Beta forums for feedback

Mart

Mart

Executive Janitor
Staff
28 February 2002
NYC
Darlington FC
I've put a test site up at http://evo-web.co.uk/beta/ and would appreciate any constructive feedback on the XenForo forum software.

It's just a test at the moment and all I've done with it is slightly fanny about with the colours/text and sort out some video embedding and smileys. I'd be interested to know if you think the forum software is worth the jump from the current setup as part of a wider smartening up project.

It's based on a previous backup of the forums from December so your logon details should be whatever they were back then.

There's a forum on there for feedback/questions or reply here should you so desire.

Thanks for any time you spend on this. :)
 
I have to say I dislike this beta design. No idea how far you modified it, but I found it too colourful and also too childish (not the correct word, but I am missing a better one: What I mean, is it doesn't look as serious as the current design but more like a forum created just for fun without the intend to be a "professional" forum, if you can understand what I mean). These larger logos are also something I don't like. It may be the fact that I am used to see the current design for quite a long period of time, but I don't see any reason to change it. It simply looks better imho.

Another thing I am missing is the ability to jump to the last post of each thread. Either I am blind and didn't find a button for this function or there really is none. The way the number of pages of a thread is displayed (only shown when the cursor is placed on the thread) is nice, but nevertheless not a really needed feature. The current way of showing the number of pages always isn't bad and so I don't see any reason to change the forum for this.

One last thing: May it be possible that certain links don't work? I was inside the PES 6 editing section and clicked on the button for the PES/WE editing discussion sub-forum but always got to the general overview of all forums.

Edit: Figured out, what happens when clicking on "PES/WE editing discussion": The new software doesn't links to the sub-forum, but shows the overview of all forums with the one sub-forum you clicked on as shown on top of the screen for further actions.
 
Last edited:
  • Thread starter
  • Staff
  • #3
Hmm you can jump to the last unread post in a thread with the little blue icon next to the thread title if that's what you mean?

I do know what you mean about the overall look. The default looks like this: http://xenforo.com/community/ so I've not changed it that much. I could spend time making it similar to the current Evo-Web feel but I didn't want to if it was going to be a non-starter of an idea.

Either way, thanks for the feedback. :TU:
 
May sound stupid, but I can't find anything next to the thread title allowing me to get to the first unread post. :CONFUSE:

This is what I see (this is the PES 6 Editing section for example):
forumco.png
 
  • Thread starter
  • Staff
  • #6
S-NipE said:
May sound stupid, but I can't find anything next to the thread title allowing me to get to the first unread post. :CONFUSE:
Click to expand...
I think that's just because you've read everything or marked everything as read? See the attachment for the view I get showing one read thread and one with unread posts.

Feel free to post and try out the forum functionality as much as you like by the way - cosmetic stuff I can change but the important bit is the usability of the forum.

Thanks, gerd.
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2012-02-05 at 18.50.44.png
    Screen Shot 2012-02-05 at 18.50.44.png
    18.8 KB · Views: 9
Ah, that makes sense. Don't know how, but apparently I marked everything as read, so I can't see these points, thanks for helping. ;)
 
It looks a bit... eye-tiring.I mean,my eyes got tired as soon as I started browsing the pages.It needs to be a bit cleaner in terms of design imo.
 
fib91 said:
It looks a bit... eye-tiring.I mean,my eyes got tired as soon as I started browsing the pages.It needs to be a bit cleaner in terms of design imo.
Click to expand...

Yes, I was going to mention this. Maybe the white background could be toned down a bit. Over at AVForums they made a switch to a different layout and colour scheme in preparation for a move over to XenForo, but the white background they switched to caused a huge amount of complaints (me included).

For what it's worth, I really like the current Evo-Web colour scheme. Black text on the pale blue background makes the forums very easy to read and a pleasure to browse over long periods. As fib said, I think the new colour scheme could be a bit tiring on the eyes.

However I'm glad the site is potentially getting a refresh.
 
Yar, colours are easily tweaked, fear not. I toned the defaults down a little but I could just yoink the colours from here. It'll make Pipa happy too.

Thanks.

EDIT: Very quickly tweaked the colours a bit to more closely match this - some of the others don't match but it'll do for now!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I like it but I'd also prefer the evo-web look. No disrespect to anyone but I definitely don't want that "WENB" look. Evo-web looks more professional and easier to read imo.
 
Lami said:
I like it but I'd also prefer the evo-web look. No disrespect to anyone but I definitely don't want that "WENB" look. Evo-web looks more professional and easier to read imo.
Click to expand...

I was going to refer this as well. The colours look much better after the update, the eye-tiring effect has definitely gone. However, as Lami mentioned, the current evo-web style looks more serious and easier to read. Maybe it's just us being too conservative regarding a change but I also prefer the old one.

Nevertheless, I should congratulate the effort of this board in trying to improve.
 
foxtrot said:
Mart, have you thought about just upgrading to vBulletin 4.x?
Click to expand...
Briefly but it's bobbins and I don't like the Internet Brands company that own it now.

I've already scoped out a chatbox for XenForo too - we would only gain functionality not lose any. Try using the forum for a bit as it's overall a nicer experience than VB. The look can very easily be changed about.

That said I'm fine with sticking with what we have and tarting it up a bit.
 
Something I would like to see is a new front page for the site. No offence but I find the current home page a bit dull and perhaps not particularly enticing to new members. I know Evo-Web doesn't do news or editorials, but the style of the front end looks nowhere near as clean and professional as other PES sites.

For what it's worth I really like the new look at PESgaming. I like the editorials from regular contributors on the front page and all the chat in the comments sections. Perhaps something that Evo-Web could do too? We have some intelligent posters here who could do something similar.
 
The front page is the main thing that needs to change and I like the idea of contributors from within the community. The PESGaming approach is similar to what I'd like to do with a good selection of current content from the forums.

The software powering the site changes the approach to the front page considerably, though. I don't like VB for its cluttered/messy approach to many things (not least the actual output) and it's harder to build a decent front page based on it without resorting to VB products (VB4 with its CMS stuff).

Thanks for the input (keep it coming!). :TU:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom