Re: Forum will be under construction/New Layout

[The Ghost Writer]

FFU is right! You get a cookie!

[Tryne, the Time Traveler]

Oh, sweet.

Edit. Oh hey, the thesaurus opens up into the empty grey space, so that it won't end up covering text. Snazzy.

That's exactly right! You can have the thesaurus/dictionary in your side area now while you're typing, without having to click to a different window or tab to use it.


EDIT: Also, a tiny little detail you may notice -- the ghost icon next to the URL of FoG. Axiom updated that from one of the standard Forumotion icons it was before.

[The Ghost Writer]

Alrighty! I got a comment from one of my designer friends at the blog. Not sure if any of you guys read what he had to say yet, but I'll copy it over here:

Super stylish skin
Totally love the header… looks real professional
Absolutely adore the navigation system….
Although; a few itsy-bitsy suggestions;
-Change the ‘who is online’ image… doesn’t suit the skin in my opinion. (Also add some distance between it and the “Members connected during the last 24hrs” bock of text.
-Add some sort of background even if it’s just a texture… I can imagine a popular post with many replies dragging down the page and the only graphical aesthetics are found at the top and at the bottom of the forum… would look a little boring in my opinion.

Aside from that; looks really really good, and I will be creating an account to support the cause xD
Another great review RecAgenda

Original post can be found here.

[Tryne, the Time Traveler]

Cool, thanks for posting that, Agenda! :] I'm glad he seemed to like it.

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but when I first originally found that image that we use at the bottom (of the forest and the footsteps), I was so in awe of how perfect it was, since all the other forest and footprint images I could find were in the winter time, and given that it is somewhat reflective of Caligo (and Caligo is in a warmer climate), that didn't really fit. I'm not sure if we have it in our power to move that image around or not, since that's just pasted into the space for it in Forumotion.

I wouldn't be opposed to adding some texture to the gray background actually, and maybe a gradiant behind that, but the thing is, if we do that, then it will no longer be just an HTML background color; it will be an image. And we all know how long it can take to load an entire background image. So, it's what you guys prefer -- a textured background with slower loading times, or the solid gray with no background loading time.

[quakernuts]

I'll admit, the site does look nice, and for that, Axiom is doing a great job. However, I've noticed that the text when trying to post a message is laggy. Even now I'm writing several words, and literally stopping and waiting to watch as the words catch up to me. Not a major issue, but definitely an annoying one. I'm not sure if this is due to the new format, or just due to the current changes happening on the site, but I thought I would put it out there anyways.

[Axiom Awaits]

Thank you everyone for comments and feedback! I'm really glad that overall most seem to be pleased and thank you Ghost Writer for the positive review on your blog. I also appreciate the recommendations. I'll continue to make minor changes and fix things here and there. A background texture or gradient is something I would like to add.

Edit:

However, I've noticed that the text when trying to post a message is laggy. Even now I'm writing several words, and literally stopping and waiting to watch as the words catch up to me. Not a major issue, but definitely an annoying one. I'm not sure if this is due to the new format, or just due to the current changes happening on the site, but I thought I would put it out there anyways.

Quaker, that's very strange. It's not something that Fate or I have experienced. Let me know if it keeps happening.

[quakernuts]

well, I noticed it's on and off for me. Like now it's fine, but when I wrote that previous message, it was all over the place. I'll wait until you're completely finished with everything just to make sure it isn't because of the construction going on. Thanks anyways.

[Kalon Ordona II]

Veni. Vidi. Veni.
I came. I saw. I came.

xD

First moment was a jawdrop. I sat there for a couple seconds, then started squeeeing inside for probably five minutes straight.

I never expected it to be THIS EXPLETIVE-ING AWESOME!!!
AAAAAAAH!

I didn't notice the gray sidebars either. I like them because they show off the shadows on the side and the animated tabs. I can see how people with widescreen monitors might start pulling hair out after a while, though, or use the minimize like Ryona mentioned. Still, in a way, it means everyone sees more or less the same FOG, if the width is standardized. I know if I had a widescreen monitor, I'd LOVE it that way, because I could have FOG be the same size and ALSO open a second window to put next to it, like a word processor or a chat panel.

Anyway, COMPLETELY EPIC WORK! I 100% LOVE IT TO PIECES FOREVER WITH ICE CREAM AND A PACK OF JUICE! FOG 2.0... you weren't exaggerating!

[The Melancholy Spirit]

I have the same problem as Quaker with typing on occassion. It isn't doing it at the moment but it did it last night and earlier today.

[Bird of Hermes]

I am speechless.

Layout. Is. Amazing.

Please hold while I run around and jump like a kid on sugar and scream my undying love of its epic-ness.

[karkooshy]

Cool, thanks for posting that, Agenda! :] I'm glad he seemed to like it.

I did, alot actually

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but when I first originally found that image that we use at the bottom (of the forest and the footsteps), I was so in awe of how perfect it was, since all the other forest and footprint images I could find were in the winter time, and given that it is somewhat reflective of Caligo (and Caligo is in a warmer climate), that didn't really fit. I'm not sure if we have it in our power to move that image around or not, since that's just pasted into the space for it in Forumotion.

I just think there's too much contrast between it and the rest of the forum. (it's too light compared to everything else).. But yes, now that I think about, it is adherent to the main theme of the forum ^^

I wouldn't be opposed to adding some texture to the gray background actually, and maybe a gradiant behind that, but the thing is, if we do that, then it will no longer be just an HTML background color; it will be an image. And we all know how long it can take to load an entire background image. So, it's what you guys prefer -- a textured background with slower loading times, or the solid gray with no background loading time.

It doesn't have to be a full-on 1680 by 1000px background
It can be a small block of texture and you can have it repeat throughout the background... which adds barely any loading time.
The only hassle this would cause is dealing with where the texture meets the header.. since the current background is ever-so congenial with it, and adding a texture means adding complications xP... scratch that... the header has a transparent background...
woah nelly! Did you make that??? xD
That's incredible! No hassles then I guess
Also surprised it's transparent and of such high quality and yet it loads pretty quickly.... what's your secret? o_O

[Axiom Awaits]

Yeah, I had something along the lines of a repeating gradient image or texture in mind for the background to minimize load time. I'll mess around with it during the week

All credit for finding the top image, editing it and adding to it goes to Fate. She sent it to me one night when I was working on other things. At the time I just had sort of a place holder image up there and I didn't know what to do she's the artist!

[Tryne, the Time Traveler]

Oh, wow. Good job, Axiom. Somebody liked our new layout enough to send me this through e-mail:

Hello, my name is Acaelus.
I run a forum called decoydragonacademy.com.
I would like to use your website's theme.
I would also like to know if this theme allows widgets on the right a left side.
In exchange for the skin I will offer you 130$ over paypal.
Sorry if this sounds a bit unprofessional, I don't do this often.

Unfortunately for him, the layout isn't for sale, not to mention would be impossible to just hand over to someone. It's not like it's one box of code that could be copied over. It's so much more complex than that and was designed to fit our message board specifically. That was interesting though.

[Kathryn Lacey]

Aww. That's wonderful that someone loved your layout sooooo much that they were willing to pay over one hundred dollars for it! Great job!

[Bird of Hermes]

I seem to be having an issue with the home page. The little box in the picture is not rendering how it should look for me. Here is the issue: screen capture.

[Ysopet]

I like the image you chose for the background to fill in the gray. I have not seen it on Ryona's computer, so I don't know what it looks like outside of my "claustrophobic" screen resolution. But I think it looks great with FOG in general.

[Silvan Arrow]

Ooooooooh...I just noticed the new image in the gray part of the background, and I agree with Silvone's sentiments! I think it adds just enough texture to break up the big block of gray while still maintaining the eye-catching contrast of colors between the rest of the layout. It also flows well with the other images in the layout and just adds another dimension to the site.

Well done!

[Tryne, the Time Traveler]

Thanks for noticing the background and for the comments on it, guys! Axiom was working on that a little these past couple of day. I agree that it kind of adds a little more so it's not so plain and fits the them yet without distracting from the rest of the content.

[Kathryn Lacey]

I really like the background image, too. It's really subtle, so I don't feel distracted by it, but it also definitely adds something nice to the site, and it ties the header and footer images together quite nicely.

[Dax]

I also just noticed the trees on the gray background.

Like I said before, I want to reiterate here: amazing job!

[Axiom Awaits]

Just a little update:
Previously all external files for the forum were hosted on a free hosting service which I surprisingly didn't have many complaints about. I'm now paying for hosting (since I needed to do that anyway for other things) and all those files for the forum are hosted on a paid hosting service. Everything should be the same, but maybe it will help speed things up a bit when browsing.

[The Ghost Writer]

Actually, now that you mention it, I've noticed that the site is loading much faster. Thanks for that, Axiom!