View Full Version : Bulletin Board look
Patrick
07-29-2005, 05:59 PM
With a certain amount of difficulty we're dragging the boards back kicking and screaming to the old look.
I know the fonts are still too big - this is partially an OS / browser display issue. For example this post is in 10-point type. Do people really want it smaller? Depending on your OS and browser it may be almost unreadable if it gets much smaller - on the other hand, your browser may display vB's "10 point type" at 14 points or more (johansen).
It's gonna take some work to change the huge names and avatars, but I'm going to try.
Colors: are we happy with the combo of very pale orchid and rust? Or do we want to return to the totally plain rust-black-white we used to have?
It will be close to impossible to get rid of all the shaded/3D icons and pop-ups that vBulletin has introduced in the name of "progress"... which makes me a bit reluctant to entirely "flatten" the main page look, because the contrast will be weird.
Your input, please, and don't spare me!
Patrick
You should really code your font sizes in pixels rather than points. Tino scolded me for doing that a while ago before I knew better.
Every place in the stylesheet you see 10pt fonts, replace them with 11px fonts.
tinobeat
07-30-2005, 10:49 AM
yeah, one of the things I learned early on, code in pixels, not points. Its a relative thing, as every monitor is different, so if you code in pixels, you can be sure that at least every monitor will render things more similarly...
I myself vote for rust/black/white. the pale orchid, while a nice color, kinda rubs up against the rust in a not-so-great way...
yeah, the big new icons are, um, more hi-tech, but a bit overcooked. Icons are supposed to be simple and, well, iconic, and those are a lot more detailed than they should be, and hence harder to instantly get information from. can you swap them out in a main control panel for your own home-made set? or at the very least can you make them smaller?
In any case, I love how the new board works better, so its all good, just make the type 10px or 11px , and see if those big ol' icons can get shrunk down...
or get Ohe or someone to throw together some little simple flat ones that look more like Olympic sport icons or something, if its possible to swap 'em out for your own set. If they have the time that is. Its just a message board after all. we'll yap about our bullshit no matter what...
:)
Patrick
07-30-2005, 02:32 PM
Ah, that makes sense. I'd always wondered why people coded some font sizes in pixels (indeed some of the default font sizes for vB 3.0 are in points, and some are in pixels). I'll make that change today if I have time.
I don't mind the orchid / blue but perhaps it is a bit busy, tino.
And tino, I totally agree with you on icon-inflation. At least we don't have those endless animated gifs that some forums use (little yellow faces repeatedly shooting themselves in the head, juggling, dancing for joy etc.). I'll see what I can come up with on that front.
I hate the 3-D bulky look!
Patrick
Patrick
07-30-2005, 02:35 PM
Too small for people? Just right? Speak up!
Now the font sizes look the same as the old board, which is a-ok with me.
johansen smith
07-30-2005, 02:59 PM
yeah, looks fine on my end.
tinobeat
07-30-2005, 04:02 PM
Ah, that makes sense. I'd always wondered why people coded some font sizes in pixels (indeed some of the default font sizes for vB 3.0 are in points, and some are in pixels). I'll make that change today if I have time.
I don't mind the orchid / blue but perhaps it is a bit busy, tino.
And tino, I totally agree with you on icon-inflation. At least we don't have those endless animated gifs that some forums use (little yellow faces repeatedly shooting themselves in the head, juggling, dancing for joy etc.). I'll see what I can come up with on that front.
I hate the 3-D bulky look!
Patrick
haha, the animated gifs are a travesty...
the new font size looks perfect! all the rest is details..
I'm always amazed by the actual super-high level of effort you guys put into this thing. Its just great that you not only give us place to talk shit, but actually, you know, nurture it and try to make it as comfy as possible. A+ for Matador..
thanks!
S M @
07-31-2005, 09:52 PM
I'm always amazed by the actual super-high level of effort you guys put into this thing....A+ for Matador..thanks!
No kidding. To say nothing of the actual involvement of Matador people on the board, which is always enjoyable and a bonus.
The look of the board is great for me now.
bitterfruit
08-01-2005, 01:07 AM
Too bad vB doesn't have an RSS feed option. I'd love to read new posts in my feed reader.
winterversion
08-01-2005, 04:09 PM
haha, the animated gifs are a travesty...
<hides in shame>
bitterfruit
08-01-2005, 07:37 PM
I would rather see the actual text within the post larger than the user's handle. I find myself searching for the relevant content in the post because it's seems obfuscated by the handle.
Patrick
08-01-2005, 08:09 PM
Something like this?
I'm trying that tomato rasam paste tonight...
Patrick
bitterfruit
08-01-2005, 08:20 PM
Something like this?
I'm trying that tomato rasam paste tonight...
Patrick
Rock out! That's the ticket!
Get some good whole milk yoghurt, add some chopped cucumbers, flavor with a little salt and pepper, and then raita your ass off.
Why'd the post font size get big again? It's looks like 12px now instead of 10 (or 11, or whatever it was yesterday). Don't let bitterfruit's weak-ass vision ruin it for the rest of us.
Elijah
08-01-2005, 09:34 PM
It will be close to impossible to get rid of all the shaded/3D icons and pop-ups that vBulletin has introduced in the name of "progress"...What about simple plain-text links in place of the icons? They do that here (http://www.bowlie.com/). It looks nice.
Also, I think it looked nicer with the avatar and user info to the left of the actual post, rather than spread across a banner at the top. The way it is now, the text lines spread too far across the screen--it's like a book where the text lines spread across both pages--and the continuity of the thread is repeatedly interrupted by this huge banner in between each post.
Patrick
08-01-2005, 10:38 PM
I have to say it's more readable for me too this way - it was really tiny at 11 px. Also it seemed unbalanced for the browser window in Safari... creating really long lines, difficult for the eye to follow all the way across and then bounce back to the left.
Now it's at 13 px.
Could this be a Mac / PC thing display thing? I'm pretty sure that bitterfruit is a PC like your fine self.
I'm open to suggestions... how does it look to other people?
Patrick
Patrick
08-01-2005, 10:41 PM
What about simple plain-text links in place of the icons? They do that here (http://www.bowlie.com/). It looks nice.
I'll give this a look
Also, I think it looked nicer with the avatar and user info to the left of the actual post, rather than spread across a banner at the top. The way it is now, the text lines spread too far across the screen--it's like a book where the text lines spread across both pages--and the continuity of the thread is repeatedly interrupted by this huge banner in between each post.
I totally agree with you - btw does the bigger font size help with the long lines, as it does me? See my post to Paul directly above.
As to having avatar and user info on the left - I definitely preferred it that way, but it's not an auto option in the new vBulletin, so far as I can tell. I'd have to manually redesign the post templates. This is not out of the question but it's not something I'll get to this month.
Patrick
Patrick
08-01-2005, 10:51 PM
Oh wait a second - I found out how to do it. ('"Yes" to "Use Legacy (Vertical) Postbit Template" under vBulletin Options --> Style and Language Settings,' believe it or not - thank God for vBulletin's user forum.)
I may have lost some other customization in this change.
On the font size, now perhaps 12px will work as a compromise... I'll implement that shortly.
Comments, everyone?
Patrick
Patrick
08-01-2005, 10:53 PM
Font size for posting text now at 12 px.
Patrick
Patrick
08-01-2005, 10:54 PM
Posters' names now big again - since they're over at the left I think it's less distracting.
12px for the posts still looks small in Safari, but if everyone wants it that way...
Comments?
Patrick
tinobeat
08-01-2005, 11:04 PM
This looks awesome, patrick!
bitterfruit
08-01-2005, 11:38 PM
Posters' names now big again - since they're over at the left I think it's less distracting.
12px for the posts still looks small in Safari, but if everyone wants it that way...
Comments?
Patrick
Okay, now this is truly the way it should be. The posts don't seem at all hidden since the user's handle is off to the left. It's a lot like the old style, which was easy to read.
Well, I'm not seeing any difference between 12px and 13px, so whatevs. But it was definitely 11px on the old board and that design lasted over 3 years.
I'll shut up now. : )
Patrick
08-02-2005, 02:53 AM
In that case I'm going back to 13px because that's what looks right to me (and what looks like I saw before)...
More tweaking doubtless lies ahead.
Patrick
Patrick
08-02-2005, 12:15 PM
Too bad vB doesn't have an RSS feed option. I'd love to read new posts in my feed reader.
It does. I've just enabled RSS syndication. Anything else I need to do at my end, or can you just get the feed through your RSS reader?
Patrick
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