Advertisements, New themelayout

Donder

New Member
Trial Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2016
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Dear users and supporters of Brewers Friend,

I would like to adress that i'm not pleased with the recent theme update. There are several reasons for this:
1. I liked the relatively dark color of the previous theme (Personal prefference) :cry:
2. I bought a premium account with the promissed feature that I would not get advertisements. However, now I've received buttons everywhere to buy my specific recipe and what more linking to HomeBrewSupply.com. :evil:
3. I live in Europe, and since you dont ships to Europe it makes it all even more of bummer. Because it has zero function for people in a different region then America. :?

Is there an option to use the previous theme? If not could this be implemented because this is not what i've paid for. And that while I was thinking about a lifetime license :shock:
 
I like the new layout and appearance. However, I'll second the direct linking to Home Brew Supply. I think I noticed at least 3 different "Buy It" tabs on a single page. As a paying member, I'm not a fan. At the very least, give me the option to link where I'd like to buy my ingredients from, but direct linking me is NOT what I had in mind when I paid to use the software and features.
 
I don't mind the color shift but I DO NOT like the buy buttons all over my pages.
 
Hi guys,
Thanks very much for the feedback on the new design. We'll be sending out some announcements in the next few days on the new style and features, but wanted to respond directly to you guys first.

On the design side of things, I definitely appreciate the feedback and understand the preference toward the other set of colors, etc. We decided it was time to modernize the design of the site and we landed on the lighter theme which most of us favored when we evaluated several design options. Unfortunately we don't plan on supporting the old theme as this would be complex to keep two versions of the site running, but we'll certainly be evolving this over time.

For the Buy Recipe buttons, I understand your initial feelings on this, but please understand that these are not meant to be ads. We built this feature because, as brewers, we find this to be a useful tool - the ability to one-click add all the necessary ingredients for a brew to your shopping cart. I've always found it painful to one-by-one find each recipe component on a supplier and then add it. We've done some beta testing and the general response has been really positive for the utility of the feature. But that said, I definitely understand if you don't find these helpful - I'll work with our team to reduce the impact of the buttons if they're not being used.

Thank you again for the candid feedback - this is a large change and we definitely expect there will be some growing pains. We're happy to have a community where our members help guide our direction, so the input and response is certainly appreciated. To help with that, we've added a Feedback button at the bottom of the page - if you see bugs or things you'd like improved, you can now use that button to comment on a specific page, and it will send us a screenshot to make fixing easier.

Cheers,
Josh
 
Btw, I totally understand your feedback that outside the US, the buy feature isn't very useful yet; so I built in a quick setting to disable the buy buttons. If you go to your general settings:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/profile/brewsettings
You'll see a new setting down at the bottom for "Buy Recipe Now", where you can enable/disable those buttons. If you disable there, they'll be hidden on both the recipe view and edit pages.

Thanks again for the feedback!
 
Josh (Brewer's Friend) said:
You'll see a new setting down at the bottom for "Buy Recipe Now", where you can enable/disable those buttons. If you disable there, they'll be hidden on both the recipe view and edit pages.
Thank you for that, Josh!
As far as the new design goes...I am no graphic designer, normally not this critical, and maybe it only looks like this in my browser, but IMO the site now looks like something designed on angelfire 15 years ago by a junior high student (no offense to junior high students, or those who had a page on angelfire 15+ years ago, I was one of them... :lol: ), minus the eye-cancer-causing-flashing-background.
I understand making sites more "smart-device friendly" these days, but blinding/clashing colors with muntered avatars can't be what you guys are going for...
 

Attachments

  • bf.jpg
    bf.jpg
    86.4 KB · Views: 535
For the Buy Recipe buttons, I understand your initial feelings on this, but please understand that these are not meant to be ads. We built this feature because, as brewers, we find this to be a useful tool - the ability to one-click add all the necessary ingredients for a brew to your shopping cart. I've always found it painful to one-by-one find each recipe component on a supplier and then add it.

Creating a shopping list is excellent. It's actually a feature I've wanted and requested. The "buy" tab feature directly linking to a specific sponsor is not. IMO, the most helpful would be a shopping list generated by the prices input in your inventory list according to the prices a person pays at their lhbs or online retailer.
 
My thoughts exactly - I don't think you should blame your browser. The new layout is hideous and it's definitely not smart device friendly. Larry put quite a bit of effort into making sure the site rendered well on an iPad. Now it's a complete mess.

Every time my subscription comes due I consider switching to Beersmith. I've always decided against this because Beersmith is so damned ugly. In terms of aesthetics the gap has just closed considerably.
 
I don't like any website that has a permanently placed object on the screen that covers part of the web page, like that silly screenshot icon.
 

Attachments

  • image.png
    image.png
    123.3 KB · Views: 476
I guess I'm the odd ball here, as I actually like the looks of the new layout better than the old.

Just noticed the 'Buy' button, and while I buy my supplies from my LHBS, I can see how that would be handy if you don't have a LHBS, and have to buy your supplies online. Clicking 'Buy' once, and having all of the ingredients added with the correct amounts is a nice feature for those that use it.

Hat tip to Josh for the ability to turn this off.
 
Josh (Brewer's Friend) said:
Btw, I totally understand your feedback that outside the US, the buy feature isn't very useful yet; so I built in a quick setting to disable the buy buttons. If you go to your general settings:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/profile/brewsettings
You'll see a new setting down at the bottom for "Buy Recipe Now", where you can enable/disable those buttons. If you disable there, they'll be hidden on both the recipe view and edit pages.

Thanks again for the feedback!

Excelent! Wonderfull Josh, can't be happier at the moment!

That you can have the old theme anymore is a bummer but understandable. Maybe it is an option to let people select a theme, dark or light. This way the content cant be the same and the color pallets are the only thing that differs.
Thanks for replying and taking action this quickly! :eek: :D
 
I would like to reiterate here that, besides the somewhat blinding color change, my profile pic in the upper right hand corner is completely munged...
As far as I am concerned, you could simply remove it from the "PROFILE" menu and be done with it, but the formatting is wrong as it is!
(I don't think many people who have designed/built a website are huge fans of CSS, and it is a bit of an art...and a lot of hacks at times...but it still isn't rocket science)
 
My only issue is half my screen is taken up by nothing but blank space
 

Attachments

  • img_15 May. 22 18.06.jpg
    img_15 May. 22 18.06.jpg
    41.6 KB · Views: 425
jeffpn said:
I don't like any website that has a permanently placed object on the screen that covers part of the web page, like that silly screenshot icon.
We received several complaints on the feedback button, which ironically was used to capture quite a bit of the feedback :) But anyhow, we now turned it off to avoid interfering with the primary content on the site.

Parapunter said:
... on an iPad. Now it's a complete mess.
@Parapunter, could you elaborate on what's not working on iPad? We're working to fix all issues and make it perfect on all devices, but we need your help to tell us what's wrong :D Feel free to e-mail with feedback here: http://www.brewersfriend.com/feedback-welcome/

sbaclimber said:
I would like to reiterate here that, besides the somewhat blinding color change, my profile pic in the upper right hand corner is completely munged...
Sorry for the issues with the profile pic in the menu - we've made a style fix and it should be better now if you could take another look. Thanks!

Ozarks Mountain Brew said:
My only issue is half my screen is taken up by nothing but blank space
We're working on this one - hoping to clean up the forum integration with the new theme. Stay tuned for visual improvements.

Thanks again for all the feedback!
 
Josh (Brewer's Friend) said:
sbaclimber said:
I would like to reiterate here that, besides the somewhat blinding color change, my profile pic in the upper right hand corner is completely munged...
Sorry for the issues with the profile pic in the menu - we've made a style fix and it should be better now if you could take another look. Thanks!
Looks much better, thanks a lot! :)
 
Ozarks Mountain Brew said:
My only issue is half my screen is taken up by nothing but blank space

Gotta agree. Need to use space properly. Glad you are on it. Thank you. Adding the buy button probably made you a few bucks for site improvements but is a step over the line with advertising IMO. Thanks for the removal procedure.
 
Like almost everyone else I think the buy button is a bad, bad idea. It's not like it's going to magically order from the correct vendor. As for the appearance, it's still not as ugly as Beersmith, but it does not render well on my Samsung phone or tablet -- the layout is totally vertical. The brew log is particularly bad if you have anything in the comment column. Perhaps the css is over engineered and it would be better to let the browser take care of simple things like tables. Suggestion: run new features by some of the more reliable members.

In any case, it seems like it would better to fix the known problems like the custom attenuation. Also the ingredient list is tiresome to wade through and there are lots of hops missing.

It's still great software -- I look forward to well thought out improvements, PZ
 
I like the new theme layout, but I do not like the "buy it" button. I did not intend to pay for a subscription for someone to advertise for a HBS I don't shop from.
BTW, "themelayout" is two words.
 
fwiw, i don't mind the new layout. if anything, it looks a little "cleaner" to me. like with anything new, it's always an adjustment. i can only imagine the feedback if the buttons or layout changed

also, i think i'm in the minority here, but i'm completely indifferent to the buy button. with an lhbs so close to me, the thought never crossed my mind to shop online. Nice to have an option to disable it though, i just kinda mentally disabled it.

i'll be the first to say that popups and constant advertisements on a site bother the heck out of me, but this is one of, if not the most, annoyance-free sites i've seen in that regard. totally understand and agree that it should lean to that side of things, but, maybe a little bit of directed and appropriate advertising revenue might be what the admins need to bump this site and software up to the next level
 
I like the layout on my Androids, much easier to find and to tap what I need. I'm a Lifer and, while I would have objections to ads, the "buy it" button is relatively harmless to me - I generally don't buy supplies on line.I could question the design philosophy behind the colors but, aside from the occasional need for sunglasses when viewing the brilliant burnt orange (Texas grads, anyone?) banner. All in all, no complaints.
 

Back
Top