New Format of BCO is a DISASTER

I want to add...I HATE the whole new profile format. I liked it when I could see my former posts, and where I had been recently so I didn't have to look it up. I could just click there and follow the threads I was then interested in. Now I would have to go find them which isn't always easy to do.

I hate that I lost my bio, and the suggested reading is not necessary as I can find what I want on my friend google.

Joy, I just found it. I am happier. Thank you. Is this going to be something someone going to my profile or clicking onto my name will easily find?

Yes, Evebarry.  I just clicked on your name and your full biography is there for reading. 

 **Mods - again for emphasis, note the issue with the Tx and Dx history attaching to our signature when made public.  Granted, each individual line of information can be selected to be either Public or Private, but shouldn't there be a limitation to the amount of information that can be displayed in a signature?  If the information entered is set to Private so that it does not show in the signature, can it still be viewable by others visiting my profile?

Things I've discovered since yesterday:

1. The line spacing within posts seems better -- there's sllightly more space between lines. Last night, the lines seemed crowded together, but today, they're more readable.

2. The font size in this Compose box is larger.  This is much more legible, easier on the eyes.  Thanks!

3. The bio's are back, or maybe they never left. Someone upstream explained how to find your own bio, by going to your "Settings" and scrolling down a few lines.  You can check to see what your bio looks like to others (sort of) by checking theirs. Just click on someone's username, and you'll be taken to their Profile page. The page contains an avatar, some familiar info and links, the bio, tx & dx data, and a bunch of recent posts. That's pretty much what we saw before on a member's page; only now the layout seems cleaner (IMHO). I find these new Profile pages easy to read. The odd thing is that I can't see what my own page looks like to others -- all I can see is the list of individual entries on that page. Oh, well... I took pretty much everything off there anyway, for security reasons.

4. You can permanently remove those unwanted links to "Recommended Articles," but it's tedious.  First, you have to send each article to your "Archive".  (Wouldn't it be nice to be able to do this in batches -- with check boxes -- or, as a whole file?) Then you need to go to your "Archive" page (see the link at the bottom of your Profile page), and "Delete" each article.  That removes the link permanently. It's crazy that there is no way to batch these, but it did relieve some of my tension to be clicking that "Delete" button 49 times.

5. The algorithm being used to select articles for us is ignorant.  Only half a dozen of the 49 articles offered to me had anything to do with my type of cancer.  Almost all the articles dealt with treatment, even though I haven't entered any info on my "Treatments" page and likely never will.  As others have noted, many of the articles recommended for me were irrelevant -- they talked about new treatments for advanced BC, treatments for mets, management of triple-negative BC, management of node-positive BC or micromets, etc., none of which I had.  BCO, if you're going to continue to send us articles against our wishes, you could at least try to make them relevant. Megadotz's suggestions are great:  provide a "Clear all articles" button (and/or checkboxes and batched deletion), and offer us the ability to opt out of the articles entirely.

6. I finally found the “Community Rules” and links to personal pages ("Member List," "My Favorite Topics," “Private Messages” etc.), but it wasn’t easy. They were listed among a row of links at the very bottom of each Discussion Board page; and they were also available via the “Menu” button – that big, blue button at the top right-hand corner of the Board pages.  Some of those links ought to be front-and-center in the wasted space at the top of each Board page.  (It's crazy to have to search with multiple clicks for the Community Rules and the Favorites list.)  It’s interesting that the list of links to the Rules, Private Messages, Favorite Topics, etc., can only be found via the “Discussion Boards” pages -- not via the "My Profile" page.  The links at the bottom of the "My Profile" page and the Menu items available via that page are totally different -- they lead back to the general BCO educational part of the website. Why?

7. I turned off all email notification except for new PM's, which I've always had "on".  I haven't received any emails from BCO since the change-over yesterday.  We'll see.

8. There seem to be huge inconsistencies in what different members are seeing on their computer screens.  People keep talking about a blank space or gray bar on the left side of their screen, but there is no blank space on either side of my screen.  The text spans fully across the page, edge-to-edge.  Maybe that’s a Mac thing -- more than 95% of the time, I'm using BCO on a MacBook Pro laptop with Firefox.  And, people are recommending that the "navigation tabs" be moved back to the top of the page.  What navigation tabs?  There is a breadcrumb trail across the top of each Board page, as there used to be (and for which I’m grateful)… but, I'm not seeing any tabs.  Has this new Board format been tested with all the commonly used browsers?

It's almost lunchtime here in the Central Time Zone. I hope our Mods aren't feeling too battered. It seemed they were really optimistic about the changes, but most of the feedback has been negative.  I'm sorry for that.

otter

How the heck do you see a Jump to a Forum box?  My screen is bright white - and the posts go from edge to edge.  I don't have a drop down box to get to a certain forum

Otter - I have just a regular desktop computer that I use.  I go through Internet Explorer - not Firefox.

I wish the background of the posts could be changed to a very light blue or something.  This bright white is killing my eyes - literally I get a headache if I stay on here for too long and my eyes start going blurry as they get tired trying to adjust to the brightness.

I'm glad I'm not the only one! It's confusing as hell in here!  I really feel for the newbies, I don't know how they navigate on this site.  Yesterday it kept saying there were a number of new updates to my favorite topics...when there were none.  I'm left wondering, were there and the threads weren't updating or was it a glitch in the notification system.  That's not even my issue.  Navigating is pointless.  Too much work.  I'm glad my mastectomy ladies started a private FB group.  But that leaves the newbies to fend for themselves.

Bring back the old format!

Michelle

The new colors make it difficult to read. I find the new color scheme very sterile and depressing. The old colors were bright and cheerful & there was more contrast.

I have cleared my cache, logged out & logged back in & the notifications for new topics is still wrong. It always shows that I have 5 more favorite threads with unread  replies than I actually do,

Please find a way for us to opt out of recommended articles. There are 32 articles recommended for me & the vast majority do not apply to me at all. The topics recommended include fertility, pregnancy, HER +, stage IV---it is a big random mess of topics that have nothing to do with me or my diagnosis. I don't want to save them or archive them & I have no intention of reading them. I don't like that I can't get rid of the notification at the top of the page.

I liked the old "My Home" because that is what it was--everything I wanted to access easily was right there on that page. 

Consider adding a feature to hide sig lines. With the new diagnosis/treatment/surgery info some sig lines are ridiculously long. Why not just keep that stuff in someone's profile or give us the option. I don't need to see all of your medical history in every single post--if I need a refresher I can see it in your profile. 

I thought I was going crazy yesterday because I couldn't log on to BCO.  When I finally did I was like, "What happened?"  Couldn't find anything ... I've learned to maneavur around pretty well but I'll add my voice to what others have mentioned:

1)  I hate the color.  It is sterile and reminds me of the room where my mom received her chemo.  Colors can have a powerful effect on our emotional well being and the greenish/gray color is depressing.  I can't stand it!

2)  I too don't like the large gray area to the left ... it is disorienting to the eye because I want to read and write from the left to write ... not from the middle.  It is just weird.

3)   The scrolling, scrolling, scrolling to find anything is time consuming and frustrating.  The other format at least you could see more and didn't have to scroll as much.  This current layout is cumbersome and not efficient.  It is actually HARDER to find the information, not the intent, I'm sure of the programmers.