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

[DennyA]

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! :-)

[JohnC]

That sounds like a good use case and critical feedback to pass along to the site developers.

[DennyA]

Posted it as feedback to their announcement page, and sent it as direct feedback as well.

Then a few minutes ago, https://flightsim.to/since-visited was working again. (Link was dead this morning.)

Hopefully it will stick around.

[Navy Chief]

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')

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".

[blanston12]

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.

[Tom Clayton]

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.

[JohnC]

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.

[fsafranek]

A lot of broken links I have to track down now so not happy about that.

[JohnC]

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

[spatialpro]

I don't like it.

Notifications [of updates] are harder to find.

Where has the scenery map gone please?!

[banjoman1960]

I don't like it.

Notifications [of updates] are harder to find.

Where has the scenery map gone please?!

https://map.flightsim.to/

[spatialpro]

https://map.flightsim.to/

Many thanks!

[Stearman]

I miss the "My followed files" section, which I found very useful.
Anyone found it?

[Twice43]

Prefer the previous site.
T43

[jmig]

Perhaps they brought on a few chaps from Apple and Microsoft...they are "experts" at fixing what formerly worked superbly...

Kent

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.

[merida72]

in fact at the moment everything seems messed up ... time to get used to

[Rudyjo]

I'm 72 now and what I've found when things get changed is that I don't like it.
It's usually not that there's something wrong with it, it's just that I get used to things being a certain way and I ask " why can't they just leave things alone?"
Eventually I get used to the change and I will complain if they ever change it again.

[jmig]

I'm 72 now and what I've found when things get changed is that I don't like it.
It's usually not that there's something wrong with it, it's just that I get used to things being a certain way and I ask " why can't they just leave things alone?"
Eventually I get used to the change and I will complain if they ever change it again.

[Tom Clayton]

Where has the scenery map gone please?!

Two clicks - sceneries tab, then map. See attachment...

I'm 72 now and what I've found when things get changed is that I don't like it.
It's usually not that there's something wrong with it, it's just that I get used to things being a certain way and I ask " why can't they just leave things alone?"
Eventually I get used to the change and I will complain if they ever change it again.

Age ain't got a thing to do with that - I'm 58 and been the same way most of my life!

[PHo17]

This is a bit like my supermarket changing the positions of the shelves at least once every three years. At first I can't find anything until I get used to the new order. Neither however adds to my purchases/downloads - rather the opposite. No use teasing the old man.

[jmig]

This is a bit like my supermarket changing the positions of the shelves at least once every three years. At first I can't find anything until I get used to the new order. Neither however adds to my purchases/downloads - rather the opposite. No use teasing the old man.

They do that to you too! I absolutely friggin hate it when the supermarket changes the shelving around. Now, we return you to our regular scheduled discussion.

[ColoKent]

They do that to you too! I absolutely friggin hate it when the supermarket changes the shelving around. Now, we return you to our regular scheduled discussion.

Not to mention that the second I pass the automatic doors and enter the supermarket, I CANNOT for the life of me remember "what the blank" I came in there to pick up...Maybe the auto-doors interfere with my brainwaves...I'll try a tin-foil hat next time...

Kent

P.S. Growing a little less annoyed with flightsim.to's layout...learning how to make it work.

[Rudyjo]

Not to mention that the second I pass the automatic doors and enter the supermarket, I CANNOT for the life of me remember "what the blank" I came in there to pick up...Maybe the auto-doors interfere with my brainwaves...I'll try a tin-foil hat next time...

Kent

P.S. Growing a little less annoyed with flightsim.to's layout...learning how to make it work.

You make it all the way to the store before you forget what you came for?
Sometimes I go out to the garage and start the car and then ask myself where it was I was going.

[jmig]

You make it all the way to the store before you forget what you came for?
Sometimes I go out to the garage and start the car and then ask myself where it was I was going.

Now that is funny.

[Priller]

All of this reminds me of the initial comments about flightsim.com when they changed forum software!

Priller