Feedback on new style for PPT

[Blue]

Please post your feedback on the new style for the forum here.

It may not last, but then again...?

It is similar, yet different.

jury is out.

[Pickles]

It will take a little getting used to, but it seems close enough to the old style for me.
The biggest things that "bother" me are:
A) the link back to the board index in the top right is awkward. Didn't it used to be right above user control panel on the left?
B) The logo image no longer fits (I'm not sure if this is what is causing the above). It hangs down below the line near the top.

Both things I can live with, though.

[Siniri]

Interestingly, the board index shows up in its old "correct" place for me. I would miss the links to "view new posts" and "view active posts" except I use them so much, Firefox autofills one of the two when I'm going to the boards, anyway.

Edit: Of course, as I use it, I find a few other things different, but at the same time, I'd rather use a format that's supported by the latest fixes in the platform. We'll all adapt to the changes soon enough. Some things might even be better (like the "reply with quote" button and the "delete" button).

[Blue]

I started tweaking the main stylesheet.css. I think I've fixed both of Pickles' initial identified issues - the top background banner is now properly sized and the top margin was adjusted to make sure the "board index" link now seems to be consistently top left. These look much better.

I also adjusted the font sizes to be similar to the old style. However, there are many little annoyances that I'm still trying to figure out and fix. What is interesting is that IE doesn't show some of the icons, nor does it handle font sizing properly. Firefox and Opera seem to do much better. Still not thrilled with this style. The moderator pages are very different. The "A" to cycle through page font size is nice, but it's just... sitting there. I also need to figure out how to get the smilies back on the left side for the post editor.

[Pickles]

I started tweaking the main stylesheet.css. I think I've fixed both of Pickles' initial identified issues - the top background banner is now properly sized and the top margin was adjusted to make sure the "board index" link now seems to be consistently top left. These look much better.

Yes, you did, woot! Way to go, Blue!

I didn't even notice that the smilies were on the "wrong side" until you mentioned that. I guess I just care that they're there...

[Blue]

Hmm. more messing with style sheet put the smilies on the left

And the location of the formatting buttons are fixed, too!

But, the font of the "font size" drop down is too big (well, all drop-downs, actually). I can't find where that is set and it's driving me crazy.

[Siniri]

Holy giant font size, Batman! Wow. In Firefox (24.0, OS = Windows XP), the font is suddenly ridiculously big now.

[Blue]

Easier to read for us old folks. Lol. I'm in the bar all day today, but I'll fix it tonight or tomorrow.

8pm NST ETA: I updated the stylesheet (reverting several font sizes to original). How does it look now?

[Siniri]

Oh, that's much better. Thanks!

What happened to the inbox? Time to figure out where things are. *sigh*

[Blue]

Oh, that's much better. Thanks!

What happened to the inbox? Time to figure out where things are. *sigh*

*Sigh* yeah. It's the little things that are irritating. I was very, very, very used to the link locations at the top and it takes me a while to find the new locations. And, many of the links are not on all pages like they were before. If/when I find time, I plan to see if I can re-write those pages to get back to something closer to what we are used to seeing. I took screenshots of the old style last night as the first step. So far, I have only "fixed" the reply edit box by putting the smilies back on the left, the formatting buttons above the edit box, the width and style of the poster's info box for each post, and the top grey banner to fully enclose the picture. More to come.

For now, the inbox is just to the right of the "User Control Panel" Link at the top left, just under "Board Index", which is just underneath the picture of Arrow (or whatever the current site logo/picture happens to be).

[Siniri]

I meant what happened inside the inbox (i.e., where did all the various buttons and menu items move to?). It was hard to figure out how to "reply" or "send," etc. I was able to actually find it -- I don't think that's changed!

Another small change: the board index gives the author name and time of the latest activity, but not the topic name for that activity, for each section. I think it used to? Or maybe I just always wished it did...

Last edited by Siniri on Thu Oct 17, 2013 6:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Blue]

I meant what happened inside the inbox (i.e., where did all the various buttons and menu items move to?). It was hard to figure out how to "reply" or "send," etc. I was able to actually find it -- I don't think that's changed!

Ah. I will need to look at that.

I may have time late next week. This week is insane.

That said, I will revert to the previous style for now. There's no urgency on this at all. Upgrading the forum to latest is going to take a while, and I do not have the bandwidth to do it right now. Mostly because performing the upgrade will very likely break all of the mods it took weeks to fix last time the forums were upgraded.

ETA: We're back to the original style... for now.

[Daze]

Sorry I didn't add to the covo earlier, but I don't think I had much I could add, as Pickles and Siniri had it all covered.

Thanks Blue for doing all you do here. I must say I really *love* the old layout and the new one just felt so weird.

I couldn't really put my finger on it, just the style didn't seem to 'fit'. I had to adjust the font size, but it always felt either too big or too squashed.

Maybe the 2 things that bugged me the most:

1. Page numbers were not under the board headings.
2. Edit functions were on top of the page and not the bottom (this seemed really weird, due to the fact that you read from top to bottom, therefore would edit after reading the post).

[Blue]

Thanks, Daze. I *really* like the old layout, too. It feels like home

While the new style was similar, there were enough differences that I had not warmed up to it. I think it will be possible to keep the old style, even if the forum is upgraded to latest (3.0.11 --> 3.0.12).

So, the newest arcade doesn't support this style, but I'm really tempted to just get rid of the arcade. How many people are even playing in the arcade, anyway? None now... it's broken

If I find time next month I might play with the new style (subsilver3) to see if I can tweak it to look really close to the one we all like best (subsilver2). It won't happen for a while, though. October is simply insane at work right now, and it will not get better until sometime in November. maybe.