Fwurg

[Brend]

I changed the layout of the thread view.

Don't panic!

Instead, read this list, try it out, and then give useful comments:

• At the bottom of the thread, you can find a bar with a new 'Post reply' button.
• This bar sometimes has a 'Quick Reply' button (when looking at the last page of a thread) -> press this button for writing a quick reply ^_^
• You can find all your familiar things ('edit', 'quote', etc.') in the normal place, but with better buttons.
• The PM button is moved to there as well,
• And the 'website', and 'profile' buttons have been removed (as well as any AIM, MSN, ICQ and Jabber buttons -- nobody uses those anyway)

[Brend]

• I also removed the repeated topic subject in the header of each post. It didn't do anything, and certainly didn't add anything to the overview. (This is part of an experiment with a more minimalistic layout)

[Brend]

• As an experiment, Elmer and me removed all the post headers!

You can get the headers back by clicking anywhere in the post. Go ahead, try it:

Click me!

The idea is that most of our threads are very much a dialogue, and this seems to be the best way to shape those threads into a single flowing piece of text (which is brilliant for reading; now if only we had more posts per page).

This way, most threads get a nice 'read me!' vibe. Even the turn reports are nice this way (partly due to the new template being very clean, kudos to Chriz and Elmer for working on that!) The very first post of any thread will always show the header, so you get the location icon, and a nice large title for the thread.

After roughly eight hours of full-time work, we really like the changes, so we hope you'll give them a try.

[Stuiter]

It looks quite fancy and useful, jeh.

[Mercury]

I like it, though I do have some minor issues with it.

The click to extend the bar makes selecting text a tad annoying with lots of motion on the page. Perhaps once clicked, the bar should remain open... FOREVER!

The border between two posts can be unclear, but maybe I just have to get used to it...

I also think the quick reply needs some additional pixels at the bottom while regular posts can spare some.

Finally, the line separating the avatar does not extend all the way to the bottom of the post

All in all, I like it though!

[Brend]

I also think the quick reply needs some additional pixels at the bottom while regular posts can spare some.

I don't really get what you try to express here. Could you explain your idea with the help of the following guides? (Feel free to draw more guides on the iage with paint and attach your new guides to your post!)

Click the image to remove the scrollbar and see the whole image!

guides.png (290.79 KiB) Viewed 488 times

Finally, the line separating the avatar does not extend all the way to the bottom of the post

Yup. That annoys me as well. Unfortunately, this is an effect of the current layout method, and I don't yet know of a nice way to fix this. For now, just bear with it O_o

[Mercury]

I mean the difference between A for regular posts and B for the quick reply which is inconsistent.

Pixels.png (143.82 KiB) Viewed 481 times

[Brend]

Ah. That's easily fixable.

The click to extend the bar makes selecting text a tad annoying with lots of motion on the page. Perhaps once clicked, the bar should remain open... FOREVER!

The idea was that you'll mostly use it to look when something was posted. However, every single click opens the top bar now (even following links).

Maybe we should just have a 'information' button somewhere -- but that doesn't jive well with the minimalist approach.

[Brend]

Ok. I tried a different approach:

The Information bar becomes visible whenever you click on the post. And it goes away again if you click the '▲ Hide' button (or anywhere else on the information bar, really).

This makes sure there is little jitter, but you can still look at the date, and quickly hide the bar again. (I might put the turn component of the posting time with the avatar somehow -- that would fix most problems)

[Brend]

Technical issues resolved!

The line now goes all the way down!

[Brend]

Note: I will later create new thread with a concise overview of the new features. This thread contains too much crap, and will be moved to the 'Technical' forum later on.

It's dinnertime right now -- I'll continue my work after food!