omg where am i

That sounds plausible.  Weren't the old forums on http://www.altpop.com/stc/forums?

That is an interesting suggestion and although I haven't experienced the login difficulties since my first time at the new site, I have adjusted the redirect URL to see if that helps.  It will probably require another login at the first time visiting since I made the change (just now) but will hopefully be fine after that.

I will address the recent posts about the design tomorrow.  Oyasumi time for now.

Is there a way to permanently log in now?

It's best to use always either www.stc.com or stc.com, and "disable" the other choice. You can do that, for example, with an .htaccess redirect.

If you want no redirects, you can make the cookie available on all subdomains of stc.com, whether www or non-www.

I should not have to change my font size per site because someone is coding to "css" standards or whatever you want to call it.  My browser is at 100% normal zoom, normal text size, and the font on this site is ridiculously large in comparison to every other site I visit.  Use a different font, or hard code a fixed size or something because though you may be conforming to standards, it IS ridiculously large and out of proportion.

http://dancey.pairsite.com/img/insanelyLarge.jpg
http://dancey.pairsite.com/img/notInsanelyLarge.jpg

Word.

The other VGM forum I visit every day has the font size just right.  Their color scheme is much nicer on the eyes too and notice how roomy it looks without a big gray side bar taking up ~25% of the page.

-Mike

Light text on a dark background is *not* easier on the eyes!

Solution: put the side bar on the right and lower the font size, then everyone's happy ^^

... or allow your userbase to choose. If you wanted to just show that STC was "back" then just post the new content and be done with it. Don't break it, and then try to fix it.

Just chill for like 24 hours guys.  I am going to make an alternate style sheet and I am going to let you have your say on it, just like I am letting you have it with this one.  I never said the new design was set in stone so please be just a little patient.

Adam, I am still encountering difficulty sending emails through the website. I get, like,a  504 message or something similar. Don't know if anyone's brought it up, but wanted to let you know.

*waves around the "GO ADAM GO!" banner*

I'm at work now so it's gonna have to wait a few hours, but I will make an alternate test style sheet to try and appease the critics.  Here's the basic gameplan:

-Font size decrease to 80% for the entire site (it's currently set to 100%)

-Change the side bar to a narrower white column on the right side or remove it altogether

-Modify the light blue base background color to something a little darker if I can find a good match.

Will post again when the changes are done.  Honestly I am a little surprised at all the love for the old forum design.  Looking back I find the avatar and poster name placement to be awkward and the dark gray and blue colors a bit of an eyesore.  Hence the changes.  Hopefully the upcoming alternate style sheet will be more to everyone's taste but we will see.

I will also try out a couple changes to the forum e-mail settings so please wait for that.

Pleeeeeeease don't get rid of non-text columns completely... as I think I've mentioned before, I think I'd go crazy if the text went the whole way across my widescreen monitor.  Have you considered balancing it by putting a side bar on one side and something blank on the other or some such thing?

Anyway, overall the new look isn't bad... it's just different and I'll have to get used to that.  The important thing is that it's here at all.  Thanks for continuing to support this community - I'm awfully glad that you're still interested in working on the site after all this time.

OK!

I made some small but significant changes to the design.  There's still some tweaking to do but I think it's a marked improvement.  Definitely more open and simple now.

I also tweaked the e-mail settings so hopefully the forum mail works for everybody now.

Thoughts?

..and better!

Default font sizes are at a reasonable level in Firefox 2.x, IE7, and Opera 9.  Thank you.

Seconded. That was the only issue I had with the redesign, and now everything looks just fine to me. Thanks, Adam!

Can I suggest the following:

http://dancey.pairsite.com/img/sug1.jpg
http://dancey.pairsite.com/img/sug2.jpg

Looking much better on the eyes now, thanks.

+1 for indent suggestion

or maybe the following for "report | reply | quote" positions:
http://videoff7.free.fr/stc.jpg

The text adjustment goes a long way; thank you!

It might be my imagination but I think the darker blue of the top bar has been adjusted for the better as well.

Getting better!  But it still hurts my eyes with all the white.

.

Here's one you haven't heard yet:  How about a generic avatar that automatically displays for those who haven't selected one?  It just looks weird to see their names indented with no pic there.

Dunno if someone suggested this already, I haven't read through the thread... but can we get the forum jump back please!?

You're referring to the drop-down select box of forum links that was at the bottom of each page, right?  I never really liked that thing but I do think there needs to be some way to navigate the forums without scrolling all the way back up to the top of the page.  I'm thinking either

1) "Lock" the top nav bar into place so that it's always visible
2) Put links to the forum index and current forum (Forum Index << Open Topic) at the bottom of each page.
3) Reinstate the drop-down select list at the bottom

I maybe like #1 but from recent experience I have a feeling it wouldn't go over very well.  #2 and #3 will both involve me scooting the "Post Reply" link over to the right next to the page links, so there will probably be some changes either way.  Regarding the other suggestions...

Sidebar text indenting: I played around with indenting the side bar items back a while ago but it didn't come out too well.  Will tinker with it some more.

Post link location/formatting: Design-wise the quote and/or report links could look nice in the post header bar, but usage-wise they should be clicked *after* reading the whole post, so they will stay at the bottom though I may still tweak the design.  (Changing the font size, color, or weight as suggested is a possibility.)

Sidebar position: I did try out moving the side bar to the right but it looked way awkward, especially for the index and view forum pages.  I might experiment with it a bit more or even post an alternate test version for you to see for yourself.  Honestly though I think it's pretty likely to stay at the left.

Default avatars: The way avatars are set up for this forum system (remember it's designed by another person, not me), it would be easy to implement one default avatar, but that always ends up being some generic dude that might not be suitable to everyone, especially the female forum members.  I thought it'd be cool to have several default avatars for people to choose from when they register but that will have to wait a while as it would take some doing.

Keep the comments comin'

Looking good from the initial setup, Adam! I have to agree, the smaller font size really does soothe the eyes better. I don't mind the left-hand sided bar - I'll get used to it eventually. BTW, good work on the front page, too. Like seeing the cleaner layout for the albums, if you don't mind me saying so.

I was thinking something more along the lines of a generic STC logo or something just to fill the dead space for people who haven't setup their own yet.

I have to agree with McCall here, actually... it feels really really strange having a big dead space on the left (but none on the right?).  I don't really see why it would look strange having it on the right only.  I think that random nothingness in the place where my eyes immediately go to read something is the only major issue I'd have right now.

Granted, if we had a Japanese version, you could feel free to leave it as is because we could start the text at the top right and go down and then left from there....

My Opera community uses a silhouette, which is a nice alternative to nothing at all.

http://my.opera.com/community/forums/fi … id=2118140

.

The new layout is very nicely organized, and I commend that. However, the graphical style is spartan. I recommend partnering with someone who knows their CSS and graphic design skills to give this place a makeover.

Thanks for the update.

I've been trying to get used to the new site the past few days, and the adjustments are getting better, but the bright color scheme is hard on my eyes as well....Also I'd prefer the Recent Posts/Newest Posts tags on the other side.

That is all....

Adam, why not just go with the same vBulletin schemes that forums like Chudah's Corner, Cocoebiz, OneUp Studios, and Square-Enix Music Online use?

Mind you, I'm just asking a question, not making suggestion.