• What works? (which fast action menu links, do we need more or less images, should we have an image uploaded with a thread that can then identify the thread etc)
  
• What doesn't work? (What parts of the site don't you use? What could we do without?)
  
• What colourscape should the next iteration be? (It's been predominantly blue for 6 years)
  
• What technologies should be integrated? (Personally I don't like the idea of integrating too much third-party outsourcing as it leads to databreach's I have no control over, does it need to be accessible by phone/tablet etc.  Are there things that added would be of use, like integrating news feeds etc.)
  
• Are there any preferences to software?  (I would prefer to create something bespoken, however it would take time for me to reach such a goal so we are left with out of the box software that can be altered to fit)
  

• (1) To be a little quirky I'm currently looking at showing your user avatar to you when you are logged in, so you can visually know when you are logged in and which account (if you happen to sport more than one, albeit something frowned on) This simple version just places an opacity layered version of your avatar over the site logo. I am considering about an animation sequence using the logo (turning that square into a cube that animates revolving from one face side to the other based upon actions like "Loading" or "logging in". That can be done in HTML5, however it's a detail rather than a function, so it's something I'll work on last)
  
  Alternatively I can attach the avatar to the screen itself, so should you move up or down your avatar stay put. (There is the potential in the forums themselves to do the same with a poster element on the opposite side of the screen, where on scrolling up or down when the thread is brought into focus the information for the posters is then populated.)
  The problem with getting over zealous with the technical wizardry of making something look nice from one perspective however does likely mean it wouldn't work on all platforms (not something I would of cared for back in the day). So again it's something mulled over but likely won't come into practice just to aid in making the site a little more friendly to mobiles etc.
  
  The avatar could be turned into a link. Would it make more sense to send it to the users profile (which just has readonly data) or their actual User Control panel? If the latter, it can mean removing the links for the control panels.
  
  
• (2) When you first log into the site, there's an array of menu links that can short cut you to a variety of things. The problem is that most of them are probably not used that often. I mean Buddylist can be accessed through your user control panel (UserCP). So a cleaned down version is just your username and a link to the Private messages with the number of unviewed next to it, and of course the log out button. The question here is where should the username link to? again should it be profile or userCP, Would you prefer to navigate via userCP to get to your PM's or use a link? (As it's possible to state you have new mail, heck even that message could have the quick link... perhaps action messages should contain quick links)
  
  
• (3) Recent activity (is self explanatory), Search allows for site related searches and lastly the member list tends to show members that are either posters I know of or people that have contributed thus far (0 posters tend to be kept off it) While logged in it appears this way, when logged out both the memberlist and the search are removed (mostly due to spiders) Not much likely needs attending here, however it's something to consider.
  
  
• (4) The forum view (The bit actually attached to the index). In this version the usage of TABLES has been removed and replaced with CSS elements. This allows the boxes to resize based upon screen size and if the screen gets too small it will even place them into a single column. It's a little different in that sense and I removed things like the profile links from the last posters username. The fontsizes are little awkward since they are suppose to be responsive (they change size based upon screen size) that means in some instances they will seem huge (unless overridden by your browser). So theres still some work to be done there.
  
  You'll also notice that the subforum thread number and posts are removed. While the metrics can be interesting, they were for the most part just clutter, however that's my opinion but there is always the option of having a statistics version of the page with all that added metric data so as to not spoil the "Feng shui".
  

(Jul 31, 2020 02:07 PM)stryder Wrote: [...] [*]What colourscape should the next iteration be? (It's been predominantly blue for 6 years)

(Jul 31, 2020 02:17 PM)stryder Wrote: Recent Activity (The Portal). 

Do we use it?  how I mean is do we prefer a full page of the most recently started threads written in full (or at the very least a sizeable portion) or would just a bunch of links with dates work?  (I prefer seeing the article, as to be honest you get to see more of what is going on than a link will tell you) 

Quote:How much information needs to be attached to each entry though?  Obviously the time it was posted has some use (And the state as if it's locked or old etc)
Do we need the number of replies and views seen? (Is such metrics important?)
Should the usernames that identify the posts link to their profile? or should another navigation method like a search be used should you need to interact with the user? (I mention this because the current build has so many excess links that we might not even use in the long run)