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haplo
L90 Legend
Administrator
608 Posts
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 Posted - 05/20/2013 : 20:19:48
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I'm doing quite a few changes to the interface, but I'm introducing them gradually. Starting this thread so I can post updates for anyone interested. Feel free to discuss.
- xp/gold increases, and achievements, mostly occur instantaneously now instead of waiting for you to go to a different page
- added a spiffy gradient and dropshadow to the game tooltip popup (like on the homepage when you mouseover a game) to make it look better
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haplo
L90 Legend
Administrator
608 Posts
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Posted - 06/06/2013 : 16:59:16
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What started as gradual improvements ultimately led me to start a total overhaul. It's a pretty big change, but it allows some really cool interface techniques I couldn't do before. Here's a preview for anyone interested:
http://new.playitontheweb.com
(note this address will eventually be moved to replace the main site)
But I want the people who care enough about this site to actually visit/check the forum to have first peek at some of the new stuff that's coming. In particular take a look at the new private messages interface and gold shop interface. Other significant interface improvements like these 2 are also in the works. I'm hoping also that by letting you look at it early, maybe somebody will spot a bug or two that I don't so it can be closer to flawless when it's released to everyone. Or at least give me some feedback on whether it's ugly or not (and usable or not) 
The logo is the main thing that doesn't fit with the rest of the design at this point. I've tried many different ones and none really grabbed me. So I just put a blue one up there, and have been working getting the functionality of it all working to come back to the logo later. I think what I will ultimately do is probably get several good possibilities together and post them here on the forum as a poll and let you all pick which new logo is best |
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rockcastlecoky
L99 Legend
Forum Regular
586 Posts
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Posted - 06/06/2013 : 18:08:54
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Hope not to be nitpicking.
The background color appears to be a little too dark for my tastes. Just a tad.
Could you use a smaller font size? I mean that I am looking at it with a 40" monitor and I'm going to get a bad case of eye strain trying to read the text.
As for the PIOTW logo, have you thought of using a multi-color logo? I mean have it change daily according to the day of the week. Maybe as a thought, have you seen the TV show "Frasier"? The opening graphic credit is basically the same for all those years. But there are little changes. Like 1 year there's a floating cloud, next year a plane. Small changes according to the year. Maybe you might add a cloud or plane or whatever according to the day of the week.
My biggest gripe has always been and still is site navigation. Everything this site has to offer should be easily seen and accessed from the start (home) page. PIOTW has quite a lot to offer and you should feature that right at the beginning.
Oh yeah. One more thing. It loads quite a lot faster than this site. I hope it stays that way!
But since you asked, I liked it. I give it a thumbs up. |
Edited by - rockcastlecoky on 06/06/2013 18:11:09 |
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saucyone
L99 Legend
Forum Regular
582 Posts
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Posted - 06/06/2013 : 23:42:07
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| I give it a thumbs up also,but I agree with Rock about the text. |
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gameplayer
L99 Legend
Forum Participant
154 Posts
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Posted - 06/07/2013 : 04:32:49
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Warning--Truthful observations, for those who cannot handle that or are offended by anything other than happy talk, don't read....
I really do not detect much of a difference other than what has already been mentioned; to reiterate, too dark and text too small. What is the advantage to the msg and gold "new" interfaces? Not seeing it, please explain. One thing I liked is the player bar and that is not there. And just a note for this site, the full screen function is not working properly, so unable to play many of the games because the screen is too small. So, there you have it. 
You asked; I answered. |
Edited by - gameplayer on 06/07/2013 04:38:51 |
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rockcastlecoky
L99 Legend
Forum Regular
586 Posts
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Posted - 06/07/2013 : 06:39:02
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Agreed Gameplayer. I checked out the "new" site yesterday and again today. I didn't know it was possible. What I liked about it yesterday, I like even more today. But what I hated about it yesterday I hate even more today.
I also agree with you Gameplayer about the full screen on "this" site. It was working fine for me a couple hours ago. But not at all now. |
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haplo
L90 Legend
Administrator
608 Posts
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Posted - 06/09/2013 : 18:36:14
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Thanks for all the feedback guys. I have made a lot of changes based on what you all have said, as well as my own ideas.
The playerbar is kinda back, its a new shape and more an "id card" than a bar. I'm planning on making it so that at higher resolutions it can be a side-panel to the site showing more info than it does as a card at low resolutions. Kinda like a mini-profile page thats always up, for the benefit of those that have large screens. And if possible I'd like to make an option so you can move it around, have it as an ID card at the top right as it is now, or a bar across the whole top (old style), or a sidepanel (either side). That's what I'd like to do, have that as an option each person could pick, maybe an upgrade in the gold shop that lets you do that. And the color selection will still be there as well (though that isn't implemented on the new site yet)
Also, I increased font sizes across the site.
The search box will now make suggestions, right now the only suggestions are the top 20 categories, but I'm gonna expand that to the most common tags associated with games.
The private messages popup has been redone a little bit so you can see more info at a time, I think it's much better now. The advantage of having it like that is, that it isn't a part of the profile page specifically, so your own profile page will load faster, and you can access the messages if you want to from that or any other page but it doesnt load until you click the icon.
Still more changes to come. If there's more stuff you especially like or don't like, please tell me! |
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haplo
L90 Legend
Administrator
608 Posts
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Posted - 06/09/2013 : 18:44:26
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Slightly longer term plans (after I get this immediate stuff anyway): do the live chat that I've been promising since forever, and have it be in a side panel kinda thing also. Have your inventory show up on the same page as the gold shop, so you can buy/sell from the same page and see it all at once. Make more items stick around, like have the lottery tickets show up individually as items in your inventory, make it so that when you buy a potion, it goes in your inventory and then you can use it later when you choose instead of it taking effect immediately. Also got some ideas for new items to be added to the gold shop.
Rock, your idea about the OLDEST high scores I thought was very good and not that hard to do, so I already kinda half implemented it. On the new layout you can see a king of the hill page (probably going to change that name), it shows the oldest scores and says what the reward is gonna be. BUT it doesn't work yet, if you beat one of those scores right now you will NOT get the reward. So I wouldn't put effort into it yet cuz it'd be wasted. But you can see it and how it's gonna work. Will tell you guys as soon as its ready to actually play.
My idea for the karma thing kinda centers around the reviews/strategies for games, which I gotta do more work on obviously, but it also kinda centers around the forum -- my idea since forever was to have it so that you could "thank" other people for posting useful posts in the forums, and it would give karma just like upvoting their reviews/strategies for games. HOWEVER, I'm not sure I really like this forum software. I hate to put a lot of work integrating complicated features into the software if long-term it may not serve the site's needs and we gotta upgrade to something else... so that's why I've kinda had the karma system on the back burner, because I'm not sure what to do about that.
Anyway will keep you guys updated with all that I am doing. :) If any of these ideas sound awesome and you want it done NOW say so and I'll probably give it higher priority when I get to it :) For the next cupla days though I'm still finishing all the quirks of the new layout to get it as close to 100% as I can. |
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rockcastlecoky
L99 Legend
Forum Regular
586 Posts
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Posted - 06/09/2013 : 20:50:45
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Have you ever thought of "expanding" this site? Making it into more than just a game site? Making it into a virtual community?
We could have virtual parties. Celebrate players birthdays. Send virtual gifts to our friends. Virtual holiday parties. |
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rockcastlecoky
L99 Legend
Forum Regular
586 Posts
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Posted - 06/09/2013 : 22:00:22
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The larger font is perfect. Thank you. I noticed one thing that still has the smaller font. On high score games, the listing of players/scores are still in the smaller font.
quote:
Originally posted by haplo
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I have made a lot of changes based on what you all have said, as well as my own ideas.
Also, I increased font sizes across the site.
Still more changes to come. If there's more stuff you especially like or don't like, please tell me!
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peterre
L99 Legend
Forum Participant
187 Posts
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Posted - 06/10/2013 : 03:58:55
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| hi Haplo , i am playing with two 24" screens , one screen the old PIOTW and the other your new version , in the list of daily tournaments in the NEW version are the scores on wrong positions .My high score from Slider Puzzle stands in the scorelist by Armored Creep ? , hope it helps you to perfectioning the side :), new one is a nice fast layout , works fine here . Greetz Peter |
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haplo
L90 Legend
Administrator
608 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2013 : 07:15:43
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You guys happy with the changes I've been making the last couple of days?
Haven't gotten to redoing the game page itself yet rock, but heard what you said about the font size there and will take care of it. |
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rockcastlecoky
L99 Legend
Forum Regular
586 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2013 : 18:29:51
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| Hate it...hate it...hate it. Hate the darker background color for the forum. Makes it impossible to even see "latest posts" on the forum front page. |
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haplo
L90 Legend
Administrator
608 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2013 : 20:04:48
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Is the text showing up in a light color? It should be light on dark. If so, is it hard to see because it's too gray and should be brighter white, or is the contrast just bad with the dark blue? Is the player ID box in the upper right hard to see also? It should be the same color scheme (off-white #ccc text on slate-blue background #369)
Or is the font size just too small? I thought that at first but the forum software only has certain font size settings and I thought it looked goofy with it turned up to the next level. But I could experiment with a larger font size and a different font face/family |
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rockcastlecoky
L99 Legend
Forum Regular
586 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2013 : 20:50:04
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Yes, the text is too gray. It should be a brighter color. White or maybe a brighter yellow.
Yes, the player ID box is difficult to see also.
The font size? Hard to explain. ANYTHING that is in a smaller size font is next to impossible to see (like date/time posted, latest posts, etc.). But anything in a larger font size can be seen and read, but still not that easily.
Since you brought this up, are you still using the same font face/family as before? I have ALWAYS has a rough time reading the numbers on this site. I can never tell the difference between a 3 and a 5, or an 8 and a 9. |
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haplo
L90 Legend
Administrator
608 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2013 : 21:03:19
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| What about these forum colors? (black text, gray background, slate-blue headers) |
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haplo
L90 Legend
Administrator
608 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2013 : 21:09:09
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The forum is the same font as before (Verdana), but the rest of the site, especially the smaller bits of text, are now Tahoma (used to be Georgia)
I think I like this color scheme for the forum - slateblue/lightgray with black text |
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rockcastlecoky
L99 Legend
Forum Regular
586 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2013 : 21:37:24
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OK, it is official now. One of us is color-blind. I see no difference in colors. The only difference I see was not even mentioned by you. The smaller text is now bigger and readable.
quote:
Originally posted by haplo
What about these forum colors? (black text, gray background, slate-blue headers)
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haplo
L90 Legend
Administrator
608 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2013 : 21:55:19
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Hmm, perhaps there is some weird caching going on preventing you from immediately seeing the updated layout. Maybe try restarting your browser? I would try to figure out why you aren't seeing it from this end but once the layout is finished it would be a moot point anyway, so maybe not even bother if restarting your browser lets you see the new stuff.
This is what it should look like now:
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rockcastlecoky
L99 Legend
Forum Regular
586 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2013 : 21:57:40
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Very confusing. No, change that. Should be EXTREMELY confusing. For future reference let us both say which site (old or new) we are talking about. You changed forum colors and font on old and new. Then just recently only on the new site. I should be typing this on the OLD forum. I can NOT see what I am typing on the NEW forum. MUCH too small. But everything else is great...including the numbers.
Please excuse any typos because I can't see what the heck I'm typing. |
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rockcastlecoky
L99 Legend
Forum Regular
586 Posts
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Posted - 06/12/2013 : 22:01:37
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| Also hoping you wanted a lot of work. I have spent a little time looking over the pages on the NEW site. I have noticed some problems here and there. Give me a few minutes to prepare a list and I'll post my findings here. |
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Topic |
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Interface Updates
