Jump to content

Feedback on skin changes & lofi skin


Brandon D

Recommended Posts

Current skin:

Love the changes, especially the new green bullets for unread subforums and the hover effect for buttons is nice. My only suggestion is to add the AJAX mark forum read thingy for subforum bullets as well.

Lofi skin:

I noticed it received an update as well. Is it complete? I don't want to say much on it if it isn't, but I don't think the changes from the previous version are good. You're already crippling the forum by preventing access to certain key features (like the entire PM system), but now you're crippling the forum and topic listing as well. The previous version was great in that items were spaced out and you had more information. The current skin has less information but it's all crammed together so it looks even more overwhelming. There's no way to see if there's new topics in a forum or even see the last topic posted. What's the point of moving topic markers to the database in IPB3 if you're not going to use them to their fullest extent? :P

Also there still doesn't seem to be a way to change skins from lofi? I love that it automatically detects the user agent and applies the lofi skin, but I'm not a big fan of forcing my users to use it, nor is Google, Twitter, or any other application I use that makes use of a lofi theme.

Some screenshots if you don't have ready access to a mobile device:

Forum listing:
iphone_forum_listing.png

Topic listing:
iphone_topic_listing.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The whole point of the lofi skin is to show the absolute basics. That means: no PM system, no search, no friends, no topic markers, no rating, no moderation. Topics, posts and profiles, that's it :)

And yes, the CSS here hasn't been updated for some reason, so everything is ending up as a massive list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Rikki' date='12 May 2009 - 05:29 PM' timestamp='1242163744' post='1801167']
The whole point of the lofi skin is to show the absolute basics. That means: no PM system, no search, no friends, no topic markers, no rating, no moderation. Topics, posts and profiles, that's it :)

With smartphones that are designed to incorporate or mimic real browsers in almost every way, cutting out so much seems like a step backward, not to mention probably not being the most appreciated of moves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='No1 1000' date='12 May 2009 - 05:54 PM' timestamp='1242165260' post='1801169']
With smartphones that are designed to incorporate or mimic real browsers in almost every way, cutting out so much seems like a step backward, not to mention probably not being the most appreciated of moves.


If your phone supports that, then using the full skin shouldn't be an issue :) And we're not 'cutting stuff out' - it has more than the LoFi on IPB2 does. At the time, people said they liked the LoFi but wanted to be able to post, so that's what we did. Naturally you can't please everybody though :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The lofi skin on IPB2 wasn't created in a world where smart mobile phones were so prominent. I can live with entire sections cut out like the PM system (since we can change skins if need be) - but the parts that are done should be done to the fullest extent possible. The current skin suits the people who know exactly what topic they want to read and know where that topic is. What about the people who are casually reading through and want to see new content? It's impossible with the current skin. You guys went through a lot of trouble - and still are - to abstract topic markers to the database but yet you aren't even making full use of it. I'm not talking about making it fancy - but a simple method to denote which forum/topic is unread would go a long way. If you want to avoid images entirely you could simply bold the unread forum/topic titles or use some other type of styling to make them stand out.

You guys promoted the lofi skin to not only replace the lofi version of IPB2 but perform as a skin for mobile devices. Right now it looks like it's not at 100% with the latter role, IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Brandon D' date='12 May 2009 - 06:47 PM' timestamp='1242168454' post='1801177']
You guys went through a lot of trouble - and still are - to abstract topic markers to the database but yet you aren't even making full use of it.


Errr, for the record, IPB2 sported database-based topic markers as well. ;) This isn't something new in 3.0. We've simply rewritten the system to try to make it more efficient.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Topic pagination also removed from topic index as well...

So much functionality has been removed in hopes of improving the mobile experience that it's significantly impeded it, IMO. It's just a glorified RSS feed minus the RSS part :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find on the iPhone that the CSS is slightly wrong and it's making the subforum font size larger than the parent forum. Other than that, it's a big improvement on the old Lo-Fi (which is useful, as lots of my users are having problems with the RC1 skin, especially on IE6 in workplaces that are too stubborn to upgrade)

The best mobile skin I've seen recently is http://www.webhostingtalk.com , it's really slick.. hopefully someone will write up a similar one for IPB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='JayX' date='18 May 2009 - 01:02 PM' timestamp='1242669761' post='1803160'] as lots of my users are having problems with the RC1 skin, especially on IE6 in workplaces that are too stubborn to upgrade)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='JayX' date='18 May 2009 - 02:02 PM' timestamp='1242669761' post='1803160']
I find on the iPhone that the CSS is slightly wrong and it's making the subforum font size larger than the parent forum. Other than that, it's a big improvement on the old Lo-Fi (which is useful, as lots of my users are having problems with the RC1 skin, especially on IE6 in workplaces that are too stubborn to upgrade)

The best mobile skin I've seen recently is http://www.webhostingtalk.com , it's really slick.. hopefully someone will write up a similar one for IPB.



Its a bit different, but I'm working on one for neowin.net. I'll most likely end up releasing it (with different graphics) after ipb3 final comes out.

d87028073c

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Timan' date='18 May 2009 - 03:06 PM' timestamp='1242673592' post='1803188']


Its a bit different, but I'm working on one for neowin.net. I'll most likely end up releasing it (with different graphics) after ipb3 final comes out.




That is sexy! Please do release. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

[quote name='Timan' date='18 May 2009 - 02:06 PM' timestamp='1242673592' post='1803188']
Its a bit different, but I'm working on one for neowin.net. I'll most likely end up releasing it (with different graphics) after ipb3 final comes out.


Your mobile skin is awesome!

I dislike the default lofi.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

[quote name='Ändrew' date='28 July 2009 - 04:27 PM' timestamp='1248812842' post='1834742']
Hey Timan, have you began upgrading your mobile skin to IPB3? I am willing to pay for it. Please let me know.


Yea, here it is running on the iphone (only).
aquasoft_mobile16401.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...