W1zzard - Time For a TPU 'facelift' ??

[Solaris17]

Originally Posted by PHaS3

I for one have always liked the "minimalist" look TPU has. Sure, its not flashy, but its reliable and has a kind of simple appeal. I also think to start off by saying "websiteX has just upgraded and now maybe we should" isn't the right way to look at it

I am always skeptical about change when it comes to websites like TPU. Communities can be fickle, and changes may cause more issues than good when so many people are involved.

That said, that Nexus forum looks pretty awesome with its dark theme. The screen still goes white when following links etc. though, which is worse when your eyes are used to the blackness.

thats just a nexus thing i think their forum uses some kind of overlay and the delay between page transitions causes the "white" background to show. its not something that happens on all forums.

[PHaS3]

Originally Posted by Solaris17

thats just a nexus thing i think their forum uses some kind of overlay and the delay between page transitions causes the "white" background to show. its not something that happens on all forums.

...

I am not that retarded, I know how things work. But thanks

I was pointing out that the transition isn't as nice as it could be, so that if some one does something similar for TPU, they are aware of that particular issue.

[shk021051]

How about upgrade forum to vBulletin version 4?

[remixedcat]

nexus--->that's when there's a delay in loading the CSS....

[mediasorcerer]

If i can put my 2bob on this topic please, the layout is great, easy to navigate and easily functional for most users need, the main thing i would change is the colour scheme basically [with no disrespect intended].

[ZenZimZaliben]

What can you really expect out of a redesign. We are locked in to vBulletin framework and honestly the amount of customization you can do is pretty lame. Color change and buttons is about the only thing that would happen. Just take a look at some of these "premium" skins.

http://www.vbstyles.com/vbulletin-4x...FWXhQgodQi0A5w

No matter what you are tied to the Framework and there is only so much you can customize without going into the realms of advanced js/css which is going to be supported differently by every browser out there. And it won't work on some of them. So lots of custom code. And in the end it is still supposed to be a tech forum.

All of the above adds up to a lot of time/money for something that is just fine the way it is.

I agree with everyone who said. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[eidairaman1]

what im saying is have a TPU Standard which is the current interface for the forum then a TPU dark which only changes the white background to a dark back ground with a text that contrasts with the dark background, or allow custom text colors.

[LAN_deRf_HA]

That blue fox might be even gentler than nexus.

[DRDNA]

Originally Posted by m1dg3t

Thats part of your problem right there! Most monitors come out of the box WAY WAY WAY to bright and with a "Cold" temperature. So the Whites are rather bluish and very, VERY pronounced. I bet if you spent some time calibrating your monitor you'd reduce OR eliminate that problem

I don't see any white on my TPU pages, off whites/greys/pastels; yes. Straight white? No

yeah man that's the first thing I do when I get a panel...I start with some on-line recommendations then fine tune from there.CONTRAST always comes set to high for my application of use just for starts.
Oh yeah but as for a face lift ..I say nah (no) I like it the way it is right now.
I also see no whites in the forums.

[Kreij]

While the posts in this thread point out how the forums could be changed, I don't see any compelling reasons on why it should be changed.

[suraswami]

Change is good. But the good thing about the layout of this site is pleasing, easy and fast. I want to keep it that way.

my 2 cents.

[LAN_deRf_HA]

Originally Posted by Kreij

While the posts in this thread point out how the forums could be changed, I don't see any compelling reaons on why it should be changed.

Isn't traffic dropping off? Well done facelifts can help that.

[Kreij]

Originally Posted by LAN_deRf_HA

Isn't traffic dropping off? Well done facelifts can help that.

Traffic is dropping off?

[m1dg3t]

Originally Posted by LAN_deRf_HA

Isn't traffic dropping off? Well done facelifts can help that.

Go on any other tech forum and I bet you TPU online/active users at any given time is dbl/tripple! If not more

[n-ster]

TPU doesn't have THAT much traffic, I know a few sites that have much higher traffic.

I think the traffic that TPU has is a nice balance between not enough and too much. A little more def wouldn't hurt, but this is just fine

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

I'd be excited to have tpu with a new layout.

[m1dg3t]

Originally Posted by n-ster

TPU doesn't have THAT much traffic, I know a few sites that have much higher traffic.

I think the traffic that TPU has is a nice balance between not enough and too much. A little more def wouldn't hurt, but this is just fine

Who? Anandtech, and? Did I say we have the most traffic here? It is buisier then quite a few places. Whatever, it doesn't matter. We are here lol

[Batou1986]

i like tpu the way it is, its clean and easy to read and works great on mobile devices since i dont have to load 200 elements on a page.

[remixedcat]

a lot of the graidents on here that are images as well as buttons can be replaced with css and text. That would help a lot.

[mtosev]

the quality of stuff posted on this site (reviews, news, tutorials, quality of the stuff posted on the forum,...etc) is more important than how the site looks

[n-ster]

Originally Posted by mtosev

the quality of stuff posted on this site (reviews, news, tutorials, quality of the stuff posted on the forum,...etc) is more important than how the site looks

of course, but changing the looks of the site won't suddenly make W1zzard or cadaveca bad reviewers

[STCNE]

Changing for the sake of change or keeping up with another site is silly. I mean really, just look at youtube and their constant updates that break more things than they fix. It's not like the site looks out of date or anything. It's just a simplistic style that stays out of the way.

[Kreij]

I feel like rambling tonight, so here you go ....

A good website design has much in common with a good game design.
It should incorporate a data-driven design philosophy. In other words, what do your users do?
As data is collected on what your users do most, you can assess which areas should garner the most attention.
Your most vocal people who ask for changes, may only constitute 5% of your user base, while the other 95% may be happily chugging along doing what they like.
This does not imply that you don't want to change things, as keeping things fresh is always a good thing in the virtual realms by keeping people engaged and wanting to return.
It does, however, mean that you should focus on the 95% as they are your bread and butter, not the 5% who are the most vocal. This shows up very clearly in usage metrics. It is better to lose the noisy 5% by not catering specificallly to them than it is to lose the silent 95% by ignoring what they do.

One shining example of this is Blizzard's WoW. They do a little to keep the vocal hardcore players happy, but will tear apart the entire game to keep the quiet, casual players coming back because that is the lion's share of thier income ... by a huge percentage. One of the other things that Blizzard understands is that most of the fun of a new experience is the exploration of what is new. That is what engages people. Simply updating content (better graphics) or tossing in a few new things here and there does not accomplish much of anything.

So how does that equate to TPU?
I means that W1zz would have to look at the usage metrics of the site and see what the members do most.
Focus on those things and give people a new experience (exploration) even if the functionality changes little as that is when people respond with "That's cool!!" even if it's not new, and will keep then engaged and enjoying the site.
Moving functional elements is far more productive to creating a new experience than changing colors or "rounding corners".
Adding simple functional elements which make things more efficient/effective (which W1zz has been doing all along) is always a win as one can see by the TPU members' responses when done.

What does this mean for W1zzard's bottom line?
Change for the sake of change is worthless.
Change for the sake of increased engagement and site enjoyment, even without a more visceral experience, could establish a higher involvement ratio (the time people spend on TPU vs. elsewhere), a higher retention ratio (how many people come back regularly), and a higher consumption (new users) as word spreads about the changes.

Okay, I had my say. You guys can go back to discussing color schemes.

[HTC]

Originally Posted by Kreij

I feel like rambling tonight, so here you go ....

A good website design has much in common with a good game design.
It should incorporate a data-driven design philosophy. In other words, what do your users do?
As data is collected on what your users do most, you can assess which areas should garner the most attention.
Your most vocal people who ask for changes, may only constitute 5% of your user base, while the other 95% may be happily chugging along doing what they like.
This does not imply that you don't want to change things, as keeping things fresh is always a good thing in the virtual realms by keeping people engaged and wanting to return.
It does, however, mean that you should focus on the 95% as they are your bread and butter, not the 5% who are the most vocal. This shows up very clearly in usage metrics. It is better to lose the noisy 5% by not catering specificallly to them than it is to lose the silent 95% by ignoring what they do.

One shining example of this is Blizzard's WoW. They do a little to keep the vocal hardcore players happy, but will tear apart the entire game to keep the quiet, casual players coming back because that is the lion's share of thier income ... by a huge percentage. One of the other things that Blizzard understands is that most of the fun of a new experience is the exploration of what is new. That is what engages people. Simply updating content (better graphics) or tossing in a few new things here and there does not accomplish much of anything.

So how does that equate to TPU?
I means that W1zz would have to look at the usage metrics of the site and see what the members do most.
Focus on those things and give people a new experience (exploration) even if the functionality changes little as that is when people respond with "That's cool!!" even if it's not new, and will keep then engaged and enjoying the site.
Moving functional elements is far more productive to creating a new experience than changing colors or "rounding corners".
Adding simple functional elements which make things more efficient/effective (which W1zz has been doing all along) is always a win as one can see by the TPU members' responses when done.

What does this mean for W1zzard's bottom line?
Change for the sake of change is worthless.
Change for the sake of increased engagement and site enjoyment, even without a more visceral experience, could establish a higher involvement ratio (the time people spend on TPU vs. elsewhere), a higher retention ratio (how many people come back regularly), and a higher consumption (new users) as word spreads about the changes.

Okay, I had my say. You guys can go back to discussing color schemes.

Very well said, IMO.

[m1dg3t]

Yes! Uncle kreij. Balance, all about balance