The New Look

[Bleu Unicorn]

Well, the last time I posted this, my post was utterly ignored. I wrote saying that the News Page was lacking a link to the home page on the top... but anyway... on to newer gripes.

I have to say, I absolutely detest (and I'm trying to be nice here) the new look of the boards. On the Main Page it looked nice. It set it apart from the rest of the site. On the News Page -- well, I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. In fact, I said I liked it (for a day or so), but honestly, I have no feelings to it at all.

Every part of the forums is really pushing it. I'm colorblind even and the colors just look... well... ugly. In fact, the text on the pages doesn't even look that good, depending on the colors you choose to use.

<pants> Ok... <gets off soapbox> I'm through. Honestly, I'm not being rude, but I feel that I have the right to voice my opinion... and well this is it, nothing personnal to anyone.

Night all!

-- Uni

[Brian Cruz]

This incarnation of the Toon Zone Forums is one year old next week. We had the dark purple look for a year, and it was time for a change. I appreciate your opinions, but Harley is the site designer and she wants to give all of TZ a new look. I don't have the power to change it back, and I wouldn't anyway cause I think it's cool!

BTW, if you click on the Toon Zone logo, you go back to the main page.

[Vin]

Personally, I like the new look and I am pretty sure it will be like this for a while. However, if you have specific suggestions on how to make it better, here's the place to do it!

You have got to give Harley a lot of credit for redoing the main page, the news page and the forums. That's a lot of work and we all should appreciate the effort that not only she does, but that everyone puts into this site and are not often recognized, including Brian.

[Bleu Unicorn]

Well, I'll be honest. I'm very proud of Harley's work. I'm not dumb, I know it was hard stuff -- and time consuming.

But, I have to say, that text honestly does not appear well on contrasts such as this. It's easier to read (for anyone, not just the colorblind) on sharp and distinct contrasts. The way the pages are set up now, it's like sensory overload -- I honestly have a headache from reading this thread in and of itself.

As I said, I'm not berrating anyone's hard work. I'm stating my opinion. And that's it. But I do think that the contrasts for the text should be rethought. (Again, my opinion.)

-- Uni

[Vin]

Originally posted by BleuUnicorn
Well, I'll be honest. I'm very proud of Harley's work. I'm not dumb, I know it was hard stuff -- and time consuming.

But, I have to say, that text honestly does not appear well on contrasts such as this. It's easier to read (for anyone, not just the colorblind) on sharp and distinct contrasts. The way the pages are set up now, it's like sensory overload -- I honestly have a headache from reading this thread in and of itself.

As I said, I'm not berrating anyone's hard work. I'm stating my opinion. And that's it. But I do think that the contrasts for the text should be rethought. (Again, my opinion.)

-- Uni

You are certainly entitled to your own opinion and we'll respect that. I was simply saying that I know that Harley is trying to find a perfect design for it, as we speak. There's obviously a lot of tinkering going on.

[CookieS]

Its nice to get out of the darkness. I mean its not hurting anyone to switch, and believe it or not....color has a psychological effect on the brain.

To be honest I think this color choice is interesting. For one the gray colored backgrounds make all the colors seem more intense. Check out the smilies....



Their colors are just more intense...same with the top title bars. Plus when you think about most cartoons, they make great use of color, aside from those few noir toons and some dark anime, most are bright and upbeat and I think the site as a whole is more in that nature now.

[Borg4of3]

Question: On many of the pages, the menu bar below the Banner doesn't pop up anymore (the one with Control Panel, Register, Rules, etc). Was that intentional? I really liked that, especially since I use the Control Panel as my hub for the forums. Have you just not added the menubar back in yet?

Otherwise - I like the new design. It took me by surprise all of a sudden with little warning, but I think it fits the whole 'Toonzone' quality better. As long as we keep the WF boards the same, and keep the cool backgrounds in the Anitainment and Cafe Zone, I'm cool with it all.

[Discloner]

This layout is nice, the colors are nice. I too, did like the dark ones better, but i do see how a change is needed. In one year from now we may have a new one. It's nice to change things around after a while, kinda like when you rearrange your living room. I'm sure they are practicing the perfect art of WebPage Fung Shuia.

[Discloner]

Oh forgot to ask, is the Toonami Form colors going to change? I think the current colors suit it better.

[Brian Cruz]

The "control panel", etc. buttons will be back soon. Things are still being worked on.

And none of the hosted site boards are changing as far as I know. Each site owner controls the look of thier own boards.

[Gyro]

I like the new look, the light colors really grab your attention.

[Terminatah]

I have no problem with the look, but when I'm using Netscape (which I primarily do), this format slows my loading time way down. No clue why. I guess I'll have to use Internet Explorer at the boards from now on.

-Terminatah

[livingfruitvirus]

Brian: You could always have the users choose between the old and new layouts in the UserCP.

[Brian Cruz]

Originally posted by Terminatah
I have no problem with the look, but when I'm using Netscape (which I primarily do), this format slows my loading time way down. No clue why. I guess I'll have to use Internet Explorer at the boards from now on.

-Terminatah

Which version of Netscape are you using?

[BLACKHEART]

I like the darker colors better. I think it's that big orange bar I don't like. Other than that Harley did a good job.

[Kylewayne]

Originally posted by SLIPKNOT

I like the darker colors better. I think it's that big orange bar I don't like. Other than that Harley did a good job.

I agree with SLIPKNOT, it took me a while to get used to but it sure does grow on you fast I really don't mind the lighter tones but the orange will take some major getting used to.

Other than that I must congratulate Harley for being a woman of action. I wish I had her talent to do things like this. I'll just master one thing at a time.

Ooooo, my avatar shows more too.

[Pilmedium]

The pages usually load slower with the new look. I am not using Netscape.

[Terminatah]

Originally posted by Brian Cruz


Which version of Netscape are you using?

Netscape Communicator 4.7

-Terminatah

[Brian Cruz]

Originally posted by Terminatah
Netscape Communicator 4.7

-Terminatah

Didn't Netscape 4 come out in 1996?? I tested the new look in IE6, Netscape 6.2, and Opera 6 and there were no problems. I think older versions of Netscape have trouble rendering nested tables, which is probably the cause of the slow down for you.

[Brian Cruz]

After looking over the coding some more, I think the addition of the blue line at the top and bottom of the forum table is what's causing the slow down in Netscape. Harley told me she'll remove it sometime this weekend, so I hope you guys can manage until then.