Even Newer Site Design
|
Ok! I have now managed to fix the forum access part, and all registered users should be able to post new fourum topics! Yay! We're constantly working on improving the site design usability, but it is ofcourse hard to spot everyting. If you find something wonky that you think should be changed please let us know! It will help us prioritize the work and fix the most important parts first. /hObbE |
Submitted by hObbE
Wed, 05/14/2008 - 07:42
|
thickbox working again...
Yay! I just managed to get thicbox working on the images. Amazing how this web stuff has strange relations and dependencies and on top of this no compiler to help...
I just don't get how people can develop in such an environment... amazing...
The thing with thickbox was that it was dependant on certain css styles (.node .content) to group images the correct way. On top of this it uses javascript to rewrite the xhtml on the fly so it is pretty much impossible to get a grip on what is happening by just inspecting the generated xhtml pages.
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
How about another text
How about another text color? Grey on black is pretty hard to read, at least on my monitor.
Oh, I wasn't logged in...
Oh, I wasn't logged in... Anyway, I made that post about text color.
I have made some tweaks
I have made some tweaks making it a bit smoother (maybe)...
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
Darkness good?
While the new design feels simplistic and more polished in many ways I can't help but getting that underground retro feel. And in this case I don't think its a good thing. Community sites are generally bright for a reason. Black can scare people away because they look dangerous. Game sites usually have a colorful, playful look and thats probably a good idea.
Yes, I have thought a bit
Yes, I have thought a bit about this too. But I'm thinking that it is better to leave the mainstream and maybe be remembered than do "just another gaming site design".
I also think that the actual colors are a very minor detail, usability is a much more pressing concern.
That said it would be cool to have a choise between darkside and brightside in the theme
Given that the current css is very much more maintainable this could actually be an option. But I'll get to that when the design has stabilized some more.
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
While I agree with you about
While I agree with you about the dark layout, I still think the grey/blue text is too hard to read on a black background. Could you please change it to something a bit brighter?
Also, the community site looks kinda broken (some divs not appearing where they should?). And I still want that "Remember me" option for the login.
Just to clarify you want the
Just to clarify you want the text to be brighter? That is more contrast between text and background?
And yes the community frontpage layout is messed up, but we're working on it
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
On a different note... Do
On a different note...
Do you experience any performance problems? I seem to get a lot of timeouts on pages.
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
I want more contrast,
I want more contrast, yes.
Now that you mention it, the pages do take a pretty long time to load. Or rather, the first time I load a page here it takes a long time to load, but then I have no problems with any pages (until I wait for a while).
Also, maybe you should edit your signature?
More contrast fixed! Hope it
More contrast fixed!
Hope it is ok
I have also started fixing the community page. It's coming along nicely, but especially the internals of the group thingy needs a lot of work, to be user friendly and intuitive.
We're thinking of creating a special friends group that you get by default, where you invite your friens... obviously.
We're not sure if this group should use the same groups system or something else...
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
Forum tracking
I have just added a long awaited feature to check what forum posts you have not yet read. It's available in your user menu.
I hope it works as expected
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
New Forum Topics
I have managed to fix the new forum topics thingy to work correctly. There was a problem when marking really old threads as read. I also added a linky to the latest forum topics in the forum.
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
Colouring and General Design
Hey,
First time posting in this new forum layoutish thingie. I must say, quite honestly, that I hate it.
It's difficult to tell posts apart and from eachother. Although I suppose it is your own look and feel, but it doesn't work at all for me.
I wish I could be more constructive about this though, I'll give it a shot. I miss the visuals when navigating and looking for new posts. I miss the clean and clear separators between posts and topics. I miss having the avatar/name of the poster to the left (it's to the right now, which is awkward for me to read at least, people with native languages that are read right to left probably have an easier time). Also, with the menu to the left and at the top, it feels cramped for space in the middle of the screen. Footnotes, or permanent comments are hard to tell apart from the rest of the message too. The accompanying text under the reply title/subject (e.g. "Submitted by hObbE on Sat, 05/17/2008 - 09:14") is difficult to read, too little contrast and the font isn't that awesome for reading either, it kind of blurs with itself making individual letters hard to tell apart.
Well, that's my weekly ranting. If it makes you feel any better I would totally suck at doing this site-stuff. So at least you get creds for that.
Peace out yo!
There's no kill like an overkill!
Thnx
Hey Malice!
I really appreciate your honest opinions!
Just to clarify on some of your issues:
You miss the nifty icons that had different colors if you had unread posts in a forum ("I miss the visuals when navigating and looking for new posts.")?
I'm not really sure what you mean by "separators between posts and topics".
This one is also a bit unclear to me "Footnotes, or permanent comments are hard to tell apart from the rest of the message". Do you mean that we should separate the actual topic and reply/comments more clearly?
Having the avatar to the right is actually "the new standard" in phpbb3. I kind of like it as it makes you focus on the actual post and not the poster.
I will make some changes so ctrl-f5 is your friend
/hObbE
By "footnote", I'm pretty
By "footnote", I'm pretty sure he means "signature"
Ahhh
Yes that could be it!
Anyways... I have worked some on the forum, so if you ctrl-f5 you'll get something new and hopefully better.
And ohh I found the new icons here:
http://e-lusion.com/design/greyscale/
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
Looks good. I did however
Looks good. I did however notice now that you use the same icon for subforums and threads. This could be a bit confusing.
back with a vengance
More input for you
"You miss the nifty icons that had different colors if you had unread posts in a forum" - that is correct, although now after ctrl-F5:ing for a bit I get icons. Could be because I'm running IE from the stone age that things look really strange for me. I should probably download firefox again.
With "separators between posts and topics", I'm not quite sure exactly what I meant, I could have phrazed it better. Mainly I mean that it's hard sometimes to tell posts apart, especially since the reply buttons are the same colour as the subject line. Why I put topics in there is that it's similar in the topics section of the forum, although now at least I get groups (again with ctrl-f5) so it's managable now.
( footnote == sig ) //true
Well, I can argue about the avatar on the right thing some more. But it's more of a taste thing I think. I just liked hopping left to see who posted if I read something interesting. Or staying on the left with my eyes when scanning for a specific user.
The text under the subject line is now much better. Now I'm more curious about the subject line itself, I'm not sure what it adds except that it's pretty much the only clear visual on where a post starts right now.
There's no kill like an overkill!
Firefox rules
Hey, at work now, thought I'd have a look with Firefox. Things sure do look different.
Actually it's a lot easier to read now, the posts have alternating background colours which make them easier to tell apart and there are lines between the threads. 
Signiataures are still hard to tell apart from the rest of the messages though, but everything else looks a-ok. I guess IE something or other (6 I think? or maybe 7) sucks..
There's no kill like an overkill!
No IE6 support
As a note I test the site with ie7 and ff, so you prolly run ie6 at home.
I will think about making separate icons for the forums and the threads.
I have made some icon tweaks, they are a bit smaller now and also there are separate icons for forums and threads.
Thanx for the feed, it keeps me going!
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
I'm confused. The posts do
I'm confused. The posts do not have alternating background colors here. I'm using ff.
Really?!
That is really strange... so the "No IE6 support" post above does not have a darkgreyish background?
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
Actually, now that I'm
Actually, now that I'm really looking, it does have a darkgrey background. But the difference is way too subtle.
Correct you are
hObbE one Kenobi, IE6 I am using. Don't worry though, I'm not going to make you support it. I just don't enjoy MS products enough to actually upgrade them if I have a choice. Also, I noticed that the menu on top actually looks pretty good in firefox compared to IE6, because it's totally bugged in IE6.
Freelancer - At work the difference in background colour was quite clear. Maybe it's your contrast settings?
There's no kill like an overkill!
Well duh... I haven't slept
Well duh... I haven't slept enough
I've increased the brightness on my monitor now, and the alternating colors are quite obvious.
Sweet!
But there is quite a difference in color/brightness/contrast from different monitors. I have a laptop that has a super clear screen, and the tft's at work seems like a blurry mess compared to that.
Really hard to design for every case
But I will start focusing on adding more features to the site soon. The user profile page needs some work to get up to standards. We're also thinking about adding a "buddys" thingy and user rankings...
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
hUb movie
I have just remade our hUb page somewhat. The most notable change is the super cool hUb movie that ninja effects has provided us with!
If that movie don't make you want to download hUb I don't know what will
/hObbE
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
minor css tweaks
I have made some minor css tweaks, mostly fixing group highscores.
[url=http://www.spellofplay.com]Let's make the games we dream of playing[/url]
Remember Me
The long awaited "Remember Me" feature has just been added
I had to do some minor css fixes to a ctrl-f5 could be good.
But you should see a remember me checkbox on the login block. You will be remembered for 30 days.
Thank you.
Thank you.
User Profile Update
I have also managed to get the user profile page working again. Now you should see some basic info about users, and also your own pending group invitations.
There are probably a ton of issues, so please report any anomalities.
ctrl-f5 is good to refresh css...
Well, it does say I have 0
Well, it does say I have 0 forum posts...
Oh, and I noticed ctrl-f4 is too close to ctrl-f5
Removed
Ah... it seems at that part of the user profile was connected to the old (purged) phpbb forum. I have removed that info until I have sorted this out.
Would be interesting to know what you think should be displayed on the profile page...
Speaking of phpBB, there's
Speaking of phpBB, there's still a "tab" for that on the edit page.
As for the profile page, maybe some basic info such as location and high score (
), and a small presentation if you want that.
Oh, and I passed my CCNA exam
Gratz!
Oh! I forgot to congratulate you!
I have also made some minor font and layout. Mostly in the blogs, there are still some things to fix. Ctrl-f5 recomended.
mr. picky here. It should
mr. picky here. It should say "exciting" in the welcome text not exiting
Thanx for that one! Those
Thanx for that one! Those errors are really hard to spot!
/hObbE
I'm usually pretty good at
I'm usually pretty good at finding spelling errors since I like writing correctly myself
If you need any text looked over with an extra pair of eyes, let me know 
Yeah. I'm pretty picky
Yeah. I'm pretty picky myself also... but I tend to rely on autospelling a bit to much. I guess I'm lazy.
It's always good to have an extra pair of eyes though
I guess the about page is the most static page we have. So feel free to look through that one...
sure, I will. I took a quick
sure, I will. I took a quick look and it looked alright but I'll give it another more in-depth round later
AddThis
I just added a cool little thingy called an AddThis button to the blog contents. It's for all you (social)bookmarkers, quite neat and convenient!
Let me know if there is some bookmarking tool you'd like in the drop down (not having to click the more button).
Post new comment