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Forum layout updates

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  • McGreed
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    McGreed polycounter lvl 15
    The layout seem to have an issue with being too far to the left side, making it uneven. here is a screenshot of my 4:3 screen:


  • Eric Chadwick
    Yep I see it too. When I get to work on downsizing the OP avatar, I'll look into this as well.
  • PyrZern
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    PyrZern polycounter lvl 12
    Can we have the notification panel stays open after you middle-click the link ? Right now it closes right away. And I have to open the panel again to open another link. I am just lazy and wanna middle click em all in one go.

    Same with favorite panel.
  • Eric Chadwick
    Middle-click? I don't get it. What exactly do you expect middle-click to do? Middle-click for me opens any link in a new tab (Chrome). I left-click on Notifications (bell icon) and it stays open until I click outside it, or I click on a link inside it.

    If I want the full Notifications experience, I left click on the bell icon, then left-click All Notifications which takes me to my Profile page.
  • PyrZern
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    PyrZern polycounter lvl 12
    Right now it closes right away after I middle click just one noti. I want it to not close right away so I can open 2-3 noti...
    Oh, can we also have 'Notify me only when OP posts again' instead of just everyone posts ???




  • Eric Chadwick
    Why not just left-click the first one, read the post, left-click bell, left-click the next one, etc.? That's the same or less # of clicks.

    Added the OP reply notification to the wishlist.
  • radiancef0rge
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    radiancef0rge ngon master
    Is there any chance we can get the new posts search back? I know the threads have that little "New" thing but I would really love to have that back
  • Eric Chadwick
    http://polycount.com/discussions

    There's a wishlist item to add a button for this, somewhere. Where should it go?
  • radiancef0rge
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    radiancef0rge ngon master
    hmm good question, is there a way to append it to the bell dropdown?
  • Shrike
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    Shrike interpolator
    Im not sure about the change, I feel its maybe a bit too much. Seeing a subforum with so many threads gives me a sense of sensory overload, id prefer something in between the old and the current personally. The spacing between the signatures and the background frame is too short, my first impulse was that the formatting broke on my browser when I saw that, a bit more space should be there on top and bottom, generally about half of the text height would be appropriate. I like the stronger contrast between polycount rank and name, but the name could also have stayed a bit larger. I like the other changes however. Also I still root for a name color change on based on a person being online right now.


    This is what I meant with the first sentence, it feels like work looking through that, I think thats too much info at once. The forums dont move so fast that we need so many threads at the first page at once, more focus to current threads would be better I think but this may be because im not used to it.

    There also seems to be a bug where occasionally the space between images and text is missing, Ive seen it on top and bottom.
    Joopsons quote right below my comment also has missing spacing below the quote rectangle.
  • Joopson
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    Joopson quad damage
    Why not just left-click the first one, read the post, left-click bell, left-click the next one, etc.? That's the same or less # of clicks.
    I do it the same way PyrZern does; or, I would, if that dropdown would stay open. It's just more efficient for the way I tend to browse.
  • Fuiosg
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    Fuiosg polycounter lvl 5
    The fact that every thread says 'new' is kind of distracting. Also overall it feels a tad compressed, just my 2 cents.
  • pior
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    pior grand marshal polycounter
    Great job overall, it's really shaping up. Can't wait to see some sort of color coding as opposed to the "new" buttons. As a matter of fact, it could be argued that indicating that a thread has new replies since the last visit is not necessarily that useful, since the thread order reflects that already (mostly). A simple text color change indicating that a thread has been visited or not would be more than enough. Or maybe a tiny dot indicating new replies in a thread when one already has participated ? But that's just my opinion of course, and a rather minor topic. It seems like a lot of different solutions are possible.

    Maybe something like:
    Not Visited = green
    Visited = grey
    Visited, with replies since last vist = grey, with a little dot indicator somewhere.
    (No idea if that would work well and read clearly in practice though. There are probably good examples to look at in other forums out there.)

    Besides that I believe that once the oversized right margin will be reduced we'll be 99% there as far as improved readability is concerned.

    As for the text/reply editor: I personally think that a very straightforward, raw editor with full ubb code support would work just as well as any advanced editor with formatting preview.
  • Eric Chadwick
    All good feedback, your crits are much appreciated. 

    Middle-click doesn't look like an easy fix.

    I dislike the "New" tag as well. I think it should just be green for unread titles, vs. gray for read. 

    I'll look at the thread list padding, that's easy. More space after a quote, and after sigs, also likely easy to fix.

    Margins above/below images, I don't think this would be good. I think it's better to leave it up to each user how to format their posts. Whether a single line return or a double.

    I think the root problem is the post editor not being What You See Is What You Get. If it was, people would be more able to edit their posts to look how they like.
  • Quack!
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    Quack! polycounter lvl 17
    I dislike the "New" tag as well. I think it should just be green for unread titles, vs. gray for read. 

    This would be a great UX improvement. Removes clutters, keeps functionality.

    Forgive me if this has been answered, is the mobile useability going to be improved? I don't visit polycount on my phone anymore because it is a challenge to use.
  • rollin
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    rollin polycounter
    nice update! Without all the empty space it's now again more reading then scrolling :) 
  • Eric Chadwick

    Forgive me if this has been answered, is the mobile useability going to be improved? I don't visit polycount on my phone anymore because it is a challenge to use.
    How exactly? The same as # 10 here? 
    http://polycount.com/discussion/167852/bugs-we-got-em/p1
  • roboy
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    roboy polycounter lvl 11
    For those middle clickers - just hold down CTRL and press the LMB - it'll open in a new tab and keep the notifications drop down active

    Also loving the changes although I agree with the others regarding the amount of topics per page

    Cheers for keeping this place awesome =)   
  • Tekoppar
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    Tekoppar polycounter lvl 10

    Forgive me if this has been answered, is the mobile useability going to be improved? I don't visit polycount on my phone anymore because it is a challenge to use.
    How exactly? The same as # 10 here? 
    http://polycount.com/discussion/167852/bugs-we-got-em/p1
    Issues I have with mobile is that if I quote someone it's impossible to type text below the quote box and my messages just ends up inside the quote box. As can be seen in this post: http://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2445363#Comment_2445363 Took me like 20 minutes to type where I tried getting rid of the box, getting rid of the stored messaged and at the end just gave up and posted.

  • Eric Chadwick
    @Tekoppar said:
    Issues I have with mobile is that if I quote someone it's impossible to type text below the quote box and my messages just ends up inside the quote box. As can be seen in this post: http://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2445363#Comment_2445363 Took me like 20 minutes to type where I tried getting rid of the box, getting rid of the stored messaged and at the end just gave up and posted.

     I agree Quotes can be annoying to deal with. But it's do-able on mobile, I do it all the time. 

    When you first hit the Quote button, there's a line return underneath it. Tap there and start typing.

    If you backspace and get stuck up inside the quote... Select all the text, tap the reverse-P, tap Quote. That disables the quote block. You can then select an upper chunk of text, tap the reverse-P, and tap Quote. The lower chunk of text should now be below the new Quote block.
  • Quack!
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    Quack! polycounter lvl 17

    Forgive me if this has been answered, is the mobile useability going to be improved? I don't visit polycount on my phone anymore because it is a challenge to use.
    How exactly? The same as # 10 here? 
    http://polycount.com/discussion/167852/bugs-we-got-em/p1
    Oh nice, didn't know that list existed.  I'll do a sweep of an experience on my phone and see if I have anything to add.
  • PyrZern
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    PyrZern polycounter lvl 12
    roboy said:
    For those middle clickers - just hold down CTRL and press the LMB - it'll open in a new tab and keep the notifications drop down active

    Also loving the changes although I agree with the others regarding the amount of topics per page

    Cheers for keeping this place awesome =)   
    Dude, thanks man. This helps browsing everywhere on the Internet
  • Joopson
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    Joopson quad damage
    roboy said:
    For those middle clickers - just hold down CTRL and press the LMB - it'll open in a new tab and keep the notifications drop down active
    Ah, you've raised my quality of life ten-fold! Thanks!
  • Pedro Amorim
    I'm digging the wip forum update. Still a long way to go but I like it that steps are being taken.
  • Eric Chadwick
    Yep, bit by bit. Glad it's going in the right direction.
  • Shrike
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    Shrike interpolator

    Margins above/below images, I don't think this would be good. I think it's better to leave it up to each user how to format their posts. Whether a single line return or a double.
    No, i mean there is a bug that sometimes when you watch the exact same post, the spacing is missing and sometimes it is correct and there is a default space between the image and the text, it seems to change depending on the page refresh or so.
  • claydough
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    claydough polycounter lvl 10
    lefix said:
    Really nice changes! The only thing left that is bothering me is the OP avatar size :P

    I like the OP avatar size personally..

    It would be nice if members would now update their Avatars to reflect the additional resolution we now have. ( first thing I did when I noticed the fidelity of Eric's Avatar )

  • Eric Chadwick
    @Shrikesaid:
    No, i mean there is a bug that sometimes when you watch the exact same post, the spacing is missing and sometimes it is correct and there is a default space between the image and the text, it seems to change depending on the page refresh or so.
    Could you please Inspect the html when this occurs, vs. the same post without the error, and post screenshots of the difference? Along with screenshots of the rendered effect?

    Do you have a browser zoom enabled? I suspect a local rendering error, rather than a html error. I can't see how the page code would change with a refresh.
  • gavku
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    gavku polycounter lvl 18
    Sooooooooooooooooooo much better!!!! Nice job.
  • fearian
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    fearian greentooth
    This is BADASS! Thankyou so much. It was a longtime coming but it finally feels like the forums I love.
  • Bal
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    Bal polycounter lvl 17
    Yeah this is much better overall, thanks!
  • Cay
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    Cay polycounter lvl 5
    Personally I agree with Shrike in that it's a bit too much. I feel like I'm looking at a wall of text and I'd go for something in between with more spacing and less threads shown at once.
    But seeing the overwhelming responses here I guess it will stay as it is now anyway.
  • McGreed
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    McGreed polycounter lvl 15
    Personally I like it, however would like as mentioned before (yeah, I repeat myself), that it would be nicer with the creators name below in smaller font and the last reply to the right. This will also help somewhat with the clutter feel that some have. But overall its really an improvement, nice to revert the zoom settings again. :)
  • R3D
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    R3D interpolator
    The drop down user pannl is nearly unusable on mobile, other than that I'm happy to se the updates! Keep up the great work <3
  • m4dcow
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    m4dcow interpolator
    Ryswick said:
    The drop down user pannl is nearly unusable on mobile, other than that I'm happy to se the updates! Keep up the great work <3
    It became more useful for me as far as notifications go (can partially see them now), and I can still see the others just a bit cut off.
  • Shrike
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    Shrike interpolator
    @Shrikesaid:
    No, i mean there is a bug that sometimes when you watch the exact same post, the spacing is missing and sometimes it is correct and there is a default space between the image and the text, it seems to change depending on the page refresh or so.
    Could you please Inspect the html when this occurs, vs. the same post without the error, and post screenshots of the difference? Along with screenshots of the rendered effect?

    Do you have a browser zoom enabled? I suspect a local rendering error, rather than a html error. I can't see how the page code would change with a refresh.
    No browser Zoom. Im not versed with html, but here is a screenshot, it even varies on the same page
    The same seems to be happening for the quotes as for the images.
    Im not sure about the refresh, but ive seen the spacing change within the first 0.5 seconds of a new page buildup on firefox



  • Eric Chadwick
    Small change added. Popup messages are now orange and bold and span the width. This is to combat duplicate-posts-syndrome. Hopefully it gets a bit more up in the noob's grill.

    However it might interfere with other things, like mail notification popups, or Draft Saved messages. Just let one of us know if it's irksome.
  • Fuiosg
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    Fuiosg polycounter lvl 5
    Will there ever be a discard draft button? Coming back to a thread to see a dumb post I was writing still there is kind of irksome.
  • Eric Chadwick
    @Fuiosg said:
    Will there ever be a discard draft button? Coming back to a thread to see a dumb post I was writing still there is kind of irksome.
    Yes, you can go to your Drafts to X them out.
    http://polycount.com/drafts

    We need a button for the Drafts page, probably in the profile page, but at least it's there.

    You can see some more forum tips here.
    http://polycount.com/discussion/63361/information-about-polycount-new-member-introductions/p1#forum
  • Eric Chadwick
    Some layout updates today:

    • Breadcrumb padding improved.
    • Banner ad is now to the left. This improves mobile/laptop display, and exposes the Advanced Search dropdown. 
    • Those who white-list their ad-blocker on Polycount shouldn't be penalized by poor page layout. Thank you white-listers!
    • Advanced Search dropdown = click the magnifying glass at top right, then in the Search field click the down arrow on the right. You can use these options to improve your forum searches.
    • Main category title/description padding improved.
    • Category descriptions updated, mostly to reduce header height in the thread list. 
    • Sub-categories in Technical Talk have been reordered alphabetically.
    • Thread list padding increased a bit.
    • "New" thread indicator is now green and de-emphasized.
    • New Reply etc. now has same gutter as between posts.
    • OP post now has same gutter as between replies.
    • Post gutters reduced.
    • Signatures with a single line now have same padding as multi-line sigs.
    • Hidden block at bottom of page was preventing clicks. Fixed this.

    Old vs. New:


  • adam
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    adam polycounter lvl 19
  • m4dcow
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    m4dcow interpolator
    • "New" thread indicator is now green and de-emphasized.
    I'm digging this, I would still rather unread threads be green, but looking at the css visited and un-visited links share the same properties, so a simple css fix isn't possible. Step in the right direction though.
  • Eric Chadwick
    It's a javascript thing. Still digging around for it but I'm barely proficient in CSS as it is. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ 
  • Eric Chadwick
    Added some padding after the "Sticky" "Poll" "Closed" prefixes, it was bugging me. 
  • Alemja
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    Alemja hero character
    The notifications spanning the entire width of a 1920x1080 screen feels rather strange. Though I could see it working much better on mobile screens. To have it not take up the entire wide of the screen on larger screens it probably would look something like this in the CSS:

    .InformMessages {
      max-width: 500px
    }

    @media all and (max-width:800px){
      .InformMessages {
        max-width: 100%
      }
    }

    Pixel sizes are kinda guesses, it will take a little amount of fidgeting to get it to look ok.
  • Eric Chadwick
    Very cool, thanks for this! I didn't know you could nest properties like this. Does this make it a conditional statement of sorts? This could be very useful indeed.
  • Eric Chadwick
    I reverted the InformMessage styling, it just wasn't working. It was meant to let people know when they've been hit by the spam filter, so they wouldn't make duplicate posts. But the AutoDismiss script is hiding the popup too fast. Working on a different solution.

    Also, colored the Sticky/Poll/Closed prefixes.

    These adjustments are all works in progress. Let me know if anything's not working great. Your crits are all helpful.
  • PyrZern
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    PyrZern polycounter lvl 12
    Sticky/Poll color is nice.   New prefix is placeholder until unread link is green ??
  • Alemja
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    Alemja hero character
    Very cool, thanks for this! I didn't know you could nest properties like this. Does this make it a conditional statement of sorts? This could be very useful indeed.
    Something like that, it's for when the screen or browser window hits a certain size it will overwrite those parts of the css. And that's really the only kind of thing that can get nested like that. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Media_Queries/Using_media_queries

  • Eric Chadwick
    Hmm, I can't figure out why/how the banner ad is messing up the page when viewing on mobile.


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