RaceDepartment New Website Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

RaceDepartment.com will be down on Wednesday 30th October, as we look to bring a fresh new image to the largest sim racing website in the world.

Having undergone considerable growth and change in the last decade and a bit, we feel the time is right to take our website to the next level of presentation and functionality. On the evening of Wednesday 30th October (approx 22:00 UTC) we will close access to www.racedepartment.com for much of the night, as we upload and launch our brand new website!

We anticipate access will be restricted for around 12 hours, but if you still need that essential sim racing fix, take the opportunity to check us out on our various Social Media platforms, which can be accessed via the below links.

See you all on the other side!

 

[Neilski]

Post rating is missing dislike and disagree, the only way to show your disapproval is to get angry. But I am not.
Also agree would be helpful, sometimes you agree with something that you don't like much.

I totally agree with this bit, but I could only "like" your post

And post titles font is too large.

I think it's just right, personally

 

[aphidgod]

So far so good, by and large. The proliferation of redirects on mobile is alarming, but that's not a design issue as such.

Couple things that are... no heading separating sticky threads from active threads really clutters up the subforums. Mod type tags that aren't fixed-width being placed in front of thread titles brings everything out of left-justification which, again, clutters things up. And having the "post thread" button + instructions/"watch" button section at the top of the page on mobile creates a situation where 2/3 of the screen is wasted space and headers, with actual content barely present at the bottom. Again, just feels shabby.

The layout of posts and threads once you get out of the indices and into the threads is an improvement, so well done there.

Stop ----ing with the reaction buttons.

My professional background is in layout design, for-print rather than online, but the principles are the same. Not just some grumpy punter here. There are design issues. (Mostly just some details, though. I don't think you've ruined the site.)

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I wish I could agree with your post, but I can't .
Admins: please add Agree / Disagree...

These buttons were reset to default by the forum software upgrade and for now they stay as they are, want to see how it evolves.

The agree and disagree was never a good button to start with. The agree i can live with but the disagree is being used wrongly most of the times in discussions. When you hit a disagree button you are supposed to leave a reply explaining why you disagree and add some arguments to backup your statement.

People just hitting disagree without engaging in discussions is just annoying and unsuited for a discussion board. That said apart from the like, most buttons are pretty pointless imo.

 

[Insert Coin]

A 'Thanks' button would be nice.

 

[Insert Coin]

These buttons were reset to default by the forum software upgrade and for now they stay as they are, want to see how it evolves.

The agree and disagree was never a good button to start with. The agree i can live with but the disagree is being used wrongly most of the times in discussions. When you hit a disagree button you are supposed to leave a reply explaining why you disagree and add some arguments to backup your statement.

People just hitting disagree without engaging in discussions is just annoying and unsuited for a discussion board. That said apart from the like, most buttons are pretty pointless imo.

The same problems will arise with the current Wow (is this positive or negative?), Sad (same) and Angry (...) buttons I'm afraid.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I don't disagree with that. The only reason I have kept them on for now is that people are used to these ones from Facebook.

But ideally we should use text instead of icons.

 

[Slapped]

People just hitting disagree without engaging in discussions is just annoying and unsuited for a discussion board. That said apart from the like, most buttons are pretty pointless imo.

As a former forum admin I agree wholeheartedly. Dislike, disagree, etc, buttons just end up being used vindictively and don't bring anything positive to online communities.

I know I'm new here, so take what I say with a pinch of salt, but I've found that having a singular simple like or agree button is the best way. it certainly was for the community I was involved with.

 

[24heuresdejeux]

I noticed that with the upgrade the homepage RSS feed is gone. Will there be some fixes to bring it back again?

 

[couri]

Where is the video section? Miss the old layout ..

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Where is the video section? Miss the old layout ..

Under the media tab in the navigation bar. Exact same spot as before.

 

[sc4dr]

Please please give us better rating emojis......Pretty please?

 

[Nuno Rodrigues]

where is the calendar???

 

[emiljensen2]

Perhaps move the download button into the content navigation bar? It's way far right compared to everything else, it's above the ads.

for example.

 

[Neilski]

Perhaps move the download button into the content navigation bar? It's way far right compared to everything else, it's above the ads.
View attachment 333920
for example.

Yes, this is on the list

 

[Fat-Alfie]

There is a 420 character limit on profile messages (or at least, on replies to profile messages) but the text editor allows you to enter more than 420 chars. You then have to try and guess how much of your message to delete.

Could we either have a 420 character window to work within, or remove the character limit?

Great job on the new website, though - thanks for all your hard work

 

[Neilski]

Could we either have a 420 character window to work within, or remove the character limit?

Good point - given that there's a limit, I don't know why there isn't either a display showing the character-count, or a limit to what you're allowed to type. Will look into it, though one of my colleagues may already know the answer of course

 

[still_guns]

Googles How do I undo someone else's decision?

 

[couri]

Under the media tab in the navigation bar. Exact same spot as before.

Yes, but not separated by simulator as before, the whole site is a mess of pollution with ads and content. Unfortunately. At least the PC viewing here in Brazil is terrible, it was my daily visits site, but now it's unpleasant.

 

[Andy Kettler]

Is there a dark mode that can be activated somehow ?

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Is there a dark mode that can be activated somehow ?

No (not yet), currently there is only a light one.