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NeoGAF 2.0.0.1 Update: A Space Odyssey

Nymphae

Banned
My biggest gripe is just not having a way to jump between forums from any page. That functionality should really be always there in the toolbar without having to click the three lines beside the Gaf logo and hunt for the desired board (and then minimize the side bar again if you don't want to see it). Forum tab links should be in place of the search bar.
 
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longdi

Banned
I like you guys trying to add flair and new features, but gaf to me was always simplicity , even before apple minimalistic came forth.

- topics - posts - content - boom.

There is no need to add big buttons and colors and text boxes
 

Trogdor1123

Member
I don't mind it myself. I do have a few issues to not. When I scroll through the forum on mobile the banner at the top flickers. It's annoying. Using mobile Edge on a pixel 2 xl.
 

Breakage

Member
I like you guys trying to add flair and new features, but gaf to me was always simplicity , even before apple minimalistic came forth.

- topics - posts - content - boom.

There is no need to add big buttons and colors and text boxes
Yeah, Neogaf's minimalist appearance has always been one of its best features (I noticed this back when I was a lurker). There was an aura of confidence in its simplicity and restraint.
 
Some of my feedback has already been implemented, so thanks a lot for that. Since the web-designers seem to be so incredibly responsive, let the nitpicking continue :messenger_blowing_kiss:

MRfZjGz.jpg


Why is the font for the text editor different from the regular comments? I feel like the font from the editor should be the same. After using the new design for a while, I feel like the comment text is a wee bit small, especially for people with bad eyesight. I like the sans-serif fonts, because they are usually better to read, but comments are the most important part of a forum, so it doesn't make a lot of sense that it is some of the smallest text on here. Or at least give us an option to resize the text for comments, that would do a lot for the accessibility of this site.

OaNSQ0z.jpg


Still not a big fan of the orange outline as it makes everything look a bit boxed in and 'claustrophobic'. Just give the editor a slightly brighter grey background to set it apart and keep things clean and simple.
The white outline for the emoticons doesn't make a lot of sense either, just get rid of the orange outlines or at least make it the same color.

RZqqyLT.jpg


Why do some editor functions have a grey background with no orange outline, while the "link" and "image" fields have a pitch black background and an orange outline? Just make "image" and "link" look like the other functions.
Also there seems to be a slight hover effect for the "font", "size", "alignment" and "list" functions, but it is almost impossible to even notice.

vJ8Sl2x.jpg


Also I think the page numbers should be closer to the topic title, while "the last reply" should be on the right side. Since the page counter starts at "2", it's quite a long way to move the cursor over to the topic title if you want to read the first page. It's not "laziness", it's "convenience", don't judge ;)

Lastly, I'd like to add that using pitch black or bright white colors on a dark theme is way too much contrast and rather jarring as it conflicts with the other grey tones. For example, the alerts looks really really good now that the white lines have been replaced by darker grey ones. I'd prefer if we could stick with the grey tones for the dark theme and leave #000 and #fff out of it.
 
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DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
I like the new setup. Navigation speed seems to be about the same and I haven't experienced any crashes or weird bugs.

Nice rollout, GAF team!

Guessing this lays the groundwork for the more OT-driven structure in the future?
 

Nymphae

Banned
I'm really curious how often the search feature is used here. Like enough to basically be the largest element on any given Gaf page? I don't think so. When I've wanted to find threads, Ctrl+T then search for Neogaf plus words I remember from the thread title, found in seconds.
 
mock up host link



mock ups i made to remove/simplify those damn "-->" icons on the main forum page:


NONE:
pIOxyAs.jpg




SOLO:
52GlNxA.jpg



QUARTER:
NIe1joR.jpg



CUTOFF:
QtbvCPk.jpg




MONO:
z8pFiHu.jpg



(also, note the bugged avatar icon in the top right corner that ive previously mentioned)
 

Nymphae

Banned
vrdld5F.png


And what happened to the information that used to be available under thread titles? You used to have written information telling you who started the thread, who posted last, and how many pages there were. Now I just see an avatar and the title.

So the reason this was happening to me is that I had magnification zoomed in one level. Going back to default zoom brought the additional info under thread titles back :messenger_ok:
 

Keylime

Spoiler Tag Abuser
The worst part about this redesign is that I'm used to seeing the navigation buttons at the top of the page instead of off to the side, so I've caught myself scrolling to the top of the page on PC to find the nav buttons that aren't there...only to remember they're just chilling there static on the left.

FML my brain sucks sometimes.

In reality, I don't even really notice I'm on a redesigned site when I'm browsing around in threads, the core navigation and experience of the site seems completely unchanged to me, just a shinier wrapper on what I've been using for over a decade.

Adjusting to the change will be quick, I'm sure.
 
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Nymphae

Banned
The worst part about this redesign is that I'm used to seeing the navigation buttons at the top of the page instead of off to the side, so I've caught myself scrolling to the top of the page on PC to find the nav buttons that aren't there...only to remember they're just chilling there static on the left.

FML my brain sucks sometimes.

In reality, I don't even really notice I'm on a redesigned site when I'm browsing around in threads, the core navigation and experience of the site seems completely unchanged to me, just a shinier wrapper on what I've been using for over a decade.

Adjusting to the change will be quick, I'm sure.

I prefer to have that sidebar hidden, which means it's now more clicks for me to jump forums. Forum links would be better in place of where the search bar currently is. Strictly talking desktop.
 
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Blam

Member
Couple issues, if the window is somewhere around 1200x1500 you can infinite scroll and it doesn't ever reach the bottom.
That and the info of who started a thread, and the last replies, plus the page count shouldn't be going away on the page and leaving just the title. if anything it should still show who last replied and the page numbers including a link to the last page or last unread in a topic.
 

Helios

Member
Not sure if I'm alone in this but sometimes the sidebar button(hamburger button?) doesn't work. I'm not sure what causes it.
 

Blam

Member
I prefer to have that sidebar hidden, which means it's now more clicks for me to jump forums. Forum links would be better in place of where the search bar currently is. Strictly talking desktop.
Search bar should be auto expanding out of a button instead of taking up real estate that it doesn't use. It also shouldn't even be fixed to your screen.

EDIT:

I know I'm nitpicking but there's a lot of wasted space, as going into Gaming the Gaming Community thing is fucking huge and has beyond too much space lost on the right side where the last active topic should be. I'm basically getting at the layout of GAF was correct the style was outdated.
 
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Mr Hyde

Member
Love the new look of the site. Was in complete chock at first when I opened GAF up but now that the dust has settled it looks great and navigates like a charm. Good job from the staff!
 

Pejo

Member
Love the new look of the site. Was in complete chock at first when I opened GAF up but now that the dust has settled it looks great and navigates like a charm. Good job from the staff!
I also like the redesign. I think it'll take people a bit to get used to it, but I think they'll get there. Does the Konami code still do anything? I do miss when it activated GAF gold.

Also, is there a way to shut off images and avatars yet? That's still my most wanted feature and I hope that we eventually get it back.
 
My biggest gripe is just not having a way to jump between forums from any page. That functionality should really be always there in the toolbar without having to click the three lines beside the Gaf logo and hunt for the desired board. Forum tab links should be in place of the search bar.

That's annoying me too
 

Redneckerz

Those long posts don't cover that red neck boy
First time now on desktop: Avasarala Avasarala please take note :)

Conclusion: This takes some getting used to but it is do-able.

Some Desktop feedback:

  • The stripes on the frontpage that look like crayons. Normally they should be behind all the texts but some act as an overlay.
  • The white on Light GAF is a few shades too bright. This was less in the old layout. I use Light all the time even at night and its totally fine, but this white is a little too bright.
  • The side pane. I understand its there for quicker access, and it actually adds to the experience when posting, but when browsing through forums, i am missing the central theme that all threads had. Now they are shifted to the right because the side panes have to be there. Perhaps adding them to the top is an option?
  • Side pane is now black, which is reminiscent of Discord. I understand why, but could there be an option to turn that white aswell? This to me creates a more uniform look. Now there are basically two screens: One with the side and upper pane in black, and the conversation/thread window in white.
  • The search bar flickers during typing. I assume it is saving something or checking for Alert updates, but this flicker is distracting.
  • I like how the different subs have different colours. I also like how everything is viewable in the same screen this way.
  • The upper pane pre GAF 2.0 used to have the settings in the top behind a cogwheel vector image. Id love to see that back.
  • Communities only redirects to Gaming Community, not Offtopic Community.
  • Alerts is present in double here: In the side pane, where it will link to a list page of alerts, and in the top, where you get a drop down menu with alerts in short and with an option to also go to that list page. That seems a bit overkill. In the very least the sidepane one should reflect more that it redirects to a list page and that it isn't a drop down menu.
  • The orange like the white is too bright in my eyes. Colours should be subdued and provide a sense of calm and not hyperactivity.
Mobile feedback:
  • The search bar and NeoGAF banner break and lose their black shade and it is replaced by white. I said this before earlier today but ill just post it here again.
  • The mobile layout reminds me more of the previous one than the new Desktop one. In lieu of people wanting the old layout back and with respect to the hard work done by the team, is it an option to bring the mobile layout over to desktop as an option? That way people can still have something of the previous layout, but updated to the new codebase.
All in all i think its a workable solution, but there are some fixes to do. Personally the brightness and the lack of centered threads per the legacy layout and an option to have the mobile layout on desktop are the most important to me in my book.
 

Mahadev

Member
To give some feedback here, imo the side panel should be disabled by default, some people won't even know how to disable it and it's functionality isn't worth the space used if you ask me.

Everything else is pretty nice although I might have preferred the previous design mainly because the front page changed so much, that design was imo modern homage to the old neoGAF design and I loved it.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
A complaint: in the Alert tab, the color for the 'unread' alerts and the already-read alerts is too close. Please differentiate them more.

In the old layout it was either blue or white. In this new layout, it's white and almost-white-grey.

When it says "such and such new alerts" I have to count down the number of posts to verify what is new and what is old.
 

keraj37

Member
Honestly, there was nothing wrong with the classic layout and the previous one. I am one of those who preferred raw style the classic had, before itroducing the "like button" etc.
But I understand everything needs to evolve.
 
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Palliasso

Requiescat In Pace
Staff Member
I have pushed a small update for mobile users.

You should now see the number of unread alerts over the "hamburger" menu at the top (if you have any).
 

KINGMOKU

Member
Well, this is the first time I actually prefer the dark theme on any website ever but I think its mostly due to the fact that the regular theme is brutal on my eyes with the orange for days.

The new design is snappier, and just flat out works better so it's an upgrade for sure but the colors are harsh.

I am not a web designer by any stretch, and know next to nothing about how any if it works but would it be possible to have it where users actually choose their primary colors? Like instead of orange and black its purple and grey, red and blue, e.t.c.?

Just an option thought.
 

JORMBO

Darkness no more
I noticed on mobile this afternoon I now get a notification alert directly on the hamburgler button that is visible at all times. This is a good change.

Edit: just read the post two posts up after writing my message. Thanks!
 
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L0wMax

Member
Well, this is the first time I actually prefer the dark theme on any website ever but I think its mostly due to the fact that the regular theme is brutal on my eyes with the orange for days.
Opening neogaf today like:
giphy.gif
 
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Not really a fan of having the OPs avatar icon next to each thread. Makes the layout look really messy. Much preferred the simple icon denoting when a thread had a new post or was unread.
 
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Blam

Member
Not to hate to the new design but I'm most likely going to release a minimized css to this new layout to make things a little easier to work with and just less spaced out.
 
My biggest gripe is just not having a way to jump between forums from any page. That functionality should really be always there in the toolbar without having to click the three lines beside the Gaf logo and hunt for the desired board (and then minimize the side bar again if you don't want to see it). Forum tab links should be in place of the search bar.

My only issue with this update, otherwise it's pretty great.
 

decisions

Member
Almost certainly yeah, will investigate. :goog_geek:

Before version 2.0, the refresh button just refreshed thread posts and not the whole page (using AJAX?). I really liked this feature, especially on mobile. It would be great if the new refresh button could be implemented in a similar way.
 

Redneckerz

Those long posts don't cover that red neck boy
Possible bug report:
  • Mentions do not trigger an alert or notification. It might be that the user for this retroactively added this in later but might be a bug.
 

Palliasso

Requiescat In Pace
Staff Member
Uh, ok, found a bug. This is how the ban page behaves on safari in mobile view on iPhone XR on iOS 12.1

https://ibb.co/dnBDs0
https://ibb.co/hfHKX0

If you scroll to the right, everything is grey on grey. Avasarala Avasarala

Edit: In panorama view, everything is normal. It’s only when the phone is held upright.

Edit 2: No, I‘m wrong, Problem persist in panorama view:

https://ibb.co/kFHuX0
https://ibb.co/cAwXKf

This bug should be fixed now, please try again and let me know if you're still having issues.
 

stuminus3

Member
The new look is nice and all, but I sure wish there was a way to go back to the old forum. Y'know, before it was overrun by alt-right shitheads.
 

Redneckerz

Those long posts don't cover that red neck boy
The new look is nice and all, but I sure wish there was a way to go back to the old forum. Y'know, before it was overrun by alt-right shitheads.
It is unfortunate that that is literally all you focussed on.

Pity. I wish that you would make better usage of your posting rights than being one of many with the tactical depth of nothing.
 

Palliasso

Requiescat In Pace
Staff Member
Using the dark theme, the icon indicating a thread is being watch watched and the icon showing that a thread contains a poll both use a purple color. If the watched thread icon was changed to orange, it would be much easier to notice at a glance. Or change poll color to orange. Either way would work.

The purple / blue icons were an embarrassing holdover from a previous design, this should be fixed now. Thanks for the heads up.
 
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