First impressions of new expat.com format

The slow reading allows people to understand the posts perhaps ??.....

Hi Keith,

Good to see you back! Sure hope you won't be a stranger from now on.

Well, count your blessings that you missed the initial rollout of the new site, because it wasn't without its hiccups for sure! The visibility issue was much worse than it is now, and while it's still not perfect it is greatly improved. I had a number of personal chats with Julien on the matter since I have a serious visual impairment and there were many parts of the site that I simply could not see at all. We received numerous complaints from all forums. For me the private message system was the worst because of the light gray text in the "your reply" box was impossible for me to see what I was typing. That has since been resolved. I don't know for sure, but I think this is going to be as good as it gets as far as visibility goes. I'm pretty sure that the light blue and gray are here to stay. Some of the lighter text will get more contrast when you mouse over it, so that helps a bit.

In the plus column there are many new features like a new events and meet-ups page that will make it much easier for expats to organize and announce their events, as well as invite selected members or make a general open invitation.

I particularly like the new feature of the pop-up when you mouse over the member's avatar that gives you their join date and path. I would, however, like to see the number of their postings and location included there rather than above their posting.

Another new feature that I really like, if you scroll down to the bottom of the main "Expat Forum" page, you can click on the "show recent posts" link which will list the recent postings on ALL of the various language versions of every forum in chronological order. So, if you're like me and what to keep tabs on the English and Portuguese language versions of our forums that's a lot easier to do.

We've just been on the new site for two months, so I can assure you that there will continue to be improvements and new functions coming down the pipe for some time yet. Julien doesn't settle for the "same old same old", he's always been really big on change and improvement.

Thanks for your vote of confidence in stating that you're glad to see I'm still holding down the fort, so to speak. It really is appreciated and just the kind of thing that keeps my volunteer spirit topped up.

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

Nice to hear from you James, and thanks for the guided tour of new site features.  I never thought of looking for the Portuguese version - a good way to maintain my waning not-very-fluency.

I think most of the pale text is for things regular users won't read every time they log in.  Posts are nicely readable.

You probably already know this, but since you have vision issues and spend lots of time online, please remember to look away at distant objects at least several times per hour.

I'll be visiting more often, didn't have a functional laptop for long time.

best regards, Keith W.

Is that a not-so-oblique reference to my intent to post blog and photos from 2 trips around much of Brazil, which is named after a tree with red wood?

The new site looks good , took a bit of getting used to.....but what has happened with all the posts? Expat seems to have suddenly quietened down since the change over and the forum seems to be in Danger of becoming (Dare I say it) Boring....
I love Expat , we need to breath some life into the site again with some interesting topics.
I have seen James does post a few interesting things , but many of the regulars seem quiet suddenly

Hi Steve,

Traditionally between Christmas and the end of Carnaval things tend to get really slow in everything in Brazil and I'm hoping that's all it is with the forum. I know that my classes drop right off because many of my students take holidays while their kids are out of school. Certainly some of the slowdown is because of the switchover, but I think we're going to have to wait until after Carnaval to know just how much.

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team