New Theme and Forum Reorganization Feedback

We've all worked long and hard on this, effgee above all (our designer), and we really hope you like the changes.

Please post comments and feedback here.

EDIT: and thank you to the forums' own Adam Betts for generously providing new star icons for the ranks.

EDIT:

Please read these before commenting on user ranks or thread icons: Thread Icons and New User Ranks

Redesign

1st thread of the redesign. I guess the bitching can go here.

I like it :thumbsup:

it will take some getting used to and it totally caught me off guard, but nice

Beautiful, absolutely stunning!

does it not say how many posts we have any more?
can the first bitch be that I lost my green stars :(

Love It!

wow, I thought I walked into the wrong house....

W00t! Love it.

what are the new ranks? i can't see a post count any longer.

I like it. effgee did a great job.

The post counts have been removed, but you can still view the data by clicking on a persons user profile.

I wonder why I have 4/5 and you have 4/4 stars. Hmm..

doth this be ye MacNN?

be honest. is this in honor of Cody's return?

That was a swift merger.

Anyways, the only gut reaction I had against the new look is the lack of contrast in the thread titles on the main lounge page. Hmmm..

So far, I like it. It looks nice.

Please everyone try to look at the positive. These guys did a lot of work. I believe they wanted it to match the rest of MacNN.

I think the user area is WWAAAAYYYY too wide. I don't like the buttons for quote and quick reply either, they should have a hint of color to make htem easier to use, so you don't have to read them entirely each time. Other than that, it's pretty nice. Thank you for keeping black text and a white background... and I'm really glad the late 90s 'thin plastic lines' are gone.

Ditto. I was like "Wtf did I type?"

I miss the post count. I hope you kept the 40 lbs of headlights stapled to their chests. Rank has it's
privileges!

Hey it is nice. It works.. The old look was classic, but this is very easy on the eyes. But yeah, I have to admit I never thought I'd see the day when the almost mythical redesign was actually implemented. :D

Oooo and new user levels too! Anyone care to post them all? Right now I'm a 'professional poster'. Mhm. I'm not seeing any paychecks.. hello??! ;)

V

Chris V's little meter looks right at home with the new design.

This would be even better if Chris V was allowed to make into a .gif that the needle would move.

Or even better, if we could use flash.

Wow, this is pretty sweet. I've been waiting for this for a while. Very nice!

Okay I admit it..I'm just posting here so I can see what my new rank is.

Edit: And it looks like my rank got the shaft...maybe I need to post more often.

Wow - now I don't feel so outclasses without the post count things there...

The post count is not displayed in the user area, but you can still view it in a user's profile, and there are still user ranks (double the number, in fact), which give you a ballpark idea of what the user's post count is. The star ranks should be more than enough for any true snob to make others feel inadequate (which of course nobody here ever does).

Looks nice.

Yes, it came out after Vista....

I was anticipating the new forum design. (by two years. :D )

And thank G*d they don't allow animated sigs. I tend to not visit forums that do.

Me likey. :D

Suddenly, everyone's sigs look very nice

Effgee, you are my hero. And mad props to Adam Betts. WOOOOHOOOO

very nice:thumbsup:

i'm just glad i got to use the word "grizzled" in the user titles :)

and i'll echo the props to Adam Betts for helping effgee and I give the stars that magic touch they needed.

Overall, thumbs up!

One thing: The thread icons that denote "You've posted in this thread" are not very distinguishable from the normal ones. I think a red dot might work better (or at least a deeper, more visible green).

I use that icon every time I come to a forum to prioritize which threads I'm going to look at, so having it be highly visible is important (at least to me :) ).

Again, though: Nicely done!

PS - can we get a list of new titles and when they're invoked?

I like how the signatures are placed.
The buttons for the quote/reply options in our posts are nice as well. Everything is much easier on the eyes compared to the previous theme.
Overall I thought this was well executed. Very nice layout and design guys. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to this project. Keep up the great work!

I would prefer just a little more contrast in the thread list and I actually do miss the alternating tones from one post to another.

That, and it's going to take a lot of getting used to overall.

Also, why move the sigs all the way to the right? If they are on the left, they are guaranteed to accompany the text of the post, even if the text is really short. (See kmkkid or mindwave's posts above.)

I do like the colors, though. Good job to all involved. Please take this as constructive criticism, not complaints!

Yeah, I hadn't thought of that until you said it. Now that I think of it, the alternating tones did help with readability (and agreed on the contrast in the threads list).

Where be the green stars? :(

I love it guys! Colors, images, overall feel is very well done.

Holy friggin cow it might have been worth the 7 year wait!

Overall I like the new design. A few of the aforementioned tweaks to the spacing and colors would be nice but overall it is a nice upgrade.

The old theme looked like Infopop UBB from 1997.

I prefer veteran :)

Awesome new look! The whole thing is easier on the eyes. :thumbsup:

I don't think posts alternated in color. I mean, they did a long while back, but for the past few years all posts were white.

Sadly though, using the same theme for 5 years, you get used to it.

We actually tried both and went back and forth on it. Everyone ended up agreeing that going back to the left-aligned sigs is surprisingly annoying after using this; by keeping them on the right, you still get to see them, but they don't break up the flow of conversation by being right in the middle of your line of sight as you skim down the screen. I think you'll find it better if you give it a few days.

These are faint when there are no new posts. If there's a thread you've posted in that has new posts in it, there's a bright green marker that should be very visible.

Man, I wonder why. :)

Ditto. The new forums look really amazing, and the graphics and colors are beautiful, but the user info bar to the left of every post is going to take up a decent amount of space when I'm posting from my 800x600 clamshell.

Other than that, I love it.

[edit]
I lost one of my yellow stars. :'(
[/edit]

I imagine that an 'empty' star is like half a star. Which means that there are at least ten user levels, starting with one empty star, then one full yellow.

Four full and an empty would be one more than just four full. But hey. Maybe not.

;)

V

MacNN:VIsta

Its so shiny.

The sig alignment is not a big deal, I just thought it logical to "attach" a sig to the comment someone makes and being on the left does that.

It will take some re-training to look right instead of left while scrolling to see who says what and where.

Either that, or hack custom stylesheets together. :D

I would still like the alternating thread titles in the list to contrast more, it makes it easier to read. IMHO. Same with the alternating from one post to another. Maybe not in the body, but in the user area. Just spitballing!