This used to be a robust forum, lots of new questions everyday and, most impotantly, lots of responses. This new forum is clunky and time consuming to navigate. Nobody seems interested anymore. I used to check-in everyday to see what's new. Not any more.

Indeed the new forum is much harder to navigate compared to the old one. The classification of the different sections is far from optimal. Two of the current sections have less than 10 posts, which clearly shows there is not enough interest in those topics to need their own separate sections. On the other hand, the first three sections are clustered with posts from vastly different topics which make them extremely hard to navigate. I would specifically object to merging the OpenCL section from the previous forum into the FPGA Design Tools section in the new one. OpenCL and HLS could certainly use their own separate section. I am sure the first three sections can be split into more fine-grained sections to allow easier navigation. One thing I really wished had been kept from the previous forum was the section structure.There are also multiple other problems that have been mentioned before by other users but still remain:1- The forum is still too heavy and too slow.2- The general design of the forum wastes too much white space. The laderboard/ask a question column on the right is of little practical use.3- Threads in a section are sorted by last reply as they should be. However, only the author and time of opening the thread is included under the thread name in each section which makes it hard to tell whether the thread has been updated since last visit or not. In my opinion, the author and time of the last reply should also be included as it was in the previous forum.4- One thing I have noticed is that there is no way to download attachments that can be previewed. I certainly prefer to open a 100-page PDF attachment using my own PDF reader rather than the built-in preview mechanism provided by the forum.5- The boundaries of each post when viewing a thread are not very clear. There is basically just a very thin line separating replies from each other. Furthermore, the "show more" mechanism cuts replies far too early. The threshold for cutting the reply could be increased for easier navigation.Unfortunately, as it seems, many of the previous users have either left the forum or are not as active anymore and I cannot attribute this to anything other than the sudden huge change in the structure of the forum. I would urge the developers/admins of the new forum to take another look at the previous forum and I am sure they would be able to find a lot of useful features from the previous forum that are missing in the new one.

For me, the major point missing (besides the ones already mentioned and the disappointing lack of performance) is a "new since my last visit" view.A basic functionality I would expect from any half-decent social media application.

Well, lets see. You can't find this forum anywhere from the Altera/Intel web page or login. You have to have an email with the "secret" link. No one from Intel responds. It is hard to read, hard to find things, takes up a lot of space on the page. It is kind of like the whole intel web page. Clunky, hard to read cluttered, useless, links go in circles, links not correct, too much crap to sort through to find what you want if it is even there.This is my first impression after trying for weeks to find this forum, hours on the phone to see if anyone in intel even knew they had an FPGA group(they don't I have been told) then finally given the secret location to this mess.

Not being able to see the timestamp of the last post to a thread and which threads you have unread topics in unheard of in most other forums.

I agree. 💔 This feels dumbed down. Like right now I'm supposed to respond using this narrow column because it looks cool??? FWIW as a former Altera now Intel employee, I couldn't even login without escalating to several people to find out how employee get permission to this site due to bugs in the current website. I not sure this affects everyone but it could be a reason a lot of old Altera folks are not responding.

Is anybody else completely dissatisfied with this new forum?

119 Replies

DBay
Occasional Contributor
8 years ago
The whole web site needs to fix the search function. I had to get an answer from the Arrow FAE( since they are now your only support option...) Even given the answer, a search on the forum and website didn't come up with the answer! If I have a problem/question and a search of the answer doesn't yield any results, how can you expect the question to even begin to be answered by a search on your web site??
And the help on quartus is like reading a circular argument!! If you an even find the results for your version of help(standard help comes up as pro help), the help function just repeats the error that the software stated!!! It needs to say something HELPFUL about the error, not blindly repeat the error!!!
And don't get me started on the hundreds of crashes of Quartus 18.xx.....unstable alpha release....
SSFyTMT
New Contributor
8 years ago
@MaryT_Intel I've tried to send an email to intel.community@intel.com - the e-mail bounced?? Instead I'll post requests here:
1) Sign in page not returning to the page you clicked it from - only returning home. For example, if I'm on a thread and want to post but haven't signed in - I click on "sign in" on the top right. Once I've signed in it re-directs me to the forum home - not the thread I was at. Given how bad search is its difficult to get back to the thread.
2) This was mentioned by several others - but the forum topics need more granularity. Specifically openCL. So many topics are lumped into the "FPGA Design Tools Forum" it's hard to use. I can't fathom why Intel thought it was a good idea to switch up forum topics and groupings of an active community at the SAME TIME as switching the entire platform to a new setup. Just go back to the same groupings as Altera forums had. Or at least configure sub-topics. Instead of just "FPGA Design Tools" have sub topics for quartus, HLS, openCL, etc.
LLars
New Contributor
8 years ago
I am completely dissatisfied with Intel support, since they won't answer a question and just tell you to goto a forum and hope somebody there can answer your question.
RMees
New Contributor
8 years ago
Hello Mary, How do you want to proceed? I am using Chrome on a Mac. I tried Safari, it also freezes but in a different way/situation. Chrome : Version 69.0.3497.100 (Official Build) (64-bit) Mac High Sierra Version 10.13.6 (17G65) My test sequence : Open new page at forums.intel.com<http://forums.intel.com>. Goto FPGA design tools Goto post: I trying to generate seriallite_iii_a10 example design. When I use Quartus Prime Pro the design is generated. When I use Quartus Prime Standard the IP Parameter Editor stops responding and I am forced to kill Quartus. Hit the BACK button. Frozen. However, If I am NOT signed in, the browser doesn’t freeze. Regards, Rene
mfro
Occasional Contributor
8 years ago
>> The first line of defense
you managed to make this fortress impregnable
>> these forums where over 25 Intel engineers are working to help customers directly
how come these engineers didn't recognize this forum unusable?
Or did they, and it was ignored?
Never mind, you promised improvement already. I'll exercise myself in patience.
mfro
Occasional Contributor
8 years ago
New bug introduced: everytime I open a conversation, I get a window with an error message in it:
Non-serializable class: java.util.ArrayList$SubList
Browser=Firefox 60.2.1esr 64bit on Debian.
It's nice you guys are working on the code, but wouldn't it be better to fix bugs instead of introducing new ones?
Hint: if you want to introduce agile programming, you first need agile coders. Do you ever test before deployment?
corestar
Contributor
8 years ago
I'm getting the same error as mfro. On Windows 7 Pro using FireFox 62.0.3 (64-bit).
corestar
Contributor
8 years ago
Another issue I encountered is you cannot add more than one attachment.
Also, extensions such as .rpt and .lst will gray out the "Answer" button. I had to append a .txt suffix to get it to upload. Please either fix it so it allows such extensions or don't allow them to be selected in the first place. Graying out the "Answer" button is not useful.
Lastly, it does not show the full file name including extension. The default Microsoft foolishness where file extensions are hidden should be avoided.
Also, "Answer" is a very bad name. Just a minor annoyance, but not all posts are answers. Likewise for "Ask a Question".
corestar
Contributor
8 years ago
MaryT_Intel, using unsupported software can of course be bad, but I'm sure it would at least function. For example, I still use XP on a number of machines and am convinced zero support from Microsoft is a positive thing 😀
You may not want to answer, but I'm curious what forum software is being used. I've used a couple free open source ones in the past (eg MyBB, phpBB) that create perfectly usable forums with a few button clicks. Team of 1 guy, me, spending a few hours total. Biggest issue was limiting spam. I'm really not trying to be derogatory, but this is not rocket science. These are well known technologies that have been solved a 100 times in the past. Why reinvent the wheel?
GLees
Contributor
7 years ago
Since I started this thread about four months ago I feel it's appropriate for me to weigh in again. I'm really happy with the changes that have been made. The forum is back to being "pretty easy to use and navigate" and I see more activity now. Thanks for all the hard work.
- schendel_nsf
  New Contributor
  7 years ago
  Thanks for your post !
  After the promised update disappointed, I had all but given up on it, but you are right, the forum has become usable again.
  In particular, for those who say the design offers nothing better:
  Have you noticed that you can (now) check and write answers on your tablet/smart phone ?
  That would not have worked well with the old one (and also not with the current design some time ago).
  Please keep listening to requests from the top posters / moderators of the Altera Forum, and Keep up the good work !

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Is anybody else completely dissatisfied with this new forum?

119 Replies

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