FBTB 3.0: Your feedback here!

[onions]

Let's hear it. What do you think of the site? You can also point out any design or technical issues that may have seemed overlooked here. We are maintaining a laundry list of stuff that still needs to be done and worked, but it doesn't hurt to have extra pairs of eyes poking around looking at stuff.

[Turkguy19]

Vastly different, and will take some time to get use to, but it looks great.

[Lord T]

Yes lovely choice of colours, I'm not quite sure about the oddly balloon shaped smilies or the relaxation of the RtB policy though...

Great work on the forums mind you, well done to all involved.

[Jake]

Mostly looking good from here, a few things seem a bit bare, but I guess that's because I'm using the site IP instead of fbtb.net/forums, because that still links me to the old place.

I agree with Lord T for the most part, although I for one welcome our new relaxed-RTB overlords.

I guess this is the place to say a big thank you to all the staff and everyone involved for making FBTB 3.0 exist.

[Joedward]

I'm sure I'll miss the old blue colour scheme for a couple of days/ weeks, but he current one is very good looking, I'm already getting used to it.
Great job on the forums over all, well worth the wait. Thanks a lot staff

[Kyle]

Looks good overall to me. The only thing I might like to see changed, and this is about as picky as nits can get, is that it's a bit tough for me to differentiate between forums with new posts and forums without new posts. The black and dark red are too similar, in my opinion. Maybe instead of having the new post graphic be red, have it be filled in to look like a glowy button or something?

[Septemris]

Site looks great ! Thanks for limiting the width of the display. It''s much more easier to read on a wide monitor.
I'm not sure if the header should be that big throughout the forum though.

And on a more technical note, you have an error in your style.css file.

Line 41 :
#bottomNav ul{list-style:none;margin:0px padding:5px;}

You need to have a ";" separator between margin:0px and padding:5px
#bottomNav ul{list-style:none;margin:0px; padding:5px;}

Anal tip : when the value of the margin / padding / etc. is 0, you don't need to write "px" after it.
#bottomNav ul{list-style:none;margin:0; padding:5px;}

[Morgan19]

Here are a few things I've thought about this morning (which I hope are taken as constructive comments and not just criticism):

Avatars
Will they be available at some point? (I'm guessing they're just not ready yet, since the rules and guidelines still mention them.)

Board style
Given that it appears to be the only one listed in the dropdown, will a "default", non-styled version of the boards ever be made available? Or will black and red always be the only option? (Not that it isn't nice-looking; I just can't think of many other community boards that don't allow a user to choose a default phpBB style instead. Just in case.)

Fluid vs. fixed-width
What was the rationale behind dumping the old board's fluid layout vs. this one's fixed width? Was it simply to better merge the frontpage and forum sections together?

WordPress login
Per my question here about logging in/registering with WordPress for commenting on news stories.

Sidebar size
The left-hand sidebar seems to take up an unnecessarily wide amount of space (especially now with the fixed-width layout), I think because of the timestamp on the join date. I'm not sure how critical everyone knowing exactly what minute someone joined is; are there any plans to trim that bit and reclaim some post space?

"Online"
The online banner graphic in the left-hand sidebar seems awkward. I think it's its overall size, placement, and color in relation to everything else, but (especially without avatars) I just see ONLINE!!! instead of the important info like the poster's name.

Poster's name
A poster's name in the left-side sidebar seems way too small right now: too easy to get lost in all the other page info. It looks like the old site's names were 12 pt whereas the new ones are only 10 or 11, maybe? (Names should ideally be a point or two larger than titles, join date, etc.)

The black and dark red are too similar, in my opinion. Maybe instead of having the new post graphic be red, have it be filled in to look like a glowy button or something?

^ Agreed, the nearly-monochrome icons are hard to tell apart to me, too.

m19

[Darth Bizzle]

It looks pretty good. My only problem is I can't figure out the URL thingy. So maybe make a tutorial for that as this is new for me...the old one was easy though.

But overall 5/5.

[Morgan19]

Oh, and PS– YAY for no more "You must wait X seconds before searching again" when you hit up the "New Posts" link or refresh the page more than once. That bugged the heck out of me on the old boards and it's good to see it fixed.

m19

[badgerboy]

ooh! very shiny.

As long as the news, reviews etc. continue in the time-honoured tradition of FBTB, then it'll be nice to have a new place to play!

[Andi]

A big thank you to the stuff for this awesome work!
I still have to get used to some of the new features and the new look though.

Hey, this topic is in the BCS - that means the posting problem is solved! Yeah!

[Joedward]

It isn't very clear when a thread has one than one page, it seems very easy to miss that.

[onions]

Site looks great ! Thanks for limiting the width of the display. It''s much more easier to read on a wide monitor.
I'm not sure if the header should be that big throughout the forum though.

And on a more technical note, you have an error in your style.css file.

Line 41 :
#bottomNav ul{list-style:none;margin:0px padding:5px;}

You need to have a ";" separator between margin:0px and padding:5px
#bottomNav ul{list-style:none;margin:0px; padding:5px;}

Anal tip : when the value of the margin / padding / etc. is 0, you don't need to write "px" after it.
#bottomNav ul{list-style:none;margin:0; padding:5px;}

thanks for pointing that out, it's been fixed.

i always get into the habit of spelling out the units, cause if i ever have to change something i would just add it anyway.

[Firespray]

This will definitely take some getting used to, digging the new color scheme, I like it

-The nav buttons at the top of the page (News, Reviews, Set Index, etc) don't look right to me.

-The stars background is a bit weird too, looks a little pixelated on my screen too.

[theJudeAbides]

I have to admit, there are a lot of improvements here over the old boards.

First of all, I like the new forum organization. This is something I was really hoping you would do, and do well, and you did. Having one central location for all MOCs to be posted is much better than the old system of having Star Wars MOCs in one forum, and other MOCs being mixed in with other LEGO discussion.
Additionally, combining the Star Wars and Star Wars LEGO forums into one just makes sense. The old Star Wars thread didn't see that many new topics or posts, so it makes sense to mix it in with the Star Wars LEGO section. The only question remains, will a new 100+ page trivia thread emerge here? Only time will tell.
I'm also liking the fact that FBTB is expanding its LEGO horizons by adding some new forums. I think this is a step in the right direction for FBTB, expanding the core LEGO focus of the site.
It's also good to see several classic forums survive to the new site. The BCS, Suggestions, B/S/T, and Ask LEGO forums are mainstays that need to be kept alive.

I do have one question, though: How come we are not allowed to post new topics in the BCS? Is there a new restriction that you have to have been here a certain amount of time/posted so many times (much like the B/S/T section) before you can start a new topic? If this is the case, it actually seems like a good idea and could curb two separate problems: spambots registering and flooding the boards and noobs creating new threads without searching and/or obeying the proper etiquette. By forcing people to learn the lay of the land before posting, we'll hopefully see less spam and fewer noob mistakes.

The one complaint I have right now is the ad-banner that appears between the page banner and the page content. In fact, I generally don't like the ads at all, but realize you have bills to pay. I don't have a problem with the banners on the bottom, as they are easily ignored. However, the ones at the top make the banner seem disjointed and disconnected from the rest of the site. Part of the problem, too, is that it doesn't fill the gap completely and you're left with the backgrounds stars filling in the gaps (Side note: I love the new starry background). If you could resize the banners to completely fill the gap, or figure out some solution to to add some color around it, that would be much better as it would connect the banner to the rest of the site.

[onions]

Here are a few things I've thought about this morning (which I hope are taken as constructive comments and not just criticism):

Avatars
Will they be available at some point? (I'm guessing they're just not ready yet, since the rules and guidelines still mention them.)

Yes, we have plans on releasing an avatar gallery with all new art.

Board style
Given that it appears to be the only one listed in the dropdown, will a "default", non-styled version of the boards ever be made available? Or will black and red always be the only option? (Not that it isn't nice-looking; I just can't think of many other community boards that don't allow a user to choose a default phpBB style instead. Just in case.)

This will be the default style. We will be addng more styles in the future. though, i havent' decided yet if those new styles will be user selectable.

Fluid vs. fixed-width
What was the rationale behind dumping the old board's fluid layout vs. this one's fixed width? Was it simply to better merge the frontpage and forum sections together?

I personally cannot stand 100% width pages. So when designing the site with that in mind, I decided to stick with a fixed width layout for all pags, including the forum. The forum integration was something i really wanted to happen; it always bothered me that the forums and the main site were at two different urls and had two distinct looks. So what you see now is the result of an effort for a more unified look and feel.

WordPress login
Per my question here about logging in/registering with WordPress for commenting on news stories.

Nope, not gonna happen. We do not need two forums to manage.

Sidebar size
The left-hand sidebar seems to take up an unnecessarily wide amount of space (especially now with the fixed-width layout), I think because of the timestamp on the join date. I'm not sure how critical everyone knowing exactly what minute someone joined is; are there any plans to trim that bit and reclaim some post space?

I can add this to the lsit of things to address; the space may be necessary for avatars though.

"Online"
The online banner graphic in the left-hand sidebar seems awkward. I think it's its overall size, placement, and color in relation to everything else, but (especially without avatars) I just see ONLINE!!! instead of the important info like the poster's name.

That's a default feature with the theme. I'm considering taking it out entirely. I doubt many of us care if a person is online.

Poster's name
A poster's name in the left-side sidebar seems way too small right now: too easy to get lost in all the other page info. It looks like the old site's names were 12 pt whereas the new ones are only 10 or 11, maybe? (Names should ideally be a point or two larger than titles, join date, etc.)

I'll take this into consideration also.

The black and dark red are too similar, in my opinion. Maybe instead of having the new post graphic be red, have it be filled in to look like a glowy button or something?

^ Agreed, the nearly-monochrome icons are hard to tell apart to me, too.

m19

Same as above. But I do plan on updating the graphics.

[Solo]

Edit again: Nevermind, I'm just repeating Ace...

[onions]

I have to admit, there are a lot of improvements here over the old boards.

First of all, I like the new forum organization. This is something I was really hoping you would do, and do well, and you did. Having one central location for all MOCs to be posted is much better than the old system of having Star Wars MOCs in one forum, and other MOCs being mixed in with other LEGO discussion.
Additionally, combining the Star Wars and Star Wars LEGO forums into one just makes sense. The old Star Wars thread didn't see that many new topics or posts, so it makes sense to mix it in with the Star Wars LEGO section. The only question remains, will a new 100+ page trivia thread emerge here? Only time will tell.
I'm also liking the fact that FBTB is expanding its LEGO horizons by adding some new forums. I think this is a step in the right direction for FBTB, expanding the core LEGO focus of the site.
It's also good to see several classic forums survive to the new site. The BCS, Suggestions, B/S/T, and Ask LEGO forums are mainstays that need to be kept alive.

I do have one question, though: How come we are not allowed to post new topics in the BCS? Is there a new restriction that you have to have been here a certain amount of time/posted so many times (much like the B/S/T section) before you can start a new topic? If this is the case, it actually seems like a good idea and could curb two separate problems: spambots registering and flooding the boards and noobs creating new threads without searching and/or obeying the proper etiquette. By forcing people to learn the lay of the land before posting, we'll hopefully see less spam and fewer noob mistakes.

The one complaint I have right now is the ad-banner that appears between the page banner and the page content. In fact, I generally don't like the ads at all, but realize you have bills to pay. I don't have a problem with the banners on the bottom, as they are easily ignored. However, the ones at the top make the banner seem disjointed and disconnected from the rest of the site. Part of the problem, too, is that it doesn't fill the gap completely and you're left with the backgrounds stars filling in the gaps (Side note: I love the new starry background). If you could resize the banners to completely fill the gap, or figure out some solution to to add some color around it, that would be much better as it would connect the banner to the rest of the site.

The permissions for the bcs forum should be fixed by now.

I'll look into integrating the ad and the page better. You're right, it does seem to break the page in a way.

[Solo]

I'm not quite sure about the oddly balloon shaped smilies

Yes, those suck, we're replacing them soon. And by "we" I mean Nick.

It looks pretty good. My only problem is I can't figure out the URL thingy. So maybe make a tutorial for that as this is new for me...the old one was easy though.

But overall 5/5.

Can you explain what you mean by "URL thingy"?