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!

 

[shadow118]

Desktop is always number 1, this isn’t finished yet. Things will evolve.

Any chance there will be a dark mode?

 

[Paul Glover]

Any chance there will be a dark mode?

yes. But it will take some time.

 

[shadow118]

yes. But it will take some time.

Cool, good to know it's coming eventually.

Another question, how do you add a signature? Is that a premium only option? I can't seem to find any place to enter it in the Account details.
And another thing I noticed (that was already before the redesign) - when you enter your youtube/steam/etc nickname in the profile, shouldn't it show as a clickable link, when viewing ones profile? At least that's how I interpret this line - If this field contains only the channel ID (e.g. "yourchannelID") it will be interpreted as a .../user/ URL.

 

[Keith_G]

Not really a fan of the images concept but I'm old so who cares. However I am wondering what happened to the online races that were listed on the front page? Do I have to go to each forum to see what races are happening this week and I also don't see the calendar. Is there is an easier way to see what is happening online and I am just missing it. @Paul Glover -Thanks if you or someone can point me in the right direction.

 

[Paul Glover]

Cool, good to know it's coming eventually.

Another question, how do you add a signature? Is that a premium only option? I can't seem to find any place to enter it in the Account details.
And another thing I noticed (that was already before the redesign) - when you enter your youtube/steam/etc nickname in the profile, shouldn't it show as a clickable link, when viewing ones profile? At least that's how I interpret this line - If this field contains only the channel ID (e.g. "yourchannelID") it will be interpreted as a .../user/ URL.

signature I think is premium only, on the other points I have no idea! it will be looked at I’m sure.

 

[Paul Glover]

Not really a fan of the images concept but I'm old so who cares. However I am wondering what happened to the online races that were listed on the front page? Do I have to go to each forum to see what races are happening this week and I also don't see the calendar. Is there is an easier way to see what is happening online and I am just missing it. @Paul Glover -Thanks if you or someone can point me in the right direction.

Calendar is currently offline, it will be back. Needs some work

 

[Paul Glover]

signature I think is premium only, on the other points I have no idea! it will be looked at I’m sure.

On this, added to the long list of stuff to look at. Had it confirmed.

 

[alexSchmurtz]

Honestly if it ain't broke don't fix it

Bram mentioned it earlier in this thread: support for the previous forum software is about to end, making the move mandatory:

However the main reason for us this time is that our forum software reaches end of life, by the end of December there will be no more patches coming for it by the developers and as we hold safety of our user's details and data in high regard we have to jump to the newest version of the software, which will happen today.

Getting the site up and running as quickly as possible without any data loss was the first task; it seems it went rather well. Getting back all the additional functionalities that have been added through the years will take a few days, then it will also be possible to add new ones. Believe me, there is a lot of things going on in the background, just be a bit patient please.
The images were also done for the old layout, hopefully it will look simpler and nicer once we take into account the new forum.

 

[Scarystuff]

I can't see the download size on a mod with the new layout (which I otherwise like).

Attached example

 

[Manuel Alves]

Where is the race calendar?

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

My only complaint is I now feel guilty not having the premium account and it looks like I am a loiterer hanging around a bus stop like a 10 dollar hooker.

Eh, wouldn't that fit with the avatar?

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I actually like the change. I am one of those that really, really, really hate change. I was prepared to struggle for a month or two now. But I like it. I feel the jumping to pages thing will take some time to learn, and I am sure some colors could be somewhat tweaked. I mean, gray "post reply" button kinda tells me that the button doesn't work, or at least that I cannot post a reply.

I wonder if I am changing as well... I actually really like the new Steam UI as well.

 

[Recycle Bin]

I hate the new UI, looks too squished yet too bloated compared to old one. Also where is the beer and dislike buttons? Way too much unused whitespace aswell.

 

[Warren Schembri]

Overall the site is nice but there is so much empty space on the left and right side. Especially on the download page it makes things so compact

Currently, its this

when to me this is better. Ok you do not need to use the whole width but there is no need to restrict the body to a max width of 1250px

Version 3

 

[cerebralvortex]

Version 3 FTW !

 

[Ghoults]

I'm still sufferíng a bit from "it's differentis" but I don't really have much to complain so far. I'll start from the most important thing. We lost the beer icon. How does that happen? Shame on you. Here's the rest of my thoughts:

- vertical spacing is a bit too much between thread titles. I'd prefer to have more topics visible at once. I think the default font is bigger than it was before? I'd prefer slightly smaller font and less spacing so you can see more threads at a glance. I can zoom out to make it smaller but would prefer not to
- I'd really prefer to see the emote icons visible at all times and not be hidden under like button. I think having agree and disagree buttons were useful. I don't really see why have both wow and love buttons though? It is basically the same thing. The haha will probably get abused at some point.
- no page numbers for threads. I'd really like to have buttons so I can jump directly to page 6 (from page 8) from this page for example
- jump to newest post button next to thread title in the thread list. I liked that in the old forum.
- mark stickied threads more clearly so they are easily distinguishable and maybe slightly separated from normal threads
- add different icons for thread tags. For example on ac modding forums there are tags for cars, tracks, apps and so forth. A color coding would be nice for those tags and a way to sort them. Blue for physics, white for general, red for apps, black for cars, green for tracks, yellow for skins and purple of sounds for example.
- colors are not intuitive. For example as I am writing thise the Save button is grey. Typically grey means a button is disabled or non-functional. I think it should be the same blue as the other buttons. And grey button color should be for disabled buttons imho.
- there is no way to find a list of threads I have created? I can find my posts but if I wanted to post something in a mod thread I've made earlier it is a bit annoying having to search for it manually..

 

[Insert Coin]

I miss the "New posts" on the top bar, now I have to click twice to get there.

 

[alexSchmurtz]

I miss the "New posts" on the top bar, now I have to click twice to get there.

On desktop if you click directly "What's new" in the top bar, you get all the latest posts, you don't have to go in the submenu. Unless I'm missing something?

 

[Insert Coin]

On desktop if you click directly "What's new" in the top bar, you get all the latest posts, you don't have to go in the submenu. Unless I'm missing something?

You only see 10 new posts. To see all of them you have to click on "View more...", but then you see the same 10 new posts again so you have to scroll.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I mean, gray "post reply" button kinda tells me that the button doesn't work, or at least that I cannot post a reply.

True, the entire color palette needs work on still but is low priority for now. First the big things and then the smaller tweaks will follow.

In short: it's on the list