Updated look for the site.

ChewChew

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

There's always options of new colours, yes. Can you let us get the white/blue one right first though? :pac:

Danny

Danny, I only asked a question because I couldn't find a change option. No need to be a smarty pants about it.

Boards.ie: Paddy wrote: »

Yeah, a black colour scheme is something we're considering. White will always be the default so it gets precedence.

Thank you Paddy! How very helpful of you! I look forward to using the black if/when it comes on board.

My name is URL

galwaytt wrote: »

...I thought I'd give the new look another go: sorry, it's giving me a blinding headache with all that white.

In a not-daylight-lit environment (at night, indoors, etc) it's going to be blinding - can we get a comment from you Danny on this ?

You should try using f.lux to see if it makes it any more bearable for you

http://stereopsis.com/flux/

Boards.ie: Danny

DrumSteve wrote: »

Thanks Danny..

I usually access it through m.boards.ie... will there be any changes to that version as opposed to the touch site?

Oh, sorry about the confusion there DrumSteve. I've go some bad indications for you on that front.

m.boards.ie runs off vBulletin, it's a highly customised style. As Paddy stated a few posts ago we're moving away from vBulletin in the future, over to a new Boards.ie platform created for our users without all that crud/fluff from a generic software.

The downside to this is that active development on old skins, including the m.boards.ie one will be winding down. Given the traffic our touch site gets vs the traffic the M site gets and the exponential growth in the touchscreen devices/phone world it would seem a better effort to bring the touch site up to speed as opposed to prettifying the M site.

That's not to say a final decision has been made but from what I can see, holding your breath would be a bad idea

Danny

My name is URL wrote: »

You should try using f.lux to see if it makes it any more bearable for you

http://stereopsis.com/flux/

Best. Software. Ever. I don't use it in work mind, but it's amazing and on the laptop/desktop

Samich

I like it, it's like Facebook when they introduce new things. Most people don't like it at first, but then they get used to it and forget all the old things

Boards.ie: Danny

ChewChew wrote: »

Danny, I only asked a question because I couldn't find a change option. No need to be a smarty pants about it.

My comment was slightly tongue in cheek (hence the smiley) - after all we only launched this skin this morning. I think you took me up entirely wrong there ChewChew, I apologise if it came across as being smart.

Danny

JohnK

Dont know if its been mentioned yet but the quick reply box at the bottom of the screen seems to have a much bigger minimum width than the rest of the page and is causing a scrollbar to appear while the rest of the page just shrinks to accommodate the smaller screen size.

See screenshots attached, Boards1.jpg shows everything is the same width at a wider screen but once the screen is made smaller in Boards2.jpg the quick reply box has stopped shrinking while the thread itself is properly fitting the screen.

Edited to add I'm on IE9

Samich

One thing I've noticed is the boards icons are gone

They should be left somewhere imo.

The little block heads

And are people complaining of the size of the block that is permanently there? It's grand I think

DrumSteve

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

Oh, sorry about the confusion there DrumSteve. I've go some bad indications for you on that front.

m.boards.ie runs off vBulletin, it's a highly customised style. As Paddy stated a few posts ago we're moving away from vBulletin in the future, over to a new Boards.ie platform created for our users without all that crud/fluff from a generic software.

The downside to this is that active development on old skins, including the m.boards.ie one will be winding down. Given the traffic our touch site gets vs the traffic the M site gets and the exponential growth in the touchscreen devices/phone world it would seem a better effort to bring the touch site up to speed as opposed to prettifying the M site.

That's not to say a final decision has been made but from what I can see, holding your breath would be a bad idea

Danny



Best. Software. Ever. I don't use it in work mind, but it's amazing and on the laptop/desktop

Thanks Danny, I'll switch over to the touch site so. I've GS2 so I'm not sure why I don't use it... Force of habit I guess.

Samich

JohnK wrote: »

Dont know if its been mentioned yet but the quick reply box at the bottom of the screen seems to have a much bigger minimum width than the rest of the page and is causing a scrollbar to appear while the rest of the page just shrinks to accommodate the smaller screen size.

See screenshots attached, Boards1.jpg shows everything is the same width at a wider screen but once the screen is made smaller in Boards2.jpg the quick reply box has stopped shrinking while the thread itself is properly fitting the screen.

Edited to add I'm on IE9

Is your web page maximised?

charlemont

:mad:

Boards.ie: Danny

galwaytt wrote: »

In a not-daylight-lit environment (at night, indoors, etc) it's going to be blinding - can we get a comment from you Danny on this ?

Since you asked, of course I've been using it non stop for over a month, in work, at home, on the laptop, early in the morning, late at night etc. It's never struck me to be tiring, blinding or anything like what you folks are experiencing. Maybe my eyes are ravaged by the screen already and I wouldn't notice if the brightness went up to 10,000 lumens, I can't honestly sa but that's my experience of the white background - no different to other sites I use often (e.g. Facebook, RTE, BBC, Youtube, Google - all white on black)

Danny

yop

I like it !

Herrick

It looks good, but still prefer my Cloud skin.

Question: Will this beta skin eventually be the only skin available and all the old skins will no longer be usable?

Boards.ie: Paddy

JohnK wrote: »

Dont know if its been mentioned yet but the quick reply box at the bottom of the screen seems to have a much bigger minimum width than the rest of the page and is causing a scrollbar to appear while the rest of the page just shrinks to accommodate the smaller screen size.

See screenshots attached, Boards1.jpg shows everything is the same width at a wider screen but once the screen is made smaller in Boards2.jpg the quick reply box has stopped shrinking while the thread itself is properly fitting the screen.

Edited to add I'm on IE9

That's a bug alright. Logged and will be fixed in a future release.

JohnK

Samich wrote: »

Is your web page maximised?

No not maximised, just at a large and a slightly less large size

K-9

LordSmeg wrote: »

Previously a notification appeared when a user got a pm. Now it appears along with a notification for every unread thread your subbed to meaning you dont know what its for and there will always be notification there. Whether its 10/15/20/30/60/200 it doesnt matter.

Whats it really notifying you about ? There was a reason there was notifications for just pm's displayed prominently on screen. Those reasons still exist but the "You have a pm" notification has been replaced with "You may or may not have a pm/s and you have a lot of unread subbed threads".

Its pointless as far as I see to change it when it was grand the way it was. If people want subbed thread notifications then they can be showed when you check your threads. A constant reminder you are subbed to threads that hides pm notifications is pointless.

Don't you get a Browser notification if you get a PM anyway? It kind of makes the pm notification redundant, there's a setting in the CP to enable it I think.

Mycroft H

Its a bit buggy on the Ipad with iOS5.1. The drop down menu beside your profile pic drops down but none of the links work.

kroisis

What I like about it so far is it seems to condense things significantly. While a black colour scheme might help for those wanting high contrast (someone reading their laptop in a sunny environment outside whilst sipping a pint) I don't think it would be as aesthetically appealing as this new one. Having the ability to choose on an individual basis will give the boards a greater appeal.

Just my 2 cents.

TheDoc

Well after a mornings use

1) I'm still not liking the cap at 1400. I'm used to having forums and emails the width of my monitor. While it might be some industry research that it becomes negative past 1400, it should be an option for each user. I'm sure that research was probably done on casual light users and not power users that frequent a forum ever day. I'd look into allowing an option for users to expand to more width.

2) I quickly adapted and appreciated the search bar. Its actually pretty good. I dont know why people are moaning about the menus not expanding, when you can literally type in your forum and go. It prios forums which means I'm typically just typing the forum name and hitting return and I'm there. It has a decent auto completion function but it is a little slow, maybe with some better indexing it can get faster.

Definitly try the search box to get into your forums, its good.

3) I've also utilised the "My forums" quick tab and the "USERCP" tab up the top right. I like their layout, think they are excellent and quickly allow me to get to threads where I'm following or new replies are in.

4) Keyboard shortcuts. Are these new? I did the age old accidently hitting two keys and found it auto opened a reply box. Is there is a full list of these shortcuts, this looks amazing. I've been using the shortcut for quick reply all day, very good.

Overall I've adapted pretty quickly. I do have an issue with the 1400 width cap and hope it can be expanded for users who wish. I think one of the main focuses of any modern site driven by users is to allow customisation and modularity.

There is absolutely no way that you can get a one size fits all. Also, its laughable some of the stuff people are complaining abot. Real typical Irish against change stuff.

The "if its not broke don't fix it" is a horrible old acronym deployed by people with no ambition or desire to improve or better things.

I prefer the " if its good, make it better" when it comes to projects and web stuff, and there is absolutely no reason things cant get better and better. The old layout and site as a whole was ancient in comparison to the technologies and design of other community driven sites around the globe.

Good work, I'll be keeping this skin on, although if the 1400 width cap is something that is definitly not going to change I'll hope back. Regardless of any research or any nonsense like that, its actually a massive waste and there is no real justification for it.

By all means default the 1400 width cap, and allow an option for users to pull it wider.

I hope I've got my point across about how I dont like the 1400 cap.....

Stiffler2

Wow - it looks like you've taken the site back to the early 90's

I don't like the look of it at all, you're going backwards not forwards here.

just my 2 cents but I never like change anyway.

Vic Vinegar

I'm liking it so far, very nice, clean interface.

A_Sober_Paddy

Boards.ie: Tony

Sharrow wrote: »

I had a tab open to reply to you with the original post, If you can't comment then you can't comment. Is there anyone on the team who pre dates you who cares to comment or better yet answer the question?

I'll look into this and see if there is. There was, to my knowledge, no real central point of contact when it came to that sort of thing before I started. I was pretty sure that UserTesting.com was used to run some tests (and it's a service I've used previously on a number of high profile projects I've worked on for previous employers with great success)

For now, it has been stated previously in this forum that the older skins will eventually gotten rid off or at least go so unsupported that they become unusable.

This skin is a stepping stone in a grander redesign. There is currently no cut off date for the older skins, but they will not be getting any new features.

And a better how do guide, or short vids on this wouldn't have been an option?

This was all decided before I joined, but I couldn't see how a video or guide would have made the current default skin better.

So it is being dumbed down, rather then take the time to explain.
I really don't see it as being that big a barrier, I've seen 7 year old manage to
navigate around forums, I guess I saw it as an idiot filter and as such I find it disconcerting that the standard is being lowered.

I don't think it's being dumbed down. When I saw this for the first time a few weeks ago, personally, I felt it was much more approachable and usable. No features have been removed, so it really hasn't been dumbed down in any way. Some features have been moved and some features / elements have gotten more space / increased their visibility to make them more approachable.

And speaking of standards you didn't answer my question on the standards you mentioned.

As for standards. It's a bit of both. What is common practice on-line at the moment as well as outcomes of various research that was under taken by myself, previous colleagues I've worked with and the design team in here.
(for example, here's some research about button placement that was done a number of years ago and is research I've used, and validated with my own testing sessions, about button placement and whether the left or right should be the primary function. This is just one small element in the whole picture.
I also pushed for Arial to be the default font, and we rolled it out in a test build to the Moderators, but based on the feed back we received it made things more difficult to read when used in large blocks of text, so the font was changed to what you see now.)



If there are any specific elements that are of particular concern to you, please let us know. We're looking for as much constructive feedback as possible.

Boards.ie: Paddy

TheDoc wrote: »

4) Keyboard shortcuts. Are these new? I did the age old accidently hitting two keys and found it auto opened a reply box. Is there is a full list of these shortcuts, this looks amazing. I've been using the shortcut for quick reply all day, very good.

No not new, I only discovered them myself when adding an access key for the omnibox. (Alt+Shift+F on chrome/linux)

I'll see about getting a list of them together.

Keogg

I don't mind it, but I think all the buttons and whatnot seem very oversized, it kind of feels like I've clicked a 'for people with poor vision' link.
The next page and numbers buttons and such are very large, and so is the top bar that scrolls down with you - I like the buttons for the forums moving with you, and I also like the thin black-seethrough bar telling me what forum/thread I'm in, but I think the big blue bit is unnecessary.

Edit: Also when I hover over the Rec top bar, half of the first column is cut off for me. Now I have a netbook so the screen is pretty tiny but that doesn't usually happen for other websites.

It seems too blocky and square, I definitely preferred the old one

Daemos

It feels very much like you've made this specifically for iPad users, while forgetting about regular old laptop users. It seems very much focused on a touch-screen interface, but it is hideously blocky and looks hideously basic.

Back to Old Beta for me

DenMan

I'm really liking it. Well done to everyone involved in it's creation. Notification for subscribed threads is brilliant, very like facebook. I'm keeping it too!

Oafley Jones

Stiffler2 wrote: »

Wow - it looks like you've taken the site back to the early 90's

I don't like the look of it at all, you're going backwards not forwards here.

just my 2 cents but I never like change anyway.

I'm all for change, but this isn't good. It isn't gawker horrible, but there's been a bizarre rush for WHITE SPACE in web design in past 18 months. I'd love to know where the impetus for this is coming because in every case I've seen usability and design have been negatively impacted as well as visitor numbers.

Now where did I put my sunglasses because the default colours are burning the retinas off me.

Ya-Boy-Ya

Am I allowed to say I dont like it ???

Too shiny white .... too plain

Neeson

I prefer the current one. Why change something that is perfectly okay as it is? It's not as if this new look will attract more users to join or something. People don't like change.