I don't really have any decent suggestions beyond what's already been said. There does seem to be a lot of pointless sections that could be gotten rid of. Tosche Station has too many sections. It could all really be under one heading with maybe a stickie up top outlining what can be posted. Same thing with the bootleg section. It doesn't need three sub sections. The Sales Forum should be moved up under the Vintage Chat section.

It also seems to me that the customs and bootleg threads were more active before they got their own homes a few years ago. I noticed as soon as the custom section was created the amount of new content pretty much died. Not sure if it was the guys making stuff moving on to other things or because it wasn't on the section that's visited most. Same with the bootlegs section. There was usually a decent amount of stuff going on in it's own thread but as soon as it got a home of it's own it died off.

I always liked the scrolling banner with the little facts.

Oh and this place needs a Hulk section

Stickies are odd beasts because you want to put them up there to highlight (especially to new members) important threads, but they do seem to get missed a lot even though a new post alert within a stickie gets a 'new post' light the same as any other post.

Out of all the Mods here I've surely been the most guilty of making stickie threads But I promise to calm down now, honest  As others have suggested it'll probably work better to have a 'main' stickie containing some of the more important threads. We have one in the TIG Content and reference library section but it's probably been missed as with other stuff here. I'd tend to agree now after consideration that we have way too many sections going on overall.

@Rich - hi Rich, thanks for posting and for the offer of any Devs to link up with the podcast. I hope you get some takers and maybe you'd like to talk about the Vintage Rebellion Podcast here at TIG and promote the good work you and the other guys have done? Feel free to make a thread.

Regarding the Project Outside The Box thread for vehicles, play-sets etc,.. it's been on hiatus for a while but I'm looking to get that moving again soon with new entries. The thread can be found as a stickie in Vintage Chat.

Richard_H wrote:

Finally, we've had Paul on our podcast before if any TIG developers want to come on and talk about an update/revamp and sell TIG then by all means let me know.  

cheers
Rich

Rich - I'd like to see TIG interact more as well. I think forums in general need exposure. If you want to discuss that as a topic I'd be interested

I've never had a problem with the site layout and the stickies have always made things easy to find. And I always see the new posts. But I use a home computer. It takes just seconds to scroll through the whole site.

I guess my question would be, is the site layout an issue with smart phones & tablet (iPad) users?

I just refreshed the main page and noticed the changes.

Commander Clint wrote:

I just refreshed the main page and noticed the changes.

Just trying a slimmer look. Thoughts?

It definitely slims down the main page. But I'm not sure if it made any real changes. I still have to follow the hierarchy of sub sections to find the threads being discussed.

I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks.

Definitely a lot easier on the eye and the classifieds is more noticeable but I hope you will take this constructively, the main thing I've noticed is that you have just hidden the sub forums from view rather than integrate them into chat. I notice the bootlegs are still separate even though there hasn't been a post in any of the 3 sub sections in 3 months. And same goes for customising. I didn't find figure of the week so presume that went back into vintage chat? I think the key thing should be integrating some of the sub sections back into chat with the aim of invigorating the conversation a bit more. Simply moving and hiding the sub forums won't achieve that.

Anyway hope my comments are taken constructively and you don't think I'm being picky. It's just one opinion and others may not agree. I'm just trying to offer some honest feedback.

I liked the old forum menu before all the subsections started appearing.

Clint and Oli, this is just a start to what we have been discussing. We are still discussing what to combine and where. far from finished at the moment, but the front page will likely show like this with only main sections present.

I went looking for the FOTWs as well Oli- top of the reference section

I like it , but the old way was good too. I think more condensed is a bit easier to use though

You may have noticed a new main section on the front page. It is still being talked about, but I think tosche station is going to be incorporated into that new section with some other stuff possibly.

The main thing I want everyone to notice and speak on at the moment is the vintage chat section. Thanks to the hard work of Paul and the voices of our members we have a new sticky that took all the old ones and linked them all on one page. I think this really improves the look of the main vintage chat page and Paul really hit a homerun on that.

I don't even see the Tosche station anymore ?

Frankly , I don't care for the changes . From what I can see they are being made to please people with smart phones and as I only use my home computer I have no need or use for the changes .

ourchickenshack wrote:

I don't even see the Tosche station anymore ?

Frankly , I don't care for the changes . From what I can see they are being made to please people with smart phones and as I only use my home computer I have no need or use for the changes .

You cant see tosche station? :scratch: When you click the home tab on the top bar it isn't the second main category? It is showing up for me, I wonder if others have this issue? Can you see the new Jabba section?

ourchickenshack wrote:

I don't even see the Tosche station anymore ?

Frankly , I don't care for the changes . From what I can see they are being made to please people with smart phones and as I only use my home computer I have no need or use for the changes .

James - Can you do a screenshot? I want to see what you're looking at. It should be there!

I like it, but still no Hulk section

I see it now

kisstour03 wrote:

I like it, but still no Hulk section

Paul, just open a "Hulk awesome" thread or something in the off topic section and it won't take long to fill it with loads of Hulk goodness



Here's a comic cover to get you in the mood



and more here:

http://thevintagetoyadvertiser.org/2014/12/30/the-mighty-world-of-marvel-incredible-hulk-cover-art/

I have been myself very quiet lately on the forum. I have to admit I did spent a load of time on FB. Such a shame honestly. I just agreed (with myself) that I will always from now on post things first on this forum, where everything started (at least for me). Just to be fair and maybe give it a kick. I am mostly using FB to sell stuff as it is really working good for that! Long live to TIG

I just joined! I hope it's not too quiet on here.

Long time since i visit tig
I guess facebook helps my sw fix on daily basis

I just discovered the FB page for TIG. Either I am not clicking on the right places, or the FB page doesn't seem like it is taking away that much traffic from the web site. I think there is just a lull in the action right now. I am on ebay everyday searching for figures I need, and for the last couple of months, the amount and quality of vintage stuff has dried up. People may just be busy right now, or waiting until it gets closer to the movie to pick up again.

beachboy19 wrote:

I just discovered the FB page for TIG.  Either I am not clicking on the right places, or the FB page doesn't seem like it is taking away that much traffic from the web site.  

No you're spot on. We want the FB page to simply be a way to get people interested in the site and come to the forum. Ultimately, we want the content right here

That is kind of what it seemed to me. The FB page is nice because it has some highlights of what is going on, but for long discussions or real reference content, the site is superior.

Another thing to think about, and I am new so I don't know about all the political stuff that went down, is that all the "old timers" may have just about all the vintage items they have been trying to get so the need to post has decreased. An influx of newbies like myself who have really just ramped up their vintage collecting is what we need around here. I've been collecting toys in general since the early '90's, but I decided to get serious about my vintage Star Wars stuff in January of this year. That got me here and eventually to sign up to be a forum member.

Just wanted to bump this again. We changed the layout again, moving some stuff like the classifieds up, made it so more was on the main home page and not having so many subsections hidden within a section. There are still some sections broken down a bit further like the tosche station, and the outer realm. I think it is good the way we have it now and a lot easier to find everything, but let us know what you think.

Also if you haven't seen the thread about it, an easier way to post pics has been discovered, and for Facebook guys you can log in using Facebook. If you are a new guy set up your account using the Facebook login, but if you are a guy with an account already you can go into your profile and on the Preferences tab which is the second tab in your profile, there is an associate Facebook account option which will then allow you to use the Facebook account login. Since the Facebook option is rather new the mods with Facebook are still figuring out how the likes and all that sort of stuff translates to the forum.