Forum's new look.

[mike27oct]

Interesting that no one has started this topic until now.

I notice when many websites attempt to "improve" the look of the site, it is usually a step backwards.  Plain and simple, I do not like the new look.  I found the previous site more readable, and quite suitable and efficient to browse through .  For example, the header font for the forum title looks like a 1920's font style; if I were to pick a "Roaring 20's" font, I would choose this one.  This is a very "un-modern" look for a tech site.  (I was in the publishing business for 30 years, and I pay attention to these things.)  The colors through out the new look are distracting.  If you want to return to the old look and feel of the original site, I will not complain.

I would be interested in what other long-time users think.

[jwlv]

I agree that the type face is not suitable for a technology site. I didn't spend much time creating the logo image so I just grabbed the first font I saw. I changed it to Arial for now but I still don't like it.

The main goal for this change is so that mobile users will have a responsive website that will scale down to their smaller screens as opposed to those who use a desktop computer. The original design was not responsive. It will not scale up or scale down. This is the best responsive implementation I've seen thus far for the SMF forum software. Colors, fonts, and other visual aspects can be changed later on.

[mike27oct]

Thanks for a reply.  I really am trying to be helpful; not critical.

Other modern and simple fonts I suggest are Tahoma and Verdana, and some of the variants of Arial such as Arial rounded bold and Arial Black.

BTW, when I came to the site right now, the tab to view posts since last visit is missing!

[jwlv]

Because the site now uses a responsive design, some items may get moved around depending on the size of your screen (or the current size of your browser window). 

For example, if you were to narrow the width of your browser, instead of seeing the menu items at the top (Home, Help, Search, Profile, etc.), you'll see three horizontal bars to represent the menu.

You indicated that the tab to view posts since last visit is missing. It may have just been moved due to the width of your browser window. See these two screen shots:

[mike27oct]

OK, I see, we are playing Where's Waldo in a sense.  Well, as long it stays consistent on the same device, although it will be different from a PC to a phone (or tablet, etc)

Regarding the list of the options below our name in bold; I would prefer that the list below also be bold as well.  Some of the changes you are doing makes it more difficult for visually impaired folks like me.  "readability" (which was great) is less so now.

[jwlv]

I do understand your concerns. Way back when, HTML was great for readability, and even more so for screen readers. As technology advanced, it slowly moved away from textual designs and more into graphical designs, purely for the aesthetics. When HTML5 came along, things became even tougher. Web pages can dynamically react to the user instead of just being static. Unfortunately that's the way technology always is. Sometimes the change is for the better and sometimes it's for the worse. But either way, technology still marches on.