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Post by Sargon III on Mar 15, 2012 7:39:12 GMT
It looks awesome mate, it is my forum skin now, I really like it. I just noticed that the "Home" link is missing from the top menu bar, and been replaced by the banner, I don't use it that much anyways, And also the "calender" is a good idea.
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Post by TheBad1 on Mar 15, 2012 16:21:37 GMT
Thanks mate. A few discreet changes have been made to it. Hmmmm. That's weird. Home is still there but the icon isn't showing I'll check it out later. I 'm in the doghouse a lil' bit after taking the day off to get some things done around the house and garden ... but ended up sitting here all day looking at code and trying things out:-[ There were 3 new skins nearly finished but playing around with some code I locked myself out of my test board ;D
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Post by delpart on Mar 15, 2012 17:04:03 GMT
Black skin has some nice aspects to it. Like the banner and title area repositioning. We may want to see about shifting in that direction overall on some levels ...
The contrast though is wrong for my eyes. Again, this is just me. Everyone is different on this both psychologically and physically. The default is a little bright but still the kindest for me.
Looks like we still may need to revisit the default icons/fonts used for the main navigation items as well. Again, might just be me but I have trouble reading them even though I just use pattern recognition on them more than anything. Occasionally though I catch myself trying to read "new topics" and squinting ...
Not having looked at the CSS sheets I'm not sure what to name some areas to be more precise yet. I do like your ribbon for the title areas in the black. Almost chrome, almost metal, almost stone ... very pleasing.
The color of the separation lines/borders could be closer to grey and this might help with the contrasting issue. I recall seeing this done really well on a gaming forum once. Made it almost 3d and faded using triple stacked lines with the idea of 0/255/127 offset ... though it was more like 10/200/127 or something for an RGB/value equivalent. Or like in the borland days, poor mans 3d using convergence of parallel lines and slight color shifts on mono-chrome monitors to build borders.
./random feedback
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Post by Goonfella on Mar 15, 2012 18:51:46 GMT
While I do appreciate all the time you have put in making these skins Welshy , black is not for me I`m afraid. Like Del I find the text a bit too bright white and I am also having the problem with the banner appearing in place of the `Home' button. Del, if you like the black but find the text too bright try installing the No Squint add on for Firefox. You can have the text any colour you fancy then, plus there are other things you can do like having unvisited links one colour and visited ones another. Look forward to trying out the `locked out ' skins. ;D
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Post by Leif on Mar 15, 2012 19:09:18 GMT
Goner try the black skin for a while. See if i can get used to it. Reminds me a bit of the old forum.
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Post by TheBad1 on Mar 15, 2012 20:05:45 GMT
Goner try the black skin for a while. See if i can get used to it. Reminds me a bit of the old forum. It's been 'toned down' a bit ... @ Goon' ... it was a bit bright The colours proboard give you to work with are all pretty much in your face, so now I'm using PDN and colour picker to get better shades @ Del' ... if I can get into the guts of it - you will css opens up so many options ... and I honestly haven't got a clue how to do it ;D ... off to try and sort that home button and that text out
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Post by delpart on Mar 15, 2012 20:36:52 GMT
Del, if you like the black but find the text too bright try installing the No Squint add on for Firefox. You can have the text any colour you fancy then, plus there are other things you can do like having unvisited links one colour and visited ones another. Look forward to trying out the `locked out ' skins. ;D The biggest problem I typically have is multi-task switching from a dark skin back to just about everything else. Without the re-skin of my entire application approach (PDN included) I get eye shock from focusing differently. Its one of the reasons I'm a sucker for the defaults in blue/white/grey. So similar to how I prefer to skin windows etc. Not just applications, but lots of web based apps that will not recolor or make them unusable due to set icon/shading controls in their CSS ... No squint does work, but I already ran into a few issues with it forgetting settings for some sites and while minor, it creates another overhead layer so disabled for when I do opt to use the FF ... Oddly enough I tend to use Chrome etc more often. Though depending on what I'm doing I open up this site from IE, Chorme or FF ... Harder to get the right balance without just a skin setting in that case. Too chaotic I know ... But its needed when working with multiple Google accounts for instance. There is still no "stay logged in" etc feature that looks at instance or tab only to manage having more than one account open at a time. Figured I should at least explain why I tend to have all the browsers, or multiples open like that. Or why I'm not a single browser user in general. Righto. I rather like the Home button as missing and replaced with the banner ... Mainly because it shifts the User status area up to the top with a title and not left justified the way it appears to me most of the time. I say most of the time, because when I have a resized window these wind up all over the place regardless. But I tend to avoid resize browsing on a single screen. Just thinking out loud.
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Post by blackpenny on Mar 15, 2012 23:16:12 GMT
The black easier on my eyes than the red, and looks pretty cool. I'm going to try it for a while.
I don't mind the banner as the home link, either. You could leave it as is and add a home link.
And I almost deleted my account comparing the different skins. My brain seems to think the modify button should be where the delete button is. Of course, I've lived in this house going on nineteen years and still look for light switches where there are none, so maybe I just need a new brain.
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Post by barbieq25 on Mar 16, 2012 8:16:06 GMT
Black is what I am using now instead of the dark red. What I find almost impossible to read is the "like" band.
I rarely used the HOME button so the banner works for me.
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Post by blackpenny on Mar 16, 2012 16:20:15 GMT
I had the same problem with the "like" band on the red background too.
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Post by TheBad1 on Mar 16, 2012 23:09:01 GMT
I agree about the hard to read 'Like' banner in anything other than the Default skin. At the moment I'm highlighting the text to read it clearly. Not ideal
A few changes made to the skin currently called 'Black' - suggestions for a more suitable name appreciated. As is feedback to the things people like and don't like. It's silly to spend hours making things I like but nobody else does ;D
How many current members use a Red skin ?
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Post by TheBad1 on Mar 16, 2012 23:15:49 GMT
Edit. There's an annoying white squiggle I can't find to delete
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Post by Goonfella on Mar 17, 2012 6:25:57 GMT
I`m using the default colours .
How about calling the black skin Ebony?
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Post by blackpenny on Mar 17, 2012 17:14:05 GMT
I like Ebony.
Tuxedo came to mind when I was thinking of a name.
That white squiggle looks like a comma to me.
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Post by barbieq25 on Mar 17, 2012 22:05:33 GMT
Ebony sounds great to me, BP. I was using the red. Now using the black. I like the black a lot. Dark red was great too. Hey, check out the new shiny buttons! Boy, I do like the sleek new look. Getting away from DOS look. Reflects more accurately what our forum is all about
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Post by Sargon III on Mar 19, 2012 6:09:13 GMT
I still like the black skin, and I will keep it for now, the text of the buttons of the navigation bar are not so clear, they are like mixed with the body of the buttons themselves, but that doesn't bother me any ways, because I got used on the location of each one.
The Comma shown below the navigation bar in the center, you can view it in the page source, in FireFox just highlight the comma and right click to " View Selection Source", you will notice that the comma is placed by </style>, some where in the bottom half of the page. you can delete it from the htm file.
To located it in Notepad, use the "Find" feature under Edit menu, every time when searching for something in Notepad try to include part from code line, so in this case put </style>, so you will have just one option and don't need to click next in the Find window, just my 2 cents and you may know this already.
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Post by barbieq25 on Mar 19, 2012 6:26:38 GMT
Only now found the white squiggle.
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Post by TheBad1 on Mar 19, 2012 6:44:20 GMT
I wish I had. I've been through every bit of code and can't find it. I'll have to delete every hack and re-input them Not now tho' ... it's 6.45 am and I was meant to leave the house an hour ago ... @ Sargon ... I'll remake the menu buttons
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Post by Sargon III on Mar 19, 2012 6:49:24 GMT
Oops , sorry mate I thought they where ready buttons from the site, Use the "Find" feature of Page Source in Firefox or Notepad to locate any object. Check again my previous post.
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Post by barbieq25 on Mar 19, 2012 12:43:32 GMT
I love this new skin. The grey metal bits set it off so well. Buttons look great to me bu then I think my monitor is a bit brighter than anyone else's.
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Post by TheBad1 on Mar 19, 2012 19:02:25 GMT
I love this new skin. The grey metal bits set it off so well. Buttons look great to me bu then I think my monitor is a bit brighter than anyone else's. Thanks Barbie. I must admit there's not a lot of time for actual PDN when you're making skins that you don't know how people may react to. All trial and error trying to get them visually appealing to the majority... but it's great being able to make the graphics with the programme the forum represents A couple more 'improvements' to the ebony skin then I think it's finished. Sargon mate ... I hope Del' or Penny understand what you wrote ... Notepad is about my comprehension of it all ;D ;D I think the words div class are mocking me ... I always knew a div as a idiotic person
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Post by delpart on Mar 19, 2012 20:11:44 GMT
Yup, been playing a little bit but time constraints. Not doing the skin, just tearing into how they layer up the stuff. Mostly done with page source as loaded since you can see the result.
Also was looking for where they code the shading into the like "hack" ... really wish they'd called all these modifications, mods instead of hacks ... Outside of a few things, most of them are modifications to the base and not doing anything that circumvents functionality etc ...
Though to undo some of them, you may find yourself needing a machete', so maybe that's not too far off. ;D
I like the buttons btw. Not sure where the squiggle is you're talking about it. Maybe it was the eye strain, but I'm not finding it. In this case, a screen shot may be needed. Could also be browser specific. Last look at that skin was with IE for reference.
Unless we're modding out the main default skin, all these others are just options. For the main skin, part of a comp I'd like to see is some buttons. The base/default Home, new topic etc are just plain awful ... And a comp would allow some fun versus it being like a visit to the eye doctor: "Which is better, A or B, 1 or 2 ..." That gets so tedious.
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