I miss the old DU3...

[ClearSky24]

Last edited Sun Oct 22, 2023, 11:19 PM - Edit history (1)

Cannot get used to this new design with gray and black colors. It's depressing to look at. Also, there's too much white.

For comparison, take a look at how much better the old version looked:

https://web.archive.org/web/20231015081014/https://democraticunderground.com/

[Timewas]

1. try

Skinner mode

[Hannahcares]

2. Miss old DU

Me too! Too much white space, difficult to read, don’t know where to find what I want, hard to see what’s current!
74 years old - DU member since Bush v Gore.
Formerly DU had breaking news hours if not days before Wapo and others
Now can’t even find what’s new…
Thinking of dropping…Peace, Hannah

[ItsjustMe]

3. For now, this link is working.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/

[elleng]

5. THANKS.

[Disaffected]

6. THat looks like Skinner Mode

rather than DU3(?).

[highplainsdem]

10. It is a DU3 page, but the link being used to reach it is the link to that page on DU2.

And if you click on any links on that page, they take you to DU4. And you'll see the Navigate and My Stuff buttons back at the top of the page.

I have NO idea why a link used for DU2 takes you from DU4 to that DU3 page.

[elleng]

4. Ditto.

[Quixote1818]

7. The only thing I wish would change is putting the latest videos back on the home page. nt

[Rebl2]

8. Agree!

[Raine]

9. I agree, DU3 so much nicer in looks and easier

to use.

[Bucky]

11. The colors were nice

You have a good point

[ratchiweenie]

29. Yes. Before it was an attractive website. Now it's black and white. Nothing to draw the eye.

Boring. If I was a new person coming to the site I would probably skim it and move on to a more exciting looking site. Presentation is very important. I will of course continue to use DU because I am addicted to it but even I have found I don't spend quite as much time here as before.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

12. Eh. I'm good.

[UpInArms]

13. I, too, thought I would not like this change

But … given the alternatives … I love that DU continues on …

A long time ago, a friend told me

Change is coming … it is inevitable… prepare yourself to let everything go and embrace today

[bahboo]

14. it seems the front page refreshed much more often...

in DU3. Since I often use DU for news, this is an issue....

[highplainsdem]

16. What you're seeing at the top of the home page now is The Left Column, selected news stories, not

the Latest Breaking News stories that used to be there.

To find the latest of the Latest Breaking News stories, scroll down the page a bit and look for them in the right column. There are only 10 LBN stories on the home page now, and with some devices and some modes for viewing DU4, you might see only headlines, while with others you'll see the usual headlines plus snippets.

You can also find the headlines - only the headlines - of the LBN stories on the Latest Discussions page on DU4, but again, you'll have to scroll down a bit, and you'll get only the headlines, no snippets.

And if you look at the LBN page, you can click on Start Time there to change the order of the stories, which are usually shown by latest reply, to time they were posted instead, which will put them in that order.

I preferred DU3's home page, too, and have explained why, at some length, but EarlG says he isn't planning a major redesign of the DU4 home page right now. But I hope he will restore the old DU3 layout for the home page, with The Left Column not so prominent (since that's what makes it look like the page isn't updating very often) and the column of videos also restored.

[bahboo]

24. thx for this detailed reply....

[LT Barclay]

15. I don't know where this scheme is coming from. I'm just guessing, but maybe it is more phone friendly. 2 websites I shop on regularly have a similar look

and just as jarring visually and just as hard to navigate.

[highplainsdem]

17. It was done to make DU more phone friendly. There are a lot of DUers accessing this site via their phones,

and some who have only phones and don't have tablets and/or computers. And having only a phone to get online is more common with younger people and with lower-income people. So this redesign should help important groups DU needs to reach.

OTOH, I really miss DU3, too.

EarlG has said this is just the starting point, though, and he'll be making lots of changes to make the site work better for everyone.

[amazona10]

18. agree

so miss the old, don't come much now because I can't "globalize" the page with my eyes and scan quickly

[NBachers]

19. Me too

[phxjurist]

20. I miss the pictures.

[kooth]

21. Is this happening to you?

I don't know if there is a setting I'm missing, but when you have read a story (clicked on a link) it should change color to let you know that you have seen a particular link. This doesn't happen on my screen. Anyone else?

[Q1305]

22. agree

[MAJones]

23. Yes

There was so much information on the main page before. I came away every morning feeling informed. That's gone now. The place seems bare and boring. Young people are all that counts now. I use a land line and despise cell phones. Fuck DU. They don't think I matter so fuck them.

[jfz9580m]

25. Ha..I sympathize

But even with the stylistic changes DU remains my favorite political haunt on the net..
I tried Substack a bit and I still like to support individual writers or journalists.

But at the end of the day its moderation, security etc. are opaque and apolitical (and we all know what apolitical really means from the tech side..libertarian nutcase usually).

Here at least I can be sure that no ransomware creep or meninist or qanon adjacent type can target posters absent an outright hack. Trust in the admins drives this place. Trust is increasingly the most important thing in the world to me.

That said, Substack is okay for what it is. I have never been on Twitter etc. It was my
first experience with an essentially unmoderated space. It is okay for what it is. I have mixed feelings sometimes re: excessive policing (even here most times when I vote on the "jury", I usually vote to let a post stand) but creeps aren't going to self regulate and it is just this unsolvable problem where a subset of assholes and creeps will destroy anything that is trust based.

I am okay with a lot of offensive speech/art etc. where it is an art form. What I don't like is disingenuousness-which is the problem with a lot of this libertarian bs around free speech and well a lot of shit on and off the net.

Whatever you are doing, you have to be basically honest about it..above all with yourself. Honesty forms the basis of all trust. Or it is just a series of continuously moving goalposts and false equivalences. The world we live in kills satire basically.

[brush]

26. Agreed. IMO redesigns should make things easier for users, not have them wondering how...

to do one thing, or where to find another. This redesign of course can be gotten used to, but it doesn't improve the experience for the user, which should've been a main goal.

So many functions which were right before the eye on DU3 now have to be searched for in unfamiliar navigational tabs...not ideal.

The 3-column format of DU3 could've been refreshed with new tab treatments but in familiar places, leaving all the functionality of the previous design in place and thus avoiding all the complaints and questions of "how do I do this", or where do I find this?.

Kind of like how auto designers don't throw out the distinct look of their product that has been continually refined over the years, they refresh it and evolve it further as the idea is make sure buyers, or just lookers and perhaps future buyers, know a new Mercedes or Cadillac when they see it.

[mucifer]

27. I appreciate having DU at all. I'm still on here way too much.

I think of all the work that went on here for DU now and throughout the years.

It's a amazing we have all of this for free with adds and for a relatively low price for membership, no adds.

DU is amazing!!

[Cobalt Violet]

28. Hating it.