New layout comments

yeah, i noticed that... hmm... GREAT new layout though! it looks really nice!

I noticed that if I visit the 'Web development' forum index, the background turns blue (and ugly).

That's all for today!

Fixed, thanks!! :)

Nice job, Dani!

But, where's vBulletin 3.5 (Ajax)? Different colors for each category? And please increase depth of forums shown on forum index. This new layout has a bit of a learning curve for those who are used to the old one. Even for me, I sort of had to go "whoa" and blink my eyes to re-coordinate myself. I mean, it definitely looks like and less like vBulletin and more and more like a corporation's forum, which in a way is nice. In my opinion, I prefer the more professional look than the more cartoony look, anyways.

Also, there is quite a lot of wasted white space. Why not let those who have much higher resolution to be able to use it all in all its glory? Expand to 100%?

Who made the new layout?

And finally, I dislike the really light-gray text. It's hard to read, since the white background sort of jumps out at you, and it's like a blinding light (okay, not THAT strong), especially when you are really tired and reading Daniweb at 4 in the morning :)

The old smilies (and present ones) are sort of annoying as well. They need less animation, and need to be less cartoony, and more like the simple, default vBulletin ones, for instance, or the Dark Project smilies.

I really commend you on working hard on this layout, though, and to whomever else helped to get this layout released. You really took apart the vBulletin and made it into something entirely different. It is more a part of Daniweb than an independent forum, now. :)

Groovy! :D

Hey Gary! Thanks for the comments ... yes, this design has been in the works for a long while now. I worked with a design firm on it who I would prefer not to release right now ... perhaps when it's finished.

As far as section specific color schemes - that is still being worked on and will be integrated into the style by this upcoming weekend.

We've been fixed width for quite a long time, and I'm pretty content with it ... haven't really gotten complaints, and it seems to be working. This design is the same fixed width we've had for nearly a year now.

And it's still the same smilies as we've had since 2003.

Wow, this is a radical change! But once I got over my intial shock and poked around, I have to say it looks good. Nice, lean and clean looking. I'm not particularly enthralled by the curved corners everywhere, but that's a minor quibble. I really, really like the way the discussion threads look now. Very readable. Nice work!

And where IS vBulletin 3.5 anyway? The upgrade more of a challenge than anticipated?

I think the space between the last post of the thread and the Quick Reply box is too far. There are the ads, and then the Similar Threads. I suggest making the Google ad a leaderboard instead, so that it stretches horizontally and saves space, and move the similar threads below the quick reply box, since repliers are not typically the ones who will be going to the similar threads.

In conclusion, I think that Daniweb is going in the right direction nonetheless. Good job, and I truly commend you and the "team" for working so hard to get this looking how it is now, and as far as it is now :)

And where IS vBulletin 3.5 anyway? The upgrade more of a challenge than anticipated?

I think they started designing before 3.5 final was out.

Also, the homepage Featured Blogs? They don't show who the author is for them. Show the author. The Featured Forum Threads should also show the Date Posted and the Author. Show a rating for the threads, as well, so users can quickly see which are reputable. Otherwise, it seems that you are suggesting that they ALL are top notch articles. If you show the thread ratings, then at least people have a say.

The tiny font looks unprofessional to me.

Yes, this design project started at around the same time 3.5 was being announced, long before it went into RC. I didn't want to reskin the site based on an RC, and so I decided to stick with 3.0.7 for now. It was a large enough task doing the skinning that I didn't want to have to be recoding all of the hacks as well! That is soon to come this winter most likely. I graduate from school in a month and two weeks.

Hey, Great new look for the site, especially the logo. Nice job

Thanks! It's still in "beta" phase so be sure to let me know if you spot any problems. :)

Hi Dani, a couple of quick comments.

1) the light grey text... could it be darkened up? Not enough contrast with the white background. I would prefer basic black.

2) the reply box is too far away from the thread. In a technical reply, there is often a lot of back-and-forth referencing between the reply and the previous post. The "similar threads" is an interloper and needs to be moved downstream. I also like a previous poster's suggestion of making the ad a banner (he said "leaderboard", banner is my suggestion) instead of a big box.

3) the line-height could be tightened-up in the signatures.

I'm not technically "back" yet, just dropping in quickly.

Line spacing in signatures tightened up.

I will take your grey font into consideration. I don't want to go black, but I'll think about a darker shade of grey ... it is #555555 right now which is pretty dark actually ... I think it might just look lighter because you're not used to it yet.

I don't plan on changing the ad box because it has worked out quite well this way, and in this position, for the past year, and it is our best performing ad size ... so I don't want to screw with it. Additionally, if everyone thought it was just "eww" then no one would click on it ... but it has a very high CTR, which is awesome for something farther down on the page ... so again, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I do understand your concern about the quick reply being further away from the blogs as a result of the similar threads feature. However, there are a few advantages to this as well. The first is that the similar threads feature, which is VERY handy, can now start to be used, as it was completely ignored farther down on the page. After all, once a thread has been viewed and replied to, who needs it? The goal is to interrupt that sequence and instead make it: (1) View question in thread (2) See if similar thread has more information I need (3) If not, then post reply ... Additionally, it will help to eliminate duplicate questions asked, because if someone's question wasn't answered in the thread, instead of replying, they might find the answer in a similar thread ... for that reason, I think it works good right above the Quick Reply box. The third reason is because right now, the Quick Reply box is right near the bottom of the page. With similar threads below it, it would be semi-middle/bottom of the page. Wondering why this is an advantage? With quick reply at the bottom, you can easily hit the End key on your keyboard to go right to the bottom where quick reply is. With quick reply somewhere in the middle of the page, you have to always scroll through a page to find it. Additionally, as always, you can hit the "Quick Reply" link in any postbit of the thread to instantly jump to the quick reply box.

Now ... the similar threads feature occupies about the size of one post. If you have to constantly scroll back up and down in a thread, I don't think something occupying the space of one post is the biggest hindrance ... unless it's ALWAYS the last post you need to refer back to, you have to scroll up through multiple threads anyways. If this is a concern for you, I suggest that you might find Threaded or Hybrid Thread Mode much more to your liking.

Just wanted to say that the new design is very neat, great colors... I like it very, very much. Great improvement.

I love the Postbit very unique and one of it kind and most of all i dont feel the vB thing the whole forums :D

Hum... I dont want to be negative, But i dont like this design at all, the old one was just great !

What's not to like? Apart from the yellow, which would look nice replaced by the silver / grey, I hope nothing gets changed, well, except this quick reply box. Is there any chance that it will get a similar upgrade to this design. It just looks a bit out of place, like Office 97 on an XP PC.

Sorry for the very late reply. The QuickReply box will be upgraded when we move to vBulletin 3.5 in about a month.

I thought you had already upgraded to 3.5 although its quite hard
to tell when it doesn't actually say anywhere :p

Edit: oh, the reply box gives it away.

Edit 2: I forgot to add, although I have never visited here very often, I think this design is great, much better than the old one (although I like that too)

Thanks! But, yeah, we're still 3.0.x here.