New Board... Anything anyone likes so far? 2 2

[Point Five]

7 minutes ago, feder241 said:

Love the fact that you can hover over a thread title and if you wait long enough you get the first post in a pop-up that you can scroll to see the whole post and a quick link to see the last post. A very quick and easy way to see if I'm interesting in reading through a thread or not.

Good catch! Hadn't noticed that; I like it too. Nice touch. 

[lizards2]

The make up sex was good.

[Architecht]

46 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

I think what people want is the visual flow that the other skin had.

I don't see CGC going back to the old color scheme as these are their corporate colors. But how the eye meets the page is most important and they can do that with this color scheme.

Yep. I agree with a variety of the observations made, which is why I made the quick fix beta theme. Here's my personal list:

1. More contrast between the font color and the background inside of posts
2. A subtler "quote" bar at the bottom of posts
3. Slightly larger font inside posts
4. Slightly smaller fonts on the title, reply count and view count on the thread list
5. A bit stronger contrast between alternating lines on the thread list (more like the list of forums)
6. A slightly tighter padding around the thread items in the thread list
7. Bring back a highlighting background color on threads in the thread list that have new posts
8. An alternative dark / not-quote-black theme for those who prefer really low luminosity of the reading experience
9. Honestly, I prefer the round avatars, but I'm not married to either result
10. Get rid of the weird arrow that points from the post to its author, or at least make it the same color as the post background
11. Toned down background on the quoted text, maybe with a light colored key line around it instead

How much of that will get done I don't know. Whether all of those changes would make people happier, or half would love half the list and hate the other half, and the rest of us visa versa... also don't know.

BUT we might be able to make a couple variations on the themes to give people some choice.

[lizards2]

Any chance we could an automatic return to the top of the last unread post in the thread?  I think the incessant scrolling is one of the worst features - maybe I'm doing it wrong.

[chrisco37]

12 minutes ago, Architecht said:

Yep. I agree with a variety of the observations made, which is why I made the quick fix beta theme. Here's my personal list:

1. More contrast between the font color and the background inside of posts
2. A subtler "quote" bar at the bottom of posts
3. Slightly larger font inside posts
4. Slightly smaller fonts on the title, reply count and view count on the thread list
5. A bit stronger contrast between alternating lines on the thread list (more like the list of forums)
6. A slightly tighter padding around the thread items in the thread list
7. Bring back a highlighting background color on threads in the thread list that have new posts
8. An alternative dark / not-quote-black theme for those who prefer really low luminosity of the reading experience
9. Honestly, I prefer the round avatars, but I'm not married to either result
10. Get rid of the weird arrow that points from the post to its author, or at least make it the same color as the post background
11. Toned down background on the quoted text, maybe with a light colored key line around it instead

How much of that will get done I don't know. Whether all of those changes would make people happier, or half would love half the list and hate the other half, and the rest of us visa versa... also don't know.

BUT we might be able to make a couple variations on the themes to give people some choice.

Pretty good list, Arch.    Is it possible to shrink the left side of the threads as well (basically making the member info/avatar space smaller) to allow for larger post area?  May help to condense the boards.  

It seems that the "look" and the scrolling are the biggest problems at the moment.   

[Architecht]

24 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

Any chance we could an automatic return to the top of the last unread post in the thread?  I think the incessant scrolling is one of the worst features - maybe I'm doing it wrong.

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but here are some things you might be looking for:

1. The red arrow in a circle in the lower right of your screeen scrolls you to the top of any page
2. At the end of a thread, in the lower left is "go to topic listing" and in the lower right is "next unread topic" - both of those might move you on without scrolling
3. When going into a thread, click the black circle (or star if you've posted in the thread) to the left of the title in order to go straight to the first unread post
4. At the top/bottom of some pages you can find a "jump to" link to the right of the breadcrumbs that will move you straight to a forum
5. In the main menu at the top the "categories" drop down can move you to a list of forums

[Dick Pontoon]

Besides becoming round, avatars seem to have higher resolution than they used to. Mine may need tweaking; looks a bit too jaggy.

[lizards2]

3 minutes ago, Architecht said:

26 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

Any chance we could an automatic return to the top of the last unread post in the thread?  I think the incessant scrolling is one of the worst features - maybe I'm doing it wrong.

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but here are some things you might be looking for:

1. The red arrow in a circle in the lower right of your screeen scrolls you to the top of any page
2. At the end of a thread, in the lower left is "go to topic listing" and in the lower right is "next unread topic" - both of those might move you on without scrolling
3. When going into a thread, click the black circle (or star if you've posted in the thread) to the left of the title in order to go straight to the first unread post
4. At the top/bottom of some pages you can find a "jump to" link to the right of the breadcrumbs that will move you straight to a forum
5. In the main menu at the top the "categories" drop down can move you to a list of forums

Ahh - very helpful.  I need to click on the black circle or star, instead of just the thread.  I will give it a try - thanks!

[VintageComics]

32 minutes ago, chrisco37 said:

47 minutes ago, Architecht said:

Yep. I agree with a variety of the observations made, which is why I made the quick fix beta theme. Here's my personal list:

1. More contrast between the font color and the background inside of posts
2. A subtler "quote" bar at the bottom of posts
3. Slightly larger font inside posts
4. Slightly smaller fonts on the title, reply count and view count on the thread list
5. A bit stronger contrast between alternating lines on the thread list (more like the list of forums)
6. A slightly tighter padding around the thread items in the thread list
7. Bring back a highlighting background color on threads in the thread list that have new posts
8. An alternative dark / not-quote-black theme for those who prefer really low luminosity of the reading experience
9. Honestly, I prefer the round avatars, but I'm not married to either result
10. Get rid of the weird arrow that points from the post to its author, or at least make it the same color as the post background
11. Toned down background on the quoted text, maybe with a light colored key line around it instead

How much of that will get done I don't know. Whether all of those changes would make people happier, or half would love half the list and hate the other half, and the rest of us visa versa... also don't know.

BUT we might be able to make a couple variations on the themes to give people some choice.

Pretty good list, Arch.    Is it possible to shrink the left side of the threads as well (basically making the member info/avatar space smaller) to allow for larger post area?  May help to condense the boards.  

It seems that the "look" and the scrolling are the biggest problems at the moment.   

Yep. And getting rid of those boxes on the right. Or at least making them optional. They kill the eye appeal of all forums for me.

[bababooey]

 phone test 

[chrisco37]

32 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

Yep. And getting rid of those boxes on the right. Or at least making them optional. They kill the eye appeal of all forums for me.

Are you seeing this on every screen, Roy?   I only see it on the main pages/topics pages.   Once I get into a thread they are gone.  

Annoying/distracting regardless.  

[VintageComics]

28 minutes ago, chrisco37 said:

1 hour ago, VintageComics said:

Yep. And getting rid of those boxes on the right. Or at least making them optional. They kill the eye appeal of all forums for me.

Are you seeing this on every screen, Roy?   I only see it on the main pages/topics pages.   Once I get into a thread they are gone.  

Annoying/distracting regardless.  

Main / Topic pages. Still useless to anyone but a noob who has been here only a few days IMO

[fantastic_four]

I don't see that right-side list on the forum list page anymore today.  I think it was there yesterday or the day before though.

Edited February 15, 2017 by fantastic_four

[fantastic_four]

I do like the popular thread section in that right-hand list though.  And it doesn't get in my way since thread titles have a limited length anyway.  That's on a desktop, though.  I can see it forever being in the way on the small screen of a phone.

[MyNameIsLegion]

4 hours ago, Architecht said:

Yep. I agree with a variety of the observations made, which is why I made the quick fix beta theme. Here's my personal list:

1. More contrast between the font color and the background inside of posts
2. A subtler "quote" bar at the bottom of posts
3. Slightly larger font inside posts
4. Slightly smaller fonts on the title, reply count and view count on the thread list
5. A bit stronger contrast between alternating lines on the thread list (more like the list of forums)
6. A slightly tighter padding around the thread items in the thread list
7. Bring back a highlighting background color on threads in the thread list that have new posts
8. An alternative dark / not-quote-black theme for those who prefer really low luminosity of the reading experience
9. Honestly, I prefer the round avatars, but I'm not married to either result
10. Get rid of the weird arrow that points from the post to its author, or at least make it the same color as the post background
11. Toned down background on the quoted text, maybe with a light colored key line around it instead

How much of that will get done I don't know. Whether all of those changes would make people happier, or half would love half the list and hate the other half, and the rest of us visa versa... also don't know.

BUT we might be able to make a couple variations on the themes to give people some choice.

??and I'm with you on ROUND AVATARS.  Having played with both in the themes - round just works better here.

[fantastic_four]

5 minutes ago, MYNAMEISLEGION said:

and I'm with you on ROUND AVATARS.  Having played with both in the themes - round just works better here.

I get why you would like that aesthetic, but the problem is that if you turn on round avatars there is no option to use any other shape.  With the square avatars you can still get a rounded effect by taking whatever image you want to use for your avatar, make it fit into a circle with an image editor, and then set the background around the circle to be transparent.  So your avatar can be circular if you want it with square ones set, but if you set it to round, there is no option to make it square.

I like square because it's more space efficient and gives you more room for creativity.  HTML layout is in rectangular blocks no matter what you do; a square lets you use all of the space your image will take up anyway, whereas a circle hacks off corners and makes them unusable for your image.

Edited February 15, 2017 by fantastic_four

[MyNameIsLegion]

1 minute ago, fantastic_four said:

I get why you would like that aesthetic, but the problem is that if you turn on round avatars there is no option to use any other shape.  With the square avatars you can still get a rounded effect by taking whatever image you want to use for your avatar, make it fit into a circle with an image editor, and then set the background around the circle to be transparent.  So your avatar can be circular if you want it with square ones set, but if you set it to round, there is no option to make it square.

You mean you can't put a square avatar into a round hole? 

[OrangeNemesis]

i will like it alot more when i can figure out how to log in with my actual cgc board username and get all my posts count etc back..

[fantastic_four]

On 2/14/2017 at 1:01 PM, ThreeSeas said:

One thing I really like about the new boards is how postings are now marked as being read or unread.

This was a minor annoyance that disappeared with the old boards. On those boards all I had to do was open the page/board and then everything would be set to being marked as read if I returned later, even when I never even read the various posts. With these new boards the topics appear to remain as unread until I actually read them.

I love this too.  This was particularly true on the threads that relate to a television show or movie I hadn't had time to watch yet and I would wait until I had watched it to click into the thread so as to avoid spoilers.  With the old board I had to guess where I had left off, but with this one it remembers it for me.

[chrisco37]

14 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

On ‎2‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 1:01 PM, ThreeSeas said:

One thing I really like about the new boards is how postings are now marked as being read or unread.

This was a minor annoyance that disappeared with the old boards. On those boards all I had to do was open the page/board and then everything would be set to being marked as read if I returned later, even when I never even read the various posts. With these new boards the topics appear to remain as unread until I actually read them.

I love this too.  This was particularly true on the threads that relate to a television show or movie I hadn't had time to watch yet and I would wait until I had watched it to click into the thread so as to avoid spoilers.  With the old board I had to guess where I had left off, but with this one it remembers it for me.

Yeah, that is one thing that is definitely a noticeable upgrade.