Is it possible to have the simplicity of ReasonTalk 'Classic' here?

[joeyluck]

Simplicity is what I enjoyed about the forum before.

It wasn't so busy looking.
It wasn't cluttered with animated icons. It was simply a push-pin icon for pinned posts and for everything else, the text was in bold if there was something you hadn't read and not bold if you had read it. You would just click 'latest' and you would know what was trending. It was at the top with many replies.

There was no need to have a date and time stamp for the topic or for the latest reply. There actually was no stamp for the topic and the latest reply would simply say '2 minutes ago' or '5 days ago.' I forget the date anyways! Lol. So it's more helpful to simply see '2 hours ago.' It made navigating and exploring the forums more inviting and enjoyable.

I easily get lost here in the busyness.

For example, here's a flashback:

Reasontalk-classic.png (148.16 KiB) Viewed 2398 times

Any way possible to have a theme similar to this?

Thanks

[ScuzzyEye]

There was no need to have a date and time stamp for the topic or for the latest reply. There actually was no stamp for the topic and the latest reply would simply say '2 minutes ago' or '5 days ago.'

That would be a good modification to make to this site. Much easier to read minutes ago, instead of looking at the current time, and the time of the post.

[Theo.M]

i'm a bit with Joey here.. BUT, i am getting used to it however for what you gain somewhere else you always lose something. Nothing can be perfect, just like a DAW.

I felt at ease at the other place, visually I mean. It will take time to adjust. Also i see no PM's yet so i hope that does happen (waiting anxiously).

I'm planning on starting a vaping forum and I am actually going to use wordpress, even without the ignore feature and even if they are dicks, because i just like the simple layout so much. I don't know to what extent this can be themed, but I wonder if others besides Joey and I would like to emulate the previous look as much as possible.

Disclaimer: I do realise it's early days, and please note all requests above are not expected in any of fast timeframe, nor expected at all. It's just opinion on what I'd personally like, and more of a "will it happen eventually, even if it takes a month" kind of thing.

[Kenni]

I'm currently looking at implementing a theme for simplicity.

There's some things, like timestamps for instance, that can be changed, but requires modification of the core code, which is a bad idea for security, since it complicates updating the software whenever there's a release.

I also have to say, that Wordpress weren't "dicks" - Wordpress is open source software written in PHP, exactly as phpBB is. It was the company, Website Toolbox, that were dicks. They basically have Wordpress installations for their customers (remember, open source), which they modded with forum plugins.

I urge you to try and setup a forum solution, it's a learning process indeed. However, don't rule us out just yet We had plans for the migration, which involved beta testing, load testing, and a complete and ready setup. We estimated that we needed 4-6 weeks for this, to be 100% ready. At the time Website Toolbox pulled the plug out of the blue, we had only been on it for 6 days which was basically mapping all database fields in wordpress with phpBB, and testing code. Mind you, from the day they pulled the plug until we were online, a total of 24 hours went by.

I will look into simplifying a theme right away!

[Kenni]

Also, it's possible to edit how the times are shown for you under "Board appearance" in the user profile.

[Kenni]

This is how my time-definition looks:

rt_time.JPG (180.45 KiB) Viewed 2359 times

[Kenni]

There was no need to have a date and time stamp for the topic or for the latest reply. There actually was no stamp for the topic and the latest reply would simply say '2 minutes ago' or '5 days ago.'

That would be a good modification to make to this site. Much easier to read minutes ago, instead of looking at the current time, and the time of the post.

You should check out the theme Elegance. To me, it's quite nice, and a bit more flat than the default style.

[Theo.M]

I'm currently looking at implementing a theme for simplicity.

There's some things, like timestamps for instance, that can be changed, but requires modification of the core code, which is a bad idea for security, since it complicates updating the software whenever there's a release.

I also have to say, that Wordpress weren't "dicks" - Wordpress is open source software written in PHP, exactly as phpBB is. It was the company, Website Toolbox, that were dicks. They basically have Wordpress installations for their customers (remember, open source), which they modded with forum plugins.

I urge you to try and setup a forum solution, it's a learning process indeed. However, don't rule us out just yet We had plans for the migration, which involved beta testing, load testing, and a complete and ready setup. We estimated that we needed 4-6 weeks for this, to be 100% ready. At the time Website Toolbox pulled the plug out of the blue, we had only been on it for 6 days which was basically mapping all database fields in wordpress with phpBB, and testing code. Mind you, from the day they pulled the plug until we were online, a total of 24 hours went by.

I will look into simplifying a theme right away!

Hi, i'm not ruling you out LOL, i said a vaping forum, as in something for e cigarettes.. Nothing to do with reason. I have zero desire to ever go into any form of competition with the best and already established forum, from a now friend no less. Sorry if I came across saying otherwise.
Thanks for clarifying who the a holes really were and thanks for looking into simplified themes!

[Kenni]

Oi, lol. Totally misunderstood you there!

My bad

[Theo.M]

Oi, lol. Totally misunderstood you there!

My bad

LOL! hehe all good buddy
yeah after quitting smoking, now going strong 7 months and 3 days, I took up vaping and am thrilled with it. The thing is, i spent months (literally), around 2 hrs devoted every night of those months, to research.. and at the major vaping forums there really doesn't seem to be any "noobs" that can talk without all the fancy terminology and have patience with people who want to quit smoking (they refer to them as analogs, i mean, why not say cigarettes?) and have no idea about vaping options. I am quite experienced now myself, have moved to all the "big mods" and "sub ohm coils" etc, but i'd really like to set a forum up dedicated to the 'first year of transitioning to vaping', to discuss the best options for those wanting an experience as close to smoking as possible to make the switch as easy as possible. i tried every single cigarette like brand out there so have much to tell about the good and the bad, and worldwide shipping costs, who is cheapest vs quality, etc.
I'd also like to have just two or three sub forums - one for absolute noobs, one for those wishing to go to the next step from the ones that look like cigarettes to the ones they refill, and one for those who want to go to slightly bigger solutions - but never going into the really heavy stuff and all the crazy jargon and "dripping" and "RDA's" and the like (it's all a minefield trust me). I know I was lost because i couldn't find help, so i hope i can do it for others who specifically want to quit smoking and leave the heavy vaping mad crowd to the other forums! Cheers!

[decibel]

bring back the like button

[eusti]

Elegance is a nice theme... Seems to come close to the old look. Thanks!

D.

[joeyluck]

There was no need to have a date and time stamp for the topic or for the latest reply. There actually was no stamp for the topic and the latest reply would simply say '2 minutes ago' or '5 days ago.'

That would be a good modification to make to this site. Much easier to read minutes ago, instead of looking at the current time, and the time of the post.

You should check out the theme Elegance. To me, it's quite nice, and a bit more flat than the default style.

Awesome. Thanks, Kenni!

I feel like Elegance should be the default. It's nice. And thanks for tip on the timestamp. Very helpful

On mobile, for the Elegance theme, the banner is showing a giant 'phpBB' logo. Looks fine on desktop.
And the Elegance theme doesn't seem to have an icon for pinned posts.

Great work!

[craven]

yes, Elegance theme does the trick! I'm a happy camper now

[Theo.M]

Don't like elegance for the same reasons I don't like digi or dark.. the text colour of the forum headers and main topic titles in the sub forums.

If we could have the default pro solver colours with the elegance theme, that would be ideal IMO

The red is just SO strong for unread topics, i find it all very eye straining, except for the pro silver which is my go to for now at least

[joeyluck]

Don't like elegance for the same reasons I don't like digi or dark.. the text colour of the forum headers and main topic titles in the sub forums.

If we could have the default pro solver colours with the elegance theme, that would be ideal IMO

The red is just SO strong for unread topics, i find it all very eye straining, except for the pro silver which is my go to for now at least

But what I do like about it is not having to interpret icons. I like the differences in text showing me what I have read and not read (just like a visited link acts).

But I can agree about the colors. A simple bold or not-bold as used previously would work for me

[Theo.M]

Don't like elegance for the same reasons I don't like digi or dark.. the text colour of the forum headers and main topic titles in the sub forums.

If we could have the default pro solver colours with the elegance theme, that would be ideal IMO

The red is just SO strong for unread topics, i find it all very eye straining, except for the pro silver which is my go to for now at least

But what I do like about it is not having to interpret icons. I like the differences in text showing me what I have read and not read (just like a visited link acts).

But I can agree about the colors. A simple bold or not-bold as used previously would work for me

My mind is unable to process between those current colours of which is read or unread. They are the strongest forum text title colours I have ever seen, bar none. All other forums at least try to go for easy on the eye, this actually hurts. Imagine the pro silver theme, a tad darker, as in a tad, and simpler. The basis for perfection was already there, just needed a tweak, and yes, the simple bold or not bold, absolutely, thanks for backing me up on that one, cheers.. It's not that I didn't want to be able to differentiate, it's that i didn't want it to be difficult or eye straining

[Julibee]

Don't like elegance for the same reasons I don't like digi or dark.. the text colour of the forum headers and main topic titles in the sub forums.

If we could have the default pro solver colours with the elegance theme, that would be ideal IMO

The red is just SO strong for unread topics, i find it all very eye straining, except for the pro silver which is my go to for now at least

But what I do like about it is not having to interpret icons. I like the differences in text showing me what I have read and not read (just like a visited link acts).

But I can agree about the colors. A simple bold or not-bold as used previously would work for me

I completely agree about the bold/not-bold being more than enough to differentiate unread/read posts. The red is so screamy as is! But, i do prefer elegance to any of the others. It could even be more flat in appearance, imo.

[Gardinski]

I really like Elegance. It feels a lot more readable than the default. I loved the look of the old Wordpress forum, and this seems the closest match we're likely to get on this platform.

[ravisoni]

Depending on what browser you're using, that browser's webstore/extension marketplace may have custom css type apps available. I remember a long time ago I used some custom css app to completely revamp a whole site - only for me. You could choose elegance, and just change the properties for the read/unread links and make it non-red. Just an idea.

[Kenni]

As noted in the migration update yesterday, hydlide has started working on a theme built on Elegance that will be called RT Classic.

So, yeah. It will come

[hydlide]

Since I am currently on the job of creating a "clean" template with less noise, I have started during the week with the main 3 pages:
- forum
- topics
- posts

While a lot is copies / pasted from the Elegance theme we currently are using, I felt like this one comes close to what originally RT looked like.
Some additional things I already have been adding:
- hover colors are more "flat", eg they don't show up red on this one
- all text is more from "black" (ok, really dark blue) to grey scale with blue as context color.
- theme is a bit more "simplified", eg I am removing all the clutter from the template and basically try to put "content first", rubbish later.
- experimenting with infinite scrolling (eg: you go to the bottom of the page and it loads the rest of the content, this part is still a bit buggy but its loading something now).

Reason for me to throw in these mock-ups... I would like to hear your opinions. Eg: what should be different, what needs to be altered and so on.

Let me know, the more constructive feedback I get, the better I can plan ahead.

[Arsenic]

The mock ups look pretty good so far. Personally, though, I wouldn't bother with the infinite scrolling, I find this really annoying, especially if there are pictures and videos posted that slow down the loading (The prop shop is a case in point). Getting to the bottom and have to wait for it to load the next batch is a pain. I don't see the same issue on sites where there are a set number of posts per page. I would just prefer to have a choice of number of posts per page. Say 10, 20 and 30 or even just a simple choice between 10 and 25. Even a fixed 25 would be better than the current 10 per page at the moment.

[eusti]

The mock ups look pretty good so far. Personally, though, I wouldn't bother with the infinite scrolling, I find this really annoying, especially if there are pictures and videos posted that slow down the loading (The prop shop is a case in point). Getting to the bottom and have to wait for it to load the next batch is a pain. I don't see the same issue on sites where there are a set number of posts per page. I would just prefer to have a choice of number of posts per page. Say 10, 20 and 30 or even just a simple choice between 10 and 25. Even a fixed 25 would be better than the current 10 per page at the moment.

Agreed about the infinite scrolling part: Better to have just more than 10... Maybe 25 / 50?

D.

[ebop]

This is OT sorry but didn't want to start a thread for it as it's minor.

In the Elegance theme and using a mobile, when you click on the sub-forum headings, there's a black pop up box that appears explaining what the sun-forum is (general, RE, etc). You then need to click again to take you to the sub-forum.

Not a biggie, but it's two clicks to get to the sub-forum when it should be one like in the prosilver theme for example.

I don't think it's a setting I have, or is it?