RMweb global announcement. Updated forum test ground.

[Pacific231G]

It looks OK to me and if it works better on my iPhone when I'm bored in meetings so much the better. 

 

I get nostalgic about steam engines, restaurant cars, small ports with rails on their quays where ships that looked like ships didn't just carry boxes, railways that had lots of shunting, and a world where everything didn't go on lorries and nobody got angry because greengrocer's put their apostrophe's in the wrong place's. I don't find a lot else to be nostalgic about and certainly not how websites used to look!    

[daltonparva]

It's amazing how all things are perfect when first released and then are ONLY be made worse by any changes. Sometimes change is required to make things better for other people than the ones moaning - we used to use tables to lay out web pages but doing this makes life harder for those using mobile connections or software to assist those with eyesight issues. Changing from this is a pain for people laying out pages as they need a whole new skillset, but if it benefits others, is the change bad?

 

Anyway, people grumble because they like grumbling. If you haven't spotted that then you aren't reading enough of RMweb...

I can spot the grumblers, just like I can spot those who don't read or understand posts properly; those who selectively use only parts of postings to suit their own agenda in the best traditions of politicians and journalists; those with humour bypasses; those who take sanctimony to a whole new level; and those who like arguing just for the sake of it. Don't think all my spottings are directed at you, they aren't. They are just observations, but feel free to have another pop if any of them rankle.

[mdvle]

Ooooh, I'm not a fan! I don't like these modern website designs that are mainly aimed at people using the site on mobile devices. Especially when it comes to those menus that work great on mobile, but are a nightmare for those of us on PC!

 

 

I agree that sites could often be better for those using a PC, but the world has moved on from the PC.  There are more Internet connected mobile devices than PCs according to most sources, and more online searches are done via mobile devices (even when the person is sitting next to a PC!).

 

Given that, RMweb must change with the times and become more mobile friendly if it is to continue to be one of the best sources of information and discussion for our hobby.  If it doesn't, then the next generation of users will go elsewhere leaving all of us worse off as we lose their knowledge and input.

[brushman47544]

I'm sure it will be fine once we're used to it.

 

For me, the main issues are whether the long running threads will automatically continue, rather than have to be started again, and will the previous content of those threads (i.e. on here) be quickly accessible such as by a click on a link, and will threads that I currently follow stay followed.

[Andy Y]

I agree that sites could often be better for those using a PC, but the world has moved on from the PC.  There are more Internet connected mobile devices than PCs according to most sources, and more online searches are done via mobile devices (even when the person is sitting next to a PC!).

 

Given that, RMweb must change with the times and become more mobile friendly if it is to continue to be one of the best sources of information and discussion for our hobby.  If it doesn't, then the next generation of users will go elsewhere leaving all of us worse off as we lose their knowledge and input.

 

Although mobile usage is increasing RMweb usage is about 50% desktop/laptop / 25% tablet (where users generally use the full-fat version) and 25% mobile so all elements are important. Mobile usage increases a bit around newsy times. That latter aspect is relevant; look back at Saturday and we had all the news from the Bachmann press update / Collectors' Club day and Heljan at Guildex. Where else is there any news from other publishers yet apart from RMweb? Phil and I made use of the time to gather lots of material for RMweb and BRM which will result in about 90 minutes of video material in addition to that for the printed page. I'm sure some people will be keeping an eye on here for news from TINGS; some of which is already uploaded and will possibly appear here before the parties who have been diligent and proactive enough to submit material have chance to update their own sites. The world's still evolving and we need to keep pace with it and even lead in certain ways.

[Andy Y]

For me, the main issues are whether the long running threads will automatically continue, rather than have to be started again, and will the previous content of those threads (i.e. on here) be quickly accessible such as by a click on a link, and will threads that I currently follow stay followed.

 

All content should be continuous; the only question will be display of images that were uploaded via http protocol rather than https but we won't know if that is a problem until we get there and if it is we'll have to find how to deal with it.

[Captain Kernow]

I agree that sites could often be better for those using a PC, but the world has moved on from the PC. 

Has it really?

 

When did that happen?

 

Some of the world have only just found out how to access YouTube on our TVs.

 

Plus discovering that the local supermarket will slice bread for you.

 

I love hate have a love-hate relationship with don't know how I feel about Technology.

[Captain Kernow]

If you tried to keep putting 6 people in a mini, eventually it would break down. If we keep adding users, topics, post and images to the servers, eventually the software and the infrastructure will break.

 

CTMK once owned a Mini and went to her Insurance company to insure it (in those days, they had premises you could walk into and real human beings you could talk to).

 

CTMK: Good morning

Clerk: Good morning, madam

CTMK: I'd like to insure my new car, please

Clerk: What kind of car is it, madam?

CTMK: It's a Mini

Clerk: How many people does it carry?

CTMK: According to the Guiness Book of Records, you can actually fit 20 people into a Mini, if you squeeze them in, in an inventive way

Clerk: That's 4 then.

[Clive Mortimore]

Andy and side kick Phil

 

I know I have already stated that I don't care what happens  as long as I don't have to go DCC, well another potential problem has just entered my head. Do I have to have a i phone or smart phone or whatever the latest fashion accessory is? Cos I only got a phone that makes calls and does text, and with our poor signal it only does that if I am at the bottom of the garden.

 

Serious head on.....I do realise that as technology progresses so do the users but as I am getting older I don't always want to move on and learn new stuff, so please not too many changes for the likes of me. 

[Guest]

I agree that sites could often be better for those using a PC, but the world has moved on from the PC.  There are more Internet connected mobile devices than PCs according to most sources, and more online searches are done via mobile devices (even when the person is sitting next to a PC!).

 

Given that, RMweb must change with the times and become more mobile friendly if it is to continue to be one of the best sources of information and discussion for our hobby.  If it doesn't, then the next generation of users will go elsewhere leaving all of us worse off as we lose their knowledge and input.

 

Oh well, I guess us old luddites still labouring on with our backward PCs will just have to accept being left behind then.

 

As I said I am not completely writing it off at this stage, and will wait and see what it is like. I just know that (as others have mentioned) when popular websites have changed over that last few years the changes have made them worse. I hope this will not be the case as I look forward to continuing to use this forum for a long time to come.

 

- Charles Babbage

Edited September 6, 2018 by Guest

[Andy Y]

so please not too many changes for the likes of me. 

 

You come in here looking like you're auditioning for a Flock of Seagulls and tell me you don't like different?

[Phil Parker]

Andy and side kick Phil

 

I know I have already stated that I don't care what happens  as long as I don't have to go DCC, well another potential problem has just entered my head. Do I have to have a i phone or smart phone or whatever the latest fashion accessory is? Cos I only got a phone that makes calls and does text, and with our poor signal it only does that if I am at the bottom of the garden.

 

 

Sidekick Phil won't be going DCC any time soon either. And if he is, he has Command Control units older then Netscape 1. 

 

You need to get with it phonewise though. How else will you find out the latest grumbles about prices or wheel standards  when separated from your computer? ;-)

[caradoc]

Surely the only change that will make a real difference is nationalisation (or am I getting confused with the full size railway ?!).

 

Anyway, things have to develop and change, and as long as I don't need a course to relearn how to navigate RMWeb, full steam ahead !

[Stubby47]

Surely the only change that will make a real difference is nationalisation (or am I getting confused with the full size railway ?!).

 

Anyway, things have to develop and change, and as long as I don't need a course to relearn how to navigate RMWeb, full steam ahead !

 

No-one ever says  "full diesel ahead", or "full electric ahead", do they...

[daltonparva]

No-one ever says  "full diesel ahead", or "full electric ahead", do they...

'Cos they don't stir any emotions! ('cept possibly depression).

[Guest]

'Cos they don't stir any emotions! ('cept possibly depression).

 

As you've made it perfectly clear that you don't like D&E, I feel the need to go on record and say that I think steam sucks. Just for balance. Carry on.

[Steamport Southport]

No-one ever says  "full diesel ahead", or "full electric ahead", do they...

 

No one says "full steam ahead" either, unless they are on a boat....

 

 

 

 

Jason

[Mallard60022]

[phil-b259]

People don't like change for a very logical reason - it makes us stupider until we have mastered the new.

 

I personally hate the Microsoft 'ribbon' style menu bar precisely because doing things I used to be able to do in the Office suite of programs without thinking (having cut my teeth on Word 2.0) now requires exactly the reverse! (i.e. lots of thinking and clicking to find where the flippin command has gone). At home I use Libre Office which has fortunately retained what I term a 'sensible' / 'normal' / 'straightforward' user interface with proper menus that don't disappear when you click on another 'tab'

 

Of course once the learning process is complete then you will either have increased your knowledge (if you continue to be 'fluent' in the old and new knowledge, or get back to where your were when the new has fully replaced the old.

 

One problem is, the older you get, the harder it is (for most folk) to learn new knowledge - thats why its much easier to learn a foreign language as a child growing up in a multilingual household than it is as a teenager at secondary school let alone as an adult.

 

Thats not to say that RMweb (or indeed anything else) should always remain the same, but it is wise to acknowledge that not everybody is going to be excited about the relearning process. There are genuine worries that a website built around 'smartphones' may not work well with traditional PC users* based on what has occurred before in the software world where alternative viewpoints tend to be dismissed as 'old fashioned' / 'boring' by doing the designing / programming and I hope the new RMweb will be able to avoid this tendency.

 

*A PC is still a PC and runs programs NOT APPS as far as I am concerned. While I do understand Microsoft etc need to adopt such terminology for tablets , etc there is no need to alienate more traditional users into the bargin. Grrrr

Edited September 7, 2018 by phil-b259

[daltonparva]

As you've made it perfectly clear that you don't like D&E, I feel the need to go on record and say that I think steam sucks. Just for balance. Carry on.

Steam doesn't suck, it blows. And my dislike of d & e is secondary to my primary like of a wind-up. As you were.

[Pacific231G]

No-one ever says  "full diesel ahead", or "full electric ahead", do they...

Interesting phrase "full steam ahead". It's supposedly of maritime origin but on British vessels I've never heard of anything other than Full Ahead (possibly "both" and in some situations port or starboard ) Every ship's engine room telegraph I've even seen simply had Ahead (or its equivalent in other languages) subdivided into full, half, slow and dead slow, the same for Astern plus stand-by and finished with engines.They were patented by Chadburn of Liverpool in 1872 (now Chadburns-Mollart PT based in Paisley) who went on to produce a sizeable proportion of them. Apparently in the U S Navy  the slang term for them was the Chadburn  .

The E.R.T.s were the same whether the ship was powered by steam engines, turbines or diesel engines.

I'm guessing therefore that both full steam ahead and full speed ahead were colloquialisms.

[Pacific231G]

As you've made it perfectly clear that you don't like D&E, I feel the need to go on record and say that I think steam sucks. Just for balance. Carry on.

No, that all finished with the development of high pressure steam engines by Trevithick etc. It was  the earlier atmospheric engines that sucked and it was the condensing steam that provided the necessary suction. to pull the piston down in its cylinder. James Watt thought that Trevithick's high pressuire engines sucked (in the impolite meaning of the word) and that he deserved to be hanged for inventing them but Watt's engines sucked a lot more than Trevithick's. Steam locomotives don't usually suck at all as they don't have condensers and just blow the steam out of the chimney (along with a lot of the energy it could be putting to work) 

 

Diesel engines do of course suck and everyone who has ever studied heat engines is familiar witth the phrase, suck, squeeze, bang, blow which pretty well explains how they and all IC engines work (though 2 -stroke engines sort of collapse that) 

 

I hope that's all now completely clear and you'll never again claim that steam locomotives suck.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Pacific231G

[newbryford]

If you can use this version you won't have any problem with the new one once you've gone through 'acclimatisation'.

 

And no, no-one will be able to stay on the 'old' version.

Acclimatised or assimilated?

 

[Andrew P]

I still strugle with Windows 10, and hate the new E-Mail format, bring back Windows 7.

 

I hope any changes will be as user friendly as it is on here at the moment.

[wombatofludham]

Not sure I agree that the older you get the more difficult it is to learn.  At 55, I'm no spring chicken, more rank old mutton, but since moving to Wales I've learned Welsh to a reasonable degree of competance, learned how to write poetry in Welsh, learned how to research the family tree and history, how to edit video, new techniques in oil and watercolour painting and kept up with the constant upgrades to Windaz that Micro$haft's Ritalin deprived techy-farties keep coming up with to justify their existence.

Having said that, I still can't solder and have given up ever being able to master that process.  I know my limits.  No lack of application, just some things will never be.

PS Where can I see this wondrous new shiny web page thing that everyone is talking about? (Edit) Sorry, missed the link in the first post.  

Edited September 6, 2018 by wombatofludham