Usability and Design advice

[-Jrabbit]

That is a huge and false assumption, Solver. Leaving your users to "imagine" what is going on is a recipe for false explanations, hearsay, and dissatisfaction. Just look at what's gone on in the threads -- unhappy references all over Poly about how slow it is. (I've been on the road and blaming it on my hotel's HSIA.)

"Common sense works" -- if and only if your audience shares your perspective on what that implies. This is exactly what leads to websites that the owners and designers love, yet whose users find the navigation impenetrable.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but we want the site to be attractive, fast-loading and easy to understand for newbies as well as the regulars, yes?

[-Jrabbit]

Hey, the time is correct!!!!!!

[SpencerH]

Now that I've joined the phone web-browsing club I'd like to see a more mobile friendly version of the forums.

[Gramphos]

Now that I've joined the phone web-browsing club I'd like to see a more mobile friendly version of the forums.

Try http://m.apolyton.net/forums

[SpencerH]

Per usual I'm a bit behind on the technical side. Thanks.

[Sirotnikov]

Solver, I hope that my advice doesn't come off condescending. I know I'm prone to that, so I apologize if it so.


I have two and a half years experience with similar IT issues, I consider myself well learned on both sides of such missions - technical as well as business (client) side. So I sometimes have strong opinions on how stuff should be done.

I don't intend to disrespect anybody's work, or the amount of time effort you donate to this site.

@ poly

[Solver]

Not in the least. Besides, I have a fairly thick skin anyway Strong opinions often work very well, as far as I'm concerned.

[Sirotnikov]

alright.

then someone has to say it.

are you sure you want the green?

[TCO]

Is Solver responsible for green. Blanket party.

[Locutus]

As I pointed out in the why olive green thread, the current design is basically an alpha that's derived from an existing forum style, most of the issues brought up in this thread have been inherited from that style. I agree with a lot of the points made here and we'll be making major changes to this style over the weeks and months to come. To address a few of the points (there are too many to address them all individually): the fonts will be cleaned up, the orange will disappear from the colour palette entirely, we plan to replace a lot of the icons and buttons, the sidebar is completely place-holder at this point (both in terms of content and appearance), advanced forum search will definitely return and the width/margin issues will also be addressed. I'm sure I missed an important point or two, but I'll be sure to comb through this thread as our design gets closer to the final version, and continue to ask for feedback along the way.

Mind you, RL issues mean that for now progress will be a bit slow though, I hope to be able to do much more work myself from mid/late February onwards, until then most of the work will have to be done by snoopy and other staffers, who have plenty of other things on their plate as well.

[Solver]

Frankly, I've rather liked green since the first concept images that were made internally. I find it rather easy on the eyes, and I stopped using dark themes for Apolyotn almost two years ago anyway.

[TCO]

You all are morons, with repeated mess ups.

[Sirotnikov]

Ignore TCO.

Locutus, if schedule is lax, and I'm allowed to work according to my time constrains, I'm willing to put money where my mouth is, and give a hand, according to the directions of the site administration.

I hope I'll be able to dedicate several hours p/week, depending on university assignments schedule. So maybe some work could be divided into smaller tasks, a couple of hours each, that I could do.

I waste time on poly everyday anyway, on the ME threads. Better put them to good use. Currently, mostly in the photoshop area, until I recover my web-programming foo. I haven't touched PHP in years...

Other than that I consider myself to be good in interface design, user tasks analysis etc, but that is more in the idea department, and I realize you need more working hands, so let me know if I can help.