forumdisplay look... i need your oppinion

[TECK]

i've been working for a while on my forums, to make them look totally different from the usual VB feel and look.
i need you to tell me if i should change any colors or anything in the look of my forums.

here it is a screenshot of my forumdisplay, with no threads on it:

[TECK]

i know about the extra L in the announcement. ;)

[Sinecure]

It would be easier to give an in depth opinion if we could see the threads :) Anyway, generally it looks good.
Good idea for the forumjump there. Personally I don't like the forum jump, but you did a good job in customizing it ;)

[nuno]

looks nice :)

[TECK]

thanks. :D
i dont use forumjump because i want to save few queries. i personally never use it. this is a modified dropdown for the threads only.

the problem i encountered was that you cannot style the dropdowns and i didnt like the ugly look they had.

[Sinecure]

Yeah, I hope they get rid of forumjump in vb3, I've NEVER used it, and most likely will never.

[nuno]

isn't forumjump CP optional (Y/N)? :confused:
by setting it to NO what happens to queries?
do i have to remove all code related with forumjump in order to speed things up?

[TECK]

there is an option in VB to disable it. :)
jelsoft does smart code, there is no need to worry about the queries. since the forumjump is disabled, you save 2 queries.

[nuno]

okie dokie, thx for the info :)
bye bye forumjump :p

[Sinecure]

Yeah, I noticed that option in there one day, I immediately hit the No box :)

[TECK]

here it is the forumbit... let me know what you think.

[TECK]

btw, for the new matrix you can watch it here:
http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/trailer_qt.html

i like it.

[Chen]

Originally posted by nakkid
here it is the forumbit... let me know what you think.
Too big, way too big. If that's how each thread looks like forumdisplay will be very long, it might look cool but very inefficient.

[TECK]

you are right chen. however, i dont plan on showing more then 15-20threads per page. the preview text will cut alot of bandwidth, since the people could see what is thread about, not just the title.

i will look how is it with 15threads per page and post here so you can see if is long or short. the worst that cames i will rearange the table a bit to make it smaller.

[hypedave]

this is very impressive, r u sure thats vb :confused:
I like it alot , keep up the good work, what php editor r u using to come up with layouts like that ?

[TECK]

i use utraedit for everything. graphs are done with photoshop7 (i finally bought the upgrade).
anyway, firefly is right, is a little thick the threadbit. i will srink it by one or 2 lines. i will see a way arround and post the new threadbit soon. thank you all for your guidence.

[TECK]

ok i shrink it down by 2 lines. i will have 15 threads displayed per page so i think i will be ok. let me know if is better. thanks.

[DirectPixel]

That looks awsome!:)

I really like how it doesn't look like every other forum out there. Quite original.:)

[Chen]

I still find too large, thread bits aren't meant to be so big, even if you only have 15 threads per page (which could easily frustrate your users).

[icknay]

personally, i agree w/ firefly. if you want to do the previews, i would suggest using a title attribute in the <a> tag.

[TECK]

Originally posted by FireFly
I still find too large, thread bits aren't meant to be so big, even if you only have 15 threads per page (which could easily frustrate your users). ya. you are right. however i dont want to have the VB classic look.. or of any board out there. the site will gravitate around tutorials and news related to tech world. the forums are a complement to the users, to devellop other issues.

my goal was to create something unique, not a regular bulletin board. i thought alot about it and decided to go with a look like that. but i definitelly take in consideration your point chen. i will make it in 2 styles then, with the classic look or the streched one you all see here. in this way, users will have the choice. i think is the best solution.

let me know what you think.

[Chen]

Unique is good, but not at the expense of useability.

[DirectPixel]

Well, the best way to judge is to try it out for yourself.

Just add in a few more test threads to fill a page, and see how it looks. It might not look that bad...:)

[TECK]

this is what looks like with multiple threads.

[DirectPixel]

I think it looks okay if there's 10 to 15 threads on one page, but it's probably a little too big if you want to display more... :- \

[Chen]

The amount of text can also confuse users who are browsing the forum to find specific threads. Forum display should be a smoove gateway to the actual threads, it's not supposed to have so much information.

[DirectPixel]

Originally posted by FireFly
The amount of text can also confuse users who are browsing the forum to find specific threads. Forum display should be a smoove gateway to the actual threads, it's not supposed to have so much information. Well, I think that currently, with the display text, it's at the smallest it can be.

If nakkid were to remove the summaries and resize the on/off images, then the thread view can be slightly smaller, but I think that's the smallest it will go with the current design.