100 replies to this topic

[commander of games]

I've decided to post some of my suggestions for the forums. Now that I see that we have some new, more active admins who will actually see this, I thought it would be a good idea to post it now. Anyway, I have here a somewhat long list of suggestions, but it should be worth the read(Hopefully)...

The Theme

I'm sure most of us have gotten used to the new forum theme by now, but I still have a few suggestions:

1. Finish the theme. There are still many things which have been left unedited from the normal IPB theme, such as the "Post New Top" button for example. Those need to be converted to the new style.

2. A more smooth look for Internet Explorer users. I dont know if its just the browser or not, but if you view the site in IE and then Fire Fox, you'll notice the difference. I've taken some screenshots to show you what I mean: GMC Viewed In Fire Fox 3.0.19 | GMC Viewed In IE8

3. A bit less green. I know, I know, its YoYo's official color, but I'm sure all of you have heard the phrase 'to much of a good thing'. It would be nice if they would remove some of the green. i.e. on the Board Index, the backgrounds behind the forum names are varying shades of green, as is 80% of the page. They should include a bit more gray or some other color.

4. This kind of ties in with #3, but I highly suggest more contrast. Especially on the board index. The forum names are green. This blends in heavily with the rest of the page. They need more contrast here.
5. Just a minor thing, but if you look on the IE8 screenshot I posted above, you can see the header background starts repeating. Again, just a minor thing, but it would make it look alot more proffesional.

6. Another minor thing. We dont really need the YoYo Watermark behind the normal YYG logo. Its hardly noticeable, but I find it to be annoying.

7. The topic and forum icons are horrible. Something like the old ones would be better, in my opinion(Though instead of suit cases/brief cases they look like pieces of text or something).

The Forum

I have alot of suggestions for the forum in general. These are mainly new features/improvements. Many will require some effort on the admins', such as creating "Forum Plugins"(Or whatever)and other things, but a few of them would be worth it. Also, the "plugins" shouldnt be to hard to develop, many GMC users have already created them, they are just un-official.

1. What the hell is up with the color coding? Is that HTML or something? They should change this to Game Makers color coding, so its less confusing. Also, a little bonus: Have an option in your profile to choose GM7 color coding and GM8 color coding. That way, everyones happy.

2. A "Game Maker Version" thing in your profile. This is a minor, but cool thing.

3. Minor thing, again. Remove the "** Approved For GM4Mac Beta **" message on the GM Mac board section.

4. Cage Match. Something thats been bugging me for a while. I have a few suggestions to bring this back:
4.1. Create some kind of plugin that will display this weeks cage match competitors on the Board Index. This would include a link to the Cage Match topic. This could be as simple as a collapsable 'box' along the side like the "Recently Added Topics" and "Watched Content" box's.
4.2. Make it its own forum. Its hard to find when its hidden at the bottom of the Creations forum.

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I hope these ideas have been helpfull. Please feel free to provide critism, but dont flame. Thanks,

-CoG

Edited by commander of games, 04 October 2010 - 09:11 PM.

[theg721]

I agree with everything you have said, but somethings sound like they may take a while to be implemented, so don't get your hopes up if an administrator says they'll do something.

Also, the rounded look that's not in IE: it's because IE can't render these things. I read the reason on a web design blog somewhere, I'll try and get a URL sometime.

[commander of games]

Also, the rounded look that's not in IE: it's because IE can't render these things. I read the reason on a web design blog somewhere, I'll try and get a URL sometime.

Oh. Well, that sucks.

I'm actually starting to consider switching to Fire Fox. :/ All I need is an Anti-Aliasing Add-On(I cant stand reading text without AA for very long).

[xot]

The Theme

1. This something I totally agree with and it is currently under discussion.

2. That's because of Internet Explorer's incomplete implementation of CSS3. Microsoft says border-radius will be supported from version 9 onward. Not much we can do without major tinkering with the theme.

3. I think green is here to stay, but there are some color tweaks I'd like see made here or there. See 1.

4. Will be sure to take this into consideration. See 1.

5. I'll see what I can do about that. This is another Internet Explorer problem. It's caused by its mishandling of 32-bit PNG images.

6. I don't see that changing. Sorry.


The Forum

1. Not sure, I think it is generic C or ECMA script coloring. We'll look into it. There are a lot of things I don't like about the new code tags, but not much that can be changed. I don't know how easy it is to make it more language specific, but if it is possible, we'll try to make it so -- within reason. Compared to other languages, Game Maker has a huge number of keywords, and supporting every one of them puts load on the system the user's system.

2. I don't personally see problem with this idea but we need to discuss how it should be implemented. I use 4 versions of Game Maker.

3. Can't set this optionally, but there is a special link to a merged forum listing provided by Zarplax Software at the top of the forum index.

4. 3. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll fix that. (ed: FIXED)

5. 4. I don't really have a response for this suggestion at this time, but I'm eager to here any ideas about improving the Cage Match.

Edited by xot, 06 October 2010 - 04:27 PM.

[FredFredrickson]

Regarding the rounded corners in Internet Explorer, you should try the IE9 beta if you're using a compatible OS. I think they've cleaned up a lot of IE's CSS incompatibilities with that release.

A word of warning, though - I don't think you can revert to your old version of IE once you upgrade. Not that you'd want to, but it's good to know if you're the clingy type.

Edit: Also, while I feel like the theme might be a little too green sometimes, I'm not sure if it lacks contrast. I never have trouble reading any of the text on any part of the forum due to lack of contrast.

[Desert Dog]

2. A "Game Maker Version" thing in your profile. This is a minor, but cool thing.

Just put it in your sig.

3. The option to view the Game Maker Creations forum(PC)in two formats: "Sub Forums" and "Single Forum". This could be very hard, but it could possibly solve some peoples problems with the creations forum(Though they complaints have died down, it would still be nice).

Click on the games forum, and at the top you'll see a link 'see all games in post topic' or something. It's not supported by the GMC or YYG's, however:
http://www.zarplax.com/software/list.php

5. Cage Match. Something thats been bugging me for a while. I have a few suggestions to bring this back:

Bring it back! Bring it back! Bring it baaaack!

5. I don't really have a response for this suggestion at this time, but I'm eager to here any ideas about improving the Cage Match.

The main thing with the Cage Match, is that no one was participating.

I would suggest that the recent cagematch topics are placed inside The Community forum. When the match is over, the topic is closed, and moved to the sub-forum it has in the Games creation.

Without the community participating, the cage match wasn't working out. So this seems like ideal solution, no?

Edited by Desert Dog, 04 October 2010 - 08:58 PM.

[commander of games]

Regarding the rounded corners in Internet Explorer, you should try the IE9 beta if you're using a compatible OS. I think they've cleaned up a lot of IE's CSS incompatibilities with that release.

A word of warning, though - I don't think you can revert to your old version of IE once you upgrade. Not that you'd want to, but it's good to know if you're the clingy type.

I use XP, so I'll have to deal with it I guess. Oh well, maybe someday I'll get Win 7.

About the Zarplax Software thing, I completely forgot about that. I should probobly remove the suggestion before one of the GMC's resident flamers finds the topic.

EDIT: I added a new suggestion, #7 in the theme category.

I would suggest that the recent cagematch topics are placed inside The Community forum. When the match is over, the topic is closed, and moved to the sub-forum it has in the Games creation.

This. Also, you could combine this with #5.2. That would get the Cage Match alot more recognition.

Edited by commander of games, 04 October 2010 - 09:13 PM.

[ev149]

3. Can't set this optionally, but there is a special link to a merged forum listing provided by Zarplax Software at the top of the forum index.

I think CoG means that the words "** Approved for GM4Mac beta **" should be removed, seeing as though it's no longer in beta.<h3 id="category_77" class="maintitle"></h3>

Actually, he removed a request and changed his numbering. See DD's post. -xot

Edited by xot, 05 October 2010 - 02:29 AM.

[FredFredrickson]

I think I've got a suggestion now too... Figured I'd note it here. The avatars on the mobile version are people's "personal photo" and not their avatar, which is retarded. I'd like to see that get fixed.

[Manuel777]

Pretty much everything you posted is what has been discussed before, in many ocassins...

2. A "Game Maker Version" thing in your profile. This is a minor, but cool thing.

I can find this useful for people who tends to post in the 'Working with Game Maker' section, sometimes people doesnt specify wich version they own.


@Fred: Administrators (like you and xot) doesnt have permissions to access the themes control? if so, you can try replacing the
old blue parts for yoyo-green, just to see how it would look like

[BBGaming]

2. A "Game Maker Version" thing in your profile. This is a minor, but cool thing.

This was actually suggested by Flex in another topic. It was almost universally agreed that it was a useful and relevant feature to the forums that would be simple to implement. IMO it would make answering questions a whole lot easier, especially now that GM8's graphics are so different.

[FredFredrickson]

@Fred: Administrators (like you and xot) doesnt have permissions to access the themes control? if so, you can try replacing the
old blue parts for yoyo-green, just to see how it would look like

We do have access, but that doesn't mean we can just go all willy-nilly on the forum theme. Large changes would have to be run by YYG I think, and we have to make sure any changes we make don't break the forum for people as well. We gotta be responsible admins, after all!

[Nikc-Nack]

I like your ideas!

I am happy to see someone giving ideas instead if whining!

My Ideas:

#1. Make the mobile version a differant color! I like the blue a ton!!!! But it's not very YYGish. If that makes any sence. I think it would look fine in green!

will update later...

PS. How do I revert back to mobile once I am in standard?

[Smarty]

The difference between how Internet Explorer 7 (and above) and other browsers render these pages has all to do with ClearType, a new Microsoft feature for font rendering. That doesn't just happen for this forum, you should see this effect on all websites when using this browser, as well as for Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010 products.

It's funny that you consider IE to be the one that needs to be smoother, as the whole point of ClearType was allowing for a better anti-aliased font rendering as opposed to the old-fashioned non-aliased rendering you see in other browsers. But if you really don't like it you can switch it off by going to Tools > Internet Options > Advanced tab, and unchecking the "Always Use ClearType for HTML" box in the Multimedia section. The changes are effective after an application restart.

[chance]

Other than the cage competition (which sounds fun), all these suggestions sound cosmetic and superficial. Hardly seems worth the effort.

[commander of games]

Other than the cage competition (which sounds fun), all these suggestions sound cosmetic and superficial. Hardly seems worth the effort.

I cant think of anything else that would need to change. We got as many different forum sections as we could ever need. The only other thing that I could think of would be a "Reviewers Choice WIP" topic or subforum, though I dont think this would work to well.

[xot]

The only other thing that I could think of would be a "Reviewers Choice WIP" topic or subforum, though I dont think this would work to well.

Do you mean like this one or did you have something different in mind?

[commander of games]

The only other thing that I could think of would be a "Reviewers Choice WIP" topic or subforum, though I dont think this would work to well.

Do you mean like this one or did you have something different in mind?

Similare, except it would be more like the normal reviews. The reviews, of course, would be shorter and would have to be updated when a new major version is released. This could be hard to manage though.

Also, any chance of using one of the Cage Match suggestions? Possibly #5.2? It would be the easiest, I think. This could also be merged with Desert Dogs idea.

Edited by commander of games, 05 October 2010 - 03:26 PM.

[Desert Dog]

Other than the cage competition (which sounds fun), all these suggestions sound cosmetic and superficial. Hardly seems worth the effort.

As long as someone else is doing the work it's ALWAYS worth the effort.

But yeah, would mostly just like to see the cage match come back.

[Nocturne]

Less green (I´m using a greasemonkey script by Takagi* (I think!) atm... Fred, check it out as it´s perfect!) and more Cage Match!!!!



*read "Tangible Lime"

Edited by Mark13673, 05 October 2010 - 07:32 PM.