The new format for HRhero.com

I was out sick for a couple of days, and it's taken me most of today to catch up on the discussion about the redesign of HRhero.com. (:| Let me explain what is - and isn't - going on. This may be more than you want to know, but maybe not.

Several of us at HRhero.com have been working on the redesign for a while. Our focus was NOT the Employers Forum but the hundreds of other pages on the website. The changes that occurred to the Forum were incidental and, in some cases, accidental.

You see, every website has a master set of coding and programming that determines how all of its pages look. In addition, Forum pages have their own set of complex codes. (To see for yourself, go up to the menu bar on Internet Explorer, click on "View," then click on "Source." You'll see a bunch of mumbo-jumbo that's the coding for the web page you're looking at.) x:-/

When we changed the master coding for the redesign, it had some unexpected effects #-o on the software that runs Employers Forum. As you told us about glitches, our technical folks (Jim Robb, Brad Forrister, and Brian Holaway) tried to fix them as fast as they could.

I think they fixed most of the problems and are working on the rest. Please be patient. If you still see any glitches next week, let us know.

While we welcome your opinions about the website, please don't make personal attacks on others, whether they're HRhero.com staff or Forumites who disagree with you. I had to delete a couple of inappropriate posts today and several others in recent weeks. We can disagree without being disagreeable.

For the record, here's an update on a bunch of glitches:

- The text of messages look brown: It's black, really. But it's a thin font, which makes it look brown on some computers.

- Messages are in small type or change colors: Mostly fixed.

- Links look funny: We changed them to be blue if you haven't clicked on it, brownish-greenish if you have.

- Who's that lady on the masthead: That's not a photograph - it's a tiny mirror. x:o

- The blue menu bar overlaps other stuff: We fixed most of these glitches and are looking at the rest of the issues.

- Emotion icons: Fixed.

- About that lady on the masthead.... OK, it's not a mirror. It's just a stock photo. No one we know.

- I have to log in when I didn't used to: Fixed.

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

Comments

  • 15 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Welcome back James. Thanks for the information. We forumites really enjoy this tool. The ability to communicate with each other, checking our thinking, sharing our successes and failures, and being able to laugh with one another is rewarding. We probably have a sense of 'ownership' that is not logical, and when the unexpected changes began to effect our use of this tool, we reacted with frustration.

    Not understading why the changes were being made and not having any communication regarding those changes was part of the issue. We all understand the importance of communication within our workplaces. We learn these lessons the hard way when we have to deal with staff who are upset and don't understand what is happening when big changes hit their lives.

    We often chastise one another in what can be viewed as a harsh manner. Particularly when one is on the receiving end, but for the most part our intentions are good, if not always noble.

    Thanks again and bear with us. We value the forum.

    P.s. The voices in my head are telling me to use the 'we' language, I would never advocate speaking for others.
  • Thanks for your support, Marc. I feel kinda bad that I wasn't here to help with the first two days. Come to think of it, though, I couldn't have fixed ANY of the technical glitches that arose. xflash

    As for your sense of ownership of the Forum - that's a good thing. From Day 1, we wanted the Forum to grow into a real community, and it has. In the big picture, having a bunch of complaints is a lot better than apathy.

    And you'll notice that I put some FAQs about the design on the main page of the website, [url]www.HRhero.com[/url] . (Thanks for the idea for the headline, Paul!)

    James Sokolowski
    HRhero.com
  • Really appreciate your response. Things are better today. xclap Thanx..
    On a personal basis, I had more laughs from the other forumites because of the changes. Now, can you do something about that lady. x;-)
  • The Forum looks much better this morning. Glad you got everything worked out. Thanks for your explanation. x:-)
  • James, thanks for taking the time to explain. For me, it was like coming home and finding everything disheveled.
    Oh, you are not allowed to get sick anymore. Ya hear??
  • JUST FYI: the blue menu problem has not been fixed yet. Know you have lots of problems to address, but this one is really annoying.

    Thanks for letting us know the situation and that you are working on fixing problems.
  • I think one of my posts was too harsh in retrospect and for that I apologise.
    I am an addict of this forum and I believe I went into severe withdrawal.
    You could still get rid of the lady and the yellow banner please, pretty please?. Just a suggestion, no offense, really, that's all.
    Thanks for the update!
  • >You could still get rid of the lady and the
    >yellow banner please, pretty please?. Just a
    >suggestion, no offense, really, that's all.

    But please, James, by all that is sacred do NOT replace her with a picture of Don D!!!

    For the really big posts, I agree with another suggestion made by someone else - a "next post" button would be nice to save from scrolling up and down. x:-)



  • I like what Marc had to say in his post & I echo it. James, you say the text is really black - it just appears brown because it's a thin font. Can you change the font to a thicker one then? It's still very hard to read. Thank you.
  • So, before walking away, he told you the font is really black, it just appears brown. So, it's a perception thing. Oh.
  • Well, actually, we had two things going on. Before James got back, there was some navigational text - not the message text itself - that was a color I called "brown" but Brian says was some sort of brick red. That color has been sacked. The message text itself is now black, although for a while it was part black and part blue.

    Brad Forrister
    Director of Publishing
    M. Lee Smith Publishers


  • [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 11-14-03 AT 02:05PM (CST)[/font][br][br]For the record, I still think the message text looks brown on my screen. But it's really black. Brian Holaway checked the coding to confirm that it's black. And if you make the text on your screen really big, then even I, James "Mr. Magoo" Sokolowski, can tell it's black. (To make your text big on Internet Explorer, go up to the menu bar, click on "View" then "Text size" then "Largest.")

    [font size="5"][b]Here's the regular message font, really big and bold.[/b][/font]
    [font color="990000"]This is brown.[/font]
    This is the regular color of messages, which looks black when it's next to brown. Then again, I'm getting new glasses.

    James Sokolowski
    HRhero.com
  • Those of you still seeing overlapping menus - Shadowfax, others? - are you looking at it in a browser that's open at full screen? And what's your screen resolution - 800x600 or lower? (You find this on Windows by right-clicking on the desktop, clicking on Properties, then clicking on the Settings tab, then looking at the screen resolution box)

    Brad Forrister
    Director of Publishing
    M. Lee Smith Publishers


  • Mine doesn't start to overlap until I try to post a reply, then I get this tiny posting screen and an overlap half the time. It comes and goes. This is beginning to sound like the guy at the new car place. When you take your new car back for a problem, he says, "Oh, they're all gonna do that."
  • That does not happen when I reply, but my settings conform to Brad's suggestion. It seems to be working fine again on this end.
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