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Korg Forums Redesign.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 2:13 am
by Sharp
Hi all.
I'm in the process of redesigning KORG Forums webpages and I would appreciate your feedback at this stage before I go any further.

CLICK HERE PLEASE

I would also like to also ask you to consider sending me images for the “Community Gallery”. This is a new idea by where there will be a gallery of images from the community of individuals gear, studios, gigs, events, generally anything at all music related that you own the copyright to which you feel would be nice to share with the community.

So for the moment, please just consider the idea of sending me images for the gallery. I will let you all know when I'm accepting them. Should be very soon.

Regards
Sharp.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 7:35 am
by Fransman
I find it looks good, but a bit dark.
I don't like the font of the main text; a bit out-to-date I think.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 7:40 am
by X-Trade
Looks good.

I agree though that Serifs are generally looking outdated. And darker themes may not necessarily be easy on the eyes particularly when reading text.


As for the 'forum' page, I hope you'll be dropping the top 'Korg Forums' banner from the page hosting the embedded frame. Otherwise there will be very little room for content.
Just keep the navigation bar at the top and lose the logo banner.

Also, all the web devs I work with tell me that iFrames are Evil. But I'm not sure why..

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 8:18 am
by michelkeijzers
I think it looks good, maybe a bit dark but as long as there are no yelling/flashing items and sound it is ok (I keep this site opened at work and when it is too 'flashy' I need to hide it most of the time.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 8:21 am
by michelkeijzers
Btw, can images be uploaded only by you or by anyone? (considering disk space for example).

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 8:33 am
by gjvti
I personally do not like dark pages - it is pain to read for eyes (I spend lot of my day working with PC). Current colour scheme seems ideal to me. Perhaps you should consider two or three different skins - stylish vs readability, which can be selected in user preferences and also by cookies. I read forum mostly not logged in.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 9:43 am
by Pepperpotty
Personally I think it looks great. Especially as you will be able to view the forum in other themes like you say on the main page.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 1:14 pm
by jg::
I like it. Including the white-on-black thing, I don't mind that. But it might be a good idea to present options to users, if possible.

jg::

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 1:32 pm
by Pepperpotty
jg:: wrote:I like it. Including the white-on-black thing, I don't mind that. But it might be a good idea to present options to users, if possible.

jg::
If you read the index page you will see that Sharp says "you can select other themes to view the forum in. "

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 2:12 pm
by Sharp
Thanks everyone.
I don't like the font of the main text; a bit out-to-date I think
When you say main text, what do you mean?
The text as in the content of the pages is as standard as you can get.
And darker themes may not necessarily be easy on the eyes particularly when reading text.
This will always split users down the middle so I’ve gone for the best compromise I could think of.
As for the 'forum' page, I hope you'll be dropping the top 'Korg Forums' banner from the page hosting the embedded frame.
Good idea. I’ll do that.
Also, all the web devs I work with tell me that iFrames are Evil. But I'm not sure why..
Strange.
Doesn’t really matter I guess though since both options will be provided.
I think it looks good, maybe a bit dark but as long as there are no yelling/flashing items and sound it is ok (I keep this site opened at work and when it is too 'flashy' I need to hide it most of the time.
When you login to the forums, they will look the exact same what they have always. So this shouldn’t be a problem. I’m not modifying the forums at all. I’m just changing the default them. People not logged in with have the dark theme. Those logged in will see whatever theme they are using right now.
Btw, can images be uploaded only by you or by anyone? (considering disk space for example).
Disk space in not a problem, but because of the nature of the way KORG are hosting the forums for me, I can’t provide a means for users to upload their own content without getting KORG heavily involved.

So, I’ve written a program that batch processes images and generates the gallery and WebPages. It will do all the resizing and create consistency. So the gallery will be updated in large batches.
I personally do not like dark pages - it is pain to read for eyes (I spend lot of my day working with PC). Current colour scheme seems ideal to me./quote]

For the webpages, the theme will be dark. For the forum, the theme is whatever you are using right now, or you can select others by modifying your account.
Perhaps you should consider two or three different skins - stylish vs readability, which can be selected in user preferences and also by cookies. I read forum mostly not logged in.
This already exists, but you must be logged. After the change, the default theme will be dark. If you do nothing but simply login, you will see the forum exactly as your seeing it right now.

When I login, the forum is dark.

Thanks everyone.

Regards
Sharp.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 7:17 pm
by Alan Waddington
X-Trade wrote:Looks good.
As for the 'forum' page, I hope you'll be dropping the top 'Korg Forums' banner from the page hosting the embedded frame. Otherwise there will be very little room for content.
+1

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 9:39 pm
by michelkeijzers
I was thinking of sending lots of pics about PCG Tools (no just kidding) ... if you can leave space for the 5 MB manual (maybe going to 10 MB in time) I would be happy.

I really look forward to the changes you have in mind. Although I think content is more important than looks an update every once in a while keeps it fresh.

I am sure you will make good decisions about the new theme(s).

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 2:29 pm
by hazabikit
Sorry, I don't like it.

I read Korg forums at work, and I need something bland-looking that won't distract other people.

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 2:52 pm
by Sharp
hazabikit wrote:Sorry, I don't like it.

I read Korg forums at work, and I need something bland-looking that won't distract other people.
Sigh...
Its been mentioned at least 3 times in this thread that you can select different themes when viewing the forums.

This is not new. The forums have alway had this function.

Regards
Sharp

Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 1:03 am
by shefu
This would be a much welcomed change. Thank you for your dedication!