Kitz Forum
Announcements => Site & Forum Discussion => Topic started by: UncleUB on February 27, 2008, 07:40:47 AM
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OMG,Don,t we look posh. :clap2: Well Done Kitz,nice job. :congrats:
Edit,can,t get used to the blue and white buttons being reversed. :)
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Just a couple of comments:
1. As you know, I have a largish minimum font size specified, and this causes the navigation buttons at the top to overflow. See the screenshot below.
2. I don't know if it's just me, but the coloured squares at the left of forum pages which indicate unread messages seem back to front to me - I think I would expect to see coloured blobs for unread messages and plain blobs for read ones. Others may disagree. :)
[attachment deleted by admin]
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I agree with you eric,I think they should be changed,but don,t want to be sent to the naughty corner for saying that.
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Yes it's taken me a couple of peeks into threads to work out the colour-reverse buttons ???
Looks very slick otherwise though, very nice indeed :clap2:
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Fair comment with the blue/white. - Its possibly because the old silver theme had the blue highlighted, that we got so used to seeing blue as meaning new posts.
The whole new theme has silver set as "active" and blue as "non-active" in line with the forum nav bars (which used to be silver and are now blue)... ... and also the new top site nav which also has silver as active. In a way the whole colour scheme has been reversed from silver to blue. If you view the forum when logged out you will see what I mean about active and non-active.
However, I do know what youre saying as it did take me a couple of goes to get used to it...
which was double strange since for the past few days when logged in as kitz I was seeing blue as active.. and when logged in via admin seeing silver as active.
By all means I have no problem with you guys mentioning it - if it does continue to be a problem then I can change it.
As regards to the CSS overflow for large text - that one i'll certainly look into that ASAP and try sort it.. although I will admit Ive just scratched my head on this one. Since from what I can see its only doing this is FF... Other browsers seem to be OK even if I wap the size up to max
Theres plenty of room from your screen cap for it to be able to spread to either side too.
Its all valid CSS so I need to see if its perhaps inheriting something some the forum software styles or whether its something stupid Ive done. I'm a tad tired and perhaps my brain isnt functioning right and so I might be missing the obvious right now.
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A lovely job Kitz ...I love the subtle colours that all blend perfectly :thumbs: :clap2: :clap2: I didn't even notice the read/unread message boxes before never mind after ::) :-[ ::)
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I see the painters snook in whilst we weren't looking.
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Careful,its not quite dry. :)
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Eric -
Hows that looking now? - Ive done a couple of adjustments ... I know that the menu isnt quiet lining up in the middle - but it shouldnt be squeezing as much now. If its showing ok for you... then do the pixel counting to re-align centrally.
--- whoops forget that Ive now screwed it up for normal viewing :D :D
/me goes back to the drawing board.
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TBH I'm finding the reversal of the read/unread buttons a bit of a pain too, but as with everything else, I expect we'll soon get used to it.
/me goes back to the drawing board.
/me hands Kitz a new pack of crayons
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Very posh and I like the new colour schem - makes the room look bigger!! I agree though that the reverse blue/white of buttons showing new posts is rather confusing. Hope I get used to that bit before too long. Well done with all the hard work though - and thank you!
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>> Hows that looking now?
While noting that you've gone back to the drawing board, it does look OK here.
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I don't want to over-emphasise the issue of blue/silver buttons because, as you say, you can get used to it. But looking at several other forums, it does seem to be generally the case that the more obvious 'foreground' colour is used for unread messages, and the 'background' colour is used for read ones.
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Nice look little one . Well done.
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Beautiful ! Nice and clear, easily read for one with dodgy eyesight and overall a "softer" look which does not induce eyestrain on the oldies.
Thank you, and well done.
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Yes, those comments are spot on - it's a very attractive and welcoming new look. :flower:
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Have to hold my hand up here cuz I know kitz wouldn't drop me in it lol.
The blue/silver buttons being that way round is sort of my fault!
Kitz originally had them the other way around... and I said.. well given everything else is Silver for selected, Blue for unselected... then it makes sense to have the buttons on the forum the other way around.
But as soon as she changed it I remember thinking.. hmm maybe not. And I still haven't got used to it (I've been using the new forum theme for a few days during testing) ... and - I'm now also kinda of the opinion that it should probably go back round the other way.. e.g. blue for new posts.
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You're a very good boy for owning up, master Chris. ;D
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Why thank you, Eric... :D
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I've just noticed - at the bottom of the forum index page it says
Kitz Forum - Info Center
I think we'll blame Chris for that one as well :P
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Ok you'll be happy to know.... Ive changed the blue/white buttons over.
However Im still having problems (as some of you may have noticed me changing things around) with the alignment for larger text.
Although I did a "bodge" attempt, I also managed to break W3 compliance somewhere along the lines.
Still attempting to look at a fix for this though Eric.. because its been annoying the hell out of me that IE + Opera were doing what they should. Then stupidly once I put a fix in for FF - the alignment broke in Opera and IE at normal text size. Ive been trying a few different things but Im now totally bog eyed through looking at source, and was starting to break things that weren't broken before :D
Chris has just offered to have a look for me to see if Im missing something.
>> Kitz Forum - Info Center
Not guilty - I havent touched that part of the template and its output by the (US) software.
It just picks up "Kitz" as the forum name and outputs the rest. - Must have always been like that?
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I like it...........
I have to admit when I came on earlier today straight from a email reply link, I didn't notice any difference, but just coming on and hitting the top of the page first made me look twice to make sure I had come to the right site.
Keep up the good work.
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Ok you'll be happy to know.... Ive changed the blue/white buttons over.
Oh bugger, I was just getting used to it.
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Stop stirring, Floydy :lol:
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I quite liked the old scheme.
(Runs away to hide)
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The re-reversing of the buttons caught me out this morning - I had just started to get used to the other version yesterday. However, I do think that the blue button for active is the easiest to follow. Thank you for accommodating us on this one. :)
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Just noticed that they key at the bottom of the main page still shows silver as "New Posts" and blue as "No New Posts" - or are you in the middle of changing it all back again just as I am getting house trained on the reverse-reverse button system (otherwise known as the original button sysytem)?
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I've swapped the two images over... if they're still wrong, Ctrl+Refresh the page to force a complete reload.
It's now a reverse-reverse-reverse-reverse button system... ???
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The navigation bar now seems to display properly with different font sizes (I've tried it in three different browsers). So congratulations on a good bit of work, and apologies for any headaches I've caused by raising it. :)
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You're doing a grand job there Chris. I hope the pay is good! >:D
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Thanks Chris - I've "refreshed" and all is well. I'm glad I wasn't a spy when I was working - I couildn't have kept up with all this reverse-reverse bluff and double bluff stuff. I even find it quite hard to type! I love the new colours and everything though. I find them very easy on the eye. The whole site seems to have had a "reet good spring clean" as a result.
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lol.. what's all this thanks chris business :P - i've hardly done a thing - kitz has done all the hard work, i merely helped out where i could!!
By the way Jazz, it's all about reverse psychology.... :-\
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After an evening at the pub quiz drinking last weeks winnings, the site is very easy on the eyes and a pleasure to read.
I can find the buttons easier now, too!
Well done all who were involved. It is a credit to your hard work and long hours.
dave
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Is that also a NEW addition on the "Read new posts" etc section where there is a small page icon on the far right of the screen, that says "Last Post" when the mouse is hovered over it, or just that I have never noticed it in the past?
Either way, it's a brilliant idea, and if it's not new I just wished I had seen it before.. :thumbs:
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All these replies are reminding me of the moths in it's a bug's life.
"no fred don't look into the light!" "but It's so beautifulllll" ZAP
Mind you I do like the new graduated colours...........................ZAP
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Is that also a NEW addition on the "Read new posts" etc section where there is a small page icon on the far right of the screen, that says "Last Post" when the mouse is hovered over it, or just that I have never noticed it in the past?
Either way, it's a brilliant idea, and if it's not new I just wished I had seen it before.. :thumbs:
Nope, it's been there a while!
It's funny how you start looking and spotting new things when other things change isn't it.
:)
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> It's funny how you start looking and spotting new things when other things change isn't it.
Yep, I just never noticed it before and always, clicked the main title followed by selecting the last page and then scrolling down to the bottom of the page, "long winded or what" 8)
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hehe - yeah very long winded... all that scrolling ;) hehe
Did you know you can jump straight to the first unread post in a topic too?
if you click on the Forum title, you will see a little (https://forum.kitz.co.uk/Themes/KitzBlue/images/english/new.gif) button next to the topic title, clicking this will jump you straight to the first unread post in the topic. Very useful I find - although I tend to use the Show unread posts since last visit (http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php?action=unread) link at the top of the forum so I know exactly what I need to catch up on!
Just personal preference I guess :)
I really like this forum software - there's loads of ways to do things. Guess that's the benefit of open-source software ;D
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Just to briefly add my admiration for the new site design....
I really like the colour scheme and the new menu buttons, certainly provides a more "seamless" experience across the whole site.
Well done on getting all the code and odds and ends ironed out, the end result was certainly worth it ;)
I did think you might have opted for a database driven content management system such as Joomla for the site content given it might have been easier to set up [perhaps] and may have been easier to maintain in some ways.
All the same, its nice that you went to the effort to update the site and it looks great, whilst remaining familiar and certainly reflects all your hard work and late nights :)
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Very nice upgrade. I find it looks better overall, is easy to navigate around, and I never liked the weather pixie.
The information available on the site is, as ever, excellent.
Thanks.
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>> I did think you might have opted for a database driven content management system such as Joomla.
I did consider joomla and looked at a few content management systems, I think the over-riding factor why I didnt was because it would mean that all pages then would be php. Much of the present site is .htm and bookmarked as such. I think the other thing was although there are a large amount of joomla type themes, they all seemed to have a similar overall design, and I wanted to do something that did keep a little bit of site individualism?
The site content was actually templated already, so once I'd done the new design then it was a case of applying the new template to the existing pages.
Most of the time was spent on the re-organisation and re-categorisation of the site. The design of the new template wasnt too bad, but I think I spent a fair amount of time messing with the graphics and colour gradients and deciding on a new logo.. and then also applying the same theme into the forum SMF template. I also took the opportunity to make most of the pages w3 and css valid.
>> I find it looks better overall, is easy to navigate around,
Thanks - the previous "adsl" section had grown too big and content definitely needed splitting into new isp and router sections.
>> and I never liked the weather pixie.
heh a relic from the days when the site was more my "personal pages".
I had a couple of comments about the flash banner going too - a few people liked that - but whilst I was chuffed when I did it made it several years ago.. it was beginning to look dated.
Thanks everyone for you comments :)