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11:12, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

New site design.

Posted by jase
Lunarius
member, 413 posts
eadem mutata resurgo
pax ex tyranny
Tue 27 Aug 2019
at 12:48
  • msg #259

Re: RPoL Design Update

I apologize if this has already been reported.

As a player, when I go to a game's Cast List and hover over a name and click Description, it takes me to a page that says the player has been removed from the game. It does this with every single player, even though they are actually in the game. It will do this even when a player has set a description.
Imladir
member, 13 posts
Tue 27 Aug 2019
at 12:55
  • msg #260

Re: RPoL Design Update

Yep, it does to me too: the link is missing the character ID.
SunRuanEr
subscriber, 114 posts
Tue 27 Aug 2019
at 13:08
  • msg #261

Re: RPoL Design Update

quote:
when I go to a game's Cast List and hover over a name and click Description

Isn't that a redundant option anyway? Just clicking on the character's name takes you directly to the description, if they have one (and works).
jase
admin, 3702 posts
Cogito, ergo procuro.
Carpe stultus!
Tue 27 Aug 2019
at 13:17

Re: RPoL Design Update

Sloppy reuse of code, thanks fixed.

Serif, mono and cursive should be good now too.
bigbadron
moderator, 15783 posts
He's big, he's bad,
but mostly he's Ron.
Tue 27 Aug 2019
at 13:18

Re: RPoL Design Update

In reply to SunRuanEr (msg # 261):

Not really redundant.  Hovering over the character name in a thread requires that the character be active somewhere in the page you're looking at, which isn't always the case.  The Cast List  shows the names of every character currently in the game, all listed in one place for convenience.
Lunarius
member, 414 posts
eadem mutata resurgo
pax ex tyranny
Tue 27 Aug 2019
at 13:19
  • msg #264

Re: RPoL Design Update

I think they meant in the cast list itself, Ron.
bigbadron
moderator, 15784 posts
He's big, he's bad,
but mostly he's Ron.
Tue 27 Aug 2019
at 13:45

Re: RPoL Design Update

D'oh!
jase
admin, 3703 posts
Cogito, ergo procuro.
Carpe stultus!
Tue 27 Aug 2019
at 15:44

Re: RPoL Design Update

It is redundant but it's also a little more obvious for those who aren't used to the old way.  Don't see it as necessarily a bad thing, though feel free to correct me!  (c;
UnseelieLord
member, 77 posts
Survival of the fittest.
We're all gonna die.
Tue 27 Aug 2019
at 17:20
  • msg #267

Re: RPoL Design Update

Others may have already commented along the same lines, but I figured I'd throw my two cents in all the same. While I don't think the new design is necessarily ugly, I think it looks like just about every other message board out there. I can't specifically point to what it is/was about the current/old/original site design of RPoL that set it apart, not just in appearance, but in FEEL, but it did. Prior to RPoL, I hated message board roleplaying. I hated the design of message boards and the format, again, there's nothing specific that I could point to and say "there, that's what I hate" but it just rubbed me wrong. It didn't feel like a place to write stories collaboratively with other writers.

A friend of mine suggested RPoL and I knee jerk refused, because I didn't like message board roleplaying. But he persisted. He said RPoL was different. It looked different. It felt different. So I gave it a chance, and I have been a member of RPoL, writing as time permitted, for over fifteen years now. I never went back to chat, or messenger based roleplay. RPoL had me hooked.

This new site design, format, interface, what have you. Has absolutely none of that feel that originally hooked me into RPoL, and all of the cold, standard message board look and feel that made me avoid message board roleplaying.

I know nothing about code, and the intricacies and difficulties of designing something like RPoL, and I can understand needing an update, and something that isn't so time consuming to work with. But I think it would be beneficial to try to find something closer to a middle ground between this, and the original.

This probably isn't the finished product either, I don't know, this is the first time I've noticed the prompt to check out this new look. So I'm not sure how far along this all is. But like most message boards of the past that have been suggested to me for roleplaying, I find it off-putting. It doesn't feel like somewhere I want to write.
SunRuanEr
subscriber, 115 posts
Tue 27 Aug 2019
at 17:30
  • msg #268

Re: RPoL Design Update

In reply to UnseelieLord (msg # 267):

You know, I hadn't thought about it until just right now, but as I read your post I flipped back and forth between the test site and the current site, and while I have really come to be pretty fond of the new site (now that I've tweaked it to my preferences), I do have to say that the old site just "reads" better. I think I figured out why that is, though (at least for me)...

The posts don't look like individual posts. They flow together like a story. Sure, there are tiny lines between them, and different authors to the left, but the words themselves flow seamlessly. (Assuming that players have posted a post of decent length, but that's not something my games have problems with...)

The responsive site has some forced gaps between the posts that make it clear that they're, well, just that - individual posts. Obviously, I hadn't thought about it until just now, when looking for something specific, so it doesn't really bother me... but it is there.
The Stray
member, 115 posts
When the Cat's a Stray
the Mice will Pray
Tue 27 Aug 2019
at 20:08
  • msg #269

Re: RPoL Design Update

In reply to jase (msg # 262):

Yup! Seems to be working (at least on my end)!
Mad Mick
member, 951 posts
GURPS beyond measure,
outlander
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 01:47
  • msg #270

Re: RPoL Design Update

In reply to SunRuanEr (msg # 268):

Yes, I agree. It would be nice if that area with the character name, post time, icon, and hyperlinks to PM, rmail, and info were consolidated so there wasn’t so much empty space there. The responsive site is certainly easier to read, but it seems to lack the charm of the old design. (I still like old Reddit rather than new Reddit, though, so maybe I’m just resistant to change. (= )
SunRuanEr
subscriber, 116 posts
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 02:28
  • msg #271

Re: RPoL Design Update

In reply to Mad Mick (msg # 270):

Honestly, I've actually come to quite like the responsive site - it just took some customization to inject some "charm" back into it. (Of course, I never understood how some folks could play with the plain white of the current site, either, so maybe that's just me.)

It's less the space to the left that I was talking about, though, and more the space beneath/between the posts. (I've come to terms with the space to the left, and we are copacetic now.) On responsive, there's a distinct color block that surrounds the body of a post, and a distinct background color to the page, and the post-body color block doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the post section if the post doesn't have a lot of text in it. In addition, even if the color block does go all the way down because the post is longer, there's still a significant gap of space before the next post. That means that a lot of little short posts feel like, well, a lot of little short posts. Almost like trying to follow a story written on Post-Its.

On live, the post block color (at least on the themes I've seen, although I admit I haven't checked them ALL) goes all the way to the bottom of the post section, even if the post is shorter, with just a tiny thin line between one post and the next following it. It "feels" a bit nicer to read, like following a written page.

...and that's not a complaint, because it really isn't something that bothers me personally. I was just trying to put a finger on what UnseelieLord had mentioned a few posts back about the "feel" of the site, and that was my main "this feels different" conclusion I came to. Take it with a grain of salt. :)
horus
member, 853 posts
Wayfarer of the
Western Wastes
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 09:24
  • msg #272

Re: RPoL Design Update

I see folks talking about the info on the left side needing to be "consolidated" and wonder what is meant.  From my perspective, if the message number were moved up to the same line as (to the right of) the subject, it might help make the posts flow as SunRuanEr and others were suggesting.

That said, I'm not at all uncomfortable with the responsive layout as-is.  Just making an observation.
SunRuanEr
subscriber, 117 posts
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 10:54
  • msg #273

Re: RPoL Design Update

I think what is being talked about is the spread space between the author bio block and the portrait, but maybe I'm wrong. That's what I mean, but it might not be what others are referring to.

I agree about moving the message #, though. Or maybe giving an option to have it in a different color than the rest of the text in the body of a post? Not only is it hard to find (instinctively, I'm always looking to the upper right corner to find it, since that's where it's always been), but it does make the thread title/message #/body of the post all kind of jam together awkwardly since there's no break between title and post.
Skald
moderator, 871 posts
Whatever it is,
I'm against it
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 10:57
  • msg #274

Re: RPoL Design Update

SunRuanEr - you might try reducing the number of colours used via preferences (you mentioned you'd already been playing with custom themes) - I set header and footer background, legend (at the bottom of pages) background, main background and thread list, row background (for both odd and even row numbers) to DDDDDD  plus set all the sidebar menus background to BCC7D4 and hover to 969FAA (ie all the same as side menu 4) to try to recreate more of the look and feel of the old site.

To my eye that improved the flow for messages ... but as always everybody's mileage may differ. ;>
SunRuanEr
subscriber, 118 posts
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 11:14
  • msg #275

Re: RPoL Design Update

In reply to Skald (msg # 274):

I appreciate the suggestion, Skald. While I have been playing with the colors a lot (I admit!), I actually do have the thread pages of posts themselves simplified with just a header/footer navigation bar color, and then a simple monochromatic charcoal grey/slightly darker grey for the posts and their background, with white text. I found that, for myself, having the posts the exact same color as the background made me "see" more of the space around the text than I liked.

Honestly, I'm not having any trouble with the flow of messages myself. Although the message number IS a little awkwardly placed, I feel, and if I can't move it I'd appreciate being able to make it a different, less-obtrusive color than the one that the text and titles use. (That might already be an option, and I just can't find it. The custom settings are not exactly self-explanatory in a few several places.) I can read it fine, and I can find it, it's just a little jammed-up there between title and text.

Like jase said, I've played with it and given it time, and I'm cool with the responsive site. At this point I'm just in the nitpicky 'what would make it better?' stage. :)
This message was last edited by the user at 11:18, Wed 28 Aug 2019.
jase
admin, 3705 posts
Cogito, ergo procuro.
Carpe stultus!
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 11:25

Re: RPoL Design Update

I was looking at trying to get the swirl back but one of the things I was going to do is remove a subject for every message.  I think the thread needs a title but every message doesn't need one.  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:.  That's pretty much all I see.

So it swirl can't go under the subject as it currently is as that'll vanish.  I've briefly tried putting it under each message but not convinced on that... and if there's flow issues then that'll exasperate it..?

Can reduce the spacing between posts a bit but if I go too far it looks cramped.

Probably need to split the aesthetics off to a different thread as it's a massive minefield.  Main focus to date has been making sure the layout works but definitely want to spend time tweaking it and getting it less stale and at least some throwback to the old site.
SunRuanEr
subscriber, 119 posts
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 11:30
  • msg #277

Re: RPoL Design Update

If you remove the automatic subject for every message, will you keep the option to put one in if one needs to be added? Several of my games use the same thread for setting location, and adjust the subject title of individual messages to reflect a new date/time/topic, and losing that option would suck.

In the non-aesthetics area, jase, I just found a character description in one of my games with a lot of little... diamond-shaped blocks with ? in them instead of all of his apostrophes. Just the one character, so I feel like MAYBE the player is using some kind of special character that isn't working, but it looks like a normal apostrophe to me over on the current site, so I don't know. Whatever it is, it looks busted.
This message was last edited by the user at 11:45, Wed 28 Aug 2019.
seraphmoon
member, 99 posts
"Plays well with others."
Talks lots. Reads more.
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 12:23
  • msg #278

Re: RPoL Design Update

That's a character-encoding issue. I suspect that player is writing things in an offline app and then copy-pasting it over. It was happening to me copying from Apple Notes with the smart apostrophes and em dashes, and occasionally the returns. I didn't realize it wasn't happening on the basic site though, so I didn't mention it here. :)
This message was last edited by the user at 13:02, Wed 28 Aug 2019.
Skald
moderator, 873 posts
Whatever it is,
I'm against it
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 13:00
  • msg #279

Re: RPoL Design Update

Good thought, jase ... created a new thread to discuss appearance, layout and aesthetics in link to a message in this forum.  :>
jase
admin, 3706 posts
Cogito, ergo procuro.
Carpe stultus!
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 14:19

Re: RPoL Design Update

New Subject...?

Do you really have to have a subject for every message?  Seems like an awful waste of space to me and would actually improve the flow from one post to the next if there wasn't this superfluous emphasised line.

Only about 1.26% of subjects are changed (have analysed about 39 million posts over 2 million threads).  Of those how many mattered?

Happy to include it, then that's where I can put the squiggle... but are we hanging onto a pretty useless bit of (non)information because that's the way it's always been?


I think the diamond etc symbols might be due to a switch in character encoding.  If it's working on the current site but not on responsive then pretty sure that'll be it, will have to see how to fix that!
This message was last edited by the user at 00:53, Thu 29 Aug 2019.
SunRuanEr
subscriber, 120 posts
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 14:43
  • msg #281

New Subject?

jase:
Do you really have to have a subject for every message?  Seems like an awful waste of space to me and would actually improve the flow from one post to the next if there wasn't this superfluous emphasised line.

Only about 1.59% of subjects are changed (have analysed about 17 million posts over 1 million threads).  Of those how many mattered?

Happy to include it, then that's where I can put the squiggle... but are we hanging onto a pretty useless bit of (non)information because that's the way it's always been?

No, we don't actually need to have a subject for EVERY message. And I suppose we don't NEED to have one at all, but in the case of several of my games, it would certainly be helpful (and not just because it's the way we've always done it).

Say for instance, (using examples of a real game) - a classroom thread that gets the Subject line changed by the GM when the classroom subject changes...

...or a military game where the maneuvers being done (on the same field) change when the date advances.

...or a particular thread that updates something the characters can see each week, and therefore has a different date as the subject line for each ICly new post on the same IC board.

I mean, we can live without it, but it's certainly helpful and handy and I feel would look nicer than putting in a manual NEW SUBJECT HERE line at the start of every post (discounting that half the players probably won't remember to DO that anyway - currently the GM can 'set it and forget it', mostly). Besides, it gives you a place to put the squiggle. :)
This message was last edited by the user at 23:31, Wed 28 Aug 2019.
bigbadron
moderator, 15785 posts
He's big, he's bad,
but mostly he's Ron.
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 15:07

New Subject?

In many information threads in games, the subject lines change from post to post.

The first post might be "Character Creation" which gives the thread title and a brief overview of the initial steps in creation (name, race, how many character points, etc...  This is followed by "Character Creation: Attributes", then "Character Creation: Skills", "Character Creation: Feats", "Character Creation: Abilities", etc... etc... etc...

By putting them in separate posts, the GM can link to the appropriate post when discussing a particular aspect of character creation with a new player.  But the subject lines mean that the player can scan through the thread and quickly determine what is covered in each post.
seraphmoon
member, 100 posts
"Plays well with others."
Talks lots. Reads more.
Wed 28 Aug 2019
at 15:36
  • msg #283

Re: RPoL Design Update

In reply to jase (msg # 280):

If it helps with the encoding problem, the questionmark-in-diamond that I see is the Unicode replacement character. On the responsive site, I see it when I switch the view from UTF-8 to ISO Latin 1. If I manually switch the view on the basic site to UTF-8, it shows up too. I'm using Safari on OSX 10.14.6.
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