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View Full Version : Guess what...another new forum thingie!



DaveW
01-12-2007, 01:02 PM
Sorry if anyone noticed a drop in forum speed for the last 10 mins, i was doing some routine maintenance, deleting old data, etc. etc.

Anyway, in a few minutes, you should be able to see your current usergroup underneath your name.

In other words, it should be easier to see who's who, with everyone having custom titles these days. I'll now remove the garish bold that highlights the moderators and admins too.

-Dave

DaveW
01-12-2007, 01:24 PM
Ok, and after another look, i've decided that our older members should be promoted to Regulars as well, so people over 350 posts will automatically become a 'Regular Member'.

This downplays the role of Repuation slightly...reps are community decided. Posts are not.

If people are obviously posting rubbish to get the 'promotion' then i will remove it. Hopefully, this will tweak the problems people were raising about post counts.

-Dave

SgtM
01-12-2007, 01:24 PM
+rep to Dave for an outstanding job maintaining the forums!

DaveW
01-12-2007, 01:28 PM
I'll try and re-arrange the order so that role comes first. For now, i'm heading home. See you guys in an hour...try not to trash the place while i'm gone ;)

-Dave

Airbozo
01-12-2007, 02:10 PM
Cat's away mice! Partay!

Seriously thanks for the ongoing work Dave!

DaveW
01-12-2007, 02:40 PM
Crimson Wasn't keen on the extra stuff in the sidebar, so for now, it's only going to show the Admins, Agents, and so on.

That might go too depending on how he feels about it. It's a wonderful world of little tweaks to see what works well and what doesn't.

-Dave

Crimson Sky
01-12-2007, 02:56 PM
I just thought it looked too cluttered above the join date, location, etc. I could be wrong tho.

DaveW
01-12-2007, 02:59 PM
I agree that it's cluttered in there.

-Dave

Aero
01-12-2007, 03:57 PM
yeah just abit. but it has a unique look compared to other forums too.


EDIT:

Lol,
"Super Secret Agent
Super Secret Agent"

that does look retar...errr..."cluttered"

DaveW
01-12-2007, 04:03 PM
Hmm...the main reason that i set it up was that Jon and Slug were having to forward forum management requests to me. And i think only you and Gaz aren't using Custom Titles. But you're right, it looks retarded.

-Dave

Scotty
01-12-2007, 04:35 PM
Yea looks a bit dodgey

tybrenis
01-12-2007, 04:49 PM
I'm not using custom titles either, as I don't have the option for some reason.... *scratches head*

I personally like the idea but I think you need a better system of layout for it, doesn't have to be hard. For instance...

User Name
Custom Title
Forum Ranky-Do

Or similar, just so we can differentiate a bit easier.

Crimson Sky
01-12-2007, 08:02 PM
We could however, begin to allow custom avatars with strict size (and appropriate content) requirements. Dave do you think these grunts deserve avs? :p

Def no animated ones. static only.

gaz_the_chav
01-12-2007, 08:11 PM
I know you said Dave but I would like my opinion! As dicussed before in previous threads I think one of the things that makes this Forum is the fact there is no avaters - makes it look alot smarter without them. Hey-ho thats just me lol

-gaz

(P.S. I always wanted avaters until the point was made about the smartness of the Forums and I got convinced that avaters were not nescessary)

Airbozo
01-12-2007, 08:15 PM
I know you said Dave but I would like my opinion! As dicussed before in previous threads I think one of the things that makes this Forum is the fact there is no avaters - makes it look alot smarter without them. Hey-ho thats just me lol

-gaz

(P.S. I always wanted avaters until the point was made about the smartness of the Forums and I got convinced that avaters were not nescessary)

I agree with this. Looks a little more professional without them. IMNSHOOEOTP

simon275
01-12-2007, 08:33 PM
Call me not proactive but I think things where fine the way the way they where. But any way if changes must be made

Name
Rank

And then have if they are special like admin or super secret agent have it below below there rep. That would look much cleaner I believe.

Also I like not having avatars makes the pages cleaner and means they load faster when I am browsing the site sometimes on my PSP

Zephik
01-12-2007, 08:49 PM
I like not having avatars too. You think its cluttered now? haha, that would just make things chaotic. But thanks for offer Crimson! That was mighty nice of you to give us that option!

I like how the forums were before, it took awhile to start liking the bold names here and there, but it was kind of nice after a bit. But I can understand the need to have certain members stand out from the rest. Such as Administrators and "Super Secret Agents". Hmmm, well maybe if we all brain storm for ideas we can come to a conclusion that works out to everybody's liking?

Thanks again Dave for always being on top of things and bringing new features to us! Vieler Dank! (Many Thanks)

Scotty
01-12-2007, 08:50 PM
You could always have small avatars no bigger than 50x50 pixels, but please no file size limit if you do that kills me, on another forum you can't have above 5kb :(

tybrenis
01-12-2007, 10:31 PM
I wouldn't mind regulated, non-animated, non-obnoxious avatars. I don't think they take away too much and I think that they would help unclutter the forums (hear me out).

For instance, you could have, say...

tybrenis
Totally Friggen' Awesome
http://www.powerpackedpc.com/images/tbcs/avatar1.jpg
"Super Secret Agent"
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Doylestown, PA,
United States
Rep Power: 1 http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/images/reputation/reputation_pos.gifhttp://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/images/reputation/reputation_pos.gif
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/images/misc/im_aim.gifhttp://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/images/misc/im_msn.gif

...I'm not really totally friggen' awesome.

Zephik
01-12-2007, 11:01 PM
You know, that doesn't look too bad at all. Okay, well I say lets give tybrenis's idea a try for a period of time and then we can either agree or disagree to have them. Its worth at least a trial period.

tybrenis
01-12-2007, 11:17 PM
Maybe we should switch up the custom name and the forum rank - I think both are fine, but I guess since the avatar is a "personal" thing, it should go with your custom title, because that is also a "personal" thing.

Omega
01-13-2007, 01:24 AM
I'm indifferent on avatars. On forums where I can have them, I do, on forums where I can't, I don't. No biggie to me.

About the membergroups, though...

We could use little colored bars for it. Different colors for Mods, Admins, Donators, Mod Donators, and so forth (with our own titles).

Like so:

http://www.accelerated-e.com/style_images/moderator.gif

But we could tailor them to TBCS (Say, the TBCS logo in the bg?).

What do you think?

simon275
01-13-2007, 01:31 AM
Now that is a good idea Omega. I like Omega idea so +rep.

SgtM
01-13-2007, 02:04 AM
Now that is a good idea Omega. I like Omega idea so +rep.

Same here. Good idea d00d.

Omega
01-13-2007, 02:23 AM
Haha, It was funny to go to my User CP before reading this thread and seeing this:

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/8789/lolin2.jpg


Thanks, both of ya.

DaveW
01-13-2007, 06:52 AM
I like that idea too, but the problem is that this will all be VBulletin hacks, so it will take longer.

What do you guys think about losing maybe the join date or location from the sidebar, the help free up space?

-Dave

Zephik
01-13-2007, 07:11 AM
I don't think we need either of them to be honest. All you have to do is click into the users profile to see them. Which makes sense, because you would only really look if you were interested in that user, so you get the full sha-bang even though you only wanted to know one thing. Which isn't a bad thing. But if I had to only pick one... I would pick the join date to go.

simon275
01-13-2007, 08:32 AM
Yeah join date.

DaveW
01-13-2007, 08:48 AM
I'd like to hear from everyone on this one, then let Crimson make the final decision.

-Dave

ESX
01-13-2007, 02:48 PM
I want to have a nice group title aswell :)
Oh yea, if you need some Group Bars, PM me, I'd be more than happy to help.

SgtM
01-13-2007, 03:29 PM
I agree with SnowFire join date and location aren't that big of a deal.

tybrenis
01-13-2007, 04:59 PM
I agree with ya Dave. Join date and location... who cares? And if they do, they can click the username. That'd free up some space and make things look a lot cleaner.

Crimson Sky
01-13-2007, 07:30 PM
I'd say drop the -join date-. I like the location, it adds perspective on certain topics, such as those that might pertain to currency. Forget the avatars once again.

DaveW
01-13-2007, 07:48 PM
Alright, so plan is to replace the current written one with some funky little pictures, and to lost the join date in order to free up space in the left hand side.

I'll have it implemented when i get some free time. Thanks for the input guys.

-Dave

DaveW
01-13-2007, 08:12 PM
Oh... i meant to add that the members list now only shows people who have made more than 5 posts. You'd be surprised as to how much of a difference this makes to using it.

-Dave

jdbnsn
01-13-2007, 11:22 PM
I would vote against the avatars also, the posts already have so much customization with title, sig, sig phrase, etc... It's already geting crowded and those avatars make other forums look real tacky IMO. I do like the idea of keeping location and ditching join date.

Omega
01-14-2007, 12:00 AM
Yeah, keep location, ditch join date.

I think we could make the bars at 10 posts, like the Rep system, though. That would make more sense to me.

Aero
01-14-2007, 01:35 AM
Oh... i meant to add that the members list now only shows people who have made more than 5 posts. You'd be surprised as to how much of a difference this makes to using it.

-Dave

lol, its the little things like this that make you amazing dave:santa:

DaveW
01-14-2007, 10:34 AM
Alright, join date is toast.

When i have the images ready, i'll put those in. It might be worth removing Rep power too, and just leaving the green scales next to the word Rep...tell you what, i'll give that a spin too, and if you don't like it, reverting is as easy as 1,2...what comes after 2? It's 7, right? 1,2,7. There.

-Dave

tybrenis
01-14-2007, 10:37 AM
I like the removal of the join date, but I think the removal of the word reputation behind the rep scales could make it confusing to some members, I think any member that isn't all ready familiar with the system would have a hard time figuring it out (or they would just glance over it and not recognize it's importance!).

DaveW
01-14-2007, 10:42 AM
That was only temporary while i changed some settings-now it says Rep.

I think new members didn't understand what Rep power was for, and it probably was useless information.

I've put another line between the Rep Bar and the AIM and ICQ etc. Icons, to make it more readable.

Now, what about the orders?

NAME
Title
Rank
Location
Posts
Rep
<space>
Icons

That sound good? Bad?

-Dave

ESX
01-14-2007, 11:00 AM
Looks good to me.

Zephik
01-14-2007, 11:03 AM
I have but only one comment. Dave, you disturb me.



...i'll take three

DaveW
01-14-2007, 11:33 AM
Alrighty then, soon as the images are sorted, we can put this to rest. Assuming Crimson's happy with the changes of course. ;)

-Dave

ESX
01-14-2007, 11:33 AM
Uhm, well, while we are talking about new forum thingies and doo-hickies, why wont we get some sort of a cash mod?

DaveW
01-14-2007, 11:51 AM
cash mod?

??? Like a donate Button? That's a layout change, these are just little 'tweaks'.

Things like that will be coming later.

-Dave

ESX
01-14-2007, 01:03 PM
No no, umm... like the stuff ddboard.com has...

DaveW
01-14-2007, 01:26 PM
Had a look, looks pretty much like a Rep system? Am i missing something?

-Dave

ESX
01-14-2007, 01:38 PM
Its a different system.
You get the cash by posting, and you can buy all kinds of stuff using that cash, like nicknname effects, avatar options, sigs or whatever :)

Crimson Sky
01-14-2007, 01:54 PM
Looks fine the way it is now, thanks Dave

tybrenis
01-14-2007, 02:16 PM
No offense Esx, but I think the cash system is a bit cheesy, and I know Crimson likes to stray from that sort of stuff (avatars etc). I think the rep system is a good system, plus, we don't want people to get rewarded for making posts, we want people to get rewarded for making useful posts.

ESX
01-14-2007, 02:21 PM
No offense Esx, but I think the cash system is a bit cheesy, and I know Crimson likes to stray from that sort of stuff (avatars etc). I think the rep system is a good system, plus, we don't want people to get rewarded for making posts, we want people to get rewarded for making useful posts.
Sorry, my bad :)
Just a suggestion though.
Trying to come up with fun stuff.

DaveW
01-14-2007, 02:34 PM
Looks fine the way it is now, thanks Dave

I got just one last tweak to try out before I'm through. Obviously, everything is reversible. ;)

-Dave

DaveW
01-14-2007, 03:18 PM
Ok, that's the final tweak in...i had a version of these in Caps, but i decided afterwards i like the lowercase version better. What do you guys think?

-Dave

DaveW
01-14-2007, 03:21 PM
I think we could make the bars at 10 posts, like the Rep system, though. That would make more sense to me.

Just noticed this, what did you mean Omega? Like a visual representation of post counts, instead of having the numerical values?

-Dave

ESX
01-14-2007, 03:23 PM
Just noticed this, what did you mean Omega? Like a visual representation of post counts, instead of having the numerical values?

-Dave
I beleive IPB had that.
Its a rank you get when you hit a certain number of posts, and you have these pips that basically represent the rank.
I.E If you have 100 posts, you've got 2 pips; 500 posts - 3 pips etc

GT40_GearHead
01-14-2007, 04:21 PM
hmm
the rank bars look nice maybe a bit smaler would look even better

slytherock
01-14-2007, 04:23 PM
hmm
the rank bars look nice maybe a bit smaler would look even better

Agree :)

DaveW
01-14-2007, 06:24 PM
In which direction? Height?

I'm guessing you mean height, i'll get some minor tweaks made in a few minutes...the Newshounds feel that their name isn't macho enough, so we're coming up with something else to call them.

-Dave

SgtM
01-14-2007, 06:34 PM
In which direction? Height?

I'm guessing you mean height, i'll get some minor tweaks made in a few minutes...the Newshounds feel that their name isn't macho enough, so we're coming up with something else to call them.

-Dave

How about super sleuth (sp?). My recommendation regarding the rank bars.. Maybe find a way to put a drop shadow behind the text, or a 1px black border. That would make it easier to read yours and Crimson's. If you want some help, let me know, I'll be glad to assist with whatever I can. Overall, I like the changes.

slytherock
01-14-2007, 07:08 PM
A lot better :up:

DaveW
01-14-2007, 07:11 PM
Ok...i've uploaded the new ones, but for some reason the old ones are still displaying. I think that firefox 2 doesn't quite understand it when i say 'clear the cache'.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think.

-Dave

GT40_GearHead
01-14-2007, 07:22 PM
A lot better now, much more easyer to read

SgtM
01-14-2007, 09:42 PM
Much better.

Aero
01-15-2007, 01:23 AM
so the usergroup is replaced with images if I understand this right.

Zephik
01-15-2007, 02:21 AM
Maybe we can have a page that explains what everything is when you click on those "button" looking things? Like Admin, Super Secret, blah blah blah blah blah and so on. I'm sure there is ALOT of people who don't know anything about the super secrets, so maybe that would be kind of cool to turn those images into real working buttons that opens up a list of explanations of ranks. Like when you click the "more" link under the emoticons.

Just an idea, take it as you want.

and to comment the new layout, very cool. I like it alot. :up:

simon275
01-15-2007, 02:48 AM
Looking nice guys much clearer and lets the children know to behave when they see the poster with the yellow bar appear in the there thread.

silverdemon
01-15-2007, 03:47 AM
+rep for DaveW for investing so much time to let the board look cleaner!
We appreciate it Dave, it looks good.

DaveW
01-15-2007, 06:41 AM
Maybe we can have a page that explains what everything is when you click on those "button" looking things? Like Admin, Super Secret, blah blah blah blah blah and so on. I'm sure there is ALOT of people who don't know anything about the super secrets, so maybe that would be kind of cool to turn those images into real working buttons that opens up a list of explanations of ranks. Like when you click the "more" link under the emoticons.

A page like that is coming soon. I know i say that a lot but with luck all these things i've been promising for aeons will be here soon.

-Dave