A reminder about the upcoming DU4 beta test

[EarlG]

This discussion thread was locked by EarlG (a host of the Announcements group).

Hi everyone,

As mentioned in my original Summer Fund Drive announcement, we plan to begin a full site open beta of our new software, DU4, on Monday September 5 (the day after Labor Day).

However, one of the perks you get for purchasing or renewing a Star Membership during this week's fund drive is early access to the beta, which will begin THIS MONDAY, August 21. Monthly subscribers will also get early access to the beta.

If you haven't yet contributed to the fund drive, there's still time!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/star

The DU4 beta will run in parallel with DU3, so while we're still in the testing phase, you can choose which version of the site you want to use.

Here are a few screenshots of what's coming next week for early access testers...

[Cha]

1. Mahalo EarlG.. So it's gong to be

on Tuesday September 5th?

[Solly Mack]

2. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[PatSeg]

3. K&R

[CTyankee]

4. Can I still renew at my usual time without penalty?

[murielm99]

8. I plan on renewing at my usual time,

in February, during heart season. I have been doing that for around twenty years and I am too old to change my ways.

[CTyankee]

18. Me, too! We older DUers can be a bit shaken by change!

[EarlG]

12. Yes, that's not a problem at all

Early access to the DU4 beta test is simply a Summer Fund Drive incentive. People who purchase or renew their Star Membership during the Summer Fund Drive get access to the beta test on August 21 (this coming Monday). But the beta test will be opened up to everybody on September 5, two weeks later.

[calimary]

5. Thanks, EarlG!

[dawn5651]

6. is it possible to buy a monthly subscription after august 28th.

[highplainsdem]

7. I prefer what we have currently with Latest Threads and Greatest Threads.

I prefer Threads simply because it's simpler. A shorter word.

And I like to be able to scan ALL the Latest Threads on one page. I don't want to have to check two pages, one for videos, to see what's new since I last checked the site. Latest should include all the forums and groups, and videos as well as messages without videos.

Btw, I often post messages with videos in GD. Are those going to be shunted elsewhere? I've often posted messages including both article excerpts and videos

EDITING to add that I just noticed you have two Latest Discussions screenshots there, the first and last of the screenshots. The second of those, the one at the bottom, does include a post from the Video & Multimedia forum. ?????

[EarlG]

14. Just to clear up any misconceptions...

Videos are not being removed from the Latest Threads page (which we're going to call Latest Discussions, but you're welcome to call it whatever you like!) The Latest Discussions page will be just the same as it was before: all threads in all forums -- including threads which contain videos -- will appear there.

The new Latest Videos pages works like the Latest Discussions page, but it ONLY shows threads which contain videos in the OP (no matter which forum they were posted in). Plus you get a thumbnail image of the videos on that page.

You are welcome to post videos in any forum, including in GD.

As for the Video & Multimedia forum, it will still exist during the DU4 beta test (for compatibility with DU3), but it will be retired once DU4 is fully launched. I'm going to post something in V&M next week explaining this. My suggestion for people who currently use the V&M forum would be to simply post their videos in whichever forum most closely matches the topic of the video. No matter which forum they post a video in, it will go to the top of the Latest Videos page -- so even without the V&M forum, there will still be a single location on DU for people to find videos, if that's what they're interested in.

I think it will make sense once you see it in action. The bottom line is that the Latest Threads page isn't changing at all (apart from the title of the page).

[highplainsdem]

16. Thanks for explaining! I'm glad to hear all the latest will still be

available on one page.

I hope the Topics and Places sidebar menu with all the various groups will still be visible on every page. If it's necessary to click the Navigate button to see them, newcomers will have no real idea how much is here. They'll think DU is just LBN, GD and the Lounge.

[EarlG]

17. The forum categories will be available from the top navigation

Here's what it looks like when the "Navigate" button is clicked:



You get quick links to:

Latest Discussions
Greatest Discussions
Latest Videos
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge

And then beneath that:

Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search

It should be immediately apparent to anyone who clicks the "Navigate" button where all the forums on DU are.

The left column on every page is for your personal forum listing. It will always list the "Big Three" (LBN, GD, and the Lounge) but beneath that is "Subscribed Forums" -- any forum you subscribe to will appear in that list, so you'll always have quick links to the forums you like most, and you can customize that list by subscribing or unsubscribing.

Meanwhile, there's a screenshot of the Issue Forums page in the OP, here it is again:



We updated the sort order of these new forum category pages, so that by default the forum with the most recent new thread goes to the top of the page (like when you reply to a thread in a forum). That way, you can always see at a glance which forums have new items (compared to the DU3 category pages which are just displayed in alphabetical order).

[highplainsdem]

19. Again, thanks for explaining! But I still feel most people who aren't already

familiar with DU will remain unaware of everything here, ESPECIALLY sInce they're buried in the second row of buttons/links, and with vague descriptions. (They are very vague compared to the current menu of topics that are now easily accessible on every page.)

You won't even see the names of individual groups until you click on one of those vague descriptions, and then you'll get a page where the group names are overwhelmed by the column of thread titles.

I'm hoping the forum names are links, that you don't have to click the threads to navigate to that group/forum.

Could you please add a line directly above that rather confusing board that says

Click on forum name to go directly to the first page of that forum

and that probably should follow a dash immediately after where it says Issue Forums (or whatever the type of forum is), with that guidance in a slightly smaller font size than Issue Forums, but still larger than other font sizes there so it can't be missed.

That will help ensure newbies don't think their only options are starting a discussion without ever having seen the forum, or being able to read and maybe reply to just one post on the subject they're most interested in.

The reason I think this would be best is that the latest thread in each might not be at all representative, and being able to skim an entire first page is MUCH more likely to help people decide if they like a forum.

[highplainsdem]

20. And btw, the Navigate and My Stuff buttons could use second lines

as well, to make them clearer and easier to figure out:

NAVIGATE
Main & Other Forums

(That will ensure people know immediately that there are other forums.)


MY STUFF
Profile/Account/Bookmarks/Inbox


(That addition because a non-regular won't know what MY STUFF means.)


That reminds me - where will My Posts be? It really should be available on every page so users can see if they have replies, see it change color as soon as a reply is posted.

[TygrBright]

9. Looks like yer bringing on 'dark mode'... YAY!

New interface looks clean and well-organized and not too much annoying "Where the hell did THAT go?" to cope with.

Looking forward to it.

interestedly,
Bright

[highplainsdem]

10. Questions re the next-to-last screenshot of babylonsister's OP:

Is that showing only a part of the page? Or is that actually all you'll see when you click on a thread? No indication of the forum or groups? No links to other forums, My Posts, Inbox, etc.? How do you navigate?

That's also an awful lot of space just to show the number of recommendations.

And is the My Notes section only for the person who started that thread, or for anyone viewing it to make their own personal, private notes on it?

[EarlG]

15. Yes, it's just showing part of the page

It's sort of "zoomed in" to just show the area of the page containing the OP.

My Notes is personal to you (as long as you're a Star Member). A My Notes button will appear on every OP -- whether you started the thread or not -- and if you click it, it will expand to show a small text area which you can type into. Once you save the note, the thread will be automatically bookmarked.

The Bookmarks page on DU4 has been updated with a new column that shows if you added a note to a thread or not, and you can filter the Bookmarks page to ONLY show threads with notes, if you want. (That's how you find your notes again afterwards.)

But yeah, whatever you type into the note can only be seen by you -- it does not show for anyone else.

[irisblue]

11. Much respect to Elad & you for all this work

[2naSalit]

13. Dark mode?!?!?

Thank you!

[Auggie]

21. Your designs are so darn clean and user-friendly. I love them, EarlG.

Applause from an art director with many years in the biz.

[GP6971]

22. DU4 should really

confuse some long time trolls.

Unfortunately, they'll get through it though.

[William769]

23. What time today will we get access to DU4?

As one of the people to have helped Beta Test DU4 in the past, I am looking forward to the eventual conversion to DU4.

I still remember going from DU to DU3 (which was monumental), but DU4 has it going on!

Thank you for all your hard work in this endeavor.

[EarlG]

24. I don't have an exact time but

if all goes well it will likely be sometime around noon ET or not too long after that.

[William769]

25. Thank you.

[MuseRider]

26. This looks really amazing, Thank You!

I too do my membership payments to get stars for Valentines Day so I will wait patiently to see this when it comes. As everything else here I am certain it will be well worth waiting for.

Thank you all who worked on this!