Forum update news!

[Kenni]

Hi all!

For the past couple of weeks, we've been working hard on an update for our forum. The update comes with a number of changes, and the most notable change will be all about speed! The updated package allows us to update our servers and systems, and the result will be a near-6-fold increase in rendering all these fine pages.

Sadly, our themes will suffer from this update. The different theme developers has announced that they wont update the current themes to support the new software update. We saw this as an opportunity to change things around a bit and make the forum more modern and crisp, so: In the future, we will have one theme in 2 different color schemes: Light and Dark. (Screenshots in the bottom of this post). We're very happy about the result!

The forum will be taken down for maintenance and the update will be carried out Friday, June 16th @ 9.00 PM CET. The update is expected to take about 1 hour to carry out.

Don't hesitate to comment the design!

Forum index

forumIndex.JPG (166.43 KiB) Viewed 2403 times

Forum browsing

forumBrowsing.JPG (171.23 KiB) Viewed 2403 times

Sticky menu and our most recent news!

stickyMenuRecentNews.JPG (169.04 KiB) Viewed 2403 times

The dark theme

darkVersion.JPG (150.48 KiB) Viewed 2403 times

Mobile browsing

mobileDefault.JPG (58.44 KiB) Viewed 2403 times

Mobile browsing with the dark theme

mobileDark.JPG (41.4 KiB) Viewed 2403 times

[Socram]

Awesome job guys! Really liking the new design and who doesn't love a major performance increase. Looking forward to that mobile update as well.

Thanks to everyone involved for the hard work!

[QVprod]

According to Propellerhead website:

"Please note that our logos are trademarks of Propellerhead Software."

Do you guys have express permission in writing that allows usage of a logo based on Reason's logo? A 'no worries, you can use it' email from a random staff member isn't sufficient. It would be a shame if you did a whole redesign only to have to strip out the trademarked assets.

We have had the Reason(ish) looking symbol as part of the ReasonTalk logo for as long as this forum has existed. That's not a new thing. The only thing that changed about our logo for the new forum upgrade is the blue is darker.

[QVprod]

We have had the Reason(ish) looking symbol as part of the ReasonTalk logo for as long as this forum has existed. That's not a new thing. The only thing that changed about our logo for the new forum upgrade is the blue is darker.

Of course, but 'time in use' does not validate trademark infringement. Did the site owners ever get permission?

I personally can't answer that. However, given that Propellerhead hosts their beta tests here, clearly we have a great relationship with them. If there were any trademark issues they d have been solved already.

[Gorgon]

According to Propellerhead website:

"Please note that our logos are trademarks of Propellerhead Software."

Do you guys have express permission in writing that allows usage of a logo based on Reason's logo? A 'no worries, you can use it' email from a random staff member isn't sufficient. It would be a shame if you did a whole redesign only to have to strip out the trademarked assets. I don't favor your chances in court against a billion dollar corporation that's the parent company of Propellerhead for infringement of their brand.

[Kenni]

The forum server and the forum software has now been updated, and our new theme has been implemented in the light and dark versions.

Enjoy!

[Carly(Poohbear)]

Thank you and I know I will

[Bixbambi]

Good work!!!

[stratatonic]

I don't like it.

[Kenni]

I don't like it.

Sorry to hear that!

Not the dark theme either?

[stratatonic]

ll

[stratatonic]

I don't like it.

Sorry to hear that!

Not the dark theme either?

Ok...on mobile vertically, it is fine.

On a tablet, the "Join Us on Slack", "Ads" and "Recent News" take up over 2/5 of the screen in horizontal position, to the right of the threads.

On a 13" laptop, a similar situation.

Probably fine on a full screen monitor.

Any chance of getting the "Join Us on Slack", "Ads" and "Recent News" at the bottom, instead of the sides, like in vertical mobile mode?

(haven't checked out dark yet - i'll probably stick to light anyways, just like in Reason... )

[Kenni]

Any chance of getting the "Join Us on Slack", "Ads" and "Recent News" at the bottom, instead of the sides, like in vertical mobile mode?

Hmm, all of this is dependent on the screen resolution rather than the device type.

I've tested it on several devices but I see what you mean with the vertical mode on a tablet. We will add it as a task and see what we can do!

[stratatonic]

Any chance of getting the "Join Us on Slack", "Ads" and "Recent News" at the bottom, instead of the sides, like in vertical mobile mode?

Hmm, all of this is dependent on the screen resolution rather than the device type.

I've tested it on several devices but I see what you mean with the vertical mode on a tablet. We will add it as a task and see what we can do!

Hey, Kenni, no big deal really. You guys have done great work here.
And I just checked out dark theme - yeah I'll stick to the light...

[esselfortium]

I don't like it... Everything being crammed onto one side of the screen is really irritating. When reading threads, I don't need to be always seeing what the latest site news is or be invited to join Slack. I just want to read the thread. And then when I scroll down, instead of the wasted space being filled with things I don't need to be seeing, it's actual whitespace filled with nothing, just using screen real estate for a big block of solid color.

[jam-s]

In general I think the new look is OK, but I'm missing one thing from the old theme when browsing the "new posts":

Before, the forum a post was made in got shown as well. Now there's only the title of thread and the account shown in the first block. Knowing which forum a new post has been made in is quite useful to me, as I tend only skim over some fora. Would be great if this information could be added back in.

[joeyluck]

In general I think the new look is OK, but I'm missing one thing from the old theme when browsing the "new posts":

Before, the forum a post was made in got shown as well. Now there's only the title of thread and the account shown in the first block. Knowing which forum a new post has been made in is quite useful to me, as I tend only skim over some fora. Would be great if this information could be added back in.

I might be misunderstanding. But New posts are still available via 'quick links' and a link that is brought to the front. When you visit it, It tells you who posted last and when.

And the added bonus now is there is indication for what posts inside the thread you haven't read (indicated by a blue dot). We didn't have that before.

[esselfortium]

In general I think the new look is OK, but I'm missing one thing from the old theme when browsing the "new posts":

Before, the forum a post was made in got shown as well. Now there's only the title of thread and the account shown in the first block. Knowing which forum a new post has been made in is quite useful to me, as I tend only skim over some fora. Would be great if this information could be added back in.

I might be misunderstanding. But New posts are still available via 'quick links' and a link that is brought to the front. When you visit it, It tells you who posted last and when.

And the added bonus now is there is indication for what posts inside the thread you haven't read (indicated by a blue dot). We didn't have that before.

What they mean is that the New Posts list no longer tells you which subforum each thread is in.

[joeyluck]

I don't like it... Everything being crammed onto one side of the screen is really irritating. When reading threads, I don't need to be always seeing what the latest site news is or be invited to join Slack. I just want to read the thread. And then when I scroll down, instead of the wasted space being filled with things I don't need to be seeing, it's actual whitespace filled with nothing, just using screen real estate for a big block of solid color.

It appears maybe you are sitting right on the threshold. I view from my 13" MacBook Air, and with Chrome maximized, it reads well and feels good to me.

ReasonTalk-fullscreen.jpg (284.09 KiB) Viewed 2150 times

If I make the window smaller, then it can start to feel a bit crammed (this is the smallest before the change in the next example)

ReasonTalk-small.jpg (211.89 KiB) Viewed 2150 times

When I go slightly even smaller with my browser window, more room is given to the text and the ads and Slack invite are pushed to the bottom.

ReasonTalk-smaller.jpg (221.2 KiB) Viewed 2150 times

What browser are you using and how large is your display. Does changing the browser window size help at all?

[joeyluck]

In general I think the new look is OK, but I'm missing one thing from the old theme when browsing the "new posts":

Before, the forum a post was made in got shown as well. Now there's only the title of thread and the account shown in the first block. Knowing which forum a new post has been made in is quite useful to me, as I tend only skim over some fora. Would be great if this information could be added back in.

I might be misunderstanding. But New posts are still available via 'quick links' and a link that is brought to the front. When you visit it, It tells you who posted last and when.

And the added bonus now is there is indication for what posts inside the thread you haven't read (indicated by a blue dot). We didn't have that before.

What they mean is that the New Posts list no longer tells you which subforum each thread is in.

Oh gotcha! Sorry I hadn't even noticed! I understand now. @kenni, is this possible to have like it was before?

[esselfortium]

I don't like it... Everything being crammed onto one side of the screen is really irritating. When reading threads, I don't need to be always seeing what the latest site news is or be invited to join Slack. I just want to read the thread. And then when I scroll down, instead of the wasted space being filled with things I don't need to be seeing, it's actual whitespace filled with nothing, just using screen real estate for a big block of solid color.

It appears maybe you are sitting right on the threshold. I view from my 13" MacBook Air, and with Chrome maximized, it reads well and feels good to me.

ReasonTalk-fullscreen.jpg

If I make the window smaller, then it can start to feel a bit crammed (this is the smallest before the change in the next example)ReasonTalk-small.jpg



When I go slightly even smaller with my browser window, more room is given to the text and the ads and Slack invite are pushed to the bottom.

ReasonTalk-smaller.jpg

What browser are you using and how large is your display. Does changing the browser window size help at all?

I'm currently using a standard 1920x1080 display. I don't like to fullscreen Chrome, and I shouldn't need to for a site that's only going to use one side of the window anyway.

[joeyluck]

I don't like it... Everything being crammed onto one side of the screen is really irritating. When reading threads, I don't need to be always seeing what the latest site news is or be invited to join Slack. I just want to read the thread. And then when I scroll down, instead of the wasted space being filled with things I don't need to be seeing, it's actual whitespace filled with nothing, just using screen real estate for a big block of solid color.

It appears maybe you are sitting right on the threshold. I view from my 13" MacBook Air, and with Chrome maximized, it reads well and feels good to me.

ReasonTalk-fullscreen.jpg

If I make the window smaller, then it can start to feel a bit crammed (this is the smallest before the change in the next example)ReasonTalk-small.jpg



When I go slightly even smaller with my browser window, more room is given to the text and the ads and Slack invite are pushed to the bottom.

ReasonTalk-smaller.jpg

What browser are you using and how large is your display. Does changing the browser window size help at all?

I'm currently using a standard 1920x1080 display. I don't like to fullscreen Chrome, and I shouldn't need to for a site that's only going to use one side of the window anyway.

Understood. The idea of the sidebar is to help with few things. One is to bridge the forum with the front page. We hope to bring more content. And we hope the content will also encourage great conversation in the forum. Also, it allows the ads to be placed on the side rather than at the top of the page, which I personally find to be much better and more attractive (as much as ads can be). But ads being something of course ReasonTalk needs in order to afford the servers. I think there can be other great uses for the sidebar as well.

[joeyluck]

Just noticed that on mobile (Android), when browsing New Posts, it shows which forum. When browsing on desktop, it does not.

[siln]

on desktop, when I click on a link , I would prefer it to open on another tab rather than make me quit the forum

[PSoames]

Looks great chaps.

I think a thanks is in order for your continued work on this forum.