uniform stylization on read and unread buttons and tabs on left

[TracyIsland]

the 3.2 skin keeps changing by the hour ... this morning there was one style on the All Blogs page and a different read/unread style on the forums page

I think it goes without saying that the default skin should, as much as possible, have the same conventions and style throughout the board, and the default apps so that the """""Casual User""""" [defined by someone who visits a board maybe 1 - 3 times a week or maybe 2x a month ...], would intuitively understand what the conventions and the symbols mean.

Now that the round blue bullets have been explained, I get it but I didn't immediately understand what it was when I logged and started using the new 3.2 today..

So I would urge you to consider using some other type of icon, maybe a vertical N-E-W as opposed to a bullet. This morning you had stars which struck me as immediately more intuitive and understandable than round bullets.

It did not dawn on me to 'hover' over the blue bullets to get a message.

The blank tabs for 'read' seems out of place, like there is something wrong with the skin. I like the blue background color of the unread but you need to keep working on this styling to make it more instantly understandable. Maybe a check mark for the read tab and/or a different color for the checkmark, like green vs. some other color? I just feel you need a more expressive icon in that left area so people 'get it' as soon as they look at it, for everything.

Also, the styling of the forum index page matches the blog dashboard page. It is so easy to look at and understand. The reply to styles in the topics work really well. But somehow the convention seems to change when you click on the Member tab. It should have the same design convention of the forum and the blog and everything else. There is soooooooooooooo much empty ranchland in the member rows ... you could easily move those tabs for the letters to the right and restyle the top of the section to look just like the forums and the blogs.

Thanks,

Brian

[edit]

if you click on my content on the user name drop down list, the display is so instantly understandable as opposed the to blogs or the forums. That is just with stars but again there is a different convention than in the rest of the board.

Rikki may say ... hey there were no stars this morning ... maybe I was talking about My Content and mixed it up but hopefully you get my point.

[Donkerrood]

The stars indicate that you made a post in a topic. :)

[TracyIsland]

The stars indicate that you made a post in a topic. :smile:

yeah, okay makes sense but will you be online 24/7 on our community, explaining what the bullets are for in the forum, and in the blogs and in the member list and in my content? I need something, a set of icons, that is instantly understandable to my members since they don't log on as frequently as say a gaming community or a car community ... and it isn't about just what I want ... having icons and symbols that are instantly recognizable and understandable are a UI must-have for the internet

[Donkerrood]

I agree. Although I found 'm pretty understandable myself.