to make up for my absence

[zeroality]

http://zeroality.net/forumpreview.png

(too large for img tag sorry)

So that's a sketch of the planned forum header redesign. I won't be changing anything else, other than the read/unread forum markers. I'll be making three sets this time because the blue pretty much clashes with Vanilla and False Dawn.

I'd only done the logo/jirachi and decided to sketch out the planned layout for critique before it's a pain to make changes. Ignore the black border around the 'forum activity area' thing I have there - I'm using it as a guide and forgot to blank it. I may not use all of that height, and the plan is to have icons for each one. A little 'email' icon for the PMs, chat bubble for posts, whatever. Text alignment will probably also change to match.

The boxes at the upper right are going to be the links, as we have now. I'm not sure we'll need that many since IRC is being dropped. I'll see what there is to add - perhaps popular pages on the site. I'm also not too keen on using boxes, circles, or whatever else there is; because I can never get it to look the way I want. I may just slap them on there like the site has now. Thoughts on that?

Link spam in the middle, pretty much same as now. Bottom right has the search box. I had to learn how to do it for PO forums so we luck out here too.

tl;dr - click the link and tell me what you think.

Edit: Oh and guests will see the same thing, except a login box where the "unread" stuff is.

[ImmunityBow]

It's beautiful. I think it's perfect. Simple, effective, and pretty.

[Reliability]

I don't really like the right justification for the info in the box. It would make more sense to me if it was on the right side, flipped with the search bar. Or, just change the justification to left (centre might look weird). Also, could you reduce the opacity on Jirachi a bit? Though I like the fade, it goes a little bit too far IMO, as the edge almost disappears.

But it is very nice as is.

[Sev]

I saw the image itself and looked less empty and more efficient than the current one although it's quite wide.

[zeroality]

Thanks IB! :D

I see what you mean Reli, I may end up moving that. I'll need to see how everything looks when it's all in place. I'll work on the gradient too.

I saw the image itself and looked less empty and more efficient than the current one although it's quite wide.

Thanks, I was aiming for efficiency! The image is no wider than what we have now. 980px is set as the minimum width on the forums, and that's how wide the image is. The forums aren't going to be stretched or anything, don't worry.

[Cyndadile]

I think it might be a bit too tall, but that's not too much of an issue. Other than that, I like it!

[zeroality]

Posting to say that I've been busy and probably won't be doing this.

The activity around here lately doesn't really warrant it.

[Quinn]

Where has activity gone? *lol...I'm one to talk

[zeroality]

Don't know. I post asking for people to take care of something, nobody volunteers.

Someone posts a contribution to the game and it gets shot down for not being perfect.

Topaz isn't going to get done at this rate, and I've increasingly felt like I'm wasting my time here.

[ImmunityBow]

I see where you're coming from. My plan is to do a serious walk-the-walk in mid-September since just two peoples' activity can snowball into everyone getting involved. In any case I haven't given up yet!

[BladeVap]

I talked it over with Zero, IB...and I have to agree. I'm not giving up, either, but I don't blame him for leaving.

Do you have YIM/MSN? I'll contact you there, and I'll try to tell you what his concerns were. Here is not the place.

[Sev]

Ok so Zero left? I'm pretty sure I was the first one to call that activity was going down and it creeps me out that i ended up being right. I made a topic about this back in February? Ok well I think I could possibly code this into the site... I'm decent in html so it seems easy enough.

[ImmunityBow]

Actually, for the past couple of years summers have been slow for Topaz, but it usually picks up around October. I don't think it's right to "call" that activity is going down, since you have such a strong influence on whether that becomes true or not. It's as simple as posting what needs to be done with a willingness to actually help out.

[Sev]

Well I wish I could do something but half of what goes on here is not what I can do (most likely more than half). I can only code java and write html along with doing simple pixelart :L

[ImmunityBow]

You can do something. The pokemon.txt document works similarly to simple coding like HTML and such.

[zeroality]

There really shouldn't be any further HTML work needed on the site/forums, unless you wanted to change something or do a redesign - which I don't see as being necessary for a long while.

I'm really busy this weekend/week but I'll try to at least get search up on the header sometime - and remove the dead links.

Edit: What does need to be done is site updates. By that, I mean simply posting material to the uploads folder and placing it on the appropriate page. I have a backlogged folder with an item sprite, badge sprites, maps, and Pokemon icons.

I'm sure there's been more material since I've been gone. The reason I started posting all this to the site is because I believed it would help generate interest.

At the moment, only IB/Reliability have access but I could help set up an editors group with reduced permissions to add more editors.

If someone wants the folder I have, I can zip and upload.

[ImmunityBow]

I'd like the folder you have, I don't think I've been very diligent in my saving of things, so I keep trawling through the forums looking for things.

[zeroality]

Alright, I'll try and get it zipped/uploaded sometime this week.

I put quick search on the header and did the best I could design-wise, since I was haphazardly slapping this onto the existing template.

[Cyndadile]

The second I came on Topaz, the quick search caught my eye. Not because it stands out too much, but because I'm so used to having blank space there. I think it's going to be helpful!

[zeroality]

Wasn't my intent to have button on second line, I should've tested more carefully.

I realize it overlaps with the navbar slightly at minimum width but both are still usable at that point.

I'll remove the IRC link and shrink the navbar but that'll require code changes to re-align the links so I'll do it another time.

[zeroality]

Shrunk navbar.

[ImmunityBow]

What was the intent in doing so?

[zeroality]

What was the intent in doing so?

Removing IRC link and preventing search bar from overlapping with navbar at minimum width.

2 birds with one stone.

[ImmunityBow]

Okay, that makes sense.