405th Community Software Update!

[Reclaimara]

The current Forum Rank system is set up for 8 "ranks." With one set aside for Recruit, that left seven, the same number as the primary Covenant Races, excluding Engineers. It seemed like a good fit, and almost serendipitous to use them. The idea of Covenant ranks was considered, but since the Covenant Races fit so well with the current rank system set up they were decided on.

Didn't know about it. Then, it's all nice.

 

[mblackwell1002]

Again, the issue with the header is a matter of it being able to expand and contract with the fluid design. I am not saying it can't happen, but it is going to be tough to be consistant.

With regard to a featured member... I know several people have asked about this or something like this. We have tried that before with other communities and while it seems like a great idea on the surface, our experience has been that it is a great way to cause more hurt feelings than good will. Again, not saying "no" but it is unlikely.

that's definitely understandable. (this is all hypothetical, of course) However, I don't think that it will really hurt people.
If we could do a 'new member' every other month, that would potentially keep the proper balance. that way, everyone gets a little taste of fame. also, if that wouldn't work, people could just ask to be featured.

also for future Ideas, if a Idea is accepted and approved you could do a vote to see if everyone likes the Idea.

Eh, sorry If I seem a little rude or stubborn. I'm just throwing out Ideas.

anyhow, thanks for taking my ideas into consideration

 

[Art Andrews]

Node icons on home page have been updated.

 

[Bambii]

• Just a thought for the splash page for people to get to the new site, I think the "click here" needs to be a different colour. If someone just skims the page without reading the text (aka me ) it can look like there isn't a way to know the link is there. It'll help visually for people to understand that there is in fact a link there.
• 
• I am getting an error when I try and update my social media info, not sure if I'm not filling it out correctly but there aren't any obvious fields that I would need to fill
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• I'm not a web designer/coder, but I think the image insert should include uploading from the computer. Instead of going Upload file, choosing the file and then choosing whether it comes in as a thumbnail or full image. Just an initial thought on it as most websites use that image icon for both types of image inserts

 

[whereisdanielle]

Coming back to the site now after being away since my last post, and I must say I'm really starting to enjoy using it now, while I find the white background is too bright still and is causing me eye strain after too much thread browsing (about an hour is the most I can endure, and yes facebook is much the same for me, however not quite as much as this site, must be a slightly different tone or font size on the white, unsure of the cause) and the widening of the site is monumentally better! I was having issues with quoting earlier but they seem to have just vanished so thats awesome.

And I'd like to say that I also agree with Mara on the cloud icons and ranks, as well as with Jack on the header and background. His example image is very pleasing to look at visually, its not bland and not over crowded. The repeating pattern on the sides is a very nice touch to break up the monotone of flat colour slabs.

Personally I'd love to see the return of the identity icons/badges (the rank and regiment ones) that were on the old site rather than the ribbons, something about the ribbons just reminds me of 2004 and I think takes away from our identity. I'd like to see us keep that signature 405th look and not fall into a generic web hole of overly simple and same-same visuals.

And finally I love that there has been a pretty instant change to the site based on everyones feedback, its really great to see that everyone is passionate about our community and our presentation of our site.
Thank you for continuing to give us this online space to be cosplay nerds.

 

[Chernobyl]

I'll throw up one critique point I have for the new Resources tool we have - the 'Download Now' button blends in quite easily with the white/pale background, and could be darkened significantly to make it easier to see.

 

[Reclaimara]

I can relate to Danielle JINX. Enjoy the new forum a lot more, especially with the new beautiful forum icons! So pretty!
And yeah, white always hurts eyes... I think it might be because the background on the sides is almost black... but overall, the new forum is really nice.
When everything is finished, it'll be great.

 

[Art Andrews]

• Just a thought for the splash page for people to get to the new site, I think the "click here" needs to be a different colour. If someone just skims the page without reading the text (aka me ) it can look like there isn't a way to know the link is there. It'll help visually for people to understand that there is in fact a link there.
• View attachment 237917

Good call. We can make that change. Pretty quickly we will have the old site down and the root url will simply redirect here, but in the meantime, we can surely change the link color.

• I am getting an error when I try and update my social media info, not sure if I'm not filling it out correctly but there aren't any obvious fields that I would need to fill
• View attachment 237918

This is one of those catch22 situations. When you sign up, we require your first name (giving a false first name is grounds for banning). This is something we do across all of our sites. However, if you registered before we took ownership, that was not required. When/if you modify your profile, that required field goes into effect.

• I'm not a web designer/coder, but I think the image insert should include uploading from the computer. Instead of going Upload file, choosing the file and then choosing whether it comes in as a thumbnail or full image. Just an initial thought on it as most websites use that image icon for both types of image inserts

You are right. Let me look at that and correct that setting!

 

[Art Andrews]

Well... that took all of 2 seconds.

So, while it doesn't seem entirely intuitive to me (and clearly not to a few of you), the image icon is intended for embedding images from external links. If you want to upload a file (image or otherwise) from your computer or phone, you click the "Upload a File" button in the lower right hand corner. Again, I know that seems odd, as it was handled very differently before, but it is a core function of the new software that isn't likely to change and we just need to remember... image button is for linking, upload button is for uploading.

 

[Art Andrews]

Personally I'd love to see the return of the identity icons/badges (the rank and regiment ones) that were on the old site rather than the ribbons, something about the ribbons just reminds me of 2004 and I think takes away from our identity. I'd like to see us keep that signature 405th look and not fall into a generic web hole of overly simple and same-same visuals.

We aren't likely to go back to the old ranks (as they were graphics as opposed to text and css, but I agree that the ribbons need work. I believe the issue is the gradient. Most of this design is flat, while that still has a web 2.0 look which is horribly outdated at this point. Will see what we can do to bring it more inline.

 

[Jme]

Is there a fix for using the new forum in Tapatalk? When I try to load the forum I just get the 343i Guilty Spark message....

 

[FANGS]

The short answer is no there isn't. The reason for this is that the move to the new platform means you don't need to use Tapatalk or like software to properly view the forum on a mobile device any longer.

 

[PerniciousDuke]

Ok, brace yourselves here comes the unpopular opinions.

Visually we've stepped back to 2005. Usability wise, I literally cant read anything because grey front on a glaringly white background is the worst thing you could ever do in web design. Same goes for the light blue. Especially when youre working with back-lit screens.
The page now has SO much wasted space on the sides making me need to scroll more than I would have to if you widened it inline with the old site.
I cant find anything I need too because everything is just harder to navigate. I'm looking at you drop-downs..

My first reaction was very similar to this. Colors, positioning, a lot of the aesthetics looked dated. I know that is terrible news for something that you've worked so hard on and for so long. But, it doesn't get better if people don't give their inputs. Right now I don't have exact suggestions, but I wanted to second this idea. I have always steered away from forums because most give me a headache, so much content and so hard to read. But, the old 405th had that je ne sais quoi that kept me around, it got me to want to look at more content. I believe we will find it again, but it will take some tweaking. Simple stuff, I'd imagine, like font color/type/size changes can make a huge difference. It already looks a lot better than day one, I really like the widening. The rest of it we will get use to. But, we should never forget what it is like to be a new member, how everything we can do to make their learning (and ours) easier is worth it.

I hope this didn't come out to be too negative because I think you have done a great job Art Andrews and team! Thank you!

*edit- I only read the first page of comments, I didn't see the other pages, sorry. Could be something to make a little more obvious instead a white button with a light grey outline on a white background.

 

[Art Andrews]

Is there a fix for using the new forum in Tapatalk? When I try to load the forum I just get the 343i Guilty Spark message....

What FANGS said... adding to that, we are trying to get our account removed from Tapatalk now that we are more mobile friendly to limit the confusion.

 

[StayFrosty]

Would it be possible to put the old regiment graphics next to the text, and then have the banner be a similar color to that regiment's color scheme? If you got rid of the gradient and did that it would look really nice, almost as good as the badge-only layout. Are there any plans to put some kind of repeating pattern in the borders like the RPF has? Just doing that would add a lot to the overall aesthetic, and make it look less like an empty abyss.

 

[Art Andrews]

Would it be possible to put the old regiment graphics next to the text, and then have the banner be a similar color to that regiment's color scheme? If you got rid of the gradient and did that it would look really nice, almost as good as the badge-only layout.

We are continuing to work on the regiment banners, but I can tell you now that it won't be the individual regiment logos and/or colors. You have to keep in mind that we are working with 14px of height and it is REALLY hard to make even the most simple graphic look good at that size. It will likely be a simplified UNSC eagle crest and nothing more beside the regiment name. Anything more complicated will get dicey.

Are there any plans to put some kind of repeating pattern in the borders like the RPF has? Just doing that would add a lot to the overall aesthetic, and make it look less like an empty abyss.

We have purposefully tried to move away from that type of look to a more simple and clean look, but I am not necessarily saying no.

 

[StayFrosty]

Oh ok, the regiment thing makes sense. A repeating design for a background would look really nice though, or maybe even just making it grey instead of black.

 

[Strider]

Doing some further looking at the site. I swear I'm trying to be helpful!

• Is there to be a home page? Because currently, the home page hyperlink redirects to the main /forums/ area. Just something I noticed.
• RSS feeds - how important are they? The orange colour detracts from the present 405th colour pattern, additionally, maybe I just haven't used RSS before, but it seems a little broken. It doesn't allow you to view additional pages, just the first few posts of a sub-forum, as well as it not displaying the username of the person's thread.
• This portion of the navigation bar should be gray to fit with the top parts of the nav-bar, similar to the former nav-bar of the 2015 site.
  
• The bottom of the page is missing the message that we operate with respect to Microsoft's "Game Content Usage Rules". The community guidelines hyperlink is also missing.
• The Facebook 'like' link pushes you to like '405th HALO Cosplay and Prop Maker Community' and not the official 405th Facebook page. Seen here.
  
• The 'Tweet' option pushes this message to tweet out, which doesn't actually fit any kind of 'recruitment'/"visit our site" message. More like some kind of bot saying random words and a url.
  
  
• However, Google+ does work as intended! So that's a plus.

 

[foxleader]

I morn the lost of my father for about a year and come back to this. now I know what the arbiter was thinking when he met with the light bud for the first time; and to think I had just got used to the old system, back to the drawing board, so if some one can point me to the welcome noob forum so I can read up on how to use this new site. quick little joke I'd like to make. "we're updating our phone again so those of you in line for the I phone 6 please go across the street to get the new I phone 7."

 

[Cadet]

Foxleader. The core functionality of the Forum has not changed. All the Forum sections are still where they were before.

The file archive is temporaily down as it is worked to be rebuilt on the new Forum architecture, but will be back up soon very much similar to how it was before.

The vast majority of the changes and upgrades are visual and behind the scenes architecture changes to make the Forum run smoother and more reliably on a variety of platforms, mobile, desktop, and tablet seamlessly.

My condolences on you loss, and if you do need specific instructions on any feature you are unclear of, we would be more than happy to help you. Also, if you have any specific feedback on changes that could realistically be made to make your experience better, I feel that Art has demonstrated he is always open to constructive, specific, feedback.