GibberingLunatic

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  1. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Genia View Post
    As an addendum to my previous list of points, a list of minor issues of lesser importance:

    -Sticky threads are not distinct enough from regular threads.
    -Links are the same colour as the rest of the text, which makes them more difficult to find. I liked it when they were distinct and stood out. (Yes I know they are underlined, but what fi someone simply chooses to underline plain text?)
    -Underlining function is either not in UBB Code, or unavailable. Perhaps because of the link issue. That seems oddly unnecessary.
    underlining is the same [ u ] [ /u ] bbcode as this underlined text

    Its true that the links being the same color is a issue as is the bolding of the new posts when it should actually be recolored in some way (perhaps yellow or orange) to prevent being confusing.
  2. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Genia View Post
    I am going to broach an issue here that hasn’t been touched upon yet, probably due to the small numbers of the specific demographic which I represent. Specifically, I am going to attempt to draw your attention to the issue of accessibility.

    The new forums are extremely, exceptionally unfriendly to people who are visually impaired. I honestly don’t know how many of these play CoH on a regular basis, but I am certain there’s at least one – to wit, me. I am normally operating with something like 18% of normal average eyesight, photophobia and colour sensitivity, eyestrain, fatigue and so forth.

    I use a computer with a large monitor without aides, so I get to see the forums in their “natural state” so to speak. The factors I generally consider when deciding upon the ease of my user experience are icon sizes, colour contrasts, font colours, clear outlines and easily accessible forum functions presented as text labels rather than as icons.

    So far the new boards have been an almost textbook example of how not to do it. Allow me to list some bullet points for you to consider:

    • New Messages: With the removal of the colour change on new, unread threads, and with the only markup being bolded subject texts, they’ve become literally impossible to find. I open a forum, and have no idea where the new stuff is, beyond remembering which threads were not at the top before.
    • The arrows marking going to new posts are much too small. I have, in fact, not found them ‘till my husband pointed them out to me.
    • Font colour (white) upon the new blue-gray of the background is considerably more difficult to read. On the whole, half-tones and shades are much more of a mess than clear base colours, and this one especially seems not to contrast with the thinner white font sufficiently.
    • Colour gradient: the change between blue-gray and darker blue at the end of the reply box is not conducive to ease. (Incidentally, if the dark blue were to be the base colour, readability would improve significantly).
    • Fonts: The font size is smaller, and the font face is Arial (a sans-serif font which is notoriously difficult and seems to enjoy a certain bad reputation on the ‘net).which is thin and narrow. Sans-serif fonts are sometimes clearer, but serifed fonts are more easily parsed.
    • Small icons with overloaded graphics: make it impossible to find anything on the forum.
    • General graphics overload: On the whole detracts from the ability to focus on the text, hinders rapid responding and makes scanning a forum for new information completely impossible.

    These things are important. Perhaps a skin looking more like the old forums, which were, on the whole, very easy to read, would be advisable?
    Currently there are some vague laws in the US requiring Accessibility for those handicapped in some fashion or another. SEO links, the ability to increase font-size (or have a theme that uses a high-contrast setting so dark colors against bright colors [background/foreground respectively]) to make it easier to see for visually impaired people.
    NCSoft and thier subsidaries should definately look into making this a bit more user accessible with some of the plug-ins available directly from Vbulletin.
  3. No double-posting :-p Thats what the double-post mod I suggested would fix, it would merge the two posts making it seem like one before the doublepost got spotted. :-p

    Oh, and you can turn off signatures in the UCP, however that destroys all text as well. I have to say if your gonna have a forum signature image, make it a userbar. Not some huge image. Keep it to forum standards, 100px high by 250 wide. large enough to be seen, but not too large to be garish.
  4. Ok, I have to say, YES they need to drop the width some on the header image (VB stretches to fix headers that dont fit 100% in the current window so they could make the width 768 and it would auto resize)
    URL formatting has changed from url=http://www.blahblahblahblahblah.com to url="http://www.blahblahblahblah.com"
    PNG images honestly wont fix a dang thing with that "grey" background because thats the background in the Avatar section. The background color in the CSS for avatar background needs to change to match the rest of the theme per theme.

    page options can be changed in your UCP. The reason why you can only view 200 posts at a time is for efficency of the forums limiting the amount of calls to the SQL database server.

    WYSIWYG is available inside the UCP. However its not working as intended. (do a copy from a website by clicking and dragging over images and text, hitting copy and pasting in here does nothing) So unfortunately its not a true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). Granted you have more formatting options but thats pretty much all you get.

    Sardan, the smilies are gif format because some of the smilies are animated, however there are darker counterparts (black outline for the alpha-blend layer instead of white) available from several diffrent mod sites and vbulletin.org

    for all the people that preferred UBB... Honestly that was the most ancient and insecure forum software that I have ever seen in my life. The people at CoX made the right choice by switching to something more up-to-date and more secure with constant updates.
    Theres also SEO friendly tag abilities which can help CoX get more coverage on google and yahoo so be sure to use the tags when you make a new post as well to help others find it if they are looking for answers for paticular things on the forums.

    As for the RE: that was always a redundant add-on to the old UBB forums as well as the "Reply to:" line. Quotes work much better.
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sylph_Knight View Post
    You will not like my opinion, but I will deliver it respectfully.

    The new forums, like the new website, is a bloated mess that looks to me like it was intentionally designed to run on resolutions much higher than 1200x768. There is SO MUCH wasted space that it's beyond ridiculous. The unnecessary "white space" and the various breaks and padding separating the different sections of the page are uncomfortably large and enforces continuous scrolling to complete reading most articles or even individual posts now. The theme is dark, dull, generic, and very non-heroic - I would go so far as to say that every section of the site is designed for the City of Villains atmosphere were I not aware that it is a copy-cat of the main NCSoft site's equally flawed design.

    The muted colors are also psychologically demoralizing for me. After the site was first changed, I deliberately set up a hot-link to jump straight to the forums because they retained the bright, easy-on-the-eyes visuals of the previous web site. Now I not only have to deal with excessive scrolling due to bloated padding and a clunky interface built for extremely high resolution monitors, but I also must deal with a color scheme that strains my eyes and looks horrible.

    Who ever is in charge of these site designs needs to quit relying on dreamweaver (or equivalent template-biased program), take a internet course in color theory, and try fitting the site to a 1200x768 desktop (which for many users is still a standard). The whole design feels to me like it means to alienate its viewership.
    I have to ask... What browser are you using? I see it just fine on my laptop with 1440x900 rez and 1024x768 (I have never heard of a 1200x768 resolution. you might be meaning 1024x768) using google chrome/firefox/opera
    Have you tried using a diffrent browser? Seems like IE (crappiest browser in the world IMHO) which you are probally using just doesnt like the XHTML that the forums were coded in, or just isn't parsing the CSS clearly.
    Problems with the theme? try the villian theme, if that doesnt work. Suggest one. Don't just complain about it. This is VBulletin. one of the most moddable pieces of forum software available on the net.

    Whoever gave negative rep on this post, saying "Unhelpful and demoralizing." needs to realize something, I'm not your mother, I'm not here to coddle you and tell you it will be O.K. I'm here to give out the straight facts and apparently this has been very useful to many others. so get over it.
  6. Again, seeing how this is the OFFICAL thread for the forum suggestions. for anybody who makes a suggestion or feels that something is missing or needs to be added,

    http://www.vbulletin.org

    Find a Mod/Hack/add-on that does what you want the forums to do and post a link in here to the mod/hack/add-on that does it as well as a short reply on why it should be implemented.

    Thats the best I've got for a suggestion.
    BTW, the version this board is running is vBulletin 3.7.4
    should make it easier to find compatible mods and such.

    IF attachments are ever allowed,
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=179299

    Quick Reply complaint fix,
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=180330

    For people who have problems seeing small print,
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=186501

    a toy for the administration, a Advanced announcement block,
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=172773

    Spell checker... We know 75% of you people need it. (I need it as well >.>)
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=181065

    This should get rid of alot of duplicate threads/people complaining about the same thing,
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=177936

    Image resizer (a compromise for those people who want siggys to go away Lytebox rox!)
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=184571

    Advanced "New Posts"
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=177930

    Recently viewed threads (not sure about this one with how many people use the forums at once...)
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=192561

    A better ignore system,
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=181626

    Anti double-post,
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=196680

    Pop-up private messaging,
    http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=196026

    I'll find more later.
  7. I had a website a while back, http://www.youarefreakingdumb.com (no kidding) and it ran the VB software for its entire lifetime, so I have alot of experience with it.
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Texas_Justice View Post
    Quick question for you GibberingLunatic. Is there a way to see what version of vBulletin these forums are on? I've been looking everywhere but I'm likely overlooking it.

    TIA
    Quite easy, you view the source code n.n
    <meta name="generator" content="vBulletin 3.7.4" />

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mateo_06 View Post
    So it's probably no different for you. I also used to use the back button to go back to where I was.... but now, instead of leaving the previous page exactly where I left off (allowing me to click on the very next thread where I left off) it reloads the page and puts me at the top, which is inconvenient and makes it harder to find my place.
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Texas_Justice View Post
    I don't use the Back button. Instead, I use the Forum Jump navigation tool in the lower right corner to take me back to the Index to the forums I'm currently reading, or to Jump to the Index to a completely different forum.
    Unfortunately this is one of the quirks of the MetaContent of VB. There are no tags to refrence to when you hit the back button. but if you make a reply, and let it take you back to the forums it usually puts you right at the post you just made. As for hitting the back button to go to another thread? I just use multiple tabs for all that mess anyway.
  9. On most of the other servers I play on, (Pinnacle, Virtue, Liberty, Guardian) I'm having no problem logging into them.
    When I click on Freedom it doesn't even come up to the character select screen. it shunts me back to the login saying "Lost connection to DB server" I've also noticed that the Servers "Champion" and "Protector" seem to be either offline or full (which I doubt, I've never seen either of these servers have more than 1 dot signifying thier load but they are currently at 3 and grey)

    Now, I've seen the announcement for the emergency maintnence, however doesn't "emergency" mean like right away? Why not fix the connection and lag issues now?

    Never put off for tomorrow what you can do today.
  10. again, I reiterate seeing how everybody blew past my post.
    Got a problem with the forums? A part that doesn't work the way it used to?
    Vbulletin Plug-ins, Mods and, hacks
    Make a suggestion. Problem solved.

    Adapt or die.
  11. The thing is people, all the complainers here about the new forums need to stuff it and do some research. You got a problem with a specific part of the new forums? GOOGLE is your friend. Look for plug-ins and addons for the VB software thats now powering this site. Theres hundreds if not thousands of diffrent plug-ins and capabilities of this software for the convience of the users and the administration. So stop whining about it and make some suggestions on plug-ins and add-ons that you think will help make these forums as they should be.

    Adapt or Die.
    btw,
    Vbulletin Plug-ins, Mods and, hacks
  12. Online gambling is Illegal in the United States (Where the main number of servers are housed and the main company in charge of said servers)
    [ QUOTE ]
    Unlawful Internet gambling is defined as:
    placing, receiving or transmitting a bet
    by means of the Internet

    [/ QUOTE ]
    If anybody remembers SecondLife and what happened to them, Any game in world that worked off of "Chance" and not "Skill" Were deemed illegal and required to be removed. Poker, texas hold-em (I had a texas hold-em table in game in SL for awhile and kept it after the big Gambling ban for old times sake) and any slot or table game was outlawed.

    You can thank the federal government for that one.
  13. Give us back our original "/e drum" Sound! NAO! o.O
  14. I've actually seen a purple going on the BM in Pinnacle for half a billion. just ONE purple... It's getting a bit insane lately...
  15. *bump* its dropped off the front page. anyway, yeah I think that somethin like this needs to be implemented in some form
  16. I belive the Fill part might be misleading as from what I know this only has to do with the amount of particles shown on the screen at one point, I usually have it toned down to about 5000 or less considering the types of teams I'm on.
  17. This issue I've seen happen with the widow AT redside with the "hip-cape" that has a split in it, the split edges seem transparent in a way however still in all thier blocky glory (a good example of this is to use chains of any sort as a Chest Detail piece, and get stealthed) I messed with the graphic sliders on several occasions trying diffrent things, combinations to get rid of it and to no avail.
  18. no, he was a radiation blaster... eye bolts, green junk from his hands, its why I went rad/kin on redside because of that.
  19. on blueside, I had a Rad/Kin blaster for a bit, recently deleted him. But now I want to make another...

    Seems now, Radiation is COMPLETELY MISSING from the AT list blueside since the latest patch..... Whats goin on here Devs?
  20. lol. yeah but what about the perma-stun? That seems to be a bad issue in a way. its repeatable as far as I see but you must be fighting mobs with the stun capability and they need to have you stunned when you die and then tap on invincible and attempt to rerez yourself, well just go through the slash-steps and you will see.
  21. I got invited to a team once, then kicked out promptly about a minute after. They said my name was "Offensive"

    Well if My mock character was offensive (when based off the Reichman) then so is CoH/V Content and they should just cancel their sub. Seriously, if theres a AV called "The Riechman" Then me having "The Riechman of Hell" Isn't that much worse... Seriously. I'm sure everybody knows how many demon themed villians/heroes are out there runnin/flying/jumping about and they gotta flip over a name... (when I've seen much worse) Yeah, if you don't like the name, don't invite in the first place.
  22. GibberingLunatic

    I15 broke the

    I16 will be coming out On
  23. its in test mode, therefore no debt is applied because you cannot gain xp for testing either. its just there.... o.O
  24. GibberingLunatic

    I15 broke the

    I can't belive this has gone on 37 pages, I want my
  25. ZOMG A GURL!?!
    /e teabag
    oh wait.... dangit!
    /e shrug

    Well at least its better than what I heard in World of Borecraft along the same lines.

    Girl: Yes I am a girl
    Some pre-pubescent boy: OMG you are so getting teabagged when you die.

    Unfortunately this is why alot of Girls that play girl characters never really say much is because of this mentality that tends to run rampant with some people.