Forum Re-Design

[Matthew Schenker]

Another technical note (for those of you still following this discussion): I just updated the appearance of links in signatures so they look the same as links in posts and PMs.
Matthew

[SRSemenza]

Hi,

     How about someone coming up with something to replace those standard message icons?  You know like that silly blue pencil.  Maybe a Festool clamp in place of the sticky thumb tack?



Seth

[Matthew Schenker]

Hi,

     How about someone coming up with something to replace those standard message icons?  You know like that silly blue pencil.  Maybe a Festool clamp in place of the sticky thumb tack?



Seth

The "silly blue pencil" is also known as the "standard" message icon.  Although it is pretty basic, I installed a number of Festool-themed message icons below the standard one, showing 12 different Festool images (see this discussion).  I also updated the "exclamation" and "question" message icons.

But there's always room for more!  If someone has a new concept for the "standard" icon, or any of the others, let me know.

If anyone is interested in designing some new message icons, here are the technical details:
- 24x24 pixels
- GIF format

While we're at it, on a related subject, I've been interested in creating an expanded smiley set (smileys are those animated faces you can add to your posts).  It would be fun to  have original, Festool-themed smileys.  I posted about it back in December (click here) but no one responded, so I dropped the subject.  I'll raise it again now!  Creating new smileys is more involved than message icons, since they need to be animated, but the payoff is they get used more often.

It's possible the message icons could form a base for some sort of smileys.  Maybe there could be an animation of a TS 55 sliding on a guide rail, a Kapex chopping, a Domino plunging, and more.

Here are the technical details"
- 15x15 pixels (they could be bigger horizontally)
- Animated GIF format (not absolutely necessary, but animation is how we think of smileys)

Matthew

[SRSemenza]

Hi,

  Umm, yes , right , the standard message icon.   I just think the color and style doesn't fit the new forum design.  The tool icons are great , but I think a new standard one could be a nice improvement also.  Even if they are not Festool oriented, just a a more fitting color/style.  Maybe a mechanical pencil writing on graph paper?
     I like the idea of adding more smilies even if they are not Festool based. I am on another forum that has about thirty to choose from. They add a nice little spice to the posts.


Seth

[Matthew Schenker]

Seth,
Well, feel free to contribute a new "standard" icon.  Or if anyone else has ideas...
On the smileys, I am asking others to contribute them.  Personally, I'm just terrible at creating animated GIFs!
Matthew

[SRSemenza]

Seth,
Well, feel free to contribute a new "standard" icon.  Or if anyone else has ideas...
On the smileys, I am asking others to contribute them.  Personally, I'm just terrible at creating animated GIFs!
Matthew

Hi,

  I'd love to  but I don't know how to do all the graphic stuff.

Seth

[SRSemenza]

Hi,


    So what happened to the alternating pale green shading of posts?


Seth

[Matthew Schenker]

    So what happened to the alternating pale green shading of posts?

Hmmm...you don't see alternating shades?  I changed the code to make every other post have a kind of off-green background.
Is anyone else not seeing this?
Matthew

[SRSemenza]

    So what happened to the alternating pale green shading of posts?

Hmmm...you don't see alternating shades?  I changed the code to make every other post have a kind of off-green background.
Is anyone else not seeing this?
Matthew

Hi,

   Yes, I was one who promoted the idea. I used too see it , but it does not show now.


Seth

[Matthew Schenker]

   Yes, I was one who promoted the idea. I used too see it , but it does not show now.

That's weird.  All this time, I was assuming it was working.
Are you saying that all the posts have exactly the same background?
Could you post a screen shot so I can try to figure this out?
Matthew

[SRSemenza]

   Yes, I was one who promoted the idea. I used too see it , but it does not show now.

That's weird.  All this time, I was assuming it was working.
Are you saying that all the posts have exactly the same background?
Could you post a screen shot so I can try to figure this out?
Matthew

Hi,

   Right ,the posts all look like a white background to me.   If it matters the "stickied" topics do show in green background.  How do I post a screen shot?


Seth

[Dan Clark]

Seth,

Are you seeing this on the same monitor and same computer? 

I found that the appearance changes from monitor to monitor and computer to computer.  Right now, I'm working with two monitors on one computer.   When I drag the browser from one to the other, the appearance changes somewhat.  The bands are very light on my left monitor and darker on the right monitor.

Regards,

Dan.

[Matthew Schenker]

   Right ,the posts all look like a white background to me.   If it matters the "stickied" topics do show in green background.  How do I post a screen shot?

The stickies have another, more noticeable, color, which is why they are probably showing up better for you.

Just to make sure I know what you mean, are you talking about the background of the posts, or the topic listings?  Either way, it's the same issue (except by column instead of row), but I want to be clear (no pun intended).

Matthew

[Michael Kellough]

   Yes, I was one who promoted the idea. I used too see it , but it does not show now.

That's weird.  All this time, I was assuming it was working.
Are you saying that all the posts have exactly the same background?
Could you post a screen shot so I can try to figure this out?
Matthew

They do alternate in Safari/Mac. It is subtle.

[woodshopdemos]

   Right ,the posts all look like a white background to me.   If it matters the "stickied" topics do show in green background.  How do I post a screen shot?

The stickies have another, more noticeable, color, which is why they are probably showing up better for you.

Just to make sure I know what you mean, are you talking about the background of the posts, or the topic listings?  Either way, it's the same issue (except by column instead of row), but I want to be clear (no pun intended).

Matthew

Matthew, I do get the alternating background block colors but the green is so subtle that it easily is lost as a background difference. In printer terms, maybe a 10% instead of the normal 0

[johne]

For those that do not see the alternating green and white it may be a monitor calibration problem (Monitor being set to bright)

You can get a decent idea about your monitor settings here

http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/others/monitorsetup.htm

and here

http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/others/monitorsetup_black.htm

[SRSemenza]

Hi,

      OK the green background shading on every other post and column is still there. I did some monitor adjusting and it magically reappeared.  My monitor must have done an auto adjust when I wasn't looking.


Seth

[Matthew Schenker]

      OK the green background shading on every other post and column is still there. I did some monitor adjusting and it magically reappeared.  My monitor must have done an auto adjust when I wasn't looking.

So the forum looks OK now?
Matthew

[SRSemenza]

Hi,

   Yup, all set.


Seth