over all look of the forum

[AiKirika]

are we satisfied we the current look over all?

do we need another layout... or change colors ?

maybe only change a few details here and there?


your opinions and suggestions pls

[Maxime]

It has been such a long time since i have used a forum :p
I skim through the home screen of the forum and notice that my eyes are directed to the mini images that are placed after the "spinning/non-spinning shuriken" I get distracted by these but i can see that they would be an aid for those that have difficulties reading or understanding of some text perhaps. That was the first change that i noticed.

Are the other layouts that are easy to navigate like this layout?
Color is always important. Having colors that a user friendly and inviting are always good. Attractive colors help as long as they are not an eye-sore. Assuming that all users are able to see the layout and colors the same way as everyone else

A few changes of details wouldnt hurt because it isnt hard to revert back ( i assume) ^__^

I am unsure what to suggest. These are just my opinions. Hope they are helpful

[Ryuku]

I'm always open to suggestions...how do you like the red/yellow? One thing i've considered would be switching back to red/pink so that the posts background is pink. Or at the very least, making the yellow lighter.

[AiKirika]

the little pics you mentioned is what ive been talking about in the other thread

[AiKirika]

ryuku had a review of our forum made on the forumotion forums.
its not the current forum though but the old red one.

there are a few things mentioned we could change nontheless.

one thing were the icons that are already being handled here.
then there is the misaligned banner. either push it more to the left or ill make a banner which will go the full width of the brown background. i still have the old photoshop file so im gonna try this out.
our overall background was mentioned as well. maybe we should use an image for this... and not only a uni-color background. but nothing too fancy.
antoher thing are our forum icons that indicate if there are new post in the forum aka our current shuriken. it was mentioned hat maybe we should use different icons for threads and for forums

your thoughts on this

[Ryuku]

I think we should add new forum images, but keep the same post icons. I am currently use blue shuriken for stickies/announcements, s there is -some- variety. Red/green don't look very good on this layout. I think perhaps a background with a gradient(same color) would look nice.

[AiKirika]

the reviewer mentioned that it would look better if the forum icons (new/no posts) were different icons than for threads

im thinking about drawing a phoenix for the forum icons.
new posts - flying upwards (diagonally) phoenix, maybe with a burning effect for the ends of the wings and tail.
no new post - either a sitting phoenix or a flying downwards phoenix
locked - a pile of ashes, or a pile of ashes with an egg sitting inside

i thought of colors similar to that:

Spoiler:

but with less red and more white and yellow

[AiKirika]

try this:






stretched both background images, improved the imgaes "on the table", added shadows
still left a bit space for the brown background to be visable

[Maxime]

Id like to see the Phoenix idea implemented to see how it looks :3 It sounds good and different from the Shuriken. Im fine with the Shuriken but if it matches and works well with the rest of the forum then it could be used ^__^

[AiKirika]

thanks... i would love to hear everyone elses opinions here

[Ryuku]

the reviewer mentioned that it would look better if the forum icons (new/no posts) were different icons than for threads

im thinking about drawing a phoenix for the forum icons.
new posts - flying upwards (diagonally) phoenix, maybe with a burning effect for the ends of the wings and tail.
no new post - either a sitting phoenix or a flying downwards phoenix
locked - a pile of ashes, or a pile of ashes with an egg sitting inside

i thought of colors similar to that: http://akonowai.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/phoenix.jpg%3Fw%3D640
but with less red and more white and yellow

Personally I like the shuriken, but I would put something like this phoenix up. Whatever we use though, must be rendered or it will look very tacky.

New posts: Phoenix
No new posts: Grayscale version of Phoenix
Locked: Phoenix with locked symbol

[AiKirika]

New posts: Phoenix
No new posts: Grayscale version of Phoenix
Locked: Phoenix with locked symbol

sounds boring though

[Ryuku]

New posts: Phoenix
No new posts: Grayscale version of Phoenix
Locked: Phoenix with locked symbol

sounds boring though

What do you suggest? Maybe a phoenix with some kind of flame animation for new posts?

[AiKirika]

thats what i suggested.... ö.ö
the burning effect....

ö-ö

[Ryuku]

Sounds good. Work your magic kiri!

[AiKirika]

btw... here is the improved banner.


https://2img.net/h/i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg220/AiKirika/Banner-1improved.jpg

cleaned up and added depth (shadows)

[Haruko]

I feel like the flame idea is gonna be hard to make look good, for the size of the icon. I kind of like the idea of red phoenix has new posts and black/white phoenix has none, but I agree it's a bit dull. Perhaps some variation of the two? Instead of an animated flame coming from the phoenix, just have a flame idle in the upper left corner for new posts?



Like the flame in the second icon, with a phoenix instead of a text box?

[Ryuku]

Whatever we end up doing, I do think the "no new posts" should be in grayscale. There is a huge contrast between bright red/yellow and gray, and new posts should be distinguishable enough to where a user can scroll up and down the page within about 2 seconds and spot the new posts.

I do like Haruko's idea as an alternative to a flame animation. You don't even need to draw one, Kiri. We can just render the phoenix you posted and colorize it, and then add the flame animation or icon.

[AiKirika]

i currently dont understand what you mean with the flame icon

[Ryuku]

As in a static fire/flame that doesn't move, like what Haruko posted.

[AiKirika]

1 thing beforehand...

how big should the icon be??

if it should stay about the (small) size of the shuriken (40x40), then most likely only schematic pictures of a phoenix can be made....
some other forums (rememebr ravefires RP forum?) have -compared to the shuriken- huge icons (80x80), where actually details are possible

from dragon cave:

[Ryuku]

They should remain small. Not a fan of huge icons.

[AiKirika]

i'd like to suggest to change the color of that normal text in our posts
a little bit darker would be awesome
blabalalablaba
blabalalablaba
blabalalablaba

[Ryuku]

It's darker now.

[AiKirika]

thanks
better now

[Sponsored content]