Minor forum design/layout changes

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Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » August 6th, 2012, 3:45 pm

Hi Guys,

I've been tweaking a few aspects of the forum's design/layout over the past couple of days, and I'd like to know if you have any feedback regarding what I've done.

Please reply with any questions or comments below. :)
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Simion32 » August 12th, 2012, 7:08 pm

small layout error.png
small layout error.png (4.37 KiB) Viewed 60157 times
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » August 13th, 2012, 1:41 am

Good suggestion - I'll adjust the topic icon alignment to match your diagram when I get a chance.
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Simion32 » August 19th, 2012, 5:03 am

its_a_bug.png
Cut off uploading button. Bug.
its_a_bug.png (2.45 KiB) Viewed 60136 times


what_is_the_point_of_this.png
The image is the same no matter what and randomly appears on topics!!
what_is_the_point_of_this.png (30.9 KiB) Viewed 60136 times


Also look down here, the smiley seems to be cut off:

:scratch:
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » August 27th, 2012, 4:06 pm

You may have noticed that I've fixed the post icon alignment. :D

I think the cut off icons, buttons, smilies etc. are a result of the PHP errors. They only seem to appear when the warning messages show up... so hopefully when I get that fixed, everything else will be a bit more stable. :geek:
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » August 3rd, 2013, 5:32 pm

Hi guys, how are the smilies looking?


I'm working on a new mobile-optimised forum theme, and am hoping to enable it as a 'default' for mobile devices soon. Currently I'm designing it with a dark colour scheme (good for browsing in bed at night!), and have realised that phpBB's standard smilies aren't designed to be displayed on a dark background; they look good on a light background — partially due to the off-white pixels used to 'smooth' their edges — but look horrible on darker backgrounds.

Example currently unavailable
Spoiler!
Old Smilies:
Image Image Image Image Image


To combat the jagged, ugly look of the off-white pixels, I've edited the smilies and tweaked the way they are displayed using some styling voodoo:

New Smilies:
:? :ugeek: :lol: :P :roll:

Note: If you don't see a difference — refresh!

Not perfect, perhaps... but certainly an improvement.

Everything looks good at my end, but I thought I'd better put the word out to see if anyone's encountering issues...

So, if anyone notices any strangeness with the smilies (the standard ones, specifically), first try refreshing your browser once or twice. If that doesn't fix things, please let me know. I'm hoping there will be no perceivable difference to how things looked before, but you never know what oddities will pop up with changes like this!

*Thanks to Simion32 for pointing out a minor issue, which has now been fixed.
Last edited by Qyzbud on November 3rd, 2013, 12:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Old smilies removed (comparison currently unavailable).
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Super Luigi! » August 7th, 2013, 8:10 am

The :D smilies :) seem ;) fine :( to :o me. Even though this is the only time I've ever used them (excluding the DKC ones), they've always seemed perfectly perfect on my end of the bargaining table, which could mean I'm not a reliable source of information for your problem.
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Simion32 » August 7th, 2013, 8:18 am

One must have a very keen eye for graphics to spot any problems at all... ;)
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » November 3rd, 2013, 1:57 am

Hey guys, you may have noticed I've made a few small changes to the personal menu links:

personal-menu-links.png
personal-menu-links.png (6.13 KiB) Viewed 59809 times


As well as receiving a friendly greeting each time you look at the menu, you can now click on your name to edit your profile — thanks to Stingerman06 for the suggestion. :)

The "Inbox" link has different text, but functions the same as it did before, while the "Settings" link has replaced the "User Control Panel" link.

Also, on the far right, the "Logout" link has been simplified to prevent confusion (and accidental logouts by users intending to view/update their profile information).

Hopefully these changes will be useful, but be sure to let me know if they cause any grief. :swanky:
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Kingizor » November 3rd, 2013, 3:49 pm

How about something like this? A bit more minimalist?

Image

The things I'd consider changing would be:

  • Making "Hi, " part of the username link, rather than on its own which makes it look a bit out of place.
  • Having the username link to your profile rather than the profile edit section.
  • Removing the "Topics you've posted in..." link entirely.
  • Cutting down the inbox link so that it only contains the most relevant information.
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Simion32 » November 3rd, 2013, 6:49 pm

I agree with Kingizor on his recommendations. :banana:

I don't know if the forum allows you to search the topics someone posted in directly. I suppose this needs to be added to the advanced search page instead of being a link. Or if the feature only works for the current user, it still belongs squarely on the advanced search page.

BUG EDIT: The Login/Logout link still says "Logout" even if you are not logged in. :P
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » November 3rd, 2013, 8:45 pm

Worthy suggestions, Kingizor — I'll make these changes soon. :)
Edit: DONE!

Good bug-catch, Simion — *fixed* — that was a silly and obvious mistake that I shouldn't have made. :?

Thanks to you both for the feedback. :thumbs:
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Kingizor » November 4th, 2013, 2:54 am

Simion32 wrote: don't know if the forum allows you to search the topics someone posted in directly.

If you use the "search for author" field and display results as topics, the results should be the same.
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » November 5th, 2013, 1:58 am

Yes, I believe Kingizor is correct. :)

After receiving feedback, I've made another small improvement to the personal links; you can now choose to edit your profile by way of a new link that appears when you mouse over your name:

edit-profile-link.png
edit-profile-link.png (1.9 KiB) Viewed 59748 times


This should make it even easier to keep your forum profile up to date.

Thanks again to Kingizor for this excellent suggestion. :banana:
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » December 1st, 2013, 2:21 am

With all the BBCodes that have become available here, things were getting a little cluttered in the posting screen... so I've begun to tidy up a bit. :)

There are now less buttons to get lost in, and the remaining buttons are more organised. I've also added some aesthetic touches that ought to help us recognise buttons at a glance more easily.

Taking inspiration from the chat layout, I've implemented a More BBCodes select box, which allows some less-used BBCodes to be tucked away, but still remain accessible. I will be adding to (and improving) this feature soon. :geek:

Hopefully these changes will be seen as an improvement by all Atlasites.

Click "POSTREPLY" below to see the changes (refresh if needed), and let me know what you think. :D


Oh and one more thing...
Spoiler!
A new-look smilies panel is right around the corner! :swanky:
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Simion32 » December 1st, 2013, 2:29 am

I don't remember seeing [...]this[...] snip tag before... :scratch:

Looks better, Qyz. Keep it up! :)
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Super Luigi! » December 1st, 2013, 6:56 am

Indeed, this layout in more organized and clean. Needless to say, I like the new, efficient look. Well done, Qyzbud, well done!
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » December 2nd, 2013, 3:42 pm

Thanks for the positive feedback, guys — good to know the change is well-received. :D

Simion32 wrote:I don't remember seeing [...]this[...] snip tag before...


I believe it was available as a button before, but it might have only been available to me. :huh:

Either way, it's documented here, if you're curious. :geek:
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Phyreburnz » December 8th, 2013, 2:47 pm

I was wondering if anybody else missed the recent posts thing... I did usually click on that when I logged on. I don't want to ask to add it back on if nobody else used it, though.
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » December 8th, 2013, 3:12 pm

These links are all available near the top of the forum index page: View unanswered postsView unread postsView new postsActive topics

Is View new posts the "recent posts" thing you mean? We also have the "Active Topics" link on every page via the forum header. :)
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Phyreburnz » December 8th, 2013, 3:15 pm

I think it used to be right beside the settings button in the user panel thing when you log in.

Right now it says Hi, (username) * Inbox * Settings
It was right beside Settings before.
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Phyreburnz » December 8th, 2013, 4:02 pm

Yes! That's exactly what I'm talking about!
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » December 8th, 2013, 4:13 pm

Ah, right... well, you can always bookmark that link? Or, perhaps I could include it somewhere more subtly?
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Kingizor » December 8th, 2013, 4:14 pm

After the "Active Posts" link might be a good place. :)
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Qyzbud » December 8th, 2013, 4:25 pm

Active topics? Well, sure. :)

That will mean it's just on the index page — would that be good enough for you, Phyre?
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Re: Minor forum design/layout changes

Postby Phyreburnz » December 8th, 2013, 4:47 pm

Eh, I think I'll just bookmark the link.
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