New Design

[James]

Everyone,

After much hard work behind the scenes we're now ready to unveil the new design of the vBulletin community forums.

Whether you love or hate the new design, I'd like to hear your feedback in this thread. Also, if you find a broken template anywhere, please post the url and I'll get it fixed up.

Get posting! :)

All the best,

James

[JimF]

I'm liking it !! It scared me a little, but I think it's great! It makes it look way more professional!

Great work!

PS: Is the Moderator's Forum supposed to be visible? I know it wasn't before.

-jim

[Armage Bedar]

There are several threads for comments in the Site Feedback forum (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=5)...

[Craig Antill]

Like it, but it seems much slower to load - can you add the width and height attributes to all <img> tags ? This will help :)

[Armage Bedar]

What a change...

Is this the default vB scheme, now? If not, you're definitely going to have questions asking "how can I make my board like yours???"

At any rate, it looks good. A few comments:

- There's not enough contrast between the text fields and the text.
- Also not enough contrast between the "Author" text and the cell background color.
- It is now very difficult to tell to whom the post icons belong to due to the thread colors - I can tell because I'm used to it, but newbies will be disoriented when they're in the middle of a thread.
- Not enough contrast between the page background color and the links to "Show a Printable Version" and "Email This Page to Someone!"

I might think of more later...

[Edited by Armage Bedar on 09-01-2000 at 01:32 PM]

[James]

Craig:

The design is still a bit of a work in progress - I'll be optimising the code in the next few days to improve the loading speed.

Armage:

Once we have worked out all the inevitable HTML bugs, we'll be releasing this design with the vBulletin product. I agree that some of the text colours used tend to blend into the background a bit... I'll make changes to improve this soon.

Keep the feedback flowing!

All the best,

James

[eva2000]

yes it looks great... but loads very slowly on my new cable connection :(

[eva2000]

Once we have worked out all the inevitable HTML bugs, we'll be releasing this design with the vBulletin product. I agree that some of the text colours used tend to blend into the background a bit... I'll make changes to improve this soon. if that's the case, can the old layout be still made available for future releases ? or will it be this one only ?

[Freddie Bingham]

Yes the forum is slower now..

Is just going to be the look of these forums or is this going to be what the forum looks like by default?

The new look is great but a few comments:

1 - the text when typing in this message is too small, I know my users would complain about that
2 - Do you really think all yellow smilies will go over well?

[Sharg]

Well, the major reason why its slower is because now the threads are in a big table, so explorer must now wait that ALL the thread is loaded before displaying it. Before it loaded each message one after the other as they came.

It was already the case with dumb netscape, but now we have it with MSIE also because of the big table of the thread display.

Benj

[Freddie Bingham]

Actually Benj every page is slower but I did a traceroute to http://www.vbulletin.com and it looked BAD so I will without further judgement until that cleans up.

[Brian]

Looks great and was fast for me..

-Brian

[Freddie Bingham]

It is clear now and everything is going fast so I have no problems with speed.

I do have problems (or not?) with this thread

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=2774&pagenumber=2

Since showthread is now in a table, usage of the [ code ] tag extends the whole thread along with the offending post.

[Edited by rangersfan on 09-01-2000 at 02:00 PM]

[Sharg]

Sure, it seems there is an internet problem, but. still, now the thread must be fully downloaded before its displayed... when the thread was displayed message by message on the previous design. This gives another slow impression.

But of course, I really love the new design which looks proffesional.

Benj

[Sal Collaziano]

The "New Thread" and "Post Reply" images don't seem to match right. And I don't like the new post icons - especially with the square grey box around the radio buttons (used to be only a netscrape problem)..

But overall I do like this new design. It looks different.

Oh, goodness. Get rid of those orangy post icons! :p

[WebStyles]

I said it in the Site Feedback forum, but I wanted to say it here too... The new look is fabulous! I really dig it... the orange is a great contrast with the purple. :)

[werehere]

I love it, but I absolutely hate the use of css in the new post and new reply forms. I would definetly get hate mail going if I used that on my forums :)


Great designer style going on here. Will this be the default style with the package now?

[eva2000]

Originally posted by rangersfan
Actually Benj every page is slower but I did a traceroute to http://www.vbulletin.com and it looked BAD so I will without further judgement until that cleans up. yeah my forums hosted on rackspace.com are also slow...must be internet problem ?

i also agree that the yellow smilies should go by default :)

[TWTCommish]

I like the fact that it "fits" with the rest of the site (always bugged me before that it didn't)...I don't like the "colorless" icons with nothing other than orange...kind of dull in that sense. The text is always WAY too small...my mother has a monitor a bit smaller than some, and she basically can't read ANY of it.

In addition, the text and links don't quite stand out enough. And man, the hover color for the links is blinding and can't be read from. :(

Overall nice, just a few kinks I would definetly change.

[eva2000]

yeah i didn't realise but the hover link is YELLOW :eek: .. maybe a dark purple ?

also you could add more smilies into the default release versions - laughing smiley, bawling your eyes out smiley are at least needed

[TechTalk]

The new post icons dfeinantly have to go.....to much orange....and the smilies.....well the old ones were better :D <--- I mean look at that, thats not the "official" biggrin ;) Actually it does all look pretty good....I definantly like the new post / reply icons :)

~Chris

[UserName]

I think it looks great. There are some color contrast and size issues that need to be worked out with the text to make it more readable, but overall it's a great improvement. Good work!

[Mike Sullivan]

Ok, I like the design overall, but here are my issues :)

1. The new smilies, well... SUCK. They fit with the scheme, but they're ugly
2. I'm not going to paste the code snippet, but the <body> tag is actually above EVERYTHING (<head> and doctype included)
3. Hover color is bad
4. Can't we just use black text or something? It'll add contrast
5. Can we ditch the CSS with the form backgrounds?
6. Kinda related, but is it me, or did the reply window shrink? (width-wise)
7. Table header background and text don't contrast enough
8. Same problem with send to friend/print thread text.

I'll probably think of more later. Overall I like it, but there are some issues :)

[Mike Sullivan]

Oh, almost forgot.

9. Can we make the icon/post time <tr> be the same color as the post? It's a little hard to tell who's icons do with who (especially to a newbie)

[werehere]

It is not just you, it did shrink, and I dont like that either. It is now so hard to type a new reply that it is just silly. I think the reply box should be much larger and ditch the CSS!!! :D

[jacob]

WOW I have vB in my bookmark, I thought I entered a wrong site when I saw the forums after changes :)
Great job .. a little bit slower

[TWTCommish]

Yeah...big change.

I wish all sites would implement more design into their VBs...or at least the ones that have a design that permits plenty of horizontal space for the script. :)

[eva2000]

not sure if anyone's mentioned it but the forum rules and admin option/copyright font colour needs changing... it blends into the background right now

[Mike Sullivan]

LOL, yeah - the official vB boards are almost violating the licensing agreement! ;)

[eva2000]

Originally posted by Ed Sullivan
LOL, yeah - the official vB boards are almost violating the licensing agreement! ;) hehe :lol: yes they are :)

[mkaufman]

We just got vBulletin for our site and I am installing it right now :) I love it so far


Awesome new design - I really like it, large improvement over the last one...

[mkaufman]

BTW - you might want to update http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/printthread.php?threadid=2870 the logo looks a BIT weird in there..

I would also update the pages a bit more when you post a reply and/or a new topic.

Everything else looks great!

[Mike Sullivan]

BTW - you might want to update http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/printthread.php?threadid=2870 the logo looks a BIT weird in there..Can't we just ditch the logo from that page PERIOD?!? When printing a thread, the objective is to avoid as many images (ie, layout) as possible. There's no real need for that IMHO.

(And don't say templates - I know. I've removed it from one of my forums, I just don't see the point of it being there by default. And it's not a "main" template, so many people may skip it.)

(Sorry, a little OT)

[Edited by Ed Sullivan on 09-01-2000 at 09:19 PM]

[Parker Clack]

The reply box and text are way too small. The same is true for the next post areas and the edit box and text.

Also having the pull down menu for the topic jumps and the default number of threads pull down menu just at the bottom of the page is a problem. It should be at the top too.

The text for the pull down menus are way too small.

Parker

[JimF]

IIIIttttt'ssss waaay ttttto ssssslllooowwww

:D

-jim

[bira]

Sorry, I really don't like it. It's too heavy and busy to the eye. Maybe I just need to get used to it, dunno.

Since design, however, is largely a matter of taste, I will only point at one or two things that I think go beyond text:

As others have said, the forms background and text is horrendous - as I am writing this, I need a magnifying glass to see what I'm doing!

The smilies are awful - sorry. They're supposed to animate the text but instead are now just yellow\orange spurt of color. Way phlegmatic.

Not sure if it's on purpose or a cache problem, but on some pages the old "new thread" "new reply" images are loaded instead of the new ones.

One question, though, which troubles me not just with regards to the new design: when the new vB version will be released, will it overwrite everything that I've already done on my BB? I'd hate to think that I would need to redo everything, design-wise in particular, from scratch. And not that my BB looks better or anything, it's just that it looks more within the styleguide of my entire site.


Thanks,

Bira

p.s.

Glad to see you adopted the minute change I've had for the poweredby/copyright line at the bottom :p

[Freddie Bingham]

Menno were you the one behind the "orange-ization" of the smilies? Confess man.

[TWTCommish]

I'm pretty sure upgrades don't mess with the templates...at least I hope not! If that were the case I might decide not to upgrade!

I like the fact that the layout matches the site...I think more boards should have it this way.

[Sharg]

Sure, I've spent countless hours to translate all the templates in another language, no way I will upgrade if I have to crush my current templates.

Benj

[Freddie Bingham]

When it is time to upgrade you will be told "this template has changed, do you want to update it?"

Well since every template has now changed, I suppose you will be asked that for every template. If you say "No" then you will have to compare the HTML in each template and make any important changes yourself.

[TWTCommish]

I'm confused...do I say "yes" or "no" to that question during the upgrade process? :)

[Menno]

Ranger: LOL, no, it wasn't my idea :D

[werehere]

I still think that from a design standpoint, these forums are gorgeous, but a little more is needed for useability.

Bira,
The image question is indeed a cache issue. :)

[Nathan]

I like the new look a lot. Very professional. Especially the FORM elements. Nice touch.

[eva2000]

Originally posted by TWTCommish
I'm pretty sure upgrades don't mess with the templates...at least I hope not! If that were the case I might decide not to upgrade!

I like the fact that the layout matches the site...I think more boards should have it this way.
when i upgraded from 1.1.3 to beta 3 my templates remained the same and there was no prompt ?

[Chris Schreiber]

Overall I love the new design.... very professional looking and it matches the rest of the site nicely.

However, as a few others have pointed out.... the grey text box with the tiny font is wayyy too small for my eyes. Hopefully you can make this bigger and easier to read.

-Chris

[Coreace]

Excellent!
It looks more professional and it is more "compact" which I personally prefer. I don't like much the yellow icons though, but I am sure this can be changed. Good Work! And please do keep going on this track.

[Mafukie]

I really hope you guys don't use this as the default layout in version updates... Gotta love the smilies with Yellow teeth =\ other than that I really like the new layout.

[Coreace]

I love this layout and two of the icons are now in colors :) If you do decide to change this design it would be nice to have the option to change it yourself. The "problem" that the fonts are too small can surely be an option where you can choose on the template page. I like the flat nav link (top right) I really disliked the ugly icons and big links on the previous version. It looked really messy and not very pro. After this change I might consider to buy a license!

Keep up the good work.

[TechTalk]

.

[Shoe]

It's a good start but the fonts as others say are too small when typing a message, the icons (members etc need to be changed--they don't go with the new design. MAybe get rid of the icons and just use text. Why don't you use some of the fine examples of designs used by your clients? Or have them design a good default design? I didn't buy your board based on how it looked with you--but based on how others made it look.

[Edited by Shoe on 09-04-2000 at 09:37 PM]

[TWTCommish]

The layout here works well for this site...but how many sites can you name that what the whole "orange and purple" feel for theirs? I VERY MUCH hope that the next update does not use this layout...they should stick with the older one; it's a proven method that works.

[flyer0303]

i dont like it

ok, its nice for u, but not acceptable for my sites, but thats the good at vB, if i dont like ait (and hell, i dont like it!) then i can make easy a own layout

btw, yellow icons and smilies are really ugly

[Menno]

hm... maybe the standart vB you can download would have a standart greyish color/style.
That would work nicely :)

[Parker Clack]

What would be really cool is if you guys could figure out a type of skin layout. That way the basic board layout stays the same but you could pick from a list of skins (color scheme, font colors, etc.) that you could use for your own site.

Members could upload these own skins to a database that others could also pick and chose from.

Parker

[chrispadfield]

That is a brilliant idea. The one thing is more standard images will be needed as opposed to the purpley ones here so that they work well with the typical grey, blue etc colour sets.

[Freddie Bingham]

After you do that, you add an option to the user profile so that user's can switch the skins themselves ala fusetalk or cal's site http://www.iamcal.com

[Kaiser_Sose]

if fusetalk was in a more applacable form like php + mysql it might just give vbulletin a run for its money

[Michael]

I don't mind the layout, but it would be cool if you could offer the buttons in 5 or 6 colors, as not all peoples forums will look good with purple buttons...

Get rid of the yellow icons - and get rid of the CSS. I like the layout though, just the images really that aren't too good.

[Freddie Bingham]

Of course the buttons would also change depending on the skin layout. (in a perfect vB world)

[thefenixboy]

Sorry, im new but the previous layout is more funny and brillant, the icons are more nice and... i dont want this layout :(

Sorry...

Bye.

[Parker Clack]

Want I really meant to say on the skins suggestion is that members of this board, owners of the vbulletin software, could upload skins to a database for others to chose from. I like the idea of giving members the ability to chose the skin that they wanted to use to make it even more personable.

Skins would include the buttons that would be used with the board, they could be the standard button just recolored or new buttons that a vbulletin owner designs.

Just an idea.

Parker

[Ciaran]

I have to say that the yellow/orange smilies/icons are cack :(. They're just so bland and boring looking. They convey no emotions at all, which IMHO is what smilies are all about.

Bring back some life into the smiles!

And the reply box size and colour scheme are ridiculous. Please change it ASAP as I'm going blind even while attempting to type this reply :mad:

Oh, and just two features I'd also like to see :


A feature in the standard templates to set a table border colour
A feature in the standard templates to set a table width
Maybe the standard templates should use a <CENTER> tag around each table. If the default tablewidth of 100 is changed, the forum looks much better if centered (IMHO anyway ;))
Any chance of a 'copy smilies option', where a member can simply click on a smilie graphic to add it into the message?



[Edited by Ciaran on 09-06-2000 at 10:30 AM]

[Sharg]

Oops, I noticed that now again, the thread displays message per message, instead of waiting the whole page to be loaded (because of table).

I REALLY welcome back this feature. Its MUCH much better and faster to the eye like this.

May I suggest to have this way of doing ALSO for the front page ? Like each category would be on a separate table, so if we have tons of forums, it will display category per category, instead of having to wait the entire page to load ?

New design is GREAT, exept some strange contrast choices, and yellow icons uglyness.

Benj

[Edited by Benj on 09-07-2000 at 08:22 PM]

[Freddie Bingham]

/me wonders why James continues to use these horrible CSS settings on the textarea and input boxes when it is obvious no one likes them.

[Chris Schreiber]

Originally posted by rangersfan
horrible CSS settings on the textarea and input boxes when it is obvious no one likes them.

Very true.... the later in the day it gets, the more I need to squint my eyes just to read what I am typing in. I *really* hope this can be changed soon. I can live with orange similies.... but not tiny text ;)

[werehere]

Originally posted by rangersfan
/me wonders why James continues to use these horrible CSS settings on the textarea and input boxes when it is obvious no one likes them.

For me it does not even matter that I dont like it, I can hardly use it ;)

[Freddie Bingham]

Time to Rejoice!

We can now read what we are typing in!

[JohnM]

those smilies stink :(

[Chris Schreiber]

Originally posted by rangersfan
We can now read what we are typing in!

Yes what a big improvement!

:D <--- this guy still needs white teeth though hahaha

[bbyrd]

Man i love this design. Too bad my host don't support php and mysql.

[JimF]

I still can't read what I'm typing.

Also, the icon descriptions at the bottom of the forumdisplay page is missing a clogin perenthsis for the new post description.

-jim

[Kaiser_Sose]

I am really getting sick and tired of these post that are bitching at the new design. What some of you are doing is more than than offerring objective improvements but rather whining about subjective preferences. We do not own this board, we are given this space and oppurtunity to share and ask questions regarding the authors program, and if you dont like it, dont use it. Its that simple :rolleyes:







That said, please refrain from knocking the design that the author obviously likes and prefers. It is unfair for those of you that bitch and wihne constantly about his board

[TechTalk]

Originally posted by Kaiser_Sose
I am really getting sick and tired of these post that are bitching at the new design. What some of you are doing is more than than offerring objective improvements but rather whining about subjective preferences. We do not own this board, we are given this space and oppurtunity to share and ask questions regarding the authors program, and if you dont like it, dont use it. Its that simple :rolleyes:







That said, please refrain from knocking the design that the author obviously likes and prefers. It is unfair for those of you that bitch and wihne constantly about his board

I think you missed the point here. Noone is "bitching" as you call it. It is what we like to call "constructive criticism" All real designers know that it is a necessity if we plan on building a successfull site that people enjoy visiting.

Maybe you missed this part:
Originally posted by James
Everyone,

After much hard work behind the scenes we're now ready to unveil the new design of the vBulletin community forums.

Whether you love or hate the new design, I'd like to hear your feedback in this thread. Also, if you find a broken template anywhere, please post the url and I'll get it fixed up.

Get posting! :)

All the best,

James

Just my $0.02

~Chris

[jamesglewisf]

I like your design.

I'll have to agree about the yellow hover links being hard to read.

[Edited by jamesglewisf on 09-11-2000 at 02:43 PM]

[VirtueTech]

Change the category:
Customising vBulltin

It should read:
Customizing vBulletin

[Freddie Bingham]

Customising is probably the British spelling.

[David Copeland]

1) The message box is too small. I like the earlier version;

2) Purple? I prefer the Blue (such as http://www.ipiu.org/forums/images/newthread.gif ) , but with WHITE letters. Or at least have options for us to change the Purple out. It reminds me of a feminine touch, whereas most of our boards are male driven;

3) You dumped the html feature in our signatures, as well as the img VBulletin option to use in our signatures. If that is part of the version, I dislike it. I was able to have an animated email gif before. Now it's straight text;

4) I like the text on the options for edit, profile, etc, rather than the earlier pictures. Newcomers need to
read what their options are before placing the mouse cursor over the image to read what the link does;

5) I still dislike tremendously the http://vbulletin.com/forum/images/newthread.gif and http://vbulletin.com/forum/images/reply.gif buttons for newcomers. I'd rather you retitle them to "Write a New Topic" and "Write a Reply" to better inform the newcomers of what the button links will accomplish. As VBulletin becomes more popular, we still find our need to teach new forum members how to push the right buttons!

6) And as for speed, that is the most important over the other software versions out there.

7) I am sure you have added many other fine features, which I am delighted to see.

8) Do you actually read these suggestions? Or am I wasting my time? :)

[Freddie Bingham]

Originally posted by David Copeland
2) Purple? I prefer the Blue (such as http://www.ipiu.org/forums/images/newthread.gif ) , but with WHITE letters. Or at least have options for us to change the Purple out. It reminds me of a feminine touch, whereas most of our boards are male driven;

I think you need to rethink that one a bit. "Male Driven" forums? Are you saying this because you feel your P.I. board is male driven? Have you not seen the most recent surveys that now find that the majority of web users are now women? I won't even touch the reasoning behind why "purple" is feminine (tinky winky syndrome?)

And besides the forum was Purple before, just the background was white. It looks much nicer now and most importantly, your first thought isn't "this looks like a UBB clone".

[werehere]

David Copeland,

You seemed to have missed a little bit. You are mentioning things that are either an option that you can turn off or on (like #3), or ones that you can fully customize if you do not like them.

[Shoe]

Wow! I've been away for awhile, but things are looking really good! Nice job. Much better desing than before.

[David Copeland]

Werehere . . .

Thanks for the respectful reply:

1) The message box is too small. I like the earlier version;

Question: Where is the option to increase this message box to the prior version size?

2) Purple? I prefer the Blue (such as http://www.ipiu.org/forums/images/newthread.gif ) , but with WHITE letters. Or at least have options for us to change the Purple out. It reminds me of a feminine touch, whereas most of our boards are male driven;

I suspect the color Purple could be changed out manually. As for the "male driven" comment, that is a summary of a poll we have done of IPIU's private investigators, which is 54% female. :)

3) You dumped the html feature in our signatures, as well as the img VBulletin option to use in our signatures. If that is part of the version, I dislike it. I was able to have an animated email gif before. Now it's straight text;

Question: Why has "this" board (the support forum) dumped the html and img tag features in the sig files?

4) I like the text on the options for edit, profile, etc, rather than the earlier pictures. Newcomers need to
read what their options are before placing the mouse cursor over the image to read what the link does;

5) I still dislike tremendously the http://vbulletin.com/forum/images/newthread.gif and http://vbulletin.com/forum/images/reply.gif buttons for newcomers. I'd rather you retitle them to "Write a New Topic" and "Write a Reply" to better inform the newcomers of what the button links will accomplish. As VBulletin becomes more popular, we still find our need to teach new forum members how to push the right buttons!

Question: Is there a feature to edit the text of the above button to read "Write a New Topic" ? Or, do we need to have is designed from the ground up?

6) And as for speed, that is the most important over the other software versions out there.

7) I am sure you have added many other fine features, which I am delighted to see.

8) Do you actually read these suggestions? Or am I wasting my time? :)

Question: Question #8 is a serious inquiry.

Thanks,

David

[Shoe]

The yellow text when you pass the cursor over a link (in other words the yellow link color) is too close to the background (white) in value and so is hard to read. You need more contrast.

[jamesglewisf]

I actually like the http://vbulletin.com/forum/images/newthread.gif and http://vbulletin.com/forum/images/reply.gif buttons. I'm using them on my forums until I can change them to match my color scheme better.

[Sharg]

Yes, I like them too, and I suggest the designer let us download as photoshop PSD files (with all the layers) so we can download them, and customize them to match our site at will.

Can you please do this ?

Thanks,
Benj

[werehere]

1) The message box is too small. I like the earlier version;

Question: Where is the option to increase this message box to the prior version size?

I believe what you speak of is all in the templates and you can customize it however you wish to.

2) Purple? I prefer the Blue (such as ) , but with WHITE letters. Or at least have options for us to change the Purple out. It reminds me of a feminine touch, whereas most of our boards are male driven;

I suspect the color Purple could be changed out manually. As for the "male driven" comment, that is a summary of a poll we have done of IPIU's private investigators, which is 54% female.

Once again, this is something that can be changed by using your templates. Also, you dont have to upload all these new graphics, and just use your old ones if you wish, and reference them in your templates.

3) You dumped the html feature in our signatures, as well as the img VBulletin option to use in our signatures. If that is part of the version, I dislike it. I was able to have an animated email gif before. Now it's straight text;

Question: Why has "this" board (the support forum) dumped the html and img tag features in the sig files?

Why not? I see no reason why they must enable html in sigs. That is an option of course that you could turn on in your own forum, but is their choice here.

4) I like the text on the options for edit, profile, etc, rather than the earlier pictures. Newcomers need to
read what their options are before placing the mouse cursor over the image to read what the link does;

I think you are stating that you like this feature now?

5) I still dislike tremendously the and buttons for newcomers. I'd rather you retitle them to "Write a New Topic" and "Write a Reply" to better inform the newcomers of what the button links will accomplish. As VBulletin becomes more popular, we still find our need to teach new forum members how to push the right buttons!

Question: Is there a feature to edit the text of the above button to read "Write a New Topic" ? Or, do we need to have is designed from the ground up?

If you dont like them, then change them, however you wish, or use the old version. There is no way to automatically change the text on a graphic, you obviously are going to have to edit the graphic in a graphic editor such as photoshop or fireworks, etc...

6) And as for speed, that is the most important over the other software versions out there.

I am not quite sure what you mean by this, but speed is only one thing that is better with this forum.

8) Do you actually read these suggestions? Or am I wasting my time?

Well just so you know, this is not the suggestions forum, this is the announcement forums that we are chatting in. If you have suggestions, I would suggest you post them seperately in the suggestions forum.