A New Look

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A New Look

PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:54 pm

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Anubis
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Welcome everyone to the new look SSX forums. This new skin is something myself and MS, with some help and advice from BD to perfect it, have been working on for a few weeks now and we're finally at the point where we feel ready to launch. The reasoning behind making it is simply that we've had BBTech running as our default since the forum opened now, and despite our logo at the top it is not particularly unique to us - defining as it were. New skins for the forum were also requested a while back, but it has never been addressed until now. This skin has been produced to try and resolve both these points - by both freshening up the forum and giving us a change of scene for those who have asked for a change from BBTech in the past.

As we've developed the skin we've kept 3 main things in mind, that we hope we have achieved now that we are ready to launch:

1) The result needed to be something that looks attractive, is unique to us, and is an improvement upon the look of BBTech. It is important that members enjoy the look of the skin, rather than disliking it, and we hope this is the case.

2) The result needed to be something that is not too loading intensive, so that we do not penalise our members running on slower connections. Whilst the skin is slightly image heavier than BBTech was, our testing has shown that it is not too much more intensive than BBTech is - with the initial load time differential being very low. Therefore we are hopeful that initial load times will not be too hard upon such members. We have also tried to ensure that any subsequent page accesses after the initial loading are as quick as possible, and our testing has suggested we have achieved this - once the images have been loaded once there should be no further skin related loading delays.

3) The result needed to be something that could be easily adapted to become our Default skin upon our moving to phpBB3 (though this move is not yet dated). One of our major sticking points with the move to phpBB3 was finding a suitable skin, as BBTech is a phpBB2 only skin and as such we would have to locate a suitable replacement before we could make the move. Our ultimate goal with the production of this skin has been to produce something that would negate this need, as this could simply be adapted and utilised as our 'core' skin upon moving, as BBTech has been used for years now here. To this end I will be beginning work on adapting this skin to phpBB3 soon, ready for whenever we are prepared to move. However this is, of course, dependant upon the successful reception of the skin.


We have decided that for several days this skin will be forced to the Default skin for all forum visitors, as BBTech has been in the past. This is to ensure that as many people as possible experience the skin, and to encourage all of you to leave feedback and/or any comments you might have so that we can make any improvements or bugfixes (though hopefully few of these ;) ) necessary. After this period, likely at the weekend, we will evaluate the comments and thoughts we have recieved and make a decision on whether to leave the skin as the forced Default, or leave it as the Default but enable the option for users to switch back to BBTech in their Profiles should they wish to do so. At this point in time, I am far more inclined toward the latter option to enable more freedom of choice for the membership.

We really hope you like the new look, and ask you to drop your comments as replies to this thread - be they good or bad (as constructive criticism is always appreciated). We will take all comments on board!

- Anny
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:58 pm

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Pretty :)

Move the "view posts since last visit" to the top and I have no complaints :)
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:59 pm

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BlackDove
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Yeah. "Some help and advice".

If you two clowns had your way, this place would look like prison.

*rides off into the sunset*

PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:02 pm

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Anubis
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BlackDove wrote:Yeah. "Some help and advice".

If you two clowns had your way, this place would look like prison.

*rides off into the sunset*
Shush you, before I get out the muzzle :p

Seriously though, admittedly you did help quite a lot in regards to refining the original design. You have my thanks for it :)

Edit - Also, in regards to Ed's point. I'll do that when I get home tonight. Good spot.
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:35 pm

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W11chter
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:thumb:
Just a comment: The little posting indicators on the threads (new posts, old posts, announcements, sticky, etc.) are much more apparent. I like it. Better for my eyes.
"Wenn der Herr die Stadt nicht bewacht, wacht der W11chter vergebens" (Psalm 127:1).

PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:44 pm

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Ash
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Initial impression.... looks good.

:thumb:
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The quiet one in the corner

PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:18 pm

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SSX Fahd
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The font size is a little small for my liking - I had to increase my browsers font-size to be able read your post :sweat:.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:38 pm

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M.Steiner
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Wchter wrote:The little posting indicators on the threads (new posts, old posts, announcements, sticky, etc.) are much more apparent. I like it. Better for my eyes.
I've done a few other icons/buttons in advance as well which should make an appearance once we've moved over to phpbb3 hopefully, i understand they'll be easier to implement then.

The ones i've done are;
Image (This will be used for the global announcement feature, announcement posts that will appear in each forum)
Image (Playstation Network ID profile field)
Image (deviantART profile field)
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:24 pm

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Anubis
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Fixed a problem with resizing your browser windows, where it broke part of the layout. Ed, your links are next on my list though it may be tomorrow before I get to them (getting tired).

Text sizing is an issue that puzzles me, since we have not altered the base font sizes, simply the font itself. It may just be that the font is less spread out than Arial was. I will look into it though, and see if we can increase sizing a little without making things look silly.
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 12:11 am

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Fenavian
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Fenavian... APPROVES!!!
:thumb:
01000101011100110110001101101000011001010111011100100000011011110110001001
10011001110101011100110110001101100001011101000110100101101111011011100010
1110

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 2:18 am

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Is there a PSN id field in the proifile? That would be handy, same with Wii code :)
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 2:38 am

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M.Steiner
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Not atm unfortunately, but custom profile fields are one of phpBB3's new features.
Once the board is updated to that we should be able to add fields for stuff like PSN Id's, without any probs or using a standalone mod. Figured i'd make the buttons in advance ready for when we need em. :)

Edit: Talking of fields.. I've decided on one other thing i'd like to change with the style if we can, will see what Anny thinks later.
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:39 am

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Ruhn
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Goodjob guys! It looks all shiny and fruity :D! I love it <3
Chuck Norris beat Halo 2 on Legendary using only the strafe buttons and flashlight -.-

wooo

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:09 pm

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enlightened
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Ohh mann im loving the new look :D

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:17 pm

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undrin
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I love the new look. The only thing I can see is it is a tad diffucult to see which group has a new post since the last time I have visited. The coloring of the X is pretty close to the text throughout the whole site and makes it hard to differentiate. Just my opinion.

I like it over all though. :thumb:
Xbox One: Auravil come and visit sometime!

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:25 pm

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Anubis
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I moved the links up for you Ed. That better? :)

undrin - I'll chat to MS about that. You mean the 'X' icons I am assuming?

As for extra ID fields for Profiles. That is something we can look at when we move to phpBB3, however before then no new mods will be being installed. Since we're already rolling down the moveover path, it would just be wasted time and effort installing them beforehand. Once we're on phpBB3, it's certainly something we can look at though yes.
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 6:43 pm

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M.Steiner
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Either of these any better, undrin? :)

[Read | Unread]
Current:
ImageImage

New 1:
ImageImage

New 2:
ImageImage

I'd recommend giving the new (current) icons a day or two to see if that helps though. Everyone but the peeps that have been working on the new skin will still be used to seeing bbtech, so may take a bit of getting used to since they're not bright yellow anymore. If by then there's still a good few peeps that would prefer one of the above for whatever reason, we can look into updating those. I personally feel the current ones work best with the themes colour scheme and are easy enough to spot new posts, but i've spent hours staring at the design in PS so i'm more used to this skin now than our old one lol. We shall see!
Really appreciate the feedback folks, keep it comin' ;)
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 7:52 pm

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Isileth
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I have to agree with the new post icon being not as clear as it used to be.

Certainly the blue colouring in your first new icon seems to stand out more to me, but I also agree we need more time to get used to the changes before we see if anything needs tweaking.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:58 pm

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undrin
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Yes that is what I was refering too. I will give it some time than let you know what I think. ;)
Xbox One: Auravil come and visit sometime!

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:48 pm

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SSX Fahd
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Anubis wrote:Text sizing is an issue that puzzles me, since we have not altered the base font sizes, simply the font itself. It may just be that the font is less spread out than Arial was. I will look into it though, and see if we can increase sizing a little without making things look silly.
The BBTech default font was a pixel (or a couple of pixels) wider/taller. I tried messing around with the font size setting, and you can't really adjust the newer font to have the same size. Since I think I'm probably the only one who's complaining, I just used Stylish to swtich back to the old font :).

Anyways, the rest of the theme rocks :thumb:. Good job, MS & Anny :).

--edit--

Okay one slight improvement you might want to consider :p. The copyright statement at the bottom; this part:
Template created by SSX-MS, SSX-Anubis, and BlackDove
Link your names through to your profiles. i.e.
Template created by SSX-MS, SSX-Anubis, and BlackDove
Clicky names = w1n :p.
Last edited by SSX Fahd on Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Fahd, IM Prog's: See profile, Linky: TechSnap Video Podcast
"In the computer world few people read the 'readme.txt' files. In the real
world, few people read the signs that say 'Stand on the right'
" - Fahd.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 9:54 pm

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Anubis
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Whenever you all decide, just weigh in and we can go with the popular opinion.

I was really not fond of the blue when I first saw it, but admittedly it does not look as 'blegh' to me second time round. I still prefer the current one though. That said, I've been seeing the current new post icons for weeks, so I am obviously more than a little biased in the matter.

I've taken screenshots of what the blue would look like compared to the current one - so people can see what the difference would be.

Current Image
Image

Blue Image
Image

Edit - And you sure that solution is ok with you Fahd? I can investigate a size up if you like and see how that would look.

And fair point re: the copyright. Will do that later :thumb:
"Perhaps this is what I have always wished for since that day. The loss and destruction of all. That's right, one must destroy before creating. In that case, if my conscience becomes a hindrance to me, then I will simply erase it. I have no other choice but to move forward....therefore!" - Lelouch vi Britannia/Zero, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch

Forever an eXile and proud of it!

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 11:15 pm

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esd
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Could make the new post icon blink blue/white or on/off...

*ducks the thrown shoes*
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 12:52 am

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El Oso
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I love it!

:thumb:

PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 2:22 pm

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Ambush
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Got a little shock when I opened the forums today lol.
Looking good tho guys! :thumb:
SSX-MS wrote:Either of these any better, undrin? :)

[Read | Unread]
Current:
ImageImage

New 1:
ImageImage

New 2:
ImageImage


I like the blue (New 1), looks nice, more bold.
"Ambush, You Have deceived us! I'm gonna hunt you and your ship to the ends of the universe!" --SSC-Fahd "Ham Chronicles"

PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 2:46 pm

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undrin
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I am getting used to the new post reminder as it is, but I still think changing it to something that stands out more would be nice. I think the blue stands out good. Now excuse me while I run and hide :nervous:
Xbox One: Auravil come and visit sometime!

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