defstartrooper
Sr Member
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RPF New Look Feedback Thread
- Thread starter Art Andrews
- Start date
wildabeast
Sr Member
Love the new design...does this mean TDH is next...please Tech gods make it next...
TDH is in desperate need of an overhaul and all I can tell you is that we will get to it as soon as when we can. Unfortunately my time as TDh has been severely restricted due to all the time spent here at the RPF... :unsure
Paracord Junky
Well-Known Member
oh well. anyone happen to save that banner to their hard drive? i'd like to save it just for laughs if nothing else.
Idaho Jones
Well-Known Member
Love the new look.
On my Ipod Touch, When I bookmarked the website to the home screen I got the Welder guy Icon, can you update the Icon to the new one?
On my Ipod Touch, When I bookmarked the website to the home screen I got the Welder guy Icon, can you update the Icon to the new one?
mbmcfarland
Sr Member
I usually don't feel the need to chime in on topics like this, but here goes:
Overall, I do like the updates. Everyone involved is doing a great job of getting the site to feel more up-to-date and fit in better in this era of "Web 2.0" or whatever people are calling it now.
I'll add my vote to those who want different colors for visited links and are disappointed with the fixed-width layout. I also prefer Junkyard over Marketplace, but my guess is that the term junkyard was too illicit/underground or not "slick" enough for the site's new direction. However, doesn't a marketplace usually imply that the site endorses/sponsors the sales contained therein, like the Android marketplace? If that's not a problem, maybe we really should have "The RPF Store" or something like that. Alternatively, maybe there's a term for the online version of "Classified Ads" that I'm not thinking of right now.
I think the logo is boring and says nothing about the site. Oddly, I think it's the best quality logo the board has had in terms of design and slickness, but it still looks like a step backward in terms of specificity and originality... like some sort of fancy "default" logo.
Overall, I do like the updates. Everyone involved is doing a great job of getting the site to feel more up-to-date and fit in better in this era of "Web 2.0" or whatever people are calling it now.
I'll add my vote to those who want different colors for visited links and are disappointed with the fixed-width layout. I also prefer Junkyard over Marketplace, but my guess is that the term junkyard was too illicit/underground or not "slick" enough for the site's new direction. However, doesn't a marketplace usually imply that the site endorses/sponsors the sales contained therein, like the Android marketplace? If that's not a problem, maybe we really should have "The RPF Store" or something like that. Alternatively, maybe there's a term for the online version of "Classified Ads" that I'm not thinking of right now.
I think the logo is boring and says nothing about the site. Oddly, I think it's the best quality logo the board has had in terms of design and slickness, but it still looks like a step backward in terms of specificity and originality... like some sort of fancy "default" logo.
Very nice! I'm digging the icons and the color palette!
'Marketplace' is the general term you will find where third parties are buying and selling from one another. We provide the venue, but we aren't doing the buying or selling. Those are all private transactions. The biggest difference is that in many marketplace type environments, the site owner would get a cut of each sale. We don't do that and provide it to our members for free. If we were to build an 'RPF Store' (and we are) it would contain swag specific to the RPF; shirts, mugs, posters of your favorite mod (ManfromNaboo would be a big seller!) and that sort of thing. We did think about something along the line of 'classifieds' but that is so newspaper era and sounds very dated. We knew this wouldn't be a popular change (although I am a bit surprised by just how many are not liking it) but we feel it is moving the site in the right direction.
As I have said with others who have made similar comments, I totally understand where you are coming from. This isn't an exciting logo and it was never meant to be. We wanted something that was professional and allowed for diversity (think along the lines of what Google constantly does with their logo). It is a very strong base from which we can do various things... plus I have heard it is now on the hood of a nascar!
mbmcfarland
Sr Member
Thanks, Art, for the thoughtful (and quick) replies! I appreciate it.
My two cents.
Sorry, but I think the new logo is Bland. Does nothing for me as far as "branding" the RPF. Could be any app store icon for anything. That being said. I do like the sub-forum icons - except for:
"The Marketplace"? It's always felt like a "Junkyard" when coming here. The Marketplace is so Martha Stewart.
I also don't understand the new fixed width. The old RPF looked good on everything from my tiny smartphone screen, up to my huge office monitor. I know the argument put forth as to why it was done, but I just don't buy it.
Sorry, but I think the new logo is Bland. Does nothing for me as far as "branding" the RPF. Could be any app store icon for anything. That being said. I do like the sub-forum icons - except for:
"The Marketplace"? It's always felt like a "Junkyard" when coming here. The Marketplace is so Martha Stewart.
I also don't understand the new fixed width. The old RPF looked good on everything from my tiny smartphone screen, up to my huge office monitor. I know the argument put forth as to why it was done, but I just don't buy it.
Since I would hate to see you get stuck like that again, here is a link to the instructions for changing your default forum skin.
http://www.therpf.com/f16/instructions-changing-your-default-forum-skin-109371/
.
We could certainly add glitter and flowers...
I think I have beat our reasoning to death on the Markeplace change, but one final note is that aside from the fact that we were moving away from a franchise specific name is that it seemed a bit insulting to refer to the amazing works of art that our members produce as "junk."
When you say you don't "buy it" what do you mean? Do you think there is another reason we are going with fixed width aside from it being the prevailing trend and because it is easy to design for fixed width? I can assure you it isn't benefiting me. I run 1920X1080, so like many of you with large resolutions, I have a lot of border on the sides. I guess I am used to it because most of the progressive sites I visit are the same way.
dualedge
Sr Member
I like the new look and both of the new light and dark styles.
My only criticism doesn't really appy to the new look but I think is just more of a result of the forum needing the ad banners and I'm not sure anything can be done about... It's just that on the forum pages, there's a LOT of space eaten up at the top of the page between the forum icons, ad banners and everything else... it's quite a ways to scroll down, y'know?
But I don't really see a solution to recommend either and my guess is that if there was an easy solution it would have already been implemented. There's not really much that can be cut and the new icons aren't taking up an inordinate amount of space or anything...
I do prefer the fixed width myself...
Great work guys! :thumbsup
My only criticism doesn't really appy to the new look but I think is just more of a result of the forum needing the ad banners and I'm not sure anything can be done about... It's just that on the forum pages, there's a LOT of space eaten up at the top of the page between the forum icons, ad banners and everything else... it's quite a ways to scroll down, y'know?
But I don't really see a solution to recommend either and my guess is that if there was an easy solution it would have already been implemented. There's not really much that can be cut and the new icons aren't taking up an inordinate amount of space or anything...
I do prefer the fixed width myself...
Great work guys! :thumbsup
There is something of a solution for the ads, but it isn't an easy one and it would only benefit the front page and forum pages, not the thread pages, which renders it almost useless. I don't like that we have two ads stacked on top of one another in most of the forums and am still trying to find a way around that...
In creating the new look, one of the things we worked very hard to do was make sure we didn't push the content further down the page. I think we failed by 1 pixel. The new header is 1 pixel taller than the old style. Personally, I would have liked to have decreased the size of the header, but we really wanted the icons and making them any smaller than they are really begins to degrade their ability to be identified.
In creating the new look, one of the things we worked very hard to do was make sure we didn't push the content further down the page. I think we failed by 1 pixel. The new header is 1 pixel taller than the old style. Personally, I would have liked to have decreased the size of the header, but we really wanted the icons and making them any smaller than they are really begins to degrade their ability to be identified.
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