# Time For Some Change...



## ScottW (May 1, 2005)

Hi All,

I got tired of the old format. Yea, it wasn't that old, but when you spend umpteen hours per day on a site, you get tired of it after awhile. 

So... anyhow, this is only phase 1 of the changes. I have non-site related activities that are going to keep me busy for awhile, so I didn't get  a chance to finish up everything. Figured we could all enjoy the clean look in the mean time.

Hope you all like it. I have only tested it in Safari 2.0 and Firefox 1.0.3 on the Mac. If you noticed anything weird, let me know.


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## g/re/p (May 1, 2005)

What did you change?   I don't notice anything different.....


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## riccbhard (May 1, 2005)

I like the new logo and menu. Nice job!


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## Pengu (May 1, 2005)

looks good. would look better with a lighter colour on the edges though (grey instead of black..?)..

and what happened to the google-ads?


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## Qion (May 1, 2005)

Oh man what an improvement Scott. I was looking for this for a lonnnnggg time....

NICE WORK!


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## ScottW (May 1, 2005)

Well... thanks. I couldn't wait another week or two to get it out, so just put it online with all the old menus. New pages coming and layout for everything except the personal support area and the forums.


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## Qion (May 1, 2005)

I like the old menus. The older version seemed clunky and slow, plus it was not centered.


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## ScottW (May 1, 2005)

huh, you like the old ones but they where clunky and slow?


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## Alex (May 1, 2005)

::ha::  Good work Scott... Looks good, impressive =)


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## adambyte (May 1, 2005)

Nice heading graphic. Variety is the spice of life.


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## texanpenguin (May 1, 2005)

Very nice .

But yeah, things like the 3D look on things and the heavy grey borders on the table cells could change to bring everything into line.


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## Gig' (May 1, 2005)

Thanks Scott

I like it a lot. it brings in some freshness and clarity (visually speaking) 
A welcome example of spring cleaning which reminds me I'm late doing mine ;-)


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## ScottW (May 1, 2005)

texanpenguin said:
			
		

> Very nice .
> 
> But yeah, things like the 3D look on things and the heavy grey borders on the table cells could change to bring everything into line.



I will look to see about getting some new buttons.


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## ScottW (May 1, 2005)

Black or Grey background? I have mixed feelings. I like Black, Grey is nice too. Any feedback? You can see black on main page.


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## polltullach (May 1, 2005)

I like the black.


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## Lt Major Burns (May 1, 2005)

blacks too dominating at the side.  thank you for centering it again 

love the new aesthetic - much more elegant, and less workhorsey (we're mac users after all, not workhorsey windows users)

preferred the previous edit and quote buttons though. more intuitive and less stylised.

love the clean swirly lines - very classy!


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## ziess (May 1, 2005)

I prefer a dark grey background.


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## symphonix (May 1, 2005)

It looks great. A real Tiger-ish theme. The gfey stripey sidebar looks good, and the post listings are much less cluttered without gridlines. Nice work.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (May 1, 2005)

Wasn't there a design here, some years ago, that allowed you to choose between two color schemes, if I remember correctly?  Not the new chat room, the actual forum... I'm talkin' 2001-ish.  I want to say I remember a "blue" theme and... well, a "tan" one?  I don't know...


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## ScottW (May 1, 2005)

Too much work to maintain two themes. All changes to one, must be replicated over, takes double the work.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (May 1, 2005)

Oh, completely understood, and I love the new look... I was just wondering if I was right... was there a time when there were two choosable themes?


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## ScottW (May 1, 2005)

Yes, you are correct.


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## Andrew Adamson (May 1, 2005)

Very clean design. Very easy on the eyes. I'd be a little worried about making a design that requires the browser window to scale to 1000px (which is what I think is happening). In Firefox, the browser by default "maximizes" to about 800px (way to go, FireFox!!), which leaves your Google ads cut off. I obviously can't speak for you, but I would imagine this is probably the one thing you _don't_ want happening on your site as it almost definitely will have an impact on your click-throughs. You already have one user asking, "What happened to the ads?"


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## ScottW (May 1, 2005)

Actually, the layout is only 60 pixels wider than the last. However the right side banners are in the same location as previous. It just LOOKS wider because of the design.


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## smithy (May 1, 2005)

Nice work Scott i think the forum needed a new facelift. I really dunno about the background though like i think it seems to be too dark. Maybe if you can you shoudl include a grey gradient or even a blue gradient for the background... Well yeah nice work !


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## texanpenguin (May 2, 2005)

The charcoal grey background is much better than the black was.

I'm still undecided about the new quote buttons etc., maybe it's just the inconsistency between it and the non-updated other ones.

I still feel strongly about the 3D borders on things (like the Quick Reply box I'm typing in)


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## ElDiabloConCaca (May 2, 2005)

Yep -- not a big fan of the Quote and New Reply buttons -- they're large and "clunky" looking to me, plus, being 3-D and "Aqua" looking, they don't really fit in with the "flat" look of the site.

Nothing that's gonna bug me, though.


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## ScottW (May 2, 2005)

You must be getting the old images in your cache. Try a shift-refresh of your page. I haven't got all the buttons changed out, not sure I like the new ones, as they are hard to see.


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## ziess (May 2, 2005)

I like the new front page! A big, big improvement.


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## ScottW (May 2, 2005)

Thanks.


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## ziess (May 2, 2005)

And the most recent updates (the changed 'recent forum topics' etc. lists) amke it look even better. Much better, not so cluttered, and I hate cluttered websites!


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## ElDiabloConCaca (May 2, 2005)

ScottW said:
			
		

> You must be getting the old images in your cache. Try a shift-refresh of your page. I haven't got all the buttons changed out, not sure I like the new ones, as they are hard to see.



I think I'm getting the new ones -- blue with a little shading, with while letters, and a little pic of a quill... those are the new ones, yes?


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## Captain Code (May 2, 2005)

Here's what the buttons look like for me


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## ElDiabloConCaca (May 2, 2005)

Oh, wow, that's not what they look like for me (with the exception of the quill icon)... here's mine (and I freshly reloaded Tiger and did not save any of my old Safari history or cache or anything, so I don't know what's up!):


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## ScottW (May 2, 2005)

I have changed the background from a light grey to white for the main page. This is noticed on the forum and main page, while the other new format pages I have not updated. On my iMac LCD, the light grey looks almost white, while on a different platform (cough, cough) and on a CRT system... it is really grey and not the look I wanted. 

Yea, the quick reply box needs some help. I will work on that. The buttons... I don't know... any thoughts? (not the old blue ones)


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## ziess (May 2, 2005)

I've got a few ideas... I'll get back to you once I find my Photoshop Cd.


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## Lt Major Burns (May 2, 2005)

i prefered the old buttons to the new ones, but someohw both don't look *right*.  the new ones look ill suited to the sites aesthetic, instead looking like a gaming forum or something, whearas the old ones suited the site, but now look dated compared to the lovely new clean look instated


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## Lt Major Burns (May 2, 2005)

i prefered the old buttons to the new ones, but someohw both don't look *right*.  the new ones look ill suited to the sites aesthetic, instead looking like a gaming forum or something, whearas the old ones suited the site, but now look dated compared to the lovely new clean look instated

also, could we have the back to top link nearer to the bottom of the quick reply box, or repeated there?  a small, and rather lazy niggle, but a welcome change i think. it could go quite neatly under the "show your signature" tickbox and parallel with the "go advanced" button


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## ElDiabloConCaca (May 2, 2005)

For some strange reason, the buttons are now showing up correctly.

You're messing with me, yes?


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## riccbhard (May 2, 2005)

I like it a lot. Looks a lot cleaner. Unfortunetly the colors are wrong on when I have my Mac connected to my old Zenith TV. (It's the TV's fault.). It is, after all over 20 years old. Hard to read text on the TV too (again, TV's old out of focus tube).


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## smithy (May 3, 2005)

I like the new buttons, but maybe like for all the headers which say the date and time a post was posted as well as similar headers - maybe just a subtle blue gradient background ?? Also could you by any chance change the colours of the quickreply box i don't really like the shades of purple for the background of the tables. Well yeah thats my 2 cents sorry if i seem to be too opinionative....


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## ElDiabloConCaca (May 3, 2005)

Heh... I guess when Scott said it was "time for some change" some people interpreted that as "what would you like me to change?"


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## bobw (May 3, 2005)

In Firefox


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## ScottW (May 3, 2005)

It's all a cache issue w/ your browser for those getting old buttons. But, there is a mix of old and new buttons on the site, so you never really know.


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## texanpenguin (May 12, 2005)

Just to let you know, the "code" tag breaks the new layout.


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