rachmaninoff:

i know why it wasnt working, at least i think i do. the highlighted part only happens IF u see it within the first five minutes of the original post and within that timeframe alone. So if something is posted that would be shown in ur backroom, it would be highlighted in the first 5 minutes of the post, NOT when u see ur backroom next.

that make sense? cause thats my problem with this, anyway. and its mostly just a guess as to what is happening.

-7thEvaChild

The backroom will take some getting used to, but I like it.

Hm, I think it's pretty okay!
I was freaked out tho before reading this update.

Like Rach, I noticed the highlighting of new posts wasn't working anymore. It would be nice if you could fix that because it makes it easier to figure out what's new.

Nice. Though for some reason the highlighting isn't working for me. I went to my backroom and when I switched to the other tab, nothing was highlighted.

Other than that, having more makes it easier to see everything instead of needing to use the filter so much to see what you missed the other day.

@Katana:

I feel the same way as you do, honestly...

@Katana:

I actually like this setup better. I would do the same thing as you would, but it was irritating sometimes to go to the backroom and have to scroll down a page to get to the new updates, especially when examining the new comments would unbold the new updates.

Of course, that's been fixed now, but still, many people have been asking for a world update section itself, and while this isn't quite yet what they want (listed by friend name and last date updated), it's getting there.

one moar tab to load the next time i go into the backroom TT.TT

EDIT: And thanx for the removal of displayed gift limit! And I noticed you increased the length of 'Member Subscription' updates from 50 to 100. Thanx for that too!

I really liked everything on one page. It was like a tidy little bundle - I can check my notifications, scroll down, see any updates, bam, nice and simple.