# Template UI Revisions



## Dragoneer (Apr 17, 2006)

http://www.inkjammer.com/fa/englishmuffin.jpg
http://www.inkjammer.com/fa/steeljelly.jpg

Alright, so... here's my proposal for a streamlined, much more refined version of FA's main page. Cut down to the bare essentials, refined, made more elegant, more simple.

So, we lose one row of recent submissions but gain more readily available information and a less cluttered, more compact interface. Compare the current FA and then these. I think you'll like 'em.

*Note: *This version is meant for 100x100 thumbnails, but... we can use the current ones now if we need to. This template is not complete, but this is the general layout of it.

I am moving this from the admin forums to public.


----------



## thecrypto (Apr 17, 2006)

This style looks much better. It also looks like it can be done without tables much easier as well. The page doesn't scroll as much and makes the information you need like for messages much easier to view. Is there currently an HTML page for this or is being photoshopped?


----------



## Dragoneer (Apr 17, 2006)

thecrypto said:
			
		

> This style looks much better. It also looks like it can be done without tables much easier as well. The page doesn't scroll as much and makes the information you need like for messages much easier to view. Is there currently an HTML page for this or is being photoshopped?


Currently this is photochopped. One of things I aimed to do was get rid of a lot of borders, but also try to confine/refine what I could. It still has almost all of the same information, simply more refined.


----------



## Myr (Apr 17, 2006)

I like it! >^.=.^< Simple, yet useful. It's less dated than what we have currently and the colors are more interesting. I'd love to see this offered in a variety of colors. Additional colors could be green, red, blue, and others. I think there's a lot of potential.

It seems to use space pretty well too. I'd love to see the return of a horizontal bar of controls, but that space is much better used for the administrator notices so it's ok.

Don't forget to link to the TOS too.


----------



## Dragoneer (Apr 17, 2006)

AuroranDragon said:
			
		

> I like it! >^.=.^< Simple, yet useful. It's less dated than what we have currently and the colors are more interesting. I'd love to see this offered in a variety of colors. Additional colors could be green, red, blue, and others. I think there's a lot of potential.
> 
> It seems to use space pretty well too. I'd love to see the return of a horizontal bar of controls, but that space is much better used for the administrator notices so it's ok.
> 
> Don't forget to link to the TOS too.


Yeah, I didn't put the TOS because it was a template test. I think we can retrofit the powder blue theme to work with this most easily. I changed colors around in Photoshop, and they cycled rather well.


----------



## gushi (Apr 17, 2006)

is there going to be an option for people to continue to view things in "classic" mode?  Because if not...bitch they shall.


----------



## Dragoneer (Apr 17, 2006)

gushi said:
			
		

> is there going to be an option for people to continue to view things in "classic" mode?  Because if not...bitch they shall.


Yeah, you can select what template you want.


----------



## Dragoneer (Apr 17, 2006)

I moved the thread from admin forums to FA Discussion. Get people's opinion on it.


----------



## Torin_Darkflight (Apr 17, 2006)

I agree, this layout is much simpler, and most importantly, it looks friendly for those of us who still use 800x600.

One little thing tho...shouldn't "Recent submissions" be retitled "Recent artwork"? "Submissions" suggests all types of uploads, when in fact that first section seems to really only be used for artwork since there are already separate sections for stories, music, etc.


----------



## Emerson (Apr 17, 2006)

MY GOD, PANTS!

Words of wisdom, my friends.


----------



## Dragoneer (Apr 17, 2006)

Torin_Darkflight said:
			
		

> I agree, this layout is much simpler, and most importantly, it looks friendly for those of us who still use 800x600.
> 
> One little thing tho...shouldn't "Recent submissions" be retitled "Recent artwork"? "Submissions" suggests all types of uploads, when in fact that first section seems to really only be used for artwork since there are already separate sections for stories, music, etc.


Yeah. Mind you, this is just a Photoshop mockup. I've been trying a bunch of different things and alternative layouts. This one still needs special graphics made up and some other tweaks.


----------



## nikuramon (Apr 18, 2006)

definatly looks better then the current kludgy mess


----------



## SageHendrix (Apr 18, 2006)

The interfaces look great!  

Would love to find out how one makes these things.

-Kat


----------



## Silver R. Wolfe (Apr 21, 2006)

Looking at the site right now... Hmm... This is lookin' pretty good so far.  I have a few gripes about the navbar on the right of the screen but I bet you're just getting the kinks worked out.  Squashing bugs is fun!

Also, the white text is hard to read against the background.  The big Firefox ad is a little gaudy too. =3

Kudos on making the banner smaller though.  It looks much cleaner.


----------



## Dragoneer (Apr 21, 2006)

silverwolfe said:
			
		

> Looking at the site right now... Hmm... This is lookin' pretty good so far.  I have a few gripes about the navbar on the right of the screen but I bet you're just getting the kinks worked out.  Squashing bugs is fun!
> 
> Also, the white text is hard to read against the background.  The big Firefox ad is a little gaudy too. =3
> 
> Kudos on making the banner smaller though.  It looks much cleaner.


I'm tweaking it up bit by bit right now. The firefox will go down to a smaller version. =)


----------



## Silver R. Wolfe (Apr 21, 2006)

Dragoneer said:
			
		

> silverwolfe said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Good to hear, I'm really liking this so far.

Another gripe would be the empty space between the top banner and the rest of the page below it.  Also if you can't see it, all your tables have an extra row.


----------



## cesarin (Apr 21, 2006)

Ok, I like these 
I prefer simplistic-fast-loading than super-detailed-full-of-shit designs 
besides we're here to see art, not to drool to the background or website design


----------



## Silver R. Wolfe (Apr 21, 2006)

With all the templates, some form of size restriction needs to be placed on the images.  On most pages it stretches the page way way way far out.

Default 2 looks absolutely awesome btw, I love it!


----------



## sasaki (Apr 21, 2006)

How about.. I dunno... Leave the original template there, as it actually WORKS. That, and please try to finnish something before implementing it. This is becoming quite tiresome.


----------



## uncia2000 (Apr 21, 2006)

sasaki said:
			
		

> How about.. I dunno... Leave the original template there, as it actually WORKS. That, and please try to finnish something before implementing it. This is becoming quite tiresome.


=> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10287/


----------



## Zippo (Apr 22, 2006)

uncia2000 said:
			
		

> sasaki said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Seems a lil rushed, eh. Maybe a choice of finished templates, and yar, bitch they shall if the classic isnt available. I understand this is alot of work, and hearing complaints is the last thing ya need. ^_^


----------



## Silver R. Wolfe (Apr 22, 2006)

Another gripe!  Sorry for being so pushy. =3

The note section doesn't integrate with the rest of the profile UI.  Everything else utilizes those tabs except for the note thing.


----------



## Waccoon (Apr 22, 2006)

I prefer "breadcrumb style" navigation.  Putting everything into a table in the right sidebar is very painful.  Also, putting anything on the right side of the screen is a bad idea, as that's the stuff that goes off-screen when the layout gets tight.  No website should be designed foremost for 1280x1024.

Recommendations:

Put the nav links table on the banner, rather than make the whole site columnized with that right menu bar.  The menu bar wastes WAY too much vertical space.  Also, whatever you do, don't resort to pull-down style menus for navigation, no matter how CSS compliant they are.  :wink:

Make the search options a horizontal strip instead of a table, and put it right under the banner.  Get rid of the "Perform search" option.  I have no clue at all what it does, nor do I care to find out.  You can also hardly call it a "quick" search with so many checkbox options.

Get *rid* of the membership links on each comment.  A single link will suffice.  A link to the gallery would be nice if that person actually has any pictures, but nothing that would slam the database, of course.

Colors and images can wait.  Navigation is always top priority.  Of course, I do like the occasional funny banner change.


----------



## Torin_Darkflight (Apr 22, 2006)

Forgive me if this sounds rude, but I am speaking my honest opinion when I say this:

The new style/layout is even LESS friendly for those of us who still use 800x600 than the old version was! Now instead of horizontal scrolling on only a few pages, you gotta do horizontal scrolling on EVERY page. It gets frustrating after only a couple pages...


----------



## cpctail (Apr 22, 2006)

For what it's worth, I think the new template is great.  However I think it was just a bit sudden for some people XD.  Espeically those who just got use to the older template <.<.  Either way though, it's a nice change IMHO.


----------



## uncia2000 (Apr 22, 2006)

cpctail said:
			
		

> For what it's worth, I think the new template is great.  However I think it was just a bit sudden for some people XD.  Espeically those who just got use to the older template <.<.  Either way though, it's a nice change IMHO.


Appreciated feedback, I'm sure. 

Yes, was a bit sudden for me, too, and do have to be a bit careful with dramatic changes upsetting the 'feel' of things; but I also think it's aiming in the right _general_ direction and any feedback is being listened to.

=
The issue of community members accessing FA on 800*600 for whatever reason (slightly older laptop, eyesight issues, etc.) is still being looked into, afaik.


----------



## Myr (Apr 22, 2006)

The funny thing for me is that I had my UI set to the admintesting one early friday. By the time I got back to FA it was removed and the new UI was different and already on the site, but my cache screwed everything up. After deleting it out that fixed the problem.

The new UI looks like a blend of user requests and a couple of issues. Personally, the more I use it the more I like it. Everything is pretty easy to get to and some of the links and text have increased in size to help speed mouse clicking. I still have some issues with that navigation box on the right. but otherwise I like the new layout. >^.=.^< It's very sleek and gives the site a rather unique look...sort of a blend of all the art sites.

People complained when the other UI was up. People complained when the UI before it went up. People will complain now. Just hold on a few days and get used to it. I personally have seen a lot of issues addressed and things improved.


----------



## Catamount (Apr 22, 2006)

I really like the pull down style menus that appear next to somebody's name in the journal area, but please strive for some unity no matter what you guys do, if something is in one area on one page, it should be in the same area on another page.


----------



## uncia2000 (Apr 22, 2006)

AuroranDragon said:
			
		

> I personally have seen a lot of issues addressed and things improved.


*nods*

Aside from the resolution and space utilisation issues (for example *the entire nav links could be replaced by a single mouseover/pulldown at the top of the screen- next to the user's name, say*), it's getting more down to consistency issues.
Some of those are placement; e.g. the user's avvie is neatly stashed at the top-left on the user page/commission info tabs, but messily kludged at the other side on the journals/gallery/scraps/etc. tabs; others are consistency in use of dates on screen, mouseovers vs. hardlinks, what is hyperlinkable vs. what isn't, etc.
The commission information is still deficient (IMO) in certain areas best handled in free-form text such as preferred/OK/avoided subject matter, and suchlike... the stuff ya usually see stashing into people's journal entries. 

*g*. OK, it _is_ getting better for me now, but I still took a minute to spot that 'Upload' had changed to 'Submit'.
Duh.... :roll:


----------



## uncia2000 (Apr 22, 2006)

_messages crossed whilst I was typing..._


			
				Catamount said:
			
		

> I really like the pull down style menus that appear next to somebody's name in the journal area, but please strive for some unity no matter what you guys do, if something is in one area on one page, it should be in the same area on another page.


*prr*. Like you say, qgr. 

*nod nods*


----------



## uncia2000 (Apr 22, 2006)

*Admin notice on front screen*, fyi...



> *A copy of the older template has been made available. Check your Account Settings from the Control Panel if you want to access it.*


Hey, I didn't spot that, either!
Maybe we could do with having flashing red text the first time you go to a FA panel and a new admin notice has been posted?


----------



## min (May 28, 2006)

nice ^-^ I like the look, and the color as well ^-^ seemsn like a good Idea for people with small screen resolutions


----------

