Poll

Should we keep the new selectable forum theme or return the old ones?

Yes
24 (20.7%)
No
29 (25%)
Yes, and please add more variants
63 (54.3%)

Total Members Voted: 116

Voting closed: 24 September 2015, 14:27:07

Author Topic: New Forum Theme  (Read 57998 times)

Frabby

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #60 on: 10 September 2015, 02:41:42 »
I haven't voted yet, as I'm utterly undecided on the matter.

The new themes look alright to me, I'd use them, but on the other hand they don't improve my forum experience over the BattleTech 2.0 theme that I've been using it for years already. In the end I can (and would) use pretty much any theme.

I'm a heavy user of the "Show unread posts" and "Show new replies to your posts" buttons and consider these vitally important tools for how I use the forums.

And to echo others, thank you for your work and dedication even if it seems it isn't appreciated. It is.
« Last Edit: 10 September 2015, 06:51:15 by Frabby »
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BirdofPrey

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #61 on: 10 September 2015, 02:43:05 »
I getting put back to the default theme if I've been gone a while.
Is theme selection tied to the session token?

phoenixalpha

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #62 on: 10 September 2015, 02:56:50 »
Not a happy camper with the new theme. OK so the faction specific ones are shiny and all, but ffs put back the show unread posts / unread replies buttons. I do not (and will not) trawl through every sub forum to see whats new and whats not. I want a list of unread posts as per the last one.

PurpleDragon

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #63 on: 10 September 2015, 03:00:50 »
I seem to have found where those are still in existance.  You just have to accept the hard on the eyes bright screen to read. 
 
I am having a hard time getting used to the flip of the posts orders, or is there something I did or need to do to change it back?
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Wrangler

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #64 on: 10 September 2015, 06:09:17 »
I seem to have found where those are still in existance.  You just have to accept the hard on the eyes bright screen to read. 

Yeah, that why i'm not thrilled with this setup.  Nice fancy, hard on the eyes along with lack of convenient buttons to go back and forth to posts i care about. :(
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Knightmare

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #65 on: 10 September 2015, 06:24:39 »
I getting put back to the default theme if I've been gone a while.
Is theme selection tied to the session token?

It is tied to the session token as it uses the ?variant method of loading the selectable CSS. Once that session token ends after 360 minutes, it defaults back to the default. It's a compromise between user selectable and security ID.

Again, thanks for all of the positive feedback. I'm already rebuilding the old style header to replicate the original position of the unread buttons. I'll also drop the colors a notch or two to see if that helps with the brightness. As I mentioned in another thread, some of BT's factions colors don't translate so well across a computer screen.
BeemerCon Summarized. Knightmare, end of turn: "How come none of my weapons fired?"
Look, dude, when you are a real mechwarrior you don't need to get all dressed up in cooling suits and cool helmets to work on your mech. You just strip down to your 1980s panties and crop top vest and start wrenchin' it.
Yen Lo Wang = David Lo Pan

Stinger

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #66 on: 10 September 2015, 08:15:11 »
Can we get a simple theme available? Without a background image and soft colors? I have a habit of browsing these forums at work and I don't want to draw attention to myself...

Knightmare

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #67 on: 10 September 2015, 08:20:51 »
Can we get a simple theme available? Without a background image and soft colors? I have a habit of browsing these forums at work and I don't want to draw attention to myself...

The following themes are available:

SMF Core
SMF Curve
(Both default forum themes that come with the software)

BT 2.0
(Based off of Curve and the last "default" BT theme)

Republic
(A Dark 2.0.4RC theme)

BT Factions
(The current BT default with user selectable color schemes)

We've removed the following:
Hegemony, Liao, Davion, Marik, Steiner, Kurita themes (all based on old Curve).  Horribly out of date, slow and rife with security/browser issues.
BeemerCon Summarized. Knightmare, end of turn: "How come none of my weapons fired?"
Look, dude, when you are a real mechwarrior you don't need to get all dressed up in cooling suits and cool helmets to work on your mech. You just strip down to your 1980s panties and crop top vest and start wrenchin' it.
Yen Lo Wang = David Lo Pan

Stinger

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #68 on: 10 September 2015, 10:01:02 »
The following themes are available:

SMF Core
SMF Curve
(Both default forum themes that come with the software)

BT 2.0
(Based off of Curve and the last "default" BT theme)

Republic
(A Dark 2.0.4RC theme)

BT Factions
(The current BT default with user selectable color schemes)

We've removed the following:
Hegemony, Liao, Davion, Marik, Steiner, Kurita themes (all based on old Curve).  Horribly out of date, slow and rife with security/browser issues.

Perfect, thank you.  I was a bit confused by this post: http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=48689.0

Knightmare

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #69 on: 10 September 2015, 10:08:32 »
Alright folks, refresh your browsers.

I still need to make sure it looks and works well in IE/Windows 10, but if you're logged in you should now see the standard header on the new forum theme.

Please let me know if it's running wonky (with screenshot and OS/Browser/Version) if you can. I didn't have time to test the crap out of the styling.
BeemerCon Summarized. Knightmare, end of turn: "How come none of my weapons fired?"
Look, dude, when you are a real mechwarrior you don't need to get all dressed up in cooling suits and cool helmets to work on your mech. You just strip down to your 1980s panties and crop top vest and start wrenchin' it.
Yen Lo Wang = David Lo Pan

Weirdo

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #70 on: 10 September 2015, 10:19:54 »
I see them on my phone, thanks! O0
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ColBosch

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #71 on: 10 September 2015, 11:21:05 »
For the purposes of testing, I switched to the Olive theme. The unread posts/new replies buttons are visible and working, and it's looking pretty good in general.
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Giovanni Blasini

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #72 on: 10 September 2015, 11:30:18 »
Just to be clear, WAP2 browsing isn't on the potential chopping block, is it?
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Knightmare

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #73 on: 10 September 2015, 11:33:24 »
Just to be clear, WAP2 browsing isn't on the potential chopping block, is it?

Never.
BeemerCon Summarized. Knightmare, end of turn: "How come none of my weapons fired?"
Look, dude, when you are a real mechwarrior you don't need to get all dressed up in cooling suits and cool helmets to work on your mech. You just strip down to your 1980s panties and crop top vest and start wrenchin' it.
Yen Lo Wang = David Lo Pan

Maingunnery

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #74 on: 10 September 2015, 11:37:16 »

The visibility of:

Show unread posts since last visit.
Show new replies to your posts.

Is very poor (I am using PC w. Firefox)
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mbear

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #75 on: 10 September 2015, 11:49:14 »
Knightmare,
It looks like the .reset CSS class is mucking some things up. The float:right makes some content move to the right side of the browser window at odd times. For example this poll has the poll title and submit button at the left of the page, while the options are on the right side.

Something similar happens with the Poster info block to the left of every post. The poster's name appears to be in the correct location, but the stuff underneath the name is moving to the right.

Here's an example:
<div class="poster">
<h4>
<ul id="msg_1084542_extra_info" class="reset smalltext">
<li class="postgroup">Major</li>
<li class="stars">
<li class="postcount">Posts: 4640</li>
<li class="profile">
</ul>
</div>

.reset {
    float: right;
    height: auto;
    margin-right: 15px;
    padding: 0;
    width: auto;
   }

When I disable the float:right part of the .reset class in Firebug I have no problems at all.

All this is happening in Pale Moon. Here's the build info if you need it:
    Build identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv:25.7) Gecko/20150824 Firefox/31.9 PaleMoon/25.7.0
Be the Loremaster:

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You bought the box set and are ready to expand your BT experience. Now what? (Thanks Sartis!)

I am Belch II

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #76 on: 10 September 2015, 13:05:55 »
Not a huge fan. But it will grow on me.
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ColBosch

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #77 on: 10 September 2015, 13:31:39 »
The forums do not appear to be saving my choice of color between sessions.
BattleTech is a huge house, it's not any one fan's or "type" of fans.  If you need to relieve yourself, use the bathroom not another BattleTech fan. - nckestrel
1st and 2nd Succession Wars are not happy times. - klarg1
Check my Ogre Flickr page! https://flic.kr/s/aHsmcLnb7v and https://flic.kr/s/aHsksV83ZP

Knightmare

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #78 on: 10 September 2015, 13:40:52 »
All this is happening in Pale Moon. Here's the build info if you need it:
    Build identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv:25.7) Gecko/20150824 Firefox/31.9 PaleMoon/25.7.0

Still acting up? If so, can you fire off a screenshot? Thanks!
BeemerCon Summarized. Knightmare, end of turn: "How come none of my weapons fired?"
Look, dude, when you are a real mechwarrior you don't need to get all dressed up in cooling suits and cool helmets to work on your mech. You just strip down to your 1980s panties and crop top vest and start wrenchin' it.
Yen Lo Wang = David Lo Pan

Kojak

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #79 on: 10 September 2015, 21:05:38 »
The forums do not appear to be saving my choice of color between sessions.

I am also having this problem (Chrome on Windows 8, FWIW).


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Knightmare

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #80 on: 10 September 2015, 21:23:51 »
I am also having this problem (Chrome on Windows 8, FWIW).

As previously mentioned, if you log out, or if the session cookie expires the default color scheme will load. You're still just a click away from having it.  :)
BeemerCon Summarized. Knightmare, end of turn: "How come none of my weapons fired?"
Look, dude, when you are a real mechwarrior you don't need to get all dressed up in cooling suits and cool helmets to work on your mech. You just strip down to your 1980s panties and crop top vest and start wrenchin' it.
Yen Lo Wang = David Lo Pan

Kojak

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #81 on: 10 September 2015, 22:02:38 »
Also, on the SL/House Cameron one, could you up the contrast between the Cameron Star denoting boards that have new posts vs. boards that don't? Maybe it's just my eyesight but it's really hard for me to tell the difference without squinting.


"Deep down, I suspect the eject handle on the Hunchback IIC was never actually connected to anything. The regs just say it has to be there."
- Klarg1

BirdofPrey

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #82 on: 10 September 2015, 23:51:11 »
Any reason it's tied to the session token rather than user preferences like all the other options?

Knightmare

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #83 on: 11 September 2015, 06:24:24 »
Also, on the SL/House Cameron one, could you up the contrast between the Cameron Star denoting boards that have new posts vs. boards that don't? Maybe it's just my eyesight but it's really hard for me to tell the difference without squinting.

Refresh your browser. My guess is your loading an older cached version. I'm going to force a refresh across the site, but that should fix what you're looking at.

Any reason it's tied to the session token rather than user preferences like all the other options?

How complicated of an answer do you want?  ;)

The simplest explanation is that these theme variants are not "true" themes. They're variant queries for a single theme. As such they need to be anchored to something, hence use of the token. Each color selected doesn't load a theme's XML, it just loads a CSS sheet and some anchored images. It's the best way to have in-theme selection options, one theme for maintenance, and the capacity to add new faction skins.

After any session expiration you're clicking exactly one tiny square to reload the faction skin of your choice, including a possible Snow Raven one.  ^-^
BeemerCon Summarized. Knightmare, end of turn: "How come none of my weapons fired?"
Look, dude, when you are a real mechwarrior you don't need to get all dressed up in cooling suits and cool helmets to work on your mech. You just strip down to your 1980s panties and crop top vest and start wrenchin' it.
Yen Lo Wang = David Lo Pan

mbear

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #84 on: 11 September 2015, 07:08:29 »
Still acting up? If so, can you fire off a screenshot? Thanks!
It's improved now, but still weird. The poll is still broken, and some of the usernames are still floating weirdly. I think it might have something to do with the size of the avatar images: Wrangler's poster info is lining up as expected, but cavingjan's isn't. I'll get some screenshots after I post this.
Be the Loremaster:

Battletech transport rules take a very feline approach to moving troops in a combat zone: If they fits, they ships.

You bought the box set and are ready to expand your BT experience. Now what? (Thanks Sartis!)

Knightmare

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #85 on: 11 September 2015, 07:25:36 »
Can you refresh your browser first and/or clear your cookies. I ran a number of browser tests last night and couldn't replicate the error.
BeemerCon Summarized. Knightmare, end of turn: "How come none of my weapons fired?"
Look, dude, when you are a real mechwarrior you don't need to get all dressed up in cooling suits and cool helmets to work on your mech. You just strip down to your 1980s panties and crop top vest and start wrenchin' it.
Yen Lo Wang = David Lo Pan

Knightmare

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #86 on: 11 September 2015, 09:37:13 »
Added a Snow Raven skin. Ya'll have to refresh your browsers to see the changes being made.
BeemerCon Summarized. Knightmare, end of turn: "How come none of my weapons fired?"
Look, dude, when you are a real mechwarrior you don't need to get all dressed up in cooling suits and cool helmets to work on your mech. You just strip down to your 1980s panties and crop top vest and start wrenchin' it.
Yen Lo Wang = David Lo Pan

ArcaneRaven

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #87 on: 11 September 2015, 09:57:37 »
Added a Snow Raven skin. Ya'll have to refresh your browsers to see the changes being made.

You just made my day!  O0

Dragon Cat

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #88 on: 11 September 2015, 09:57:46 »
Nice work Knightmare nice to see the unread posts are back it all looks good now
My three main Alternate Timeline with Thanks fan-fiction threads are in the links below. I'm always open to suggestions or additions to be incorporated so if you feel you wish to add something feel free. There's non-canon units, equipment, people, events, erm... Solar Systems spread throughout so please enjoy

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,20515.0.html - Part 1

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,52013.0.html - Part 2

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,79196.0.html - Part 3

BirdofPrey

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Re: New Forum Theme
« Reply #89 on: 11 September 2015, 10:00:52 »
How complicated of an answer do you want?  ;)
Dunno, can you give that to me in machine code?:P

Quote
The simplest explanation is that these theme variants are not "true" themes. They're variant queries for a single theme. As such they need to be anchored to something, hence use of the token. Each color selected doesn't load a theme's XML, it just loads a CSS sheet and some anchored images. It's the best way to have in-theme selection options, one theme for maintenance, and the capacity to add new faction skins.
Ah, I guess that makes sense.  Makes maintenance easier.
Most annoying to me is that selecting the theme doesn't leave me on the same page I was on.

Added a Snow Raven skin. Ya'll have to refresh your browsers to see the changes being made.
Neat.

Still need a couple light on dark themes, though.

 

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