16 replies to this topic

[Randy Walker]

I love it! I really like how it conveys the "homegrown" feeling

Excellent work!




(The blue buttons seem just maybe a little awkward).

[Fortinj1354]

It's really well done, and I expect nothing less from ASO. Great job guys!!

[Nepherim]

Looks nice, but the pulldown menu under the username (up near the search box) is always down, and messes up the flow. (On Chrome).

[-ASO- Ryan]

Thank you for the feedback everyone! We really like the new design and happy to hear (mostly) good things so far. Keep 'em coming. Good or bad.

Nepherim, on 04 January 2012 - 11:50 AM, said:

Looks nice, but the pulldown menu under the username (up near the search box) is always down, and messes up the flow. (On Chrome).

I notice this as well. I'll pass this on to the developers. Thank you.

[NyteOwl]

Nepherim, on 04 January 2012 - 11:50 AM, said:

Looks nice, but the pulldown menu under the username (up near the search box) is always down, and messes up the flow. (On Chrome).

Does the same thing here in Firefox.

Graphics in the new design(s) are nice.

I was going to comment that I thought the intro headline needed some works, that it seemed kinda "chopped up" sentence spread across a few lines like it was designed on a small screen for fixed layout.

Then the background image finally loaded. That took so long I didn't realize it was there until after I went back to the tab with the main site.

Now another problem rears its head. You get horizontal scroll bars if the browser is less than 1049px wide. Given the current state of web design this is not acceptable, especially on a site such as this.

Edited by NyteOwl, 04 January 2012 - 01:37 PM.

[-ASO- Neil]

Thanks for pointing out these issues- we discovered the issue with the forum menu last night, have written new code, and are waiting to deploy it. Hopefully this will fix that issue. The website was designed for 1024 pixel width minimum compatibility, but obviously something has gone awry! Thanks for catching that one- I've got the design team working on a fix right now.

Thanks again for sharing your candid feeback, and a big thanks for reporting the bugs and glitches that you've encountered!

[IBBoard]

I must be an odd-ball. I'm really not taken by the new design. Hitting the home page then my first thought is "so what's on sale here?". Yeah, there are links and it says "home grown hosting", but it somehow doesn't jump out. Also, the stylised orange doesn't look too much like an orange any more (probably hampered by the size of the banner across it, which makes it look more like a badge or rosette).

Don't get me wrong - the style is interesting and novel and well executed in terms of consistency (and retro-50s Americana-ness!) but something really just makes me say "meh" about it.

As for the width thing, I noticed that as well. I've got a 1280x1024 monitor, but my browser is only 1024px wide because I find full-screen browsing too difficult to read large blocks of text in. 1024 wide gives you just enough words per line on most sites.

My only other design gripe that I can be specific about is some of the contrast. The new font in the forum topic titles combined with the orange colour and the orange/peach backgrounds has decreased readability in places. Not terrible, just a bit fuzzy and not quite ideal. That could be Chromium 18 on Linux, though. And before a designer things of it, don't just add a drop-shadow - so many sites are doing that these days and it just looks tacky or makes things worse


[edit] Just found another "cool feature" that is annoying me already - fade transitions on link hover. Maybe I'm in a minority, but it is bugging the hell out of me and I've only been on the forums for five minutes :\ Either hover or don't, just don't take a second to switch for no reason other than "because we could".

On the plus side, I read one of your tweets that said it was semantic HTML. I've not checked, but it is well done if you've got that kind of design without having to make a mess of the HTML

Edited by IBBoard, 04 January 2012 - 03:20 PM.

[Tachyon]

Yeah, I love the new design too. However, every time a page on the forum loads, it flickers immediately after page load as the font size decreases (and the font changes? I can’t tell). The flicker is really annoying. I’m using Firefox.

[IBBoard]

I think Firefox does that when external fonts are used. Chromium just doesn't show the text until the external font is loaded. IIRC there is a fix for it, though.

Also, not an issue for most people, but the black "moderator bar" on the forums looks a bit out of place for those of us who see it

I'll try to stop being critical/negative now

[billzo]

IBBoard, on 04 January 2012 - 03:17 PM, said:

The new font in the forum topic titles combined with the orange colour and the orange/peach backgrounds has decreased readability in places. Not terrible, just a bit fuzzy and not quite ideal.

I agree with that and was going to same the same basic thing.  Screws my eyes up.  Maybe it's the font or maybe too much orange.

Also, when logging in using Firefox the menu under my username is stuck in the down position.   It can't be closed.

This is just feedback.

[NyteOwl]

Yep. The new design is "pretty" but I'd frankly prefer the "efficiency" of the old one. More usable if not as "artsy" imho. Like IBBoard, just because you can add a "feature" doesn't mean you should.

[joeychgo]

I like it too - but its not working right with IE9

The image here is chrome - I couldnt get 2 images to upload, now could I remove the image of chrome.   You seem to have coding work to do.....

Attached Files

•  aso2.png   273.82K   9 downloads

Edited by joeychgo, 05 January 2012 - 04:55 PM.

[-ASO- Neil]

We just did a code deployment yesterday that should have fixed all of the issues that you have uncovered and posted here. Please let me know if any of the issues described above haven't been resolved- as we're happy to get them fixed. That being said, compliance with 1024 pixel width may still be in the process of being fixed- but we are addressing it!

Thanks again for all your help.

[IBBoard]

The forum fonts look a bit better in dark grey for titles rather than orange. The lack of transition on hover is also good. Some of the colouring still needs a tweak (like the "Add Reply" button) and the odd font on the forums looks a little large/bold (a bit like I've got my font size up-scaled by about 20%, but I haven't) but other than that then the forums are better

With regards the front page, I've just realised that it scrolls(!) I think I have a really bad (albeit potentially quite common) "above the fold) point on my monitor with Chromium, which puts the bottom of the window a little bit below the testimonials. Because of the big graphic, the broad header and the space below the testimonials block, I'd originally assumed that the front page was going light-weight. Scrolling down, it is far more obvious what ASO do. It's just a shame that you can't push it a little higher up or shuffle something so the page break doesn't make you think scrolling isn't necessary

[-ASO- Neil]

Excellent point regarding the layout of the homepage! We will be doing some experimentation with different homepage designs over the coming months to see what works best.

Again, thanks!

[Durik]

I agree. Very "homegrown" feeling.
Amazing job, ASO!

[v0id]

If you're going to keep the default IP.Board theme for members to choose, you may want to add the new Asmallorange header/logo

Edited by v0id, 16 January 2012 - 06:43 PM.