• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

TowersStreet Progress Discussion

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Andrew said:
Dar said:
Isn't the fuzzy background thing patented by crapple? You gon' get busted!

Looks good though, just waiting for the wide template to come back ;)
Click to expand...

I don't like the wide template. The forum looks so much neater and fresh when it looks like it currently does.

Don't change that. ;)
Click to expand...
Sam said:
Please don't make the forum any wider than it currently is. I find forums that stretch all the way across the page to be almost unreadable.

Sent from my HTC One V using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

It's such a shame that you're both wrong. Wide all the way! :twirly:
 
960px is currently widely used as the standard width of sites (based upon the now more or less defunct 1024 x 768 resolution!), however its also rapidly becoming too small in todays wide screen estates.

The current "standard" is 1140-1160px (or 1200px fluid/responsive, the use of responsive web design also to flex to smaller screens), which is only an additional 180 pixels but offers a lot more space to work with in the UI for a designer, and less wasted space in terms of resolutions of computers these days.

The difference is shown in the "wider" template that was being piloted here:

http://www.towersstreet.com/talk/guest-services/towersstreet-progress-discussion/675/?theme=7

and to switch back afterwards (as it will remember)

http://www.towersstreet.com/talk/?theme=1
 
If you make it any wider, can we have the option to keep it as it is please? I like it exactly as it is. The thinner the forum, the more substantial and readable the posts look, like columns in a newspaper. :)

Sent from my HTC One V using Tapatalk 2
 
The wide forums are absolutely horrible. They're hard to read and make the site look cluttered, unlike the Weight Watchers forum. ;)

If you are thinking about changing the forum design, at least post a poll to see whether the forum wants to change the design, or have an option on the site which allows people to switch between either so it suits them. It could be put under modify profile or something if needed. :)
 
Sam said:
If you make it any wider, can we have the option to keep it as it is please? I like it exactly as it is. The thinner the forum, the more substantial and readable the posts look, like columns in a newspaper. :)
Click to expand...

Andrew said:
The wide forums are absolutely horrible. They're hard to read and make the site look cluttered, unlike the Weight Watchers forum. ;)

If you are thinking about changing the forum design, at least post a poll to see whether the forum wants to change the design, or have an option on the site which allows people to switch between either so it suits them. It could be put under modify profile or something if needed. :)
Click to expand...

Thing is, to put it bluntly, every site that has a redesign is always met with arms thrown in the air and cries of "we don't like it!" because it''s just change - look at Facebook every time they change something, yet very few people actually stop using it because of said change, and usually merely adjust and get used to it.

There has to be change to sites, because technology is changing and its almost a losing battle for web designers to catch up with technology. We're making changes to the site because we're falling behind in terms of usability, navigation and style, and we're barely a year old - but thats mainly down to education on my part as I'm being brought up to date on whats acceptable and whats not these days :p

Of course we have a duty to existing members, but we also have a duty to new members, and we need to remain attractive as a product almost to new members too, which means keeping the look and style of the site fresh, and adjusting to changes in the world (such as resolution and screen size, as well as other technologies).

Obviously we welcome feedback on changes, and we'll do what we can within the scope of the change to make it better for people if they have feedback - but staying the same is rarely one of those options, which is why we (like the vast majority of other sites) don't poll for change. It's a nice idea, but in reality its a bureaucratic nightmare for design.

Just to be clear too, I'm not making a u-turn on the ethos of TowersStreet here in terms of listening to members and asking them, however we established that promise on the basis that we'd carry it out wherever reasonably possible - and design of a product is nigh on impossible to agree as a team of 12 people, never mind the input of hundreds of others. However, the key thing here is that we always listen to feedback, and will make adjustments if possible.

That said, if a change to the width of the site is made (it's not confirmed yet, merely tested to see how it performs in terms of the look - and your feedback has been noted!) I'll look to leaving the old template as a choice for current users. However as a compromise it would be on the agreement that it won't be updated for any other new functions or features the forum or site offers, as it is enough work to maintain one copy of a site, never mind two! :p

TL;DR - Change certainly happens, and we'll always listen to feedback about it, and make adjustments where possible in the nature of that change, but we can't always please everyone either.
 
Just to re-iterate what others have said.

The fuzziness on the background is FABULOUS!
 
Looking at Facebook, redesign hell, the 'wall area' dimensions have never really changed despite it's numerous re-designs. That's not coincidence, it's because it's already the right size for optimal usability.

Whilst I agree you need to keep the website up to date in terms of technology, you also need to account for accessibility. Especially considering your audience spans such a wide demographic.
 
The forum is already pretty much the full width of my screen at my preferred resolution (1024x768). I can increase it, but it makes fonts very small so I'd rather not have to. Also, I've noticed that if the forum is much wider than my browser the right hand edge is cropped. This might just be a firefox bug though.
 
John said:
Also, I've noticed that if the forum is much wider than my browser the right hand edge is cropped. This might just be a firefox bug though.
Click to expand...

I get that in Chrome to.

Whenever I shrink the forum into a half screen web browser then look at the half that's not visible by default it has been cropped off.

Been meaning to mention that for a while now but just kept forgetting.
 
Tim said:
John said:
Also, I've noticed that if the forum is much wider than my browser the right hand edge is cropped. This might just be a firefox bug though.
Click to expand...

I get that in Chrome to.

Whenever I shrink the forum into a half screen web browser then look at the half that's not visible by default it has been cropped off.

Been meaning to mention that for a while now but just kept forgetting.
Click to expand...

That should be fixed now! Sorry about that :p
 
Funky_Monk said:
Is this the place to tell you how frickin' fine the banner looks on the front page?

Because it looks damn fine!
Click to expand...
It looks amazing :)
 
The new menu banner at the top of the site is playing havoc with my iPad. It seems to glitch when I scroll down the page, causing everything else to shift up or down. Just as I go to click something the whole page moves and I end up clicking the wrong thing.

Tech stuff:
iPad 1, IOS 5.1.1, Dolphin HD browser (latest version).

Edit: It looks like it is only visible when I'm viewing the top of the page. If I scroll down, after a few seconds the banner disapears, causing the page to re-ajust. Scroll back to the top, and at first the banner is not there, but after a few seconds it suddenly pops in to existance and everything below it moves down a few inches.
 
Odd. We had some issues like you've described with mobiles and tablets during testing, but I believe Joel wrote some code which disables the pinned bar on mobile devices. It's not causing any issues on my iPad in Safari.
 
a8882934861546afb2a43ab.png


;)
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Edit: It looks like it is only visible when I'm viewing the top of the page. If I scroll down, after a few seconds the banner disapears, causing the page to re-ajust. Scroll back to the top, and at first the banner is not there, but after a few seconds it suddenly pops in to existance and everything below it moves down a few inches.
Click to expand...

What you describe there is supposed to happen - the menu will hide on mobile devices (with a resolution of less than 1024px) to stop hogging screen space, and then reappear when you get to the top of the page.

Obviously this happens quickly on most devices so there should not be any lag. It also works ok on Safari mobile (can't test Dolphin at the moment) from our test.

Not really sure what else it could be, apart from your device is slow/doesn't have enough memory to redraw the page quick enough for you? :/
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top