Tweet New Look

Jim, while I agree, give it a chance. We're fans of silent movies. Of course we don't like change! I expect that Mike and the rest of the staff will poke around the code and fix things up. In the meantime, a little patience is warranted. Or shall we declare each other foe?

Bob

[Mike Gebert]

I expect a certain amount of dislike based on change, which will fade as people get used to it. But here's how we got here. We had to upgrade to PhpBB 3 or our hosting company would drop us because we were too insecure; we brought their whole server down twice when spammers exploited the weaknesses of PhpBB 2. That part was non-negotiable.

Initially I tried to find someone who would build a replica of 2 as close as possible. It wasn't even that it was going to cost a lot, though it probably would have, but that no one wanted to do it. Apparently the way PhpBB works is that new themes are mostly built on top of the basic code for ProSilver, which is the name for the hideous blue theme a few people saw briefly. And our look was just too different to be easily imitated.

So then I went shopping for something that at least had the same monochrome virtues as the old NitrateVille. This is the basic theme we started with. I had it tailored to a NitrateVille look and had a live demo that the moderators were able to test over the weekend, but really, there's no substitute for everyone using the real thing. So, use it, discover new things it offers and old things you liked it doesn't offer, provide feedback, and we can continue to evolve it. But this is where we are, and have to be.

I don't mind the new board at all, except for the "first unread post" thingy I asked about earlier. It just takes a little while getting used to.

Oh, and for some reason I can't upload my old avatar. Even though it's in the right size, the board says there is a problem with it.

I also just noticed, even when I am logged in, my status above where my avatar should be shows that I am "offline".

[Mike Gebert]

You look online to me, maybe your browser isn't reading that right. Email me the avatar (mikegebert at gmail) and I'll try it.

You look online to me, maybe your browser isn't reading that right. Email me the avatar (mikegebert at gmail) and I'll try it.

Just got the avatar thingy going. I like the new look actually.

Yeah, Louie, but it makes the avatar look hideously like El Brendel.

Bob

Well, I'm happy! My avatar is showing at last!

It frightened the peewadden out of me when I first checked in, but it's OK now--no blue, no busy. It's very BIG, is there any way to smallify it a little? Other than that, I'm fine with it. Haven't 'splored new options yet.

[Mike Gebert]

I need to go look at it on PCs or something. It's not big here but I suspect my Mac is set to a smaller dot pitch or whatever.

I need to go look at it on PCs or something. It's not big here but I suspect my Mac is set to a smaller dot pitch or whatever.

Never mind! I just smallified it myself, may have been a setting on my pc.

I'm warming to the new look and am pleased to have a working avatar.
The only problem I am having is the thread icon. My eyes are not the best and I'm having a hard time telling whether it's black or red. I guess it's the thin lines. With the old look, there was never any question whether there was new info in the thread.

I quite like the new look and feel and LOVE LOVE LOVE the view first unread post in a thread (or the entire board for new posts). Spiffy! Good Job! Somehow I missed seeing the blueification, it was nicely monochrome when I logged in for the first time.

Look is fine by me...so was the old one. I do keep having to log in every time even though I have checked automatic log in.

I quite like the new look and feel and LOVE LOVE LOVE the view first unread post in a thread...

I see that on the Main Index page there are now links for "View unread posts" and "View new posts." The former appears to list all threads that have posts you haven't read, and the latter all threads that have posts made since your last login. So far, though, the function that takes you to the first new post in a thread hasn't come back yet. You can go to the very last post, but then you have to scroll back up and try to remember where you left off last time.

As for the overall look and feel, it's fine with me. Different, but easy to get used to.

It's all fine. Let's get on with discussing film and denigrating Blu-Ray.

My avatar has disappeared and there seems to be ton of boring white screen surrounding every post. Why all the wasted space? This is progress?

Now, I see that my signature line has been deleted, too. So has everyone's. For the record, it was Ogden Nash, and it seems singularly appropriate right now.: " Progress may have all right once, but it has gone on too long."

[Mike Gebert]

I don't see your avatar, but I see your signature just fine.

I don't entirely agree with the concept of "wasting space" online, at least not the same way as on paper, but in any case, that's not what I see. Can you send me a screen shot of NitrateVille as you see it? mikegebert at gmail dot com

Update: your avatar was kind of big in file size, the maximum was kind of small, so I adjusted both. Hopefully this may make a few other missing avatars appear as well.

Well, there's a good six inches of white screen between your headline "Re: New Look" and the previous post. And all the posts seem to be swimming in a sea of white. Macular degeneration is not something I look forward to, but as long as everybody else here is cool with it, let it be.

My signature line, which did not appear in preview, is now visible in the post. It still does not appear in the preview.

How does one get one's avatar back?

I just posted and see that my avatar as is now back.Thank you

I just posted and see that my avatar as is now back.Thank you

I can see your avatar and your sig line, no extra spaces.

FWIW, I see varying amounts of blank space in the body of individual posts depending on the length of the text. One-line posts have a lot of space at the end; once they get up to about 9 lines, including any quote boxes and signatures, there's no extra space. My guess is that this is a deliberate design feature to keep shorter posts from getting lost in clutter. If so, I think that works. This is using Mac versions of Safari, Firefox and Chrome.

[Mike Gebert]

There will be extra space in short posts because I'm sure the minimum is whatever the minimum size of the author ID box at left. No way there should be six inches though. The first question, frankly, if you're seeing an absurdly large amount, is... how old is your browser? If you see a problem like that, try downloading Firefox or Chrome or some other current browser and see what you see. If you're using Internet Explorer, it's time to kill that sucker and switch to one of those.

Geez, talk about whinging!! It's only a discussion forum, and it works just fine.

A very pleasant change in the "look" . And for the first time ever since I joined, I have been able to successfully upload an avatar .

[Danny Burk]

I'm using Firefox on Windows. There is a little more white space than before, but at least in part, this is connected to the height of each post's "Author" column: more if there is an avatar. Nothing like multiple inches of white space, however; more like half an inch between posts. Those of you who are seeing a lot of space: are you using Mac or Windows, and as Mike said, what browser?

I'm using Firefox on a Mac and there's a lot of white space. Yes, it looks nice, but it feels wasteful. Just a neurotic itch.

Bob

Every pixel is sacred.

I use internet explorer on my mac at home, and either that or Firefox on a PC at work, and both are swimming in white space. it's like I've just aged to 80 and am looking at everything through a giant magnifying glass with really large type.

Can anyone explain to me why there are stars and running lines on some of the threads? I'm sure it's obvious to any five year old, but there are none around at the moment.

Bob

[silentfilm]

Can anyone explain to me why there are stars and running lines on some of the threads? I'm sure it's obvious to any five year old, but there are none around at the moment.

Bob

The star means that you have posted to that thread. The scrolling lines means that it is a popular topic with a lot of responses.