Tales of the Parodyverse >> View Post
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Post By
HH

In Reply To
Anime Jason 
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Location: Here
Member Since: Sun Sep 12, 2004
Posts: 2,834
Subj: Re: Request for Comments:  Possible Board Layout Changes
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 04:00:31 pm EST
Reply Subj: Request for Comments:  Possible Board Layout Changes
Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 02:31:38 pm EST (Viewed 437 times)

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I've taken feedback about the board design, and based on that I've decided to propose the following possible layout changes:

1.  The banner will be moved slightly to the left.  To the right of it will be text and links relating to your Profile, for instance:  "You are logged in as ____ and have ___ private messages" and links to go to your Profile, Private Messages, etc.  The Profile button will then be removed from above the posts.  Every page will have the login information so you always know if you're still logged in.

2.  The Board Title in the title bar (the grey one with white text) will become a cascading link leading back to the main board on all pages that aren't the index page.  For instance when you post a new message it will say "Tales from the Parodyverse - Post New Message".  The little home icon on each page will then be removed.  A similar title bar will be added to the Threads version of the view page to assist in navigation.

3.  There will eventually be either larger buttons or text links to replace the Post New, Edit, and Reply buttons.

4.  Extra commands for posts like Delete, and the moderator commands will be moved to another location in Post View.

5.  RSS, Search, etc, may be moved on the Threads page.  There also may be a quick search blank at the top of the page if I can make it fit.

6.  While text coloring and fonts will still be allowed in Subjects on the index page, text sizing will not.  The reason for this has to do with keeping the two alternate views (Subject and Weblog view) from being messed up by text that's both long and large sized.  Those two views resize text automatically, and having a size set in the subject interferes with that.

7.  New text engine in development!  It will no longer have that problem where broken tags cause all the text in the posts to disappear.  It will allow more tags.  But it also is much more strict in its safety checks.




I'd need to see an example of layout to be able to visualise what you're talking about.

On icons versus text links, I don't think that's worked as well as I'd originally hoped. Slow board loading times often mean I'm looking at little white boxes with red x's and no way to know what they're meant to link to without refreshing. The icons rather than words also cause me to stop and think for just a fraction of a second, making me "notice" the mechanisms of the board - which isn't usually a good thing.

Of all the changes you mention, though, the only one I'd actively dislike is being unable to change the size of text on the main screen. I usually use a larger font to emphasise when I've posted a story rather than a random comment to make it easier to find, and to promote a "sense of occasion". Way back in the day when we first migrated from the first BZL board I recall we turned down an offer of being hosted on Comicboards in part because it couldn't offer size and colour variations. It's an alteration I'd regret.





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