New "Message Icons"

[Matthew Schenker]

Hey Everyone,
In my efforts to create a more themed look to the forum, I've been making a few tweaks here and there.

This morning, I added a new set of "message icons."  These are the little graphics you can choose when posting that help identify the character of your message or your discussion.  We now have all the basic ones, plus a set of icons representing various Festool tools.

You can these new icons by clicking on the "Message icon:" pull-down menu, which is located just under the "Subject:" field when you are composing a post.

Of course, you don't have to use these new icons, but they are there if you want them.

Use this discussion as a place to experiment and comment on the icons.  Let me know how they look.  After a period of time, I'll move this discussion to the "Tech Talk" board.

Thanks,
Matthew

[jonny round boy]

Cool!

[jonny round boy]

Ditto!

[jonny round boy]

I could go on, but I think you get the idea....!

[Dan Clark]

Yep, that makes message content much planer.

Dan.

[jonny round boy]

Yep, that makes message content much planer.

Dan.

Dan, I saw what you did there!!! Very good. 

[Dave Ronyak]

Yep, that makes message content much planer.

Dan.

Can I get a rebate on that?

How high above normal is the water in your part of Washington state?

Dave R.

[Matthew Schenker]

Ah, the posts are falling like dominoes now...

[Matthew Schenker]

Keep it going...let the subject guide you!

[Matthew Schenker]

While we're at it, why not do a jig?

[Matthew Schenker]

Have we extracted enough from this subject yet?

[Brice Burrell]

Matthew is it possible to have the new tool icons in the post themselves just like the smileys?

[Dave Ronyak]

Here's another thought that might assist communications by the digitechno challenged (me!):  Insert the Festool catalogue Item Number beneath the photos in the icons, if possible.  Then I could write messages describing ideas of how to use / modify selected Festool products without having to chase down their numbers at the FestoolUSA website.  Might save a bit of time and improve clarity of messages.

Dave R.

[Matthew Schenker]

Matthew is it possible to have the new tool icons in the post themselves just like the smileys?

Interesting...after I loaded up the new message icons, I also started thinking about smileys!

I believe that is possible.  I'll need to collect the icons into a "Smiley Set" and add them to the default set (the ones we have now).
I'll look into this and post back here.

I assume this idea won't go against the grain with anyone!

Matthew

[Matthew Schenker]

Here's another thought that might assist communications by the digitechno challenged (me!):  Insert the Festool catalogue Item Number beneath the photos in the icons, if possible.  Then I could write messages describing ideas of how to use / modify selected Festool products without having to chase down their numbers at the FestoolUSA website.  Might save a bit of time and improve clarity of messages.

That would be interesting, but the problem is I am not representing every product in Festool's lineup in the icon set.  I'm just picking a representative image that stands in for a certain line of tools.  To do what you're asking, I would need to have a set of icons that shows every tool.

But maybe you're onto something here.  I'm just brainstorming, but perhaps it would be helpful to have product numbers in a pull-down menu of some sort?

Let's drill into this a bit more.

Matthew

[jonny round boy]

This thread, bad puns and all, could 'carry' on for some time...

[Dan Clark]

Yep, that makes message content much planer.

Dan.

Can I get a rebate on that?

How high above normal is the water in your part of Washington state?

Dave R.

Dave,

We're plenty high up a hill.  No danger of flooding.  Whether we was DOWN the hill, that's another story!

Dan.

[Overtime]

Can we get a   with green teeth ?

Cool stuff Matt !

[Eli]

I respectfully request that NAINA tools are added to the list. We talk about the Kapex more than all these combined.

[Matthew Schenker]

I respectfully request that NAINA tools are added to the list. We talk about the Kapex more than all these combined.

Is this what you mean?  Now NAINA is even more painful!
Matthew

[Corwin]

Hmmm, we $pend a lot of time discussing that slippery slope thing.  How 'bout something like this slide in Festool green?

[Overtime]

Here's a downhill Jump slide game web thing deal.
 Left click to go.

[Eli]

Yeah, but where's the laminate trimmers and the belt sander? What about the CMS?

(you're just making this way too much fun for me, I can't stop)

Don't keel me Fred..

[Ned]

Not cool at all.

In a page that lists the threads in a sub-forum, use of the tool icons doubles or triples the vertical space occupied by a thread.  Whatever your screen size, you see less information (the thread titles) and have to scroll more.

While the icons are decorative, they don't convey any useful information that we couldn't have done before.

Festool Green smilies, OTOH, would be cute without penalty.

Ned

[Matthew Schenker]

Not cool at all.

In a page that lists the threads in a sub-forum, use of the tool icons doubles or triples the vertical space occupied by a thread.  Whatever your screen size, you see less information (the thread titles) and have to scroll more.

Good point.  Until I saw the icons actually used, it was hard to know how they would appear in the board indexes.  I'll reduce the size of the icons so their height is equal to the smaller ones we were using before.

While the icons are decorative, they don't convey any useful information that we couldn't have done before.

I'll disagree about that.  When these are put into use and become more of a part of the forum communication, I think they will send a visual sense of the kinds of topics people are posting.

Also, they are optional.  People can use them if they want to highlight the topic, but they don't have to.

Matthew

[Matthew Schenker]

Everyone,
I just reduced the size of the icons so they don't alter the indexing on a board's main page.
Matthew

[Ned]

Objection withdrawn.

If you're not seeing the new, smaller tool icons, clear your cache and try again.  On Firefox, Tools/Clear Private Data and check Cache.

Ned

[Matthew Schenker]

Ned,
I'm glad you objected.  That's why I post these discussions, after all -- to get honest feedback!
Your comments led to an improved offering, so I thank you for speaking up.
Matthew