Easy logo changer and logo issues

[crabpaws]

First of all, technically the Easy Logo Changer works very well -- thank you!!

BUT -- it was only after a ticket to support that I found out there was such a thing as "the Graphics
Development Kit, which is available for download in your client area."

Without the Graphics Development Kit, it takes many, many trials to create a logo that fits the space. Because I didn't have the graduated blue background swatch, what I had to do was to take a screenshot of the graduated blue bar and superimpose my logo on it. (A gif with transparent background looked terrible.) I couldn't get the top bar to match in color, so it still doesn't fit properly in the space. This took hours and hours because of the lack of specifications.

Doesn't a pointer to the Graphics Development Kit belong in the contextual help for Easy Logo Changer in the ACP? BTW, the Graphics Development Kit can't be found via search in either IPB forums or documentation.

After maybe 20 tries, I found a logo height of 78 pixels did not push the navtab area down on the page. Doesn't this also belong in the contextual help for Easy Logo Changer and EASILY FOUND documentation somewhere?



Additional suggestions for how user experience could be improved:

- Set dropdown Apply to which skin set? to IPB Board as default, since that is the one that will be used most often. Having to reset this over and over makes the whole process that much more tedious. It is currently set to Select One. Yes, I've hear that you've changed the default many times and nothing pleases everyone.

Here's the usability designer rule of thumb: Optimize usability for the greatest number of users. Set a default to the option most often used. If most users are using the IPB Board skin, set the default to that. The developers, who are in the minority, may complain, but that's how it is when you're a minority. Or are you giving their interests greater weight? (Just asking.)

- Make the background, currently a graduated blue with a solid bar at the top, a solid color and provide the hex HTML code for it as well as RGB mix. The solid bar at the top is particularly difficult to match, logo-wise. Get rid of it. OR

- Make the default positioning of any graphic in this space flush left and vertically centered. That gives logo designers a fighting chance to avoid bumping up against that d*mned solid top bar.

[Francismori7_2]

Use. PNG. Please. And. Don't. Complain.

A simple sentence, but using PNG with the exact same dimensions as the actual IPB logo will make your logo fit perfectly. You should not try and input a logo smaller or bigger than the actual one without expecting the skin to be distorted.

[crabpaws]

I would have been happy to use PNG -- another detail missing from the absent documentation!

Thanks for your advice, Francismori7_2. As for the skin being distorted, it is fine with a logo 78 pixels high. My intention was to minimize logo space and avoid pushing content further down on the screen. My site is content-oriented, not promotional, and does not need big flashy graphics.

As it turns out, the famous GDK wasn't even in my Downloads area. I had no graphics resources at all.

Here's someone with exactly the same issues: http://community.invisionpower.com/topic/333240-replacing-the-default-ipboard-logo/page__p__2085813__hl__logo__fromsearch__1#entry2085813

It's pretty clear that logo replacement is one of those universal "getting started" processes that needs better documentation.

And I will reserve my right to make suggestions for improvement here, thank you.