Pixelation

General => General Discussion => Topic started by: miascugh on September 19, 2010, 04:26:14 pm

Title: A skin appears!
Post by: miascugh on September 19, 2010, 04:26:14 pm
Hey fellow friends of the picture elements (be they blocky or not),

as you hopefully have noticed, the forum skin got its long overdue overhaul (has it really been 4 years?). I'll leave this announcement up for a week as a place to post about any bugs or quirks you might stumble upon, as well as general feedback and critique.

Enjoy,

your Pixelation team!
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: 9_6 on September 19, 2010, 04:52:35 pm
Needs some tooltips if you hover over the symbols.
Got no clue what that eye, rectangle or the "post new post"-icon with an arrow do.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: miascugh on September 19, 2010, 04:57:00 pm
Thought so, will do.

Edit: done.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: crab2selout.png on September 19, 2010, 05:20:15 pm
colours are sweet. Nice job.

Ditto on the tool tips. Had a momentary freak out where I thought Arn'es SMB thread had been locked since I couldn't find the reply button. I kinda wonder if it wouldn't be better to have more texty buttons.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: miascugh on September 19, 2010, 05:27:15 pm
I'll try differentiating the reply button by color and/or size, as it probably is the most frequently used and needed one. But if general consensus after that still has it, that these icons alone are too clumsy, text it will be.

edit: done
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: #36005A on September 19, 2010, 05:58:05 pm
I vote for text on those buttons. :)

Great work! I love all the angles everywhere, and probably my favorite things that I can see right now are the Post/Preview buttons, as well as the alternating greens for posts... I could go on and on about the things I like, but I'll focus on crits for the sake of usefulness.

First of all: Color consistency. The darkest color in the logo (#414954) should probably be changed to #44474E, or else the page elements that are currently #414954 should be changed to #44474E. The background color for .windowbg, .windowbg4, .windowbgb, .windowbgc should maybe be #D2D5B8. Finally, some text boxes are white while some are #E4E6E3, my suggestion would be to keep them all white.

Various other small things (which may be intentional things I don't like, errors, or perhaps browser/rendering engine issues – I'm on Chrome 6.0.472.55, Mac OS X 10.6.4):
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: CrazyMLC on September 19, 2010, 06:00:42 pm
I like everything, the angles, the icons, EXCEPT the colors.
It feels too... blue. I liked it better with warmer colors.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Moribund on September 19, 2010, 06:14:03 pm
SKIN uses SURPRISE

MORIBUND is confused

But then once I got over that I decided I really liked it. The only thing for me is that the fancy new icons kinda clash a little bit with the smileys and the top banner.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: miascugh on September 19, 2010, 06:22:44 pm
Thanks for the feedback!

@ #36005A:

 I'll look into your color suggestions.

Unfortunately I am well aware of the two css issues with Chrome (and other webkit browsers as well I suppose. I don't have access to Safari right now... It would be really nice if you could check on that on your Mac :)), I guess I'll have to look into and resort to browser-specific trickery.

The irregular button sizes I am aware of too, but that's beyond my control since the icq and yahoo messenger icons are fetched from an external server, thus inconsistent. About the colors, I used the two recurring saturated colors orange and teal correspondingly to the dominant colors yellow and blue of the AIM and MSN logo respectively in an attempt to assure recognizability without deviating from the skins palette. I think it works.

The 'jump to unread'-button thing is noted.

@ CrazyMLC: I am pretty satisfied with the colors myself. It might be a matter of getting used to as well, but mostly also one of taste :). Not that this means anything, but the olden Pixelation was completely clad in deep blue.

@ Moribund: I'm not a fan of the smileys myself. Maybe, in time, they'll get some extra attention too. We already have something in mind with the banner :)

edit: tried distinguishing the reply/create topic speech balloon. Any better?
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Arachne on September 19, 2010, 06:52:00 pm
I think it's a refreshing change, and I like the colors. However, the darkest elements coupled with the white text is too harsh, I think. Otherwise, very nice. :y:;D
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Dusty on September 19, 2010, 07:06:44 pm
This was a shocker. I'm not sure if I like or hate the contrast going on. I'll give it a few days to see if I adjust.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Arne on September 19, 2010, 07:41:15 pm
I don't like it. Most buttons are mystery meat and since nothing is color coded it takes a while to find things. It's too much of a... how shall I put it... graphical design masturbation.

A comparison could be if every icon on your desktop or dock was changed to a brown simple silhouette and all file names were hidden. That would be pretty confusing, wouldn't it?

Personally I'd prefer something like:

(http://androidarts.com/misc/logout.gif)

Or just anything with a colored picture for my eye can find. Since this is a pixel art board, it should preferably be a well pixeled and fun picture. This way when I look at the buttons, my eyes will take the shape of... content beans, like in Ren & Stimpy.

Well, those are my inclinations.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Larwick on September 19, 2010, 07:47:42 pm
Oooh. I really love the colours.  :y:
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Arne on September 19, 2010, 07:58:30 pm
Yeah, the color scheme is nice, although personally I prefer a gray-teal as a neutral color. You know, the boring Windows 95 desktop color, except light gray.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: miascugh on September 19, 2010, 08:04:00 pm
@ Arne: Sorry to hear this, and it also... feels unusual to be guilty of graphical masturbation.. I didn't even realize how much the graphic design people I've been hanging (/have had to hang) out with the last couple of years seem to have influenced me, since that's actually something I'm not inclined to or interested in at all. I used to think at least ):

The reduced approach felt right from my perspective as in thinking of rectangular pixel-level boldness, totally detached from figurative videogame-ish aesthetics.

What I do agree with, something I was worried would prove true, are the immediate readability issues. Nothing a second look wouldn't remedy, but still uncomfortable.


Also, thanks for all the positive feedback as well, anyone :)


Edit: I actually agree entirely with you about the lack of color-code and detail/readability/character in general, and will gladly tend to fixing that. I'm afraid, though, not any too soon. I rushed through these in two days because I've got a great deal of distraction coming up the next few weeks, so you'll have to bear with them for the time being.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Photocopier on September 19, 2010, 08:16:38 pm
wow this was a surprising but attractive change :D

The Email icon is a bit ugly I think. but otherwise, great work  :y:
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Atnas on September 19, 2010, 08:23:11 pm
I love the colors soooo much. But I'm with Arne, there really should be more distinguishable icons. More color, more substance! I'm not too unhappy with the home help, search etc, because they are solid objects but the icons below the avatar and the reply, print, send to, etc icons are really just too... paper thin and monotone. The reply button has improved for sure, though!

I mean, a lot of people do pixel art for games and to have abstracted silhouettes for icons just doesn't feel the closest to home for me.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Kren on September 19, 2010, 08:29:26 pm
is the logo also going to change? everything changed except that. .
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: #36005A on September 19, 2010, 08:32:21 pm
@ #36005A:

 I'll look into your color suggestions.
Thanks. Let me know if I need to clarify anything about my suggestions.

Unfortunately I am well aware of the two css issues with Chrome (and other webkit browsers as well I suppose. I don't have access to Safari right now... It would be really nice if you could check on that on your Mac :)), I guess I'll have to look into and resort to browser-specific trickery.
Just replicated both of them in Safari, but only the "search button" one in Firefox. The header thing must be Webkit, not sure what's going on with the search button.

The irregular button sizes I am aware of too, but that's beyond my control since the icq and yahoo messenger icons are fetched from an external server, thus inconsistent. About the colors, I used the two recurring saturated colors orange and teal correspondingly to the dominant colors yellow and blue of the AIM and MSN logo respectively in an attempt to assure recognizability without deviating from the skins palette. I think it works.
Interesting. I was actually mostly talking about horizontal size, I understand about ICQ and others. Maybe make all of your buttons follow ICQ in terms of width (and height, accounting for the transparency at the top). Or, at the very least, you could have a set width for the icons you make.

Also, I have to ask, and I don't mean this as a personal attack, but I'm merely curious: If you are not interested at all in graphic design, why did you take on the task of redesigning a website? You seem to have done a pretty great job, so I am surprised to hear you say that. Or did you just mean that "graphical masturbation" is not something you're interested in/inclined to? My apologies if I've misunderstood.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: fil_razorback on September 19, 2010, 09:18:03 pm
Great work. I love the new skin.

Slight margin issue in the bottom though (FF 3.6) : (http://imgur.com/FeadD.png)
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: saimo on September 19, 2010, 09:55:15 pm
I appreciate the work gone into the skin, but I honestly can't say I'm pleased with the result: I'll eventually get used to the icons, the shapes and all, but for sure I won't get used to the background colors - as nice as they can be, to me their lack of hue neutrality will always alter the perception of the pixel art posted.
EDIT: also, as a simplicity and flatness lover, I'm not particularly fond of the shadows and of the depth of icons and frames - they only make the view unnecessarily more complicated to my eyes.

(Just my humble 2 cents.)
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Sly on September 19, 2010, 10:08:38 pm
On my monitor the text is hard to read with the background color (Not the colors but combined gives me a eye ache).

Other then that it looks good. It's going to take awhile to get used to.

I thought my monitor was going goofy until I saw the icons.

It's a refreshing change though. (Maybe a selection between both skins?)
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: miascugh on September 19, 2010, 10:20:04 pm
@ #36005A

Hmm, search buttons looks fine in firefox, opera and ie8 for me.

Also, I have to ask, and I don't mean this as a personal attack, but I'm merely curious: If you are not interested at all in graphic design, why did you take on the task of redesigning a website? You seem to have done a pretty great job, so I am surprised to hear you say that. Or did you just mean that "graphical masturbation" is not something you're interested in/inclined to? My apologies if I've misunderstood.

No offense taken :)

The practical side of handling graphic elements (as in heavily abstracted up to geometrical purism) just isn't my cup of tea. It's hard to put my finger on it, I always enjoyed drawing, I never enjoyed working with layout or type, or making logos and the likes. Which doesn't mean I don't admire people who can achieve a strong impression with simplicity, on the contrary. I'm just a bit jealous of them :)

As Atnas put it nicely, it actually doesn't feel the closest to home for me either, even though I made them :D.

@ fil: noted, thanks.

@ saimo: I disagree about the colors. The graphic icons will be history within due time anyway though.

@ sly: Didn't perceive the text-background combination as hard on the eyes so far. What kind of monitor do you use?
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: #36005A on September 19, 2010, 10:33:24 pm
Re: Search button, I ran it through browsershots (http://browsershots.org/http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php) because I was curious, and it looks like the search button thing was intentional to some degree. For some reason, Webkit lifts it up 2 pixels, but the button itself is actually raised to begin with (due to the 2 pixel gray bar underneath it). Of course, this leads to a 4 pixel shift on Webkit browsers, but I think it should be on the same line as the search box to begin with (0 pixel shift).

Even if you do remove that gray bar (or move the whole thing down 2 pixels to put the gray bar underneath the bottom of the search bar), I'm not sure what to do about Webkit. Seems like it will still have the same problem.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: miascugh on September 19, 2010, 10:48:34 pm
Ah, ok, the 2 pixels ARE intentional, it's supposed to protrude. I'll look into it tomorrow, there should be a way around that eventually.

On the topic of web-design again, I enjoyed skinning the forum, but it's not something I do often. In the past I usually found my way around classic layouting. This here was for web basics class 3 years ago, which illustrates it nicely :P (not exactly cross-browser compatible, best viewed in firefox):

http://users.fh-salzburg.ac.at/~fhs16724/eightbitfactory/index.html
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: skamocore on September 19, 2010, 11:02:56 pm
Not sure that I really dig this at all :sry:. Is it possible to have a choice of skins?
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: miascugh on September 19, 2010, 11:10:22 pm
Can you elaborate on what exactly it is that lessens the usability for you? Any specifics would be very helpful and can be taken into consideration.

Cheers
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: McClaneGames on September 20, 2010, 01:12:39 am
Despite some of the layout issues, I enjoy the new skin.  I was surprised when I saw that Pixelation looked different in my Opera Speed Dial window and happy to see an update!
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: ndchristie on September 20, 2010, 02:12:58 am
I'm not necessarily opposed; i think it could be much more internally consistent and will take a lot of getting used to.  I wonder that it doesn't feel most like a novelty skin.  but it's hardly 'unusable'.

I've more or less become a lurker here anyway so don't necessarily heed what i say.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Dex on September 20, 2010, 02:54:34 am
Haven't logged in here for a while, but visiting and seeing this new skin was pretty refreshing!

Great work.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: #36005A on September 20, 2010, 03:06:12 am
Ah, ok, the 2 pixels ARE intentional, it's supposed to protrude. I'll look into it tomorrow, there should be a way around that eventually.

Cool. I'm not a huge fan of the 2 pixel either, but that's definitely a style thing – it's the extra 2 pixels (total 4 pixel shift) in Webkit browsers that's the technical problem (for anyone else reading who is confused).

On the topic of web-design again, I enjoyed skinning the forum, but it's not something I do often. In the past I usually found my way around classic layouting. This here was for web basics class 3 years ago, which illustrates it nicely :P (not exactly cross-browser compatible, best viewed in firefox):

http://users.fh-salzburg.ac.at/~fhs16724/eightbitfactory/index.html

Nice design! I agree with you about skinning things, it's not always the most fun – you have to work around other people's (sometimes crappy) code, and you can't always just "do something" when you want to. Though I will say that I think there's an in-between: starting from scratch but using the general principles of layout design and user interface design. I think we have the two extremes here: skinning something, in which you are tweaking a very rigid already-created layout – and starting from scratch, coming up with something completely unique (possibly to the point of confusion). I don't mean that your website's design is bad, it looks very good, but it is very difficult to navigate. For example, it's not obvious what to click on on the first page (I first tried the logo, then the door, then the door again, then the dude). I know you said it was a student project, but I'm just using it as an example for the sake of discussion (sorry :P).

I'm not familiar with SMF, but I'm curious: have you modified any of the PHP or anything? Or just the CSS? Not asking for any particular reason, just curiosity (and if there's something that you absolutely cannot resolve with CSS modification, I suppose the PHP would be the next step).
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: blumunkee on September 20, 2010, 04:07:13 am
Give it some time to sink in, guys. I was surprised too, but it's already starting to grow on me.

The banner does look kinda pukey now.  !yus!
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Ryumaru on September 20, 2010, 06:07:28 am
Uhm, so, I love it :]

That is all.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: questseeker on September 20, 2010, 09:46:41 am
I like everything, the angles, the icons, EXCEPT the colors.
It feels too... blue. I liked it better with warmer colors.
I don't mind the cold colours, but the few black bars and buttons in a basically light background scheme scare me because they look like holes of missing/wrong/malformed content within a normal page.

Writing this, I also noticed the Post and Preview buttons have a thin green drop shadow. What the...?

The oblique terminal of the drop shadow in the upper right corner of the "Post reply", "Topic Summary", etc. panels doesn't meet the corner properly (maybe due to a box model illness; I'm using Firefox). Is it meant to be like the one in the lower left corner?

The drawn buttons ("Login" etc.) and panels ("User Info" etc.) have shadow on the upper left corner, contrary to the implied light source direction of the large panel drop shadows.
 
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Accident on September 20, 2010, 01:04:24 pm
I don't understand why people were so confused with the 'reply' 'watch' and such images.
Because when you hover over it, it takes about a second to figure out what image does what.  :-*

Anyway, call me a biiig fan of this skin. I only with our banner color-matched.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: miascugh on September 20, 2010, 01:44:55 pm
Quick change, removed the button depth for clarity's sake. Also adjusted text-color on black backdrops and the margin issue with the link-tree.

Also, zooming should go smoothly, as in not, again.

I'm not familiar with SMF, but I'm curious: have you modified any of the PHP or anything? Or just the CSS? Not asking for any particular reason, just curiosity (and if there's something that you absolutely cannot resolve with CSS modification, I suppose the PHP would be the next step).

I didn't write new functions or change the database, just added and modified tags and attributes when needed.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Sly on September 20, 2010, 02:45:45 pm
@ sly: Didn't perceive the text-background combination as hard on the eyes so far. What kind of monitor do you use?

I use a Hp W1907V Monitor (http://london.adzooks.co.uk/for-sale/computers-phones-printers/enjoy-a-brilliant-and-immersive-widescreen-viewing-experience-with-hp-w1907v-monitor-3304204.html)

I'm at work right now and I am using a Lenovo L192 wide monitor and it seems much better. Maybe my HP monitor is too pixel clear.

My Lenovo L192 kinda just blends certain colors with a slight blur.

I love the new skin. =D
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: #36005A on September 20, 2010, 08:44:01 pm
Just wanted to add that the skin looks way better with fresh eyes. It was already great yesterday, but today it feels like "home".
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: CrazyMLC on September 20, 2010, 09:16:13 pm
Just to be more clear;

I'd love to see more yellow in the skin. When I make a reply, the window changes to a yellow, and I think it looks really good with the brown background. I'm thinking less blue, and more yellow. But I'd keep the green, I think it looks good. (EDIT: Looking again, I'm seeing more yellow-green-yellow, which I think looks good, but I still don't see it in threads, which is what I really meant.)
I also think there should be more bold greens on the site, like with the reply button. (I'm diggin' it)

The buttons up top like home, or help, look off to me. I think the text could be brighter, and I don't get what's going on with some of the letters being grey.

A lot of this skin seems to center around icons, but I'd personally like to see more words. That might seem odd, seeing as this is an art forum, but it's my honest opinion.
What I mean by it centering around icons if that the words are either darker than the icons, or non-existent.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: questseeker on September 21, 2010, 02:11:34 pm
The margin problem of the text links below the main panel seems fixed.

Does anyone confirm that the drop shadow in the top right of the main panel stops below the corner it should start from?
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: CharlesGabriel on September 21, 2010, 11:30:56 pm
I love it. Please make a selector of skins, I also love the classic pixelation one. :)
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Doppleganger on September 22, 2010, 02:58:44 am
I like it! For a hot second I was taken aback, but that quickly changed to acceptance and then appreciation. I do agree with some of the comments on the icons, but it sounds like that may be getting sorted at some point.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Lazycow on September 22, 2010, 04:03:08 pm
Hi, the new skin is nice, except that dark brown border. The contrast to the light text area is exhausting for my eyes somehow.
Any chance to brighten it up again?
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Redshrike on September 22, 2010, 07:30:57 pm
I don't dislike the skin at all, but I don't like changing something that I like and am used to.  For that reason I would appreciate an option to change back to the original skin, were that an easy thing to do.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Kasumi on September 22, 2010, 08:21:56 pm
The "A new post exists" icon for the forums, and for topics page don't match. I'm pretty sure they used to, but if they didn't for some reason I had an easier time finding them on the old one.

On the main page, a forum that has new posts is orange. That's great, it's easy to see.

When I click that forum, a TOPIC that has new posts has a black and green icon. That doesn't match, and also blends into the background more. It'd be cool if the "A new post exists" icon could be made orange like the forum ones for topics.

Edit: And hmmm... while it hasn't affected me until just now since I don't post often, I really dislike the nameless icons. I understand you've added mouse over tips to make it a little easier per someone else's request. But... It took me much longer to find the edit post and reply buttons on this new skin. And I realize I'll learn where they are eventually, but every new member must go through that same hassle.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Batzy on September 22, 2010, 09:36:50 pm
http://web.archive.org/web/20080617052415/www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php i like 'em both  :D
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: miascugh on September 22, 2010, 09:51:26 pm
I'm keeping track of all the suggestions and complaints and will be able to get back to them and make fixes accordingly on Saturday the 25th. So, keep it coming and thanks for all the positive feedback too :)
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Anarkhya on September 23, 2010, 08:04:06 am
Hi there!

To be honest, one of my first feelings was: Ouch! Why green vs yellow?
So you can count me in the I-want-theme-selector crowd!
Besides, SMF admin panel let you know how many members uses a particular theme, and this is a valuable info IMO.

The previous theme was, among all SMF I have visited, a true "coup de coeur" because It used a combination of colors, saturation, visuals and readability that I found really blowing and unusual, even in 2010. Now I'm not strongly opposed to this new theme, but I'm not really fond of, mainly because of the palette and some of the minimalistic icons. The C0BC90 + A9B293 combo placed here and then hurts me, for instance. Also the topic icons seem not understandable-at-first-glance enough to me. I won't name some sections in particulars because this is a general feeling I have.

Now, since I'm also currently in the middle of CSS-ing a SMF forum I know that it's a difficult task, and that kicking the habits don't please everyone, especially when "everyone" means 4.000 members ;)

Anyway, Good luck with this new theme!
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: ptoing on September 23, 2010, 11:17:48 am
Yah, there will be theme selector action sooner or later. :)
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: crab2selout.png on September 23, 2010, 10:51:38 pm
Love the new colours.

... back to the lurk ...
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Conzeit on September 23, 2010, 11:04:44 pm
o hey. Mia, I really really like the theme. if I had to complain, I'd say the progression from hot topic to very hot topic isnt quite intuitive.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: Conzeit on October 05, 2011, 06:15:57 pm
I miss the skin, was it lost in the crash? =(
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: ptoing on October 05, 2011, 06:24:16 pm
There was no crash, and it was not lost.

We moved hosts, and I installed from scratch. The old skin is based on an old version of the forum and might such not be 100% secure and compatible.

Miascugh will look into new skin when he has time.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: jams0988 on October 13, 2011, 01:51:22 pm
Sorry if it's already been asked, but does anyone know when we're getting zoom back?
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: PypeBros on June 02, 2012, 07:16:03 am
Any chance to see the alpha-friendly grey backgrounds come back ?
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: ptoing on June 02, 2012, 10:38:13 am
Crow is atm working on modifying mia's skin for SMF 2.x
We hope that we can upgrade to that soon and have a proper skin again.
Title: Re: A skin appears!
Post by: PypeBros on June 02, 2012, 01:12:22 pm
ok. Thanks for the update, Ptoing.

Fingers Crowsed.