Wandering Monk Rolemaster Forums

[Erik Youngren]

Hi. I am submitting my site here for feedback. Let me know what you think.

http://forums.rm2e.net
https://forums.rm2e.net

Running phpBB 3.0.7-TL1. I am using the proDark style which does not have Quick Reply, although that's a feature that came with 3.0.6. So, I installed a MOD with it (and lots of other MODS).

If anyone wants to use a test account to try it out further, let me know. I will create one. Thanks for your input.

[Patrick]

Hey Mr. Youngren,

Thanks for sharing your site. Just a few random thoughts I had upon visiting it:

- In that yellow bar at the top, asking me to register, the gray color for the text is a bit too light and is hard to read for me.

- Below the header, there is a gap of space and it took me a moment, but I realized that it was because the website name and description was the same color as the background. It would be good to just remove that text, I think.

- I think it would be cool if the Search link in the header navigation was on the same line as the other navigational links.

- Some of the images have white pixels around them. Using images set for dark backgrounds would give it more polish.

- A similar issue with the forum icons - the new posts icon, etc. where they have a black background. On the black background cells, it looks good. But, on the gray, it stands out.

- It feels like a lot of individual forums for the number of posts currently present. If possible, you may want to take a look at seeing what you can merge to better showcase the content. You can always add more later.

I hope that this helps. Best of luck with your site.

Thanks,

Patrick

[Erik Youngren]

Hi Patrick. You can call me Erik. My dad is Mr. Youngren.

Anyway, thank you for the review. You've highlighted some issues I am aware of. One of the problems of integrating a multitude of MODS and hacks either written or validated at different times as well as implementing them into a non-standard style. Some of the icons provided were less than high quality. I have a few things to get in there and fix and messing with the CSS for the yellow bar is one of them.

All of the icons on the nav bar were mainly designed for proSilver. I desaturated them in Photoshop to more match the proDark style. Getting rid of the white fringe around them is next. I hear you on the forum icons. I have a MOD that allows image backgrounds in the rows so that gradient black there is actually an image and of course the fringe on the icons shows up. I've been debating on going back to the regular black which those icons were made for.

As to the number of forums, yeah. That's me being anal. I try to organize things in categories and sometimes I make too many categories. Considering I have less than 5 real users it's overkill. Again, another debate for me.

The gap you mentioned is because this particular style has forced me to mask over the actual top of the forum with a black spacer. In the meantime, behind that the standard phpBB forum text pushes things down. I've left it in there because that's where Google gets the forum title and refrences some of my SEO. I'm going to have to bit the bullet at some point and fix that. I do have some other ideas than what I have there right now.

I left your comment on the search link to discuss last. My main reason for putting it there was simply a matter of space. Once you login you can see a number of links that are currently hidden in the set above the search link. Fitting that link in there would have overloaded that bar I believe (there are a number of other links next to the UCP link as well). I was thinking I'd add in more links where the search link is and that ultimately that would fill in. Again, another thing to look at for me.

If you'd like to see what I mean, or take a look around the inside I have created a test user.

Username: phpbbhacks_test
Password: Test2011 (Case sensitive)

I'll leave that user up for just a few days only.

Please, note if you try posting and want to QUICKEDIT, that function is currently not working. I've been fooling around with a BBCode mod today that uses JQuery (it's a Lightbox feature for images) and right now I can either have the Quick Edit working or the Lightbox code. I've got a question in to the Quick Edit author to see if this can be resolved. You may notice as well that the forum does not look quite like 3.0.7-PL1. That's because the proDark style I am using is 3.0.5 and didn't have the code for Quick Reply as that came with 3.0.6. So, another MOD for me.

Anyway, thanks for looking! I appreciate the helpful comments.

[Patrick]

My pleasure to offer what I can. No worries, just offering some thoughts.

I see what you mean on the navbar. Yeah, maybe some more equal distribution would be better in that case.

Thanks,

Patrick

[Erik Youngren]

I appreciate the comments though. Lets me know what I need to focus on. Lately it's been just applying MODS, but for the most part now I have everything mainly the way I want it, so it's about time to start addressing the issues you've pointed out.

[Patrick]

Cool. My pleasure.

[Erik Youngren]

Thanks for taking the time to look around Patrick. I have deactivated that account. It should auto prune soon, unless you need me to reactivate it again.

[Patrick]

No worries. Might be helpful for any others who might want to take a look.

Thanks,

Patrick

[Erik Youngren]

Hi Patrick!

With the exception of the amount of forums, I have made some adjustments since I last asked for an assessment (about three logo and header changes, lol). Tonight I fixed the forum menubar icons and was wondering if you'd poke around. You'll also see the modified "yellow" bar has been changed into a login/registration bar, appropriately colored now. If you wish, I can reactivate the test account.

Let me know and thanks!

[Patrick]

Hey Erik,

Thanks for the update. Sure, happy to offer some more feedback.

I am on a 1280x1024 resolution and I am getting a horizontal scroll on the page. Certain parts of the layout are stretching out the rest, which make it difficult to read.

Speaking of the floating bar, I think it's fine, but I don't like that I can't see the logo for the forums because it covers it up. Maybe the bar could go at the bottom of the window? Or maybe it would start beneath the logo and not scroll over it when you are at the top.

I hope that that helps.

Thanks,

Patrick