I didn't realize I could use the search box before I selected all my topics. It would have come in handy as I couldn't find HD Conversations and Kitchen Table at first. It really isn't as complicated as some think, if you will only slow down and explore the new format. With this change and the one when we merged with Houzz, I had most of it figured out within 20 minutes. You just have to poke around and see what's there. What isn't helpful is people who panic before even trying it out and post dozens of threads to freak out in.

What would have helped tremendously is if Emily had posted a thread in the heavily-used forums announcing the change and asking that questions and comments be posted there. Instead she posted that thread after people had already gone into panic mode.

I added a link to my original post. There are a couple of other suggestions to find a specific forum, maybe easier than my solution.

I suppose there are instances where it would be easier to type in the name of a forum in the search box, if you are a potential new member and want to know if a specific forum is available. For example, I typed in 'underwater basket-weaving' and no results were found.

FWIW, HD conversations did not come up when I did a search, so I resorted to my Activity page (in Your Houzz) and got in that way, then clicked the 'Follow' button to add it to my list of topics.

I found it on the Explore Topics page, by typing it in the search box. Someone on another thread pointed out that using a PC or a phone would make a difference in whether you see the box to the left, where you can list your frequently visited forums. Fortunately, I have KT and Home Dec Conv bookmarked on my laptop.

Yes, I am on my desktop Mac computer and the sidebar is there. On my Android phone, there is a drop down menu @ the top of the page that lists my topics.

Y'know, they haven't gotten rid of the old the URL's. If you want Cooking Forum, do ths.gardenweb.com/forums/cooking.  For Kitchens, ths.gardenweb.com/forums/kitchbath, etc.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5344680/searching-for-a-specific-forum-in-the-word-salad-of-the-topics-page#n=13

I found when I was searching for my favorites that I had to enter them a few times before they showed up in the results. There seems to be a time lag or glitch. If at first you don't succeed ...

Oh, I just asked the same question in another thread. I'm still on the gardenweb.com URL. Is it different with Houzz.com?

This is a page with the houzz url. Do you get the box on the upper left on gw? You can click "explore topics" and then you should be able to find the different forums.

d_gw - my url says www.gardenweb.com and the home page looks just like what you posted. I have "followed" my favorite forums and they are listed in the upper left.

I do miss the direct links to related forums that used to be at the top of the page.

Donna

Pllog, the link to the cooking forum now says "page not found."

I'm getting page not found, as well.

Hmm. If I use my bookmarks to find the forums I've saved there, the results are mixed. Kitchens always comes up as a Houzz addy. This forum first came up as a GW addy, but 4 other tries had it coming up either way. Other forums were still GW addys. Whichever URL shows up at the top, the page still looks the same. The good news is that I haven't been trying to locate things through the "new look," which sounds like a nightmare. Yay for bookmarks!

As I said above, if you can't get the search window to work, you can go to Your Houzz - on the upper right - click Activity to see your recent posts, then click through to a topic on the forum you're looking for and follow the forum (Follow button is on main forum page) so you don't have to search every time.

And it's not always necessary to go to the Activity page, since the main Your Houzz page may show a topic on the forum you want.

They should just drop Gardenweb Discussions as a separate topics list page now. That page and the Houzz Discussions page are different. The Featured Topics section isn't on the GW Discussion page so I couldn't find the Using Houzz forum. I never use Houzz Discussions to find topics. Combine all the topics now, as I'm sure they will eventually.

Sheesh, did you spell it exactly right? Forums with an 's' at the end? It works for me.

Home forums (ths): ths. gardenweb .com /forums/cooking (you need to know the URL name for the forum, like kitchens is "kitchbath" and appliances is "appl".)

Garden forums (www): www. gardenweb .com /discussions/harvest (discussions, not forums).

ETA: Okay. I found the problem. When I type in the ths URL into the location box of the browser it works, but it changes to www. gardenweb .com /discussions/cooking. They may be changing it over, or something. When there's a link, it's broken and goes to page not found. I think there's an issue with the automatic link maker.

ETAAgain: I removed the links but they keep putting them back, so I'm adding spaces to unlink the above.

I haven't had any trouble finding forums, but word salad is right! Holy cow, who thought it was a good idea to have all Home Forums listed in one giant, random, unalphabetized list? I showed DH, and his first reaction was "why is Electronics next to Menopause?"

Yeesh, I hope they're planning a few tweaks.

Plllog, I pressed on your link and I wrote it myself. Either way I get Page Not Found. Just tried again.

This is all so confusing and in its way, interesting. Why didn't houzz wait until they could do one decent roll out, instead of this ridiculous, aggravating mess.

Wow! That is so weird! I still think they're trying to get rid of us since we use resources and don't spend money. We do provide free content but they may be undervaluing that.

I want to add this forum/topic (home decorating conversations) to my topics in the left hand bar so I can just click to get here rather than going to bookmarks. It doesn't seem to be listed as a topic - even when I search. Anyone find it and can direct me?

Daisy: If you go into HD conversations and hit "following" on the right, it should appear in your left hand topics column.

THS.GarenWeb.com still works to get to an alphabetized list of the old gardeweb forums. GardenWeb first, then THS under it. I have always had to continue using this address on my kindle, since the Houzz app for notebooks never seemed to have a way to get to the home forums.

Nancy, I believe it only still works for some people, not everyone. I was still on the old format until a few days ago. Now my browsers on my desktop and phone are in the new format.

And I tried to describe how I managed to find HD Conversations above, since searching did not pull it up me me either. My Houzz activity (cick "Your Houzz", upper right @ top of page) shows my comments on the forums I visit, so I clicked through to them by clicking the hyperlinked title of the thread, then on the main page of the forum, I clicked the Follow button in the upper right of the page to add it to my list of topics.

Oh darn! Thought I had defeated them!

The list of forums is alphabetized today...hope it stays that way!

Donna