Thread Format Changed? Suggestion for Better Visibility

[Greg Bernhardt]

Personally, I preferred the old format for posts. Having the actual post in a smaller column made it easier to read as your eyes did not need to scan over as wide of an area to see all of the text.

I am brainstorming on this

 

[robphy]

Has anyone tried printing pages? Poster names don't show up when I print to PDF... although they show up in preview.
Maybe my version of Firefox (20.0.1) on WinXP is too old.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

The new format is awesome! I hate other forums that devote so much screen space to people's avatars and signatures that only 1-2 actual posts show up on the screen at the same time.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

However, I think the user names need to be in white, and that highlighting them in different colors is a bad way to distinguish their various privileges when they are over a blue background. Maybe invent a new set of badges.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

However, I think the user names need to be in white, and that highlighting them in different colors is a bad way to distinguish their various privileges when they are over a blue background. Maybe invent a new set of badges.

The reason I switched them around was that white stuck out a lot more than the blue. Once you adjust to the fact that light blue is a normal member, it won't seem weird.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

The reason I switched them around was that white stuck out a lot more than the blue.

There is too much detail missing from this comment for me to tell what you're talking about.

But light-blue-on-medium-blue is too difficult to read (and I'm not even old yet!). If the usernames are white, then it will be easier to tell who said what. The point is I want the usernames to stick out. But I like that they now take up less space.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

Or, put another way: it should be easy to scan the page for usernames while scrolling down. I do this, and I assume so do others, as a way of filtering out people who we don't care to read.

And before you tell me I should use the "ignore" feature, that isn't really sufficient, because this happens on a per-thread basis. People will occasionally go off on a tangent or get into an argument, and I skim past their posts to find what's actually interesting.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

But light-blue-on-medium-blue is too difficult to read (and I'm not even old yet!). If the usernames are white, then it will be easier to tell who said what. The point is I want the usernames to stick out. But I like that they now take up less space.

I hear you. I guess I'm having trouble finding a color for admins then against a dark blue.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

I hear you. I guess I'm having trouble finding a color for admins then against a dark blue.

That's why I suggested using badges to mark admins and mods rather than color highlights. In fact, don't you already have badges?

As I have noted many times in the chatroom, finding a decent color to put over medium blue is difficult. (And it isn't dark blue, certainly not on my screen).

 

[krash661]

I hear you. I guess I'm having trouble finding a color for admins then against a dark blue.

try the green it used to be

all in all,
it's fine for me or on my end.
i have no problems with the way it is at all.

 

[reenmachine]

I preferred the old format.I think it was much clearer and much more standard for a messageboard.

Is there a way to leave the choice to users which format they want?

Just my 2 cents :)

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

try the green it used to be

Admins were blue :) Blue on blue won't work.

 

[WannabeNewton]

The box on the right that says who's online and stuff still looks screwy btw. The names are all big and blue and stuff.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

The box on the right that says who's online and stuff still looks screwy btw. The names are all big and blue and stuff.

Yes, I can only work on one thing at a time and there are a lot of things :)

 

[trollcast]

Why are you trying to fix what wasn't broke to start with?

 

[WannabeNewton]

Yes, I can only work on one thing at a time and there are a lot of things :)

yeah I understand, I just thought you'd like to know

 

[Monique]

The new format is awesome! I hate other forums that devote so much screen space to people's avatars and signatures that only 1-2 actual posts show up on the screen at the same time.

Yes, so let's go plain-text forum. Obviously the headers are taking up way too much space and are too cluttered: they disturb the readability of the thread.

Not to mention the extra 1/4 screen width empty space, what was wrong with the old layout?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Obviously the headers are taking up way too much space and are too cluttered: they disturb the readability of the thread.

I have an idea for this. It won't solve it, but might lessen it. Stay tuned.

 

[trollcast]

If you want to get rid of the side bit of the post could you make it like the bottom half of this image?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

trollcast, thanks for the suggestion, but I am trying to stay away from anything bulky like that.

 

[Crake2]

trollcast, thanks for the suggestion, but I am trying to stay away from anything bulky like that.

Honestly, I kind of like how it is right now, with the number of posts hidden.

However, I don't like the width of the window and the indicator of the online status. I think it should be by the name, as it was before.

EDIT:

Now that I think about it, I don't like where the 4 buttons (Thanks, Report, Edit, Quote) are. They kind of look like they're part of the message. I think there should be some kind of line separating the message from those buttons.

 

[trollcast]

Ok maybe that example was a bit big and cluttered but 1 line looks a bit silly imo something more like this is better:

The red box is where an avatar would go. Also I had to make the top box solid blue as I cba faffing about with the texture but the texture is actually quite good.

 

[phinds]

The whole effort strikes me as trying to fix something that was not in any way broken.

 

[robphy]

Honestly, I kind of like how it is right now, with the number of posts hidden.

I actually would prefer to see at a glance
the number of posts (or at least some indication of how active the poster has been).

I think that the Thanks, Report, Quote buttons could be in a column on the right-hand side (instead of the bottom row) of each post.
(The thanks and report buttons are too close to the name of the next poster, rather than the intended poster.)

My $0.02.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I actually would prefer to see at a glance
the number of posts (or at least some indication of how active the poster has been).

For the moment the number is in the username drop down menu

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

The whole effort strikes me as trying to fix something that was not in any way broken.

You can always make things better. Typical forum skins are not a holy grail of usability. If you guys want to keep damning me for trying, then go ahead, I'm going to keep trying.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Thanks for everyone's patience. I spend a lot of time just thinking so tweaks can take time. If in a couple weeks I don't get my changes to be positive I'll consider going back. In the mean time please give it a chance and remain patient as I fix problems and make tweaks.

 

[Evo]

I think that when Borek returns from vacation, this is going to turn his hair white!

Ok, I will be patient and am sure it will all be great when you're finished.

 

[Nugatory]

Has the multi-quote feature disappeared? I needed it a few minutes back and I couldn't find it.

 

[Borg]

The whole effort strikes me as trying to fix something that was not in any way broken.

You can always make things better. Typical forum skins are not a holy grail of usability. If you guys want to keep damning me for trying, then go ahead, I'm going to keep trying.

I'm with phinds on that. I'm not damning you for trying but I feel like I showed up to work to find that the office had been completely rearranged without any warning.

BTW, I had to manually assemble this one - what happened to the multi-post? I didn't read through all of the posts that have occurred in the last 24 hours to know if that's been discussed. Definitely a hot topic..