Forum Upgrades

[Aerosteam]

So... Signatures are still not going to be activated?

 

[The Escapist Staff]

I know I'm probably in a minority but I don't care what badges people have earned, I never read their 'witty' forum tags and I barely even glance at the avatars anymore. Anyone with a small sized avatar now just looks silly with all the blank space surrounding them, and without an increase in text size the bigger avatars look weird sitting in between tiny little text more suited to the smaller box sizes.

My overall impression is of too much blank space doing nothing but distracting me, and of the posts now being pushed a little further over. This is in no way an indication that I want those things to be bigger though. If I cared enough about people to check their badges or their description bits or their names and avatars I'd go to their profile.

It sounds like you'll be a huge fan of browsing options, where you can change the color inside the post body itself, as well as font size/type.

We really do listen to you guys, Publisher's Club has been able to access this forum layout change for the past week and several ideas have already been implemented for it. Many of your complaints have also already been addressed before you had those complaints (forum options have been around since before your account was created). If there's any other concern you have, please let us know. We're more than happy to listen.

 

[razer17]

I seem to be a minority here, but I actually really like the new layout. I like the bigger avatars, and I like the big grey bar.

I do have two things that I think could be changed to make it even better:
1. Have the bar light blue instead of grey. The background on the page is grey, so having a darker grey for the bars is maybe a little dull.
2. The post count, username and pictures should be alligned. Either all centred, or all alligned left. It looks somewhat strange to have the avatar in the middle and the post count waay on the left.

But as I say, I do really like the layout in general.

 

[halfeclipse]

*pokes head in*
Nope, still no BBcode editor.
*wanders away*

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Back on the original format, I could just reload the page at 12:00 EST and all the latest video series uploads would be right there in latest posts. Now I have to go to last week's episode and press the refresh button for five minutes before the link to THIS week's comes up. Yes I've tried the latest video section but that's just as slow. I don't see why this has to be a problem now. It's not an improvement if it just wastes more time. Sometime I can't even reach the homepage because my connection can't finish loading all the unnecessary crap you've overlaid with these "upgrades". Try to remember that not all of your members don't have the premium internet access that you do.

Hmm, your first issue, we use caching for our system as to not completely kill off our database when we're under high amounts of load. As such, the systems may take between 3 - 5 minutes to catch up. Also, the evils of browser based cache may give you some of these woes. But I do highly encourage you to let us know when something isn't working as you expect. There are contact links on every page of the site, often in multiple locations. Next time you notice one of these issues, send us a bug report and let us know!

 

[DJ_DEnM]

What?

Oh, the 'new forum' update?

*Yawn*

Us elite Pub Club members have had it for a while now.

So last week.

Pub Club master race!

OT: I think it looks and feels great.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

I seem to be a minority here, but I actually really like the new layout. I like the bigger avatars, and I like the big grey bar.

I do have two things that I think could be changed to make it even better:
1. Have the bar light blue instead of grey. The background on the page is grey, so having a darker grey for the bars is maybe a little dull.
2. The post count, username and pictures should be alligned. Either all centred, or all alligned left. It looks somewhat strange to have the avatar in the middle and the post count waay on the left.

But as I say, I do really like the layout in general.

The post count, forum title, etc is actually align properly. Avatars can range from any width to a max of 85px (115px if you're a pub clubber), and centered against the width of the user area, while the text info is all aligned with the username and badges. If I were to try and align it against the avatar it would look very weird as it would change spots per user.

 

[philosophicalbastard]

I was going to give this layout a try, but then I saw the "New!" next to topics with new replies was a horrid gold color and immediately switched it back.

 

[Fappy]

I seem to be a minority here, but I actually really like the new layout. I like the bigger avatars, and I like the big grey bar.

I do have two things that I think could be changed to make it even better:
1. Have the bar light blue instead of grey. The background on the page is grey, so having a darker grey for the bars is maybe a little dull.
2. The post count, username and pictures should be alligned. Either all centred, or all alligned left. It looks somewhat strange to have the avatar in the middle and the post count waay on the left.

But as I say, I do really like the layout in general.

The post count, forum title, etc is actually align properly. Avatars can range from any width to a max of 85px (115px if you're a pub clubber), and centered against the width of the user area, while the text info is all aligned with the username and badges. If I were to try and align it against the avatar it would look very weird as it would change spots per user.

Would it be better then to aligned the avatar to the left along with everything else? Kind of looks off-center the way it is.

 

[Susan Arendt]

So... Signatures are still not being to be activated?

Nope. We're not going to do signatures. It's simply not going to happen, no matter what other changes are made.

 

[Fappy]

So... Signatures are still not being to be activated?

Nope. We're not going to do signatures. It's simply not going to happen, no matter what other changes are made.

I personally detest forum signatures myself but why do you guys dislike them?

 

[Hashbrick]

I think it looks cleaner and rearranged to help rather than hurt. You are going to have a lot of butt hurt people just like those that call in and complain about their cable software being upgraded even though it realistically is better than what they had.

You guys are doing good work don't let the other jerk comments bother ya, ever since the revamp of the redesign I've been defiantly happy as a user of what you guys have been doing for us. Much appreciated and cheers Escapist web crew!

 

[thethird0611]

Actually, I kinda like the new look. A few things seem off though.

- The bars above the post seem to big. Alot of empty space that kinda feels like each post is a new topic, and not an addition to the current topic (not sure if that makes sense).
-The avatar box seems to big for its own good, and the text is kinda hard to see.

I think if the additions to the post (gray bars, name bar, etc.) were shrunk and 'fit in' with the post instead of being their separate entity, it would look better.

 

[GenGenners]

Hmmmm......needs more colour, and some tighter spacing, but otherwise pretty good.

Also, why do the escapist staff HATE signatures so much?

 

[Susan Arendt]

So... Signatures are still not being to be activated?

Nope. We're not going to do signatures. It's simply not going to happen, no matter what other changes are made.

I personally detest forum signatures myself but why do you guys dislike them?

People tend to go nuts with them, putting in animated gifs, etc. and they make forums look hideous (and less readable).

We figure we provide plenty of opportunities for self-expression without signatures. Many people would love it if we added them, and I respect that, but it's just plain not something we're going to do.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

I think it looks cleaner and rearranged to help rather than hurt. You are going to have a lot of butt hurt people just like those that call in and complain about their cable software being upgraded even though it realistically is better than what they had.

You guys are doing good work don't let the other jerk comments bother ya, ever since the revamp of the redesign I've been defiantly happy as a user of what you guys have been doing for us. Much appreciated and cheers Escapist web crew!

Thanks, that was a really nice comment. We appreciate your support and are pleased to hear that the updates have worked well for you

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I kinda like it, but the grey on grey doesn't really work for me. Can we get some o' dat blue back?

 

[Fappy]

So... Signatures are still not being to be activated?

Nope. We're not going to do signatures. It's simply not going to happen, no matter what other changes are made.

I personally detest forum signatures myself but why do you guys dislike them?

People tend to go nuts with them, putting in animated gifs, etc. and they make forums look hideous (and less readable).

We figure we provide plenty of opportunities for self-expression without signatures. Many people would love it if we added them, and I respect that, but it's just plain not something we're going to do.

Keep that hard line! Imagine how many Spider-Man GIFs we'd have in every thread otherwise D: