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Feedback needed: site revamp

thomas

Unswerving cyclist
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14 Mar 2002
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Dear valued Members,

I hope you are able to enjoy peaceful and relaxed holidays! After one of the busiest seasons in years I am glad to have a few quiet days I can dedicate to JREF.

In an effort to revamp the entire website, I'm focusing on two things:

1. implementing a modern, minimalistic, and user-friendly theme for the forum and all related modules (gallery and classified section)

2. porting over our content pages to WordPress and render them "responsive" for mobile devices and tablets.

While 1.) can be accomplished within a few days, 2.) will probably take weeks or even months. Today, I have installed and customized the Metro theme for vBulletin which somehow borrows from Windows 8 and its tile design.

I understand that radical change can be demanding, which is exactly the reason I'm asking for your feedback. In order to test the new design, select the "JREF Metro Red Fluid" style from the style selector at the bottom of the forum. Mind that the style is a work in progress. I have tested it on different screen resolutions ranging from 2560x1080 and 1920x1080, down to the iPad and the iPhone, as well as on different browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, IE, and Opera).

Let me know what you think, what you like, what needs to be changed and what's a tad hard to swallow. I am looking forward to hearing from you!

PS: this is the first thread posted using the Metro style. Editting seems to work flawlessly. :)
 
Any feedback anyone? I've been using the new style since yesterday and start to grow accustomed to it. We might have to rework the tiles and/or replace it with a new header, but I guess apart from a few minor design issues the new basic layout stands.
 
Hello,

Tried it earlier and it works and looks fine. No problems and easy to navigate, easy on the eyes.
 
I guess you and [MENTION=59234]nahadef[/MENTION] both use Tapatalk. The new style can only be selected on web browsers (Safari on iDevices).
 
I guess you and [MENTION=59234]nahadef[/MENTION] both use Tapatalk. The new style can only be selected on web browsers (Safari on iDevices).

I can see the Metro Red Fluid design from my Firefox browser. Looks fine.
 
I got it now. It looks okay. It falls right into the Facebook/windows/ios 7 flat interface.
 
Tried with both Safari and Coast on my iPad.
- Metro style shows the fonts slightly bigger than Red (easier to read)
- Metro style uses more texts in red (e.g. user name, Inbox, setting, logout at the top right; the line showing where the current thread is locaged in the forum)
So far I did not notice any particular problem, the above points are more of one's preference and simpy getting-used-to thing, I think. :)
 
You have to wade thru too many clicks/links to figure out if there are new posts..., a total hassle and barrier to use.

Yes, on an initial page there are some "new posts" indicated on the right, but that should be main/front/center and complete in that it lists all unread, not a small sidebar.
 
And, for example, even after I post the above and reload/refresh, that post doesn't even show up in the ref'd sidebar.

hint: learn from (model on) TCC
 
Thanks for your feedback.

It takes exactly one click ("New Posts") in the top menu to display all new posts. Most forum scripts employ that technique.

The modules in the sidebar are cached, therefore display updates in certain intervals only to save server resources.

TCC has been upgraded to Xenforo, while for reasons explained in other threads the JREF forum will continue to use vBulletin for a while.
 
Is it possible to change 'new posts' to recent posts? If I hit new posts and the "There are no new posts" message appears, it's a nuisance. 'Recent posts' would be a listing of the last few days or the last week's threads. Forums often have this, and an icon to show what's been read or not. What do you think?
 
Sure, that's a good idea. I'm still finalising the new skin, so I'm thinking of adding a "What's New" link as well as "recent posts".

There's also a "Today's Posts" link under "Quicklinks".

Thanks, I really appreciate all the feedback!
 
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