Flightsim.to's new look......

I never liked that site and i probably never will but i must be honest and say that i don.t really dislike the changes .:pop4:
 
had to try a download in order to get the prompt to log in. learning how to navigate the new look. must have been done by a software person, not a simmer.
 
Personally, I don't think it's that bad. Don't like the different sized thumbnails, but otherwise it's OK.
No better or worse than the original, just different.
 
Any redesign is going to get complaints. But this one has some serious usability and functionality issues.

The mixed size tiles in listings are super-hard to scan. I'm guessing FS.to doesn't have an experienced UX designer, because this is 101-level stuff.

There's no longer a new uploads page, nor the ability to mark all current uploads as "seen." This totally destroyed my daily fs.to visit process. The new design requires you to scroll past the news, hides new uploads under the fold where some number of users won't see them, has really slow scrolling/refresh performance, and who knows how it's going to work if you've been off the site for a week.

They really need to roll these kinds of updates out to a test audience -- there's really simple stuff that would have made this less of a regression from the old site.

(One thing you can say about Sim-Outhouse... You'll never be bothered by user interface design changes! :)
 
That sounds like a good use case and critical feedback to pass along to the site developers.
 
JohnC said:
Attempt #2, here are the steps needed to find the download of your choice: 1) Select add-on category from top menu ('Liveries') 2) Search or manually select category of choice ('DC-3) 3) Filter based on desired selection criteria ('New', 'Recently Updated', 'Most Downloads', Personally Downloaded')
Click to expand...
However, unless I just didn't see it, you can't simply select "New" for any liveries. You have to select a aircraft. I do not see where I can choose a category of aircraft. That alone makes the process a lot more tedious. The system wasn't broke. Sounds like someone got paid a LOT of cash to overhaul a site that didn't need overhauled.I posted too soon. Just read the above. Much improved from the first "remake".
 
I just took a quick look at it and see they switch to 'dark mode' which with my eye sight getting worse over time I actually find easier to read, but the organization is not great. Worse it seams not to work well. I went to 'other' and then 'additional aircraft' and found lots of things there that were not aircraft.

In general I found flightsim.to to be all the worst things I hate about modern website design and they are not making it better.
 
Bottom left... Person icon lets you sign in with your existing cred's - no need for a new account. Below that is an icon that I thought was a settings icon. Turns out it's a switch between light (guess it's supposed to be a sun) and dark (crescent moon icon). After signing in, click the profile icon again to get to your downloads list and all the other stuff you're used to using. It's just a new interface slapped onto the existing database from what I can see. User friendliness may be up for debate, but it's all there.
 
Something else the is new (different) is the ability to choose the number / size of thumbnails in most of the menus from 2–10 across. Can't tell if more freedom is actually more better, but it is another knob of personalization.
 

Attachments

  • menu.jpg
    menu.jpg
    365.6 KB · Views: 290
This is a fascinating thread. Here are the use cases I have found and a few test:

Use Case #1 - I bought the new and outstanding Bf 109, what liveries are there?
Effort: 1 text entry and 3–4 click's depending on filtering options
Navigation: Home Page > Liveries > Search/Select > Filter

Use Case #2 - Damn I have a lot of add-ons, I bet some of them are outdated
Effort: 2 click's
Navigation: Home Page > Personal Tab > My Downloads

Use Case #3 - John Terrell is awesome, I wonder what he has been up to?
Effort: 1 scroll/search, 1 text entry, 3 clicks
Navigation: Home Page > Liveries > Search/Select > Filter > Manual Search/select > Member profile (Uploads are now front and center)

Note: As far as I know, this has always been the least efficient search, and a major miss in the UI from inception

Use Case #4 - I feel like something different, what's new since I was last here?
Effort: 1–2 click's depending on whether or not 'mark as read' is selected
Navigation: Home Page > My Last visit

Note: The 'My Last Visit' icon is a Clock on the left-side of the screen, definitely not visually intuitive


Use Case #5 - I feel like something different and high-quality, what is latest and greatest?
Effort: 1-click and a trip to the fridge for a beer
Navigation: Home Page > Hot > Fridge

Note: A trip to the fridge is necessitated as I am reminded that the majority of the flight sim world cares about flying sausages rather than historically significant or comprehensive flight mechanics
 
ColoKent said:
Perhaps they brought on a few chaps from Apple and Microsoft...they are "experts" at fixing what formerly worked superbly...

Kent
Click to expand...

Now, that I find funny. Careful, we have our own Apple super engineer and he is watching.

On the flip side, no one is complaining about MSFS 2024 anymore.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top