WTF is with the new layout? (read thread before posting)

I kinda like that the old www.watmm.com front page is gone. That thing was kinda pointless.

The original electronic music community. Since 1982.

it's still there?

before seeing the new thread tagging feature i was seriously considering publicizing a petition to fire joyrex from watmm, but this great feature that i always wanted to see in the multitopical world of watmm forced me to reconsider.

  On 8/9/2011 at 6:37 PM, Joyrex said:

  On 8/9/2011 at 1:38 PM, hahathhat said:

i find it a tad shortsighted that they just changed the live board interface with the attitude that the bugs could be sorted out later. why not do it on a private testbed copy first, to fix the obvious problems, and make a much better first impression?

 

I guess I need to smack you down like I did Rhombix...

 

First off, this is not our skin - this is the default skin that comes with the latest release of this forum software. Any 'bugs' are not our fault, and while you can complain about some of them and we can fix some of them, there's others that will just need to be sorted out by developing our own skin, or in the case of genuine code bugs, the developers will resolve or a Addon developer will come up with a solution/workaround for.

 

Second, I develop software and web applications for a living (so does Chaosmachine) - don't sit here and lecture about how we should have done a "private testbed copy" or any of that other bullshit you're pretending to know something about. I gave up my lunch break to upgrade the forum as I really don't have the free time otherwise, and don't feel like staying up until 1AM doing it at home. I was considering doing a test forum, etc. but honestly - it's a fucking messageboard. This is not "mission critical" by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Lastly, even if we had done things "the right way", you and the rest of the trolls would have bitched or complained about something anyways, so why go through all that effort AND put up with the gnashing of teeth, etc. What's ironic is once a new version of the forum software comes out that changes things again, you'll all fall into the same routine as before where you complain for the sake of it. If you don't like it, then GTFO and run your own forum if you think you can do better.

 

Thanks to everyone who has brought up legitimate concerns and pointed out issues that are relevant and make sense, versus idiot trolls who love nothing more than to shit on the very plate they likewise love to eat off of.

 

*pats Banhammer™* Soon, my pet, soooon.

wat? it always takes me by surprise when you wig out on me like this. it probably has something to do with my approach of posting whatever's on my mind without thinking (because it's just a fucking messageboard, not the UN). i am gathering you're kind of stressed now! so, sorry. please calm down. i may complain a bit, but i am not trying to "troll" you. believe it or not, i'm trying to help. i went to the trouble of marking up a screenshot with problems i saw, and i've been pointing out other problems here and there.

why do you still run watmm, joyrex? it seems to wind you up a bit more than is healthy!! i don't really see you having much fun on here, just a lot of yelling.

p.s. did you know? i am a software engineer myself. went to school for it and everything. music is just a hobby, as is this board. i do, in fact, run my own forum, but it doesn't get terribly many posts, so i tend to drift back here.

watmm-fasthack has been updated again.

most of the changes are designed to improve readability:

- slightly darker, alternating colors on topic/forum listings.

- alternating colors on nested quotes (it's pretty).

- fixed spacing between lines and paragraphs.

- fixed spacing between posts and signatures

- fixed spacing between avatars and posts

- various other margin/padding and color tweaks.

- oh yeah, and custom titles are back where they should be: below the avatar, not above.

clear your cache to see the changes, or you'll keep getting the old version.

and if you haven't changed your theme yet, do this:

  On 8/9/2011 at 11:04 PM, mcbpete said:

  On 8/9/2011 at 7:45 PM, chassis said:

As long as the fix the "tab, enter" for posting, ill be happy.

It certainly does on my browser (Firefox 5.0), even though I've never posted that way before (apart from for this test).

Dont be working on the chromieo

  On 8/9/2011 at 8:44 AM, ghOsty said:

Ah, the fasthack is MUCH better, i still say the color are a bit off, but if I understand correctly from reading the thread, it's being worked on... right now it's SO BRIGHT!!!

Here's a tip, turn your monitor down. After all, you don't want to get cataracts from computer use*, now do you.

*completely baseless junk theory

  On 8/10/2011 at 12:35 AM, delet... said:

  On 8/9/2011 at 8:44 AM, ghOsty said:

Ah, the fasthack is MUCH better, i still say the color are a bit off, but if I understand correctly from reading the thread, it's being worked on... right now it's SO BRIGHT!!!

 

 

Here's a tip, turn your monitor down. After all, you don't want to get cataracts from computer use*, now do you.

motherfucker told me to buy a chemistry set.

Good improvements with the fasthack theme. Good job. I've already forgotten how it used to look.

The sigs aren't centered, they are centered when editing sig though. Is no biggie, just a FYI.

  On 8/10/2011 at 12:23 AM, chaosmachine said:

Why are the posts/content so narrow? Also, why no join date? Newcomers need to know their place.

Mr Ambassador, with these fasthack, you are really spoiling us!

  On 8/9/2011 at 11:06 PM, Joyrex said:

  On 8/9/2011 at 10:57 PM, chimera slot mom said:

Ok this is starting to suck less. Good job joyrex and chaosmachine!

 

Still waiting on topic subtext! Tags are totally not the same thing.

 

That might be something we can't do anything about - apparently IBP in their infinite wisdom decided it would be better to 'tag' things and offer an admittedly interesting way to find related items (more on this in a minute) than to provide a subtext for each thread.

 

Speaking of tags, the default is an "open" system, where people can create tags at will - the opposite is a "closed" system, where we specify groups who have the ability to create tags, which then the users can select when creating their posts.

 

I'm thinking perhaps a set of tags controlled by the staff, with suggestions from the community, of course - it would make finding related content much easier, I think.

 

What does everyone else think? I know it's a new feature, so perhaps some time to see how it works is warranted first.

Ok that sucks, nothing you can do. Tags aren't that bad though. On tagging, if anyone can tag any topic, it all goes to hell, becomes sorta funny at times but utterly useless for its intentional purposes, at least it did last time i saw a forum do it. I suggest thread starters decide so there's at least an approximation of the subtext of yore, but a group might be fun. Provided they don't get all elitist about it. It might also be looked upon as trite janitor work. Having a set of tags is a good idea, just make sure to include peeing in butts and other mainstays of watmm highbrow discussion.

did you just change the font? I like it, the same as before, just saying it's different from when you're in posting mode which looks kind of weird.

I'll try to make the editor match in the next update.

  On 8/9/2011 at 6:37 PM, Joyrex said:

  On 8/9/2011 at 6:31 PM, yek said:

  On 8/9/2011 at 6:19 PM, jules said:

i will say i'm not a huge fan of the circle/star thing but maybe it's just because i am not used to it.

i seriously can't find circle/star

 

fuuuuuuuuh.....

 

Yeah, that's a really bad design decision on their part - we'll try to address that on any custom skins.

indeed joyrex, if it's possible, please change those damned stars back to those orange envelopes or something of the like.

chaos, good work on the updated fasthack, shits clean

edit: also,

  On 8/10/2011 at 12:58 AM, chimera slot mom said:

why no join date? Newcomers need to know their place.

^ this

  On 8/10/2011 at 12:58 AM, chimera slot mom said:

Why are the posts/content so narrow?

there is now a fasthack-fluid option, for those who want something wider (or thinner).

I like the fluid one.

Stars are gay though.

diggin new design!

not to be superficial or anything but this layout is shit. liked the minimal design a whole lot better

As was mentioned earlier. Inevitably I have become used to the new layout. I can barely remember the old one.

  On 8/10/2011 at 2:39 AM, viscosity said:

not to be superficial or anything but this layout is shit. liked the minimal design a whole lot better

did you try the other one?

im honestly surprised people like the older one more than this... so futuristic and expensive :D

fasthack fluid is so great that it caused me to fastwack a bunch of fluid in my pants!

  On 8/10/2011 at 12:07 AM, baph said:

The original electronic music community. Since 1982.

 

 

it's still there?

this. even though I always bookmarked directly to the forums, i liked its presence

flashback is better

fasthack** whoops

Maybe this is just me, and maybe it's always been this way, but the

Report -- Multiquote -- Quote

layout seems weird, particularly placement of "report" before the others; I like that "report" fades until mouseover, but it's the first to be scanned by the eye and, presumably, the least used response option.

But at the same time, folks tend to target areas best that are closest to corners, so maybe the current layout anticpates that "quote" will be most used and places it closest to the edge for easier mouse-targeting.

Fuck me, serious psychological and ergonomic implications here.

Oh cool, Fasthack is fine. I think tags are good (because the search is pretty awful and tags could improve that) but I miss the subtext.

I think I'll end up liking this after all.

"The Rules" need to be more visible though.