Board redesign - provide your input

ur give'n me 'nother freakin' headache j/k

I admire all of you that have the necessary skills to make the board what it is.

GBR

 
Blackshirt said:
Ok guys, the new design is available in a limited production environment. I'm not sure if this is only available to admins, let me know, but in the bottom left corner of the site, I was able to select from the drop-down the skin called "qb sneak".

***SNIP***
Click to expand...
The new skin should now be available to Mods. As Chad indicated, look at the bottom left of any page (except those here in our "hidden" forum) and you should see huskerRed. Click the drop-down and select QB Sneak and the new skin should be in effect for the entire Board. If there are any problems with this, post 'em here. Thanks.

 
2 more thoughts:

* Too much bold in weird places. In each forum, the timestamp of the most recent post, thread author, # of replies, and author of the most recent post are all in bold, while the thread title isn't. I actually like that the thread title isn't but I think some of those other things could be made normal weight too. Maybe all of them. Also would be interested in seeing if it would look better as black text, as opposed to red.

* Variable width page. The main page area (everything within the red pebble border on the side) looks like it's set to a percentage. This makes things look weird in lower (but reasonable) resolutions, where signatures start extending over the pebble background (like huskerjock's as an example). On the other hand, a fixed with here means the red pebble area won't be of equal width on each side.

 
AR Husker Fan said:
zoogies said:
***SNIP***
Finally, a cosmetic issue with the thread display. I don't like the alternating backgrounds. The main thing is that threads with new replies are awful hard to differentiate. If you look at the main forums, what helps separate these threads? A HIGH amount of contrast present only in the thread icon, as illustrated:

***SNIP***

With the new system, the difference in background color is sharp enough that white vs light gray is the big thing that separates one thread from another. I like the idea of alternating background colors but the execution doesn't seem to be working. I would suggest the 'dark' background option be lightened even more so that the difference is very subtle.

Most important, on the 'darker' alternating rows, the following three columns are shaded more heavily than the thread title: thread icon, thread author, last post info. These make every other thread in the forum list jump out at you, which is very bad, because we should be wanting every newly updated thread to jump out instead.

Additionally, I think there is too much difference in the forum icons between "no unread post" threads and "no unread post, but hot topic" threads. Both are pale folders; the former is yellow and the latter is red. This contrast suggests that all the red folder icons are threads with unread posts, when they aren't. My suggestion: a deep, high saturation red folder for threads with new posts, and maybe a tiny, tiny fire icon overlayed on the bottom corner of the yellow folder for 'hot' threads.

***SNIP***
Click to expand...
I've been using the new skin exclusively for the entire Board and zoogie's points, above, really jump out at me. Particularly the icon for the new replies - very difficult to tell which threads have new content as compared to the old skin. If that icon could be...dunno...brighter or something to really make it stand out, that would help considerably.

This is something our own grapics folks could fix, I should imagine. If someone can edit the "new reply" icon to make it more distinctive or bolder/brighter, we can upload it and take care of that ourselves. Anyone up for it?

Agree, also, with zoogie's other points above.

1. Anyone want to offer up the RGB code that would make the "darker" alternating rows or would just having a better, brigher icon do the trick?

2. Again, if someone can edit the icons zoogie mentions above as per his suggestions and post 'em here, we can hit on something we like and upload it, I believe.
Click to expand...
Hot Topics

Unread:

ZHRgU.png


Read:

dSiFt.png


Normal Topics

Unread:

axnSK.png


Read:

Gu1Ix.png


 
Great! I have them up and added! Thanks, Eliot!

EDIT: Also, I edited the "Go to first unread post" icon - the really small one beside threads that have posts you have not read. Tried to brighten it up and make it easier to see.

 
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Nice work guys. I've had to step out of the loop the past few days - been really caught up with my other biz (the one that pays all the bills :) It seems you guys are doing fine, but let me know if you're waiting on anything from me.

FYI - I asked about editing the structure on the QB sneak skin only - but this isnt available - the only recommendation was to just take the board offline while doing the re-org.

The design guy also edited the timestamp thing to display on new topics. He noticed our members were complaining about it, so went ahead & installed the fix - in case you were wondering. Nice gesture.

 
AR Husker Fan said:
Great! I have them up and added! Thanks, Eliot!

EDIT: Also, I edited the "Go to first unread post" icon - the really small one beside threads that have posts you have not read. Tried to brighten it up and make it easier to see.
Click to expand...
Few more

Read Poll:

l8an3.png


Unread Poll:

15Qxu.png


Locked Tread:

NN3fS.png


I also took the liberty of updating the Husker logo we use for the scoreboards and countdown clock if we want to change it.

dbHzT.png


or

p5CsY.png


 
Last edited by a moderator:
eliot1171 said:
Few more

Read Poll:

l8an3.png


Unread Poll:

15Qxu.png


Locked Tread:

NN3fS.png


I also took the liberty of updating the Husker logo we use for the scoreboards and countdown clock if we want to change it.

dbHzT.png


or

p5CsY.png
Click to expand...
Can you make this one -
dbHzT.png
- in GIF format? Tranparent background? We use it on other pages, with different backgrounds?

 
Tell me this new skin is just REEEEALLY slow because it's on a test server. Every page I've tried it on has been dreadfully slow, like two to three times as slow as our current skin. It's the test server, right?

 
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