Announcement: New Thread Button, General Technology Discussion, and More...

I.M.O.G. · Sep 26, 2011

3 new changes:

The New Thread button has been updated. It was blending in with the rest of the layout and color scheme, making it hard to see for new members - it is probably the single most important button on the site to keep activity and discussion going, so we've updated it to make it more noticeable. Please use it relentlessly.

The "General Technology Discussion" forum has been shut down. It contained 7000 threads which were all moved into the General Hardware forum. The majority of members didn't understand what belonged in the General Tech Discussion forum, so many general hardware questions ended up there and either didn't get answered or got very slow and incomplete answers. It is my hope that by eliminating a mostly superfluous section like this that we can help everyone get good answers and discuss interesting stuff together in the General Hardware forum.

Finally, I've updated the site introduction phrase when visitors come to the site. They will now see the following welcome message:

We are a huge community of hardware enthusiasts and technology influencers. In welcoming newcomers, we provide deep insight and reply to questions promptly as we pride ourselves on the highest caliber of computer related discussion. To start viewing discussions, select the forum that you want to visit on our forum homepage or view active discussions right now, keeping in mind you will not be able to start topics or post replies until you have registered an account.

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. Join us today, ask questions, and become part of the savviest, most technical group of computer builders in the world!

Devil_Dog · Sep 26, 2011

Sweet. I can see the button like a sore thumb. :thup:

bennoculus · Sep 26, 2011

I was wondering what was up with the new button :rofl:

Solid idea, Matt! Way to go :thup:

JonSimonzi · Sep 26, 2011

I.M.O.G. said:
The "General Technology Discussion" forum has been shut down. It contained 7000 threads which were all moved into the General Hardware forum. The majority of members didn't understand what belonged in the General Tech Discussion forum, so many general hardware questions ended up there and either didn't get answered or got very slow and incomplete answers. It is my hope that by eliminating a mostly superfluous section like this that we can help everyone get good answers and discuss interesting stuff together in the General Hardware forum.

And I thought I was going crazy when I was going through General Hardware, and saw threads that I thought were in General Technology. Then, by the time I got down there, I didn't even notice General Technology was gone.

Bobnova · Sep 26, 2011

Seems a bit excessive and the checkmark is out of place IMO.
That said, I do think a more visible button is an excellent idea.

mbentley · Sep 26, 2011

Seeing as it's those every once and a while visitors whose attention we are trying to attract, I figured give it about a week and the regulars here won't even notice the difference

I.M.O.G. · Sep 26, 2011

That's pretty much where my head was at on it.

I agree about the checkmark, a lightning bolt would fit better with our theme. I couldn't get this done by Dev, so its a mockup from our product manager - we could make some further tweaks too, if anyone is better with graphical work than me.

Janus67 · Sep 27, 2011

One issue is that I am seeing multiple links to the 'new thread' on the root of boards (I don't know if it was like this before, never noticed)

MattNo5ss · Sep 27, 2011

Janus67 said:
(I don't know if it was like this before, never noticed)

That's the reason for the new button...lol.

I'm pretty positive it was always like that.

Janus67 · Sep 27, 2011

MattNo5ss said:
That's the reason for the new button...lol.

I'm pretty positive it was always like that.

Touche

MattNo5ss · Sep 27, 2011

Then again, I could be misremembering because I didn't notice...lol.

I.M.O.G. · Sep 27, 2011

There was only one button in the top right before. I had to make a judgement call here.

I didn't want to take the button away from the usual position as thats what many of you are used to since the dawn of time, but positioning the button at the top left gets tricky depending on if there are subforums or not in that section. The way the templates come together on vbulletin is kind of complex, so I went with both positions where you currently see the buttons.

Pinky · Sep 28, 2011

If you have a lightning bolt and original new topic button (template or gif is fine) I can work on it. I agree that the button is a good idea, but the current one detracts from what is otherwise one of the better looking hardware forum skins on the web. I use PS cs4 fwiw

I.M.O.G. · Sep 28, 2011

This is all I have Pinky:

If you can come up with something and it contrasts, but compliments better, I'll use it.

At the same time though, there were a lot of member complaints when we got this updated forum skin originally - I remember it well. Some things we fixed, other things people got used to the difference.

Automata · Sep 28, 2011

Here is a stripped version. I was bored.

Pinky · Sep 29, 2011

I'll do it tonight

I didn't check back or I would have done it last night...

I.M.O.G. · Sep 29, 2011

Thanks. Appreciate it. If its good we'll put it up there.

When I say contrast, I do think a shade of yellow is best. Blues and blacks wash into the rest of the theme. I don't think the current yellow button is too gaudy or cheesy really, but I could see how maybe it could be tweaked to fit a little better.

Pinky · Sep 29, 2011

I.M.O.G. said:
Thanks. Appreciate it. If its good we'll put it up there.

When I say contrast, I do think a shade of yellow is best. Blues and blacks wash into the rest of the theme. I don't think the current yellow button is too gaudy or cheesy really, but I could see how maybe it could be tweaked to fit a little better.

I agree that a drastic color change is necessary. The way I'll be doing it (hopefully) will allow changes to be made to the color on the fly, so once the project file is created the layer in charge of color can be tweaked independently. We'll see though, this particular mod isn't something I've done in a while so it will take me a bit to brush up.

Pinky · Sep 29, 2011

thideras said:
Here is a stripped version. I was bored.

View attachment 99907

Thanks, it saved me at least a couple minutes cutting/pasting.

Automata · Sep 29, 2011

No problem. Any chance you could make one pink with pretty sparkles for Dolk?

Announcement: New Thread Button, General Technology Discussion, and More...

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