h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've just made airline and hotel reservations so that I can meet everybody in May. Hopefully, I can bring Fluffy Pink Rabbit.

Hmm, no apostrophe problems. Does this mean the Beeb have fixed the bug or has everyone got fed up with Barlesque and switched back to the old skins?

Only one way to find out:

'


(in Barlesque)

Looks like everyone is back in old skins.

What's the point of moving to Barlesque? It only encourages them to finish it, and I'm rather hoping that the moment we're released from BBC control we can dump it and go back to the old, tested and more functional software.

Agreed we must have a reliable site or we are finished as a viable entity.

I keep trying noohootoo but until they fix the links to first/last read/most recent posts to convos it's too frustrating to use.

not been back into the new skin in ages, but I kinda thought they were meant* to be fixing all those bugs? I guess not

'I kinda thought they were meant* to be fixing all those bugs'


From the first post on this thread:

'We have a duty now to complete that work, and having a fully functioning, visually refreshed version of the site is very important in ensuring that H2G2 has a safe, secure and happy future elsewhere, wherever that may be. We will put the redirect from the old site to the new site in once that work is complete, hopefully before the end of February.'


I guess they still have a few days.


I feel quite depressed about the new thingy and I have felt that way from the moment I first saw it. To put it simply, even if it worked, I wouldn't be attracted to it if I were a newby.

But, I've continued working away: one entry in PR and two more almost ready. But I've done all the work on the old site, which says something, I think.


I'll say one thing, though: If I happened to win our lottery soon, I'd put in a bid to buy the old DNA version of hootoo and would give it a happy home, I think.

But I'd insist on dumping Barlesque.

My 'my conversations' suddenly opens new windows for everything.

It's easy to test for apostrophe problems.

>> I wouldn't be attracted to it if I were a newby <<

That makes two of us, it's a horrible colour scheme and has the ergonomics of a dead earwig. Even without the bugs I would still be using the old skin or I wouldn't be able to find half the conversations I want to read, some are about 5 pages back (10 in Barlesque).

Besides, my computer screen is my 32" TV. The size of the text on noohootoo means I have to reduce the view settings to a 70% screen size or knock down a wall of my living room to be able to sit in front of it without getting eye strain.

If they're weren't in the process of ditching the site, I'd still be wanting to know why they'd not just thrown the origional version back to the so-called design company who bestowed such an unfit for purpose pile of useless code and design apon us. Key functionality missing, not to mention the actual design itself, and such blinking obvious faults such as with smileys... Though it now appears a lot of that may have been partly the fault of the BBC for forcing the designers to 'finish on time' , looking at the news items on the BBC about critasism of BBC projects coming in over time and over budget... Its all irrelivent now, if as the powers that be have said, the community's thoughts have to be considered in any takeover, the vast vast opinion seems to be this new skin was a dead duck the moment it hit the water...

I wonder who they had responsible for giving the design company "feedback" on the new design, and how much that person/those persons actually *used* h2g2. It's hard to comprehend how they made such a positive, self-congratulatory Blog post unless either they were lying through their teeth or someone was giving them feedback saying that they had done the right things and that all was working ticketty-boo.

>> even if it worked, I wouldn't be attracted to it if I were a newby.

I would. I certainly wouldn't be *more* attracted by any of the others.

I might be attracted by the look, but only to play long enough to discover the lack of functionality.

And we could still have the look as a skin.

I must admit, I'd like the look as a skin. Burn me as a heretic.

How can anyone not like the cute dolphins?

I don't mind the dolphin.


It's the Prussian blue/Facebook/Dawkins.net look of the thing that I find troublesome. It looks like too many other places.

As far as being a heretic for liking it as a skin:


I can't very much condemn anyone to the fire -- Brunel is my favourite skin.

Yes I'm with you anhaga. I find the blue of barlesque to be bland and washed out. An ape, and a poor one at that of certain other sites. Everything h2g2 isn't. But it's all just personal opinion of course and others will think otherwise.

I'm in Brunel but have just discovered from reading another thread, that only people's suffixes are visible in Brunel, if they post from Barlesque. I'd assumed it was some sort of game people were playing, a bit like Halloween games. But

Has anyone at the BBC yet fronted up to say, 'Yes it was *my decision* to use Licence Fee payers money to employ *this company* for the makeover?

I realise that I have a responsibility to all the millions who pay for the BBC and shall certainly hold them to account to make sure the job is done properly. Anything else would be completely unacceptable. You have my word on that, and I would even be happy to put that in writing and sign that, and have it circulated and published in the media'