What do you think of the new look Apolyton?

[McMonkey]

First off I would like to congratulate Robert and the team for migrating successfully. I'm sure they must have put a lot of work into this project.

It looks like Apolyton has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. The new look is certainly a shock to the system but at least it looks up to date for new users who visit our forums. I'm not convinced about the background image and transparency as I find it a bit distracting despite the nice picture. I think I would prefer a solid background instead of the transparency. It feels a little bit like I'm floating above the site, it doesn't have that same feel of permanancy as before. I guess accepting change is not going to be easy for people who are still playing a game designed in a previous century though

What do you guys think of it?

[AGRICOLA]

As a fair number of responses to this thread above McMonkey's post suggest, the Black Hole of Calcutta look is not everybody's cuppa tea. Regrettably, my honest opinion would be censored by the first moderator who spotted it and I'd be a candidate for .

Ooops! When I clicked on [more] smilies and looked at them full screen, guess what? I got to see not only the WHOLE miserable background picture but also uniquely mottled smilies with barely readable descriptions.

Hopefully, the Powers That Be will come up with an optional full screen skin for those of us who are not fans of the Gothic look.


ADDENDUM: Switched to the recently added variable width + no background skin. It rocks!

[Riesstiu IV]

I'm just waiting for the attachments to show up. All of the image attachments in graphics threads are not displaying.

[Elensar]

It is extremely disconcerting looking. I liked the old look better.

Black and orange are just not good colors.

[torbk]

I found that I could turn the background off in general settings as well as adjust the forum width. Strange that I could not change the colors.. or perhaps not..

I do agree that black and orange is..

.. weird.

Overall though, I find it mostly good.

[Catfish]

As a fair number of responses to this thread above McMonkey's post suggest, the Black Hole of Calcutta look is not everybody's cuppa tea. Regrettably, my honest opinion would be censored by the first moderator who spotted it and I'd be a candidate for .

Ditto. So common sense would suggest making dark text on light background + no background images + wide columns the default, not merely an option for registered members. I generally only log in to post and download attachments. White text on black background = eye strain.

I notice they've implemented RSS, blogging and Twitter, all very nice, I suppose, although I doubt I'll use any of it (I've got no interest in nerd-on-nerd interviews), but where is the downloads section with all of the game files? Where do I find something as basic as the latest Civ4 BTS patch? The main Apolyton banner links back to the forums. What is the homepage? Spotlight?

To be fair, they've only just relaunched the site; they're bound to have teething troubles.

[Case]

The white text on a black background doesn't really work for me (and might be problematic for people with visual problems), but everything else seems good. I turned the background off as it was a bit distracting, though it does look snazzy.

[Harry Tuttle]

Ugh. My eyes hurt.

[King Mir]

Background image isn't suitable as a background; the main feature is obstructed by the text. If you use a background image, at least make it a landscape, not a picture of a thing, in this case the head of the statue of liberty.

[curtsibling]

I think it sucks the big one, though I guess we'll have to get used to it -

I liked the old look, but these days everything has to look "GRIMDARK"...
We may as well become a Warhammer 40K forum with this new goth style...

[RobRoy]

Ouch!

Why is it that when people want a change, they make it busy, complex, and generally worse than before?

What happened to the K.I.S.S. principle?

Have people forgotten that the best, most popular, and most profitable web site on the internet is fronted by an incredibly clean and simple web page:

http://www.google.com/

[Chris 62]

Its ok.

I remember when markos added a bunch of skins and everyone hated it at first, but liked it later on.

I personally never liked white text on black, its hard on the eyes, but i can live with it.