New Forum Style

[Bill Van Hecke]

Good day,

We've been working on a new style for the forums here, and while it's not quite finished yet, we think it's at least ready for us to solicit a bit of feedback from you.

Most of the work has involved figuring out how to turn off some of the sillier features, like decorating your threads with a smiley face or a thumbs-up. We've been pretty ruthless about cutting stuff out, so if there's some feature that you actually quite liked, but that we removed, let us know and it might come back.

Some other anomalies, like default icons that we didn't replace, or ugly layout that only comes up in certain situations, are bound to crop up. Let us know if you find any such stuff.

If you want to try the new theme:

Go to your User Control Panel
Click Edit Options in the list on the left side
Scroll down to Miscellaneous Options
From the Forum Skin menu, select Lithographica.


Now you've got it. You should consider this new theme beta, and let us know what you think of it so that we can improve it. You can always get back to the default style by following the instructions above and selecting Omni Style.

Be well, and enjoy.

[xiamenese]

Good day,

We've been working on a new style for the forums here, and while it's not quite finished yet, we think it's at least ready for us to solicit a bit of feedback from you.

Most of the work has involved figuring out how to turn off some of the sillier features, like decorating your threads with a smiley face or a thumbs-up. We've been pretty ruthless about cutting stuff out, so if there's some feature that you actually quite liked, but that we removed, let us know and it might come back.

Some other anomalies, like default icons that we didn't replace, or ugly layout that only comes up in certain situations, are bound to crop up. Let us know if you find any such stuff.

If you want to try the new theme:

Go to your User Control Panel
Click Edit Options in the list on the left side
Scroll down to Miscellaneous Options
From the Forum Skin menu, select Lithographica.


Now you've got it. You should consider this new theme beta, and let us know what you think of it so that we can improve it. You can always get back to the default style by following the instructions above and selecting Omni Style.

Be well, and enjoy.

At a first quick look, I really like the new theme, which looks clean and simple, apart from one thing. The main pane (when reading a thread--not, I note if I scroll down here in the reply mode to look at the previous posts) with the post (white) has rounded corners on the left hand edge. It looks terrible, even more so since it's not matched with rounded corners on the right. I think that might be enough to send me back to the old one.

HTH
Mark

[Forrest]

Please switch to a fixed with, at least for the content area. One rule of thumb is that text should never be more than 52 characters wide. Allowing the body area of the page to expand beyond that width breaks several design rules and drastically diminishes readability and usability.

There's a few other things too, but that's a big enough one that I'm not going to take focus off of it.

Also, editing and then saving does not work.

Edit: for some reason the impact of the variable width on the current theme isn't as bad as the new one... I haven't dug much to see why that is.

[JKT]

Perhaps I am missing something, but when viewing the listing of all the forums, there doesn't appear to be any indication of new posts.

[xiamenese]

Perhaps I am missing something, but when viewing the listing of all the forums, there doesn't appear to be any indication of new posts.
Yes, I noticed that and was going to post on it. One should be able to see by the date/time given for the latest post, but if like me you are moving around with your laptop, you can't always remember what the time when you last looked was ... and then there's never being sure whose time that indicates Omni's in Seattle/posters/mine here in China. I guess it's the latter but it brings up some weird times.

Mark

[Forrest]

Perhaps I am missing something, but when viewing the listing of all the forums, there doesn't appear to be any indication of new posts.

Plus the New Posts page (search results) is all funky.

A lot of the buttons and some of the text is rather large, while other items are small. Seems strange that the heading on this page "Reply to Thread" is about 3x the size of the nav. "Additional Options" is equally monstrous.

[Forrest]

It would be nice if there were "report post" buttons on the New Posts page. Then I wouldn't have to go read posts to report them as spam.

[Bill Van Hecke]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I’ll work on fixing these problems soon, and let you know when there’s a new version to try out.

[JKT]

Another issue that I have with the theme is that the New Posts screen has a really narrow column for the thread title and a huge one for the column to the right of it (sorry, there aren't any new posts at the moment for me to check the name).

Edit: Screen shot of what I mean:

http://homepage.mac.com/jtyzack/.Pictures/screenshots/OmniForumNPissue.jpg

[TommyW]

I'd like to have the option of an Active Topics list across all subjects.

Another forum I frequent, the Irish MUG, www.clubmac.ie has a pull down menu for active topics in the last 24 hours, 48 hours, week, etc.

It would suit a lot of us who own and use all or nearly all your products...

[xiamenese]

In the absence of some kind of notification on the main page of which forums have new posts, could we have some kind of a "Mark all forums as read" within the "New Posts" page. There are forums that don't interest me, not just the developer stuff, but also the "Other software" forums including Omni Focus and OmniPlan -- sadly, I'm not in the market for those, though I sometimes wish I were! The result is that the "New Posts" page gets cluttered with posts in those, making it harder to spot the ones I'm interested in. So having been down the list to identify where there are new posts that interest me, it would be nice to be able to zap the rest without having to open their respective forums in turn and choose "Mark forum as read" from there.

Mark

[Forrest]

I think what you're looking for is a Mark Board as Read function? There is a Mark Forum as Read function right now, and that marks all posts on this forum as read.

Edit: Looks like vB refers to "boards" as "forums." Thats kind of odd. So I guess in vB terms you want a "Mark Forum [singular] Read" button, rather than "Mark Forums Read" button.

PS. Save button on edit window still doesn't work.

[JKT]

By the way, as Forrest didn't mention it, the Mark Forums as Read option is found in the "Quick Links" menu in the forum toolbar.

[xiamenese]

Thanks Forrest and JKT. I did want the "Mark Forums as Read" option, just never thought to look at it under "Quick links" as I don't think of it as a link and have never needed to explore that menu. The thing is my main workspace automatically loads half-a-dozen forums/boards that I participate in, but I don't always have time to read all the new posts that interest me. In the OG forum, the unread ones get shoved down the new posts page in amongst the growing number of new posts on forums I'm not interested in. To be able to zap all those when I've finished reading the ones I want, simplifies life.

Mark

[xiamenese]

Don't know if it was in response to this part of the thread, but last night, I couldn't log on to the OG forums, and just now I noticed that there is a "Mark Forums Read" button at the bottom of the main page, which I never noticed before.
If you've just added it, OmniGuys, thank you very much; if it has been there all the time, I'll go and get my eyes tested! :)
Mark

[xiamenese]

Does anybody else find that the "Go to first unread" button in the new forum style doesn't work (With OW 5.5.4!) On clicking it remains high-lit, but no activity is reported in Network Activity window, and nothing happens. It's a real nuisance when "Next Thread" has taken you on to a multi-page thread.

Mark

[Forrest]

It's getting better. You still want feedback?

[JKT]

Mark - doesn't work for me either

OmniGroup - the main forum page is displaying better now, but the icons are not all loading (either the new posts icon or the no new posts icon is not showing - I don't know which as I can't tell which is which without the opposite showing!)

[pheski]

Mark - doesn't work for me either

OmniGroup - the main forum page is displaying better now, but the icons are not all loading (either the new posts icon or the no new posts icon is not showing - I don't know which as I can't tell which is which without the opposite showing!)


It's the no new posts icon, I believe. I just marked all as read and there are now no icons...

Peter

[xiamenese]

It's the no new posts icon, I believe. I just marked all as read and there are now no icons...

Peter
Yes, no new posts icon is not appearing. Also, in the last week we've lost the previous/next thread buttons ... means you have to go back to the forum page after reading each thread.

Mark

[pheski]

I sometimes get a double/split rendering of a title:

click here to see (http://forums.omnigroup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=188&stc=1&d=1178978328)

Peter

[Bill Van Hecke]

Forrest:
I have switched to a fixed width, based on ems so that when you change the font size, the layout comes along for the ride.

We appreciate getting posts reported, but most of the time we would have found them ourselves within a few minutes of reading the report e-mail anyway. So unless this becomes a bigger problem I don't think we'll put much of a priority on making it easier to report posts.

JKT:
I have put the new post icons back on the front page; they took a while to sync over to the live site, but they should all be working now.

The New Posts page and the search results page should render properly now.

TommyW:
The "Today's Posts" item in the Quick Links menu may be what you're looking for.

xiamenese:
The Mark Forums Read link was there all along. Enjoy!

The Go To First Unread link works fine for me; I wonder if it has something to do with site preferences in OmniWeb...

pheski:
That looks like an OmniWeb/WebKit bug I've seen before. Certainly something we need to look into, but not a bug with the forums themselves.


I think I'm almost ready to make this the default style... Any further requests?

[Forrest]

The Go To First Unread link works fine for me; I wonder if it has something to do with site preferences in OmniWeb...


Now the button itself is completely gone.

[Bill Van Hecke]

Check the gray area to the right of the title; we moved it because it's more of a command, like the rest of the stuff in there.

[JKT]

Still doesn't work for me - any idea which site specific option is likely to stop it from doing so?

[BwanaZulia]

Much better and very OSX/Omni.

Nice.

If only I could add this to my OmniFocus task list. :)

BZ

BTW: Viewed and posted in OmniWeb of course. Just call me the OmniWhore.

[Forrest]

Check the gray area to the right of the title; we moved it because it's more of a command, like the rest of the stuff in there.

There is no gray area to the right of the title on list pages.

I've attached two screenshots, one of the new thing and one of the stock theme. You will notice the compete absence of the http://forums.omnigroup.com/images/buttons/firstnew.gif icon.

[Bill Van Hecke]

Aha, Forrest, I see the button you meant, now. I thought you were talking about the thread page, not the thread list page. I should create a new image that matches, and then I'll put that feature back in.

Thanks! :D

[Forrest]

Aha, Forrest, I see the button you meant, now. I thought you were talking about the thread page, not the thread list page. I should create a new image that matches, and then I'll put that feature back in.

Thanks! :D

Thanks. That and the "New Posts" link are pretty much the only two links on the forum that I click.

[SpiralOcean]

The triangle on the bottom left is very annoying to me. It doesn't fit in with the rest of the graphics on the site and is a bit of an eye sore. It jumps out and I am always looking at it. I keep thinking it is an unread message, but it's only the report offensive. In all my time at Omni, I've never had to use that button.

Suggestion:
If you are able, change the icon to something less popping outish.
Move it to a different, less obtrusive location.
Place an unread message icon in it's place.

Thank you.

[Bill Van Hecke]

SpiralOcean:

I agree about the "Report Post" button; it's a relic from the default style and it doesn't fit with the rest of the graphics at all. I'm even thinking about removing it altogether, because we stay on top of deleting spam without having anyone report it to us anyway. Thanks for the feedback. :D

[SpiralOcean]

That's a relief! Thank you wvh!

I have another suggestion... could you color the message background for read messages, light grey? Something other than white? Or color the background for unread messages light yellow?

When I go to a heavily replied topic, and I click on the view first unread, it takes me to the last page but doesn't bump me down to the first unread. So I'm scrolling down, looking at dates, to see when the unread items are.

I guess this is a two part suggestion...
change the background color for unread posts.
when clicking on first unread, jump down to the first unread post.

Thank you.