New forum layout!

[DarkStar]

Aargh - i was going to post a pic to show this, but I can't see an ImageShack link.

Anyway,
at full screen, this page takes several screens to display:

First I see the heading and the posts, with 45% of the screen width blank,
underneath that my KvR name (with the red background) the News Headlines and an Advert, with 75% of the screen width blank,
underneath that the Latest Additions to the Plugin Database, again with 75% of the screen width blank,
then the footer Ad and the kvR copyright.

[Lagrange]

Looks unbalanced now..

L

[putte]

.. wowowow! that's superb!

the very best looking forum on the web, in my eyes ..
wel done ben, tiptop work!

cheers,
putte

[johnny2johnny]

actually I like this layout a lot. its really slick. 2 problems. 1, its a little cramped. 2, the latest post side bar old color scheme clashes...

cheers

[camsr]

i dont like the off centeredness. the grey sides are rather depressing, maybe a color option? other than that i like it.

[Urs]

I think it should be variable width... it looks a bit lost on a bigger monitor...

Other than that... really nice!

Urs

[opia]

a lava lamp..a few throw pillows..it'll be great

I like it

[Reverse Engineer]

Just out of curiosity, do devs pay to have their own forums, and if so, do they get a say when these changes are introduced?

[Ubiety]

I think it should be variable width... it looks a bit lost on a bigger monitor...

Other than that... really nice!

Urs

I feel the same way about it.

[Hunter]

very nice indeed, nice and different, good stuff.

[ugo]

I must admit, the more I look at this new site design, the more I like it. It really is pretty cool.

The extra large right sidebar area does make things feel very unbalanced to me though. The posting area just does not seem to act as enough of a counter balance for the weight and color of the right side. Also, it seems to me that the top of the page is unnecessarily large. However a bigger issue, in my opinion, is that the posting area is so small.

I would like to recommend these minor modifications to the current look:

Edited Version


Original Version


List of changes

• - Expanded the page area, giving the extra room to the posts
  
  - Condensed the top navigation down to only the section names
  
  - Reduced the height of the thread header area by moving the thread name into the breadcrumbs and by replacing the previous/next thread text with buttons (current design looks like 1 button, with two clickable arrows...this could of course be modified to become two clearly separate buttons)
  
  - Added the KVR Mark icon to the top navigation
  
  - Moved the links to "What is KVR Audio", Muse Research, and Plugorama to just above the login area
  
  - Removed unnecessary link to KVR Audio from the top of the page (clicking the logo or the news links already get people back to the home page)

Other suggestions

• - Allow posted pictures to be as wide as the text area (it pretty much already is that way with this current small posting area, but I mean if you choose to expand the post area)
  
  - Change the background of the quick reply text area from gray to white or very light gray (black on mid-toned gray is not too easy to read)
  
  - Change the highlight/rollover colors for the "Latest Additions to the Plug-In Database"...gray on gray is not the easiest to read unless you are in a dark room. I feel that a super dark highlight looks a little out of place there anyway.
  
  - Allowing the post area to expand when the user opens their browser really would be preferable, if it could be an option. Outside of viewing the home page for news, and for searching the database, most of us probably come here for the forum. So changes that make the forum more cramped and less friendly are probably not the way to go. The more room we have, the more comfortable it is for us to sit and read for hours. ...Unless of course you're actually trying to encourage us to stop reading the site so much and get back to work.

[Urs]

Just out of curiosity, do devs pay to have their own forums, and if so, do they get a say when these changes are introduced?

We don't pay for it... or maybe that's why mine so deep down at the bottom of the list

[pljones]

<shakes head>
So the forum is now down to 50% of the content area of the page... I don't use any of the right-hand bar. I wish I could get rid of it and have the forum use more of the screen width.

I don't mind the font size change but I'm going to end up scrolling forever...

[gravehill]

<shakes head>
So the forum is now down to 50% of the content area of the page... I don't use any of the right-hand bar. I wish I could get rid of it and have the forum use more of the screen width.

+1

[Shy]

I can't live like this...
The static layout is ridiculous at 1600x1200 resolution (yes, big monitor). Very, very annoying. Please make it fill the screen again . I still haven't found forum account stuff/private messages, etc... will read the thread.