Maybe change the background... the little squares that are 2 hex #'s from black through my eyes for a loop, especially with the black/grey used on the rest of the style. I'm fine until I get near the edges of the content.
Hi all! looking slicker!! And much better than the temporary grey one.
However! There would be no love without crits (this is Polycount after all) hence here are my few.
-most noticeable thing : the top banner. I like how it showcases great art, but its functionality is confusing. When I see great art on display I want to be redirected to either the artist's folio or contact page when I click on it. But it acts as a webpage "top left logo", bringing back to the main menu instead. Also, the "polycount" title on the bottom left of that banner does the same since it's on the same hitbox, but its... awkward. There might be a way to put back "polycount" all the way up left outside of the banner, and keep the banner dedicated to the artist. (or article link, aso)
-Contrast. I can't really put my finger on it yet but the contrast seems very high (pure white text on pitch black) and even this looks nice for a folio or a minimalistic layout, for forum posts with a lot of text it is too strong in my opinion. (agree with Ely). However I am browsing this on a rather dated 1280 pix wide LCD so this might be to blame.
-There is no way to distinguish text and links anymore. I remember this was a complain at the very beginning of the previous look and this is still a problem here : links are pure white, just like text. I would say, go for something classic : slightly different tone, and an underline. Also the yellow hover color is out of place.
-Fat! some still could be trimmed downed to make the look of it all even slickier. Mostly some info that could be kept very small or grey instead of white (post number, quote link, report, all these things). Also the post date could be put somewhere else to streamline the look even more.
-1pix line between a post and its footer can be taken out.
-Some inconsistency in greens ("online" green neer the avatar as opposed to the classic PC green of the new look)...
-Bold white outlines in the quick reply boxes and buttons.
-Some text alignements could benefit from a left margin.
-3pix squares in the background can go!
Will mockup this up soon.
On the other hand I like :
The slick look, the classic green color, the absence of gradients, the gradual trimming down of unnecessary visual clutter.
Pior (and others) - the banner can only link to one page currently. It works by randomly choosing an image from a folder. To get it to link to an artist or a specific thread would require a database to hold the path to the image and the link. That's not impossible, but just a wee bit tricky at the minute.
Hey Rick i'm not sure about this but I heard that one can store extra text info like that inside a Jpeg file. Maybe it would be possible to hit that when clicking? Hence no database...
i'd like to reiterate that this is not the update to polycount, nor is it any sort of final design that the new site will use. this is something i cooked up based off of our mock-ups while i was bored, etc. I haven't touched it in about a month and since it was just sitting there, unused, I figured it could be made public for use while we continue working on the new stuff. Going forward, I'll make a few minor aesthetic changes (like removing the background in exchange for a solid colour - done!) but won't be spending much more time on it.
The functionality of the header that you mentioned (pior) is both completely possible and planned for the new site. For now, it'll be a few images with all that stuff baked down to the raster that rotates on every page reload.
I'm not sure what you're saying about link colours. Links, like this one here, are green and when you hover over them they're orange.
As for other changes or mock-ups, you're welcome to make them but I suggest you wait for the new stuff to come out. We'll do some private testing with a few members to get feedback before its released and, being one of the more vocal fellas about it, you'll definitely be a part of it. That cool? I'd hate to see you, or anyone, spend a lot of time on it when this really isn't it.
Everyone who's posted: Thanks guys, glad you like where we're going.
Oh yeah I got that from our past discussions, no worries!
I think my point is - even tho this is a temp look, I find it polished enough to be a nice base for discussion on details ; it brings up little things that are worth thinking about even before the big changes comes around. I've seen it happen often: the more time it takes to cook up something awesome behind the scenes, the harder it gets to accept crits on it and make changes :P
The white link stuff I was referring to relates to the 'report', "quote", "(#xx)", "reply to this thread" things. They have click functionality but look like plain text.
Only thing that I'd change is to put like 50 pixels worth of padding on the left side of the page to scoot it away from the edge of the screen. Kind of annoying reading things that are that close to the screen frame.
dfacto - brought it in 24px, just for you SIDE NOTE:Guuuh -wide is such a gross way of viewing a forum. How? Why? Who are you sick, sick people?
Ha, just noticed the FAQ is using old images. One of the things we'll be doing with the new site, which is likely fine to mention now, is gearing it specifically for this site. While it'll still contain the generic vBulletin mumbo-jumbo, many things about this community will be covered..
Overview of what the website is
How, over nearly 11 years aspiring artists have used & made Polycount their home for all things game-art
How it can be used to develop or hone their skillsets
Forum attitudes (from GD, to P&P, to Tech Talk)
Types of threads we have here (WAWYO in P&P, ToA in GD, etc) and when to post in them
No bullshit threads, etc.
There's a lot of the 'Old Boys' rules that most won't understand when they first come here. It might be nice to explain things up front rather than get frustrated because you posted a Youtube video of a cat riding a Roomba in its own thread. Perhaps its that sort of word-of-mouth rules that makes PC what it is, but some things really do need explaining around here :poly108:
Oh ya, one other thing. No matter how new or fresh or whatever the design is, we'll never get rid of the awesome emoticons. My only hope is they're more intuitively integrated. I swear I have it setup so that when I do this it's suppose to show this .
EDIT: WTF! It did the emoticon. Uuugh, alright thats it. I'm going to bed.
Nice adam, much better. Now just align the text and icon in the name box to line up with the r in the report button and I'd say that's a wrap for my complaints.
Another vote to have the banner jump to the pimp thread, if possible.
White text is really bright. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. < this gets my vote. Gray text is easier to read.
Also wondering where the Wiki link went... used to be in the row under the banner, didn't it?
what is the purpose of the little "old" icon in the top left of each post (above usernames)?
Imo replace that icon with the #post number, and then put the date of post next to it in the same box so it reads;
White text is really bright. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. < this gets my vote. Gray text is easier to read.
White text is really bright. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read.< this gets my vote. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read.
It's going to take some getting used to, (again) but I think this is the best change yet.
Nice work!
[Edit] Okay, there is one thing that I don't understand and I don't think it has anything to do with the recent changes. Just now I noticed the banner with work from "spacy". So I thought to myself: "wow, he did all those characters ultra low poly?". So I went to the members list attempting to look up his portfolio, and sure enough there is no "spacy" in the list.
This has happened to me before when I looked up someone that I was almost certain was a Polycount member.
So why are people not listed in the members list? Or is it, they cancelled there account or something.
The other thing is that on every page of the list at least half of the names have 0 posts.
It's clear that they were just signing up with no intent of actually contributing to this forum.
It would be nice to clean these accounts up for organizational reasons, for example: 0 total posts for 1 month and the account gets cancelled. They could always sign up again, and since they never posted it shouldn't make a difference.
Just now I noticed the banner with work from "spacy". So I thought to myself: "wow, he did all those characters ultra low poly?". So I went to the members list attempting to look up his portfolio, and sure enough there is no "spacy" in the list.
Probably 'cos you mis-read or misspelled it - he's "Spacey", not "Spacy".
White text is really bright. < anything but this gets my vote Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read. Gray text is easier to read.
Much better look, I'd suggest doing a 2-3 pixel fade out border around the text of the polycount logo so it isn't lost in amoungst some of the brighter images you cycle through at the top of the page though.
So much more proffesional and graphic. Even though I loved the old-school Polycount look this one seems to sum up what Polycount is nowadays so much better.
Probably 'cos you mis-read or misspelled it - he's "Spacey", not "Spacy".
I realize this really isn't the place for it, but seriously; he doesn't show up in the list for me. And this isn't the first time I had this issue when looking a member up.
Here is a screen grab of what I see. I use the latest version of IE btw.
Nice! It's a bit odd that the links, text in the reply areas and 'Online' are a very different colour of green from the green text. Personally, I prefer the more yellowish green that I'm now typing in, but that may just be because I'm used to it.
What, if I may ask, is going to be the full idea with the banners? Is it a 'here's what's interesting on the forums right now' or a 'here's a piece of art that will stun you with awesomeness'? I love Spacey's models as much as the next guy, but they're almost a year old by now... Polycount is already a tough place when you're not the absolute top, whereas most of the ones being showed on the banners could just as well visit DeviantArt for the comments they're getting. What I'm saying is, I wouldn't mind some less spectacular artists getting banner time too, although that may not be what you're aiming for with it.
I also agree with the contrastiness - it's a bit much and gray text would be easier on the eyes.
BradMyers82: Hmm, you are correct. How very strange!
It could be something to do with not posting since the forum software change - we added a feature which meant admins/moderators had to "approve" user posts, it could be that his user has become inactive until he posts again and gets approved. Not sure though.
Nice job with the new layout. I agree that on some of the banner images it can be hard/impossible to read the artist name. Maybe a 1 pixel outline or drop shadow would make it easier?...
MoP and adam: I seem to have fallen off the face of the Greentooth. Please redirect me
no .. that there are some people missing in the user list is an ooooold problem.. at least i discovered it month ago but never saw a real problem with it. however, to find the "v.i.p´s" gets a bit more difficult with it
Replies
LOVE it. Great to see other peeps work.
But yeah the forum looks really cool now, like it a lot more now actually
However! There would be no love without crits (this is Polycount after all) hence here are my few.
-most noticeable thing : the top banner. I like how it showcases great art, but its functionality is confusing. When I see great art on display I want to be redirected to either the artist's folio or contact page when I click on it. But it acts as a webpage "top left logo", bringing back to the main menu instead. Also, the "polycount" title on the bottom left of that banner does the same since it's on the same hitbox, but its... awkward. There might be a way to put back "polycount" all the way up left outside of the banner, and keep the banner dedicated to the artist. (or article link, aso)
-Contrast. I can't really put my finger on it yet but the contrast seems very high (pure white text on pitch black) and even this looks nice for a folio or a minimalistic layout, for forum posts with a lot of text it is too strong in my opinion. (agree with Ely). However I am browsing this on a rather dated 1280 pix wide LCD so this might be to blame.
-There is no way to distinguish text and links anymore. I remember this was a complain at the very beginning of the previous look and this is still a problem here : links are pure white, just like text. I would say, go for something classic : slightly different tone, and an underline. Also the yellow hover color is out of place.
-Fat! some still could be trimmed downed to make the look of it all even slickier. Mostly some info that could be kept very small or grey instead of white (post number, quote link, report, all these things). Also the post date could be put somewhere else to streamline the look even more.
-1pix line between a post and its footer can be taken out.
-Some inconsistency in greens ("online" green neer the avatar as opposed to the classic PC green of the new look)...
-Bold white outlines in the quick reply boxes and buttons.
-Some text alignements could benefit from a left margin.
-3pix squares in the background can go!
Will mockup this up soon.
On the other hand I like :
The slick look, the classic green color, the absence of gradients, the gradual trimming down of unnecessary visual clutter.
Can't wait to see what's next!
i'd like to reiterate that this is not the update to polycount, nor is it any sort of final design that the new site will use. this is something i cooked up based off of our mock-ups while i was bored, etc. I haven't touched it in about a month and since it was just sitting there, unused, I figured it could be made public for use while we continue working on the new stuff. Going forward, I'll make a few minor aesthetic changes (like removing the background in exchange for a solid colour - done!) but won't be spending much more time on it.
The functionality of the header that you mentioned (pior) is both completely possible and planned for the new site. For now, it'll be a few images with all that stuff baked down to the raster that rotates on every page reload.
I'm not sure what you're saying about link colours. Links, like this one here, are green and when you hover over them they're orange.
As for other changes or mock-ups, you're welcome to make them but I suggest you wait for the new stuff to come out. We'll do some private testing with a few members to get feedback before its released and, being one of the more vocal fellas about it, you'll definitely be a part of it. That cool? I'd hate to see you, or anyone, spend a lot of time on it when this really isn't it.
Everyone who's posted: Thanks guys, glad you like where we're going.
I think my point is - even tho this is a temp look, I find it polished enough to be a nice base for discussion on details ; it brings up little things that are worth thinking about even before the big changes comes around. I've seen it happen often: the more time it takes to cook up something awesome behind the scenes, the harder it gets to accept crits on it and make changes :P
The white link stuff I was referring to relates to the 'report', "quote", "(#xx)", "reply to this thread" things. They have click functionality but look like plain text.
Glad this helps!
Only thing that I'd change is to put like 50 pixels worth of padding on the left side of the page to scoot it away from the edge of the screen. Kind of annoying reading things that are that close to the screen frame.
SIDE NOTE: Guuuh -wide is such a gross way of viewing a forum. How? Why? Who are you sick, sick people?
Ha, just noticed the FAQ is using old images. One of the things we'll be doing with the new site, which is likely fine to mention now, is gearing it specifically for this site. While it'll still contain the generic vBulletin mumbo-jumbo, many things about this community will be covered..
- Overview of what the website is
- How, over nearly 11 years aspiring artists have used & made Polycount their home for all things game-art
- How it can be used to develop or hone their skillsets
- Forum attitudes (from GD, to P&P, to Tech Talk)
- Types of threads we have here (WAWYO in P&P, ToA in GD, etc) and when to post in them
- No bullshit threads, etc.
There's a lot of the 'Old Boys' rules that most won't understand when they first come here. It might be nice to explain things up front rather than get frustrated because you posted a Youtube video of a cat riding a Roomba in its own thread. Perhaps its that sort of word-of-mouth rules that makes PC what it is, but some things really do need explaining around here :poly108:Oh ya, one other thing. No matter how new or fresh or whatever the design is, we'll never get rid of the awesome emoticons. My only hope is they're more intuitively integrated. I swear I have it setup so that when I do this
EDIT: WTF! It did the emoticon. Uuugh, alright thats it. I'm going to bed.
Grr.. I mean, :poly127:
Another vote to have the banner jump to the pimp thread, if possible.
White text is really bright.
Gray text is easier to read.
Gray text is easier to read.
Gray text is easier to read.
Gray text is easier to read.
Gray text is easier to read. < this gets my vote.
Gray text is easier to read.
Also wondering where the Wiki link went... used to be in the row under the banner, didn't it?
Imo replace that icon with the #post number, and then put the date of post next to it in the same box so it reads;
#72 - Today, 01:41 PM
in the box above the username (also remove the parentheses)
And I agree with eric, gray text gets my vote too. But one above the one he chose (so "DarkGray")
White text is really bright.
Gray text is easier to read.
Gray text is easier to read.
Gray text is easier to read.
Gray text is easier to read.< this gets my vote.
Gray text is easier to read.
Gray text is easier to read.
Just thought I would put my vote in. :P
Nice work!
[Edit] Okay, there is one thing that I don't understand and I don't think it has anything to do with the recent changes. Just now I noticed the banner with work from "spacy". So I thought to myself: "wow, he did all those characters ultra low poly?". So I went to the members list attempting to look up his portfolio, and sure enough there is no "spacy" in the list.
This has happened to me before when I looked up someone that I was almost certain was a Polycount member.
So why are people not listed in the members list? Or is it, they cancelled there account or something.
The other thing is that on every page of the list at least half of the names have 0 posts.
It's clear that they were just signing up with no intent of actually contributing to this forum.
It would be nice to clean these accounts up for organizational reasons, for example: 0 total posts for 1 month and the account gets cancelled. They could always sign up again, and since they never posted it shouldn't make a difference.
Probably 'cos you mis-read or misspelled it - he's "Spacey", not "Spacy".
i woke up, popped open polycount, and was greeted by this
truly:
'the sex'
great job guys!
its so much more inviting and clean now, and the banner makes it clear wat polycount is about.
Well done!
Fixed. Just reiterating my point.
But its a far slicker looker now
and the changes dont take much time getting used to, only the first 5 min were different.
so yeah its awesome
So much more proffesional and graphic. Even though I loved the old-school Polycount look this one seems to sum up what Polycount is nowadays so much better.
I realize this really isn't the place for it, but seriously; he doesn't show up in the list for me. And this isn't the first time I had this issue when looking a member up.
Here is a screen grab of what I see. I use the latest version of IE btw.
What, if I may ask, is going to be the full idea with the banners? Is it a 'here's what's interesting on the forums right now' or a 'here's a piece of art that will stun you with awesomeness'? I love Spacey's models as much as the next guy, but they're almost a year old by now... Polycount is already a tough place when you're not the absolute top, whereas most of the ones being showed on the banners could just as well visit DeviantArt for the comments they're getting. What I'm saying is, I wouldn't mind some less spectacular artists getting banner time too, although that may not be what you're aiming for with it.
I also agree with the contrastiness - it's a bit much and gray text would be easier on the eyes.
It could be something to do with not posting since the forum software change - we added a feature which meant admins/moderators had to "approve" user posts, it could be that his user has become inactive until he posts again and gets approved. Not sure though.
MoP and adam: I seem to have fallen off the face of the Greentooth. Please redirect me
The reason this is happening is you hadn't posted in a long while and your Usergroup was the old one.
Once a user posts, it takes up to 24 hours to move them to the proper usergroup. I moved you manually.
This usergroup malarkey is our spam filter method, if you're wondering.
MoP - good find