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Boards Skins

jester77 · 2020-01-13 11:30:46

So, all the useful skins have been removed and it seems there are only the eye piercing bright default skin and the weird halloween styled dark theme. Plus the really nice menu that the boards beta skin had is now no longer available and you have to perform multiple clicks to find forums. Not very user friendly :confused:…

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#62 23-01-2020 5:40pm
Hotblack Desiato

Registered Users Posts: 34,060 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: February 2005

Posts: 32756

So a too-bright awful looking white theme, and a too-dark awful looking dark theme, and that's it.

Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.

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#63 23-01-2020 5:41pm
Hotblack Desiato

Registered Users Posts: 34,060 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: February 2005

Posts: 32756

Ads by Google, the main post text on that is pretty much perfect, the boxes on the left with poster names etc. are just a tad dark, but presumably the user can edit that in Stylus?

Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.

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#64 23-01-2020 5:42pm
Boards.ie: Mark

Boards.ie Employee Posts: 5,461 ✭✭✭✭✭

Boards.ie Employee

Join Date: September 2016

Posts: 4877

weldoninhio wrote: »

Does not seem a great business model to ignore and lose users just to make the site look the way you want it.

The decision to remove skins didn't come down to appearance. As stated in the Announcement, we are working on necessary back-end upgrades and users on these unsupported skins would have encountered serious issues that would have essentially left the site unusable. We have to best utilise development resources available and unfortunately that meant that these skins had to be disabled rather than simply left unsupported as they had been.

How can I? User's guide to some features on the new site

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#65 23-01-2020 6:17pm
[Deleted User]
Posts: 17,378 ✭

Join Date: -

Posts: 17378

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Ads by Google, the main post text on that is pretty much perfect, the boxes on the left with poster names etc. are just a tad dark, but presumably the user can edit that in Stylus?

I changed it so it's less dark. I had just copied that part from the old skin.

You can install Stylus and copy in the below. I'll edit if any changes need to be made.

[HTML]/* FONTS */

/* Primary Dark blue font */
.page a,
.nav-drop-menu a ,
#breadcrumb a,
#footer a,
.time,
legend {
color: #3c508c aliceblue !important;
}

/* White Font */
.thead strong,
.thead a,
.thead,
.thead span,
.tfoot strong,
.tfoot a,
.tfoot,
.tfoot span,
.tcat a{
color: #fff !important;
}

/* Black Font and Main Post Background */
.alt1 {
color: #182339;
background: #f5f5ff;
}
.alt2 {
color: #182339;
background: #efefef;
}
/* BACKGROUNDS */

/* Lightest blue back */
body,
.body-override,
#nav .nav-drop-menu,
#nav .columncontainer,
#nav .title,
.page,
#footer {
background: #e7eeee;
}

/* Dark blue back */
.nav-area,
#nav > li.hover > a,
.generic-wrapper-header .active {
background: #7f98c4 !important;
color: #fff !important;
}
#nav > li.hover {
background: #81938e !important;
}

/* Darkest blue back */
#header,
.threads-wrapper-header,
.generic-wrapper-header,
.thead,
.tfoot {
background: #5572a5 !important;
}

/* BUTTONS */

.gradient_button:not(.grey),
.jumpbutton ,
#adv-search-form button span {
background: #5572a5 !important;
border: 1px solid #4a5c58 !important;
}
.gradient_button:not(.grey):hover,
.jumpbutton:hover ,
#adv-search-form button span:hover {
background: #3c508c !important;
border: 1px solid #4a5c58 !important;
}
.gradient_button.grey {
background: #f9f9f9;
}
#adv-search-form button {
border: 0 !important;
}

/* BORDERS */

/* Dark blue border */
.nav-area {
border-bottom: 1px solid #3c508c !important;
}
#nav li {
border-left: 1px solid #3c508c !important;
}

/* MISC */

/* User / My forums dropdown */
#userlist div,
#forumlist div,
#userlist a,
#forumlist a {
background: #7f98c4 !important;
color: #fff !important;
}
#userlist a:hover,
#forumlist a:hover {
background: #5572a5 !important;
}
#userlist,
#forumlist {
margin-top: 4px !important;
background: none !important;
}
#userlist .title,
#forumlist .title {
border-bottom-color: #5572a5
}
/* Tabs on User Page */
.tcat {
background: #3c508c;
}
#profile_tabs .tab_list li:hover {
background: #3c508c !important;
}
.tborder,
.tcat {
border: 1px solid #3c508c !important;
border-bottom: 1px solid #3c508c !important;
}

/* Outline of Reply Box */
.panelsurround {
background-color: #f5f5ff;
}

/* Message Box */
#vB_Editor_QR,
#vB_Editor_QR_iframe,
#vB_Editor_001,
#vB_Editor_001_iframe {
border: 1px solid #3c508c !important;
}

/* Search Results */
.results-wrapper,
.facet_wrapper {
background: #fff;
border: 1px solid #81938e;
}
.results-wrapper a,
.facet_wrapper a {
color: #3f4d4a !important;
}

/* Recolour Items */
/* #ddd */
.arrow-disable {
filter: brightness(0) saturate(100%) invert(100%) sepia(2%) saturate(2381%) hue-rotate(291deg) brightness(91%) contrast(90%);
}

/* QOL Fix Min Width of page */
body, .holder, #header {
min-width: 500px !important;
}
/* Hide share buttons to save pagination when screen gets small */
@media only screen and (max-width:1000px) {
.social_share_bar {
display: none !important;
}
}
/* Fix submit button */
@media only screen and (max-width:900px) {
#vB_Editor_QR_formbuttons {
display: inline
}
}

/* Fewer ads */
.top_adslot_wrapper,
.sponsored-content,
#top_adslot_main,
iframe[title="3rd party ad content"] {
display: none;
}[/HTML]

Boards.ie: Mark wrote: »

We're happy enough for people to customise their experience of the site using extensions and the likes on their end.

Nice.

.top_adslot_wrapper,
.sponsored-content,
#top_adslot_main,
iframe[title="3rd party ad content"] {
display: none;
}

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#66 23-01-2020 6:24pm
CrowdedHouse

Registered Users Posts: 6,810 ✭✭✭

Join Date: November 2004

Posts: 6690

Good Stuff

Seven Worlds will Collide

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#67 23-01-2020 6:29pm
[Deleted User]
Posts: 17,378 ✭

Join Date: -

Posts: 17378

And green, which is my preference from the old skins.

[HTML]/* FONTS */

/* Primary Dark green font */
.page a,
.nav-drop-menu a ,
#breadcrumb a,
#footer a,
.time,
legend {
color: #1c2321 !important;
}

/* White Font */
.thead strong,
.thead a,
.thead,
.thead span,
.tfoot strong,
.tfoot a,
.tfoot,
.tfoot span,
.tcat a{
color: #fff !important;
}

/* Black Font */
.alt1, .alt2 {
color: #000;
}

/* BACKGROUNDS */

/* Lightest green back */
body,
.body-override,
#nav .nav-drop-menu,
#nav .columncontainer,
#nav .title,
.page,
#footer {
background: #e7eeee !important;
}

/* Dark green back */
.nav-area,
#nav > li.hover > a,
.generic-wrapper-header .active {
background: #81938e !important;
color: #fff !important;
}
#nav > li.hover {
background: #81938e !important;
}

/* Darkest green back */
#header,
.threads-wrapper-header,
.generic-wrapper-header,
.thead,
.tfoot {
background: #667b76 !important;
}

/* BUTTONS */

.gradient_button:not(.grey),
.jumpbutton ,
#adv-search-form button span {
background: #667b76 !important;
border: 1px solid #4a5c58 !important;
}
.gradient_button:not(.grey):hover,
.jumpbutton:hover ,
#adv-search-form button span:hover {
background: #4e645f !important;
border: 1px solid #4a5c58 !important;
}
.gradient_button.grey {
background: #f9f9f9;
}
#adv-search-form button {
border: 0 !important;
}

/* BORDERS */

/* Dark green border */
.nav-area {
border-bottom: 1px solid #4e645f !important;
}
#nav li {
border-left: 1px solid #4e645f !important;
}

/* MISC */

/* User / My forums dropdown */
#userlist div,
#forumlist div,
#userlist a,
#forumlist a {
background: #81938e !important;
color: #fff !important;
}
#userlist a:hover,
#forumlist a:hover {
background: #667b76 !important;
}
#userlist,
#forumlist {
margin-top: 4px !important;
background: none !important;
}
#userlist .title,
#forumlist .title {
border-bottom-color: #667b76
}
/* Tabs on User Page */
.tcat {
background: #485854;
}
#profile_tabs .tab_list li:hover {
background: #4e645f !important;
}
.tborder,
.tcat {
border: 1px solid #4e645f !important;
border-bottom: 1px solid #485854 !important;
}

/* Message Box */
#vB_Editor_QR,
#vB_Editor_QR_iframe,
#vB_Editor_001,
#vB_Editor_001_iframe {
border: 1px solid #4e645f !important;
}

/* Search Results */

.results-wrapper,
.facet_wrapper {
background: #fff;
border: 1px solid #81938e;
}
.results-wrapper a,
.facet_wrapper a {
color: #3f4d4a !important;
}

/* Recolour Items */
/* #ddd */
.arrow-disable {
filter: brightness(0) saturate(100%) invert(100%) sepia(2%) saturate(2381%) hue-rotate(291deg) brightness(91%) contrast(90%);
}

/* QOL Fix Min Width of page */
body, .holder, #header {
min-width: 500px !important;
}
/* Hide share buttons to save pagination when screen gets small */
@media only screen and (max-width:1000px) {
.social_share_bar {
display: none !important;
}
}
/* Fix submit button */
@media only screen and (max-width:900px) {
#vB_Editor_QR_formbuttons {
display: inline
}
}

/* Fewer ads */
.top_adslot_wrapper,
.sponsored-content,
#top_adslot_main,
iframe[title="3rd party ad content"] {
display: none;
}[/HTML]

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#68 23-01-2020 7:43pm
Discodog

Registered Users Posts: 15,833 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: October 2008

Posts: 15185

Mr E wrote: »

I've been on the current skin for years.
All my navigation is from subscribed threads, subscribed forums and the homepage.
The "My Forums" and "My Threads" tabs on the homepage are the first place I go, followed by the "My Forums" submenu.
I don't use the top menus.
At all.
I can't remember the last time I've clicked on them.

Now in fairness, I've been here for nearly 20 years, so I know my way around.
I can't vouch for what the experience is like for new users.

However I call shenanigans on people who have been here for years who are bemoaning the new menu structure...
By now, you have your favourite forums locked in and you have little reason to go browsing through the menus.

It would be interesting to see how many users (who have been members for, say, more than 2 years?) actually use the menu?

I used them a lot. I only want a few forums in my My Forums list - just the ones I use most. Now the drop downs have gone I was trying to remember where to find Feedback.

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#69 23-01-2020 11:26pm
Hotblack Desiato

Registered Users Posts: 34,060 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: February 2005

Posts: 32756
Deleted User wrote: »

I changed it so it's less dark. I had just copied that part from the old skin.

You can install Stylus and copy in the below. I'll edit if any changes need to be made.

I'm getting this error on the light blue one:
Issues: 1 Code 1 warning 10 : 3 Expected end of value but found 'aliceblu

Still works though.

Green one is nice, too (no errors on that one.)

Figuring out which colour value is which and doing a bit of tweaking - with Stylus open in one window and Boards in another, you can see the changes in real time.

Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.

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#70 24-01-2020 8:25am
[Deleted User]
Posts: 17,378 ✭

Join Date: -

Posts: 17378

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Figuring out which colour value is which and doing a bit of tweaking - with Stylus open in one window and Boards in another, you can see the changes in real time.

The main thing the extension is great for is the user-submitted styles. You can click "find styles" in the extension menu for any website.

For example, this is the Guardian for me: https://i.imgur.com/Xt1aKo2.png

I might do the boards.ie skins properly and submit them. Other people have done that in the past but not full colour changes as far as I can see.

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#71 24-01-2020 10:10am
CrowdedHouse

Registered Users Posts: 6,810 ✭✭✭

Join Date: November 2004

Posts: 6690

It's great to have the green back, i used it the most

My eyes thank you

Seven Worlds will Collide

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#72 24-01-2020 11:40am
Hotblack Desiato

Registered Users Posts: 34,060 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: February 2005

Posts: 32756

Anybody got a screenshot of Boards with the old white skin, so I can pick the exact colours off it? I thought I'd taken one before it was killed off, but I can't find it.

Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.

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#73 25-01-2020 12:09am
Blazer

Registered Users Posts: 17,418 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: August 2006

Posts: 17222

Mr E wrote: »

I've been on the current skin for years.
All my navigation is from subscribed threads, subscribed forums and the homepage.
The "My Forums" and "My Threads" tabs on the homepage are the first place I go, followed by the "My Forums" submenu.
I don't use the top menus.
At all.
I can't remember the last time I've clicked on them.

Now in fairness, I've been here for nearly 20 years, so I know my way around.
I can't vouch for what the experience is like for new users.

However I call shenanigans on people who have been here for years who are bemoaning the new menu structure...
By now, you have your favourite forums locked in and you have little reason to go browsing through the menus.

It would be interesting to see how many users (who have been members for, say, more than 2 years?) actually use the menu?

I've been on boards since 2005 and have always stuck to the old menu bar. Its by far the easiest way to navigate. Now the new system is absolutely useless.
I need to search for the forum first etc. Sure I have my favourites locked in but the appeal of boards was that browsing around you came across a new forum and joined that out of interest.
There's nothing for that anymore unless you browse the main page and no one does that.

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#74 25-01-2020 5:23am
[Deleted User]
Posts: 17,378 ✭

Join Date: -

Posts: 17378

Yeah, I never just browse the forum list anymore. I always did on the old skin.

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#75 25-01-2020 10:35am
Discodog

Registered Users Posts: 15,833 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: October 2008

Posts: 15185

Blazer wrote: »

I've been on boards since 2005 and have always stuck to the old menu bar. Its by far the easiest way to navigate. Now the new system is absolutely useless.
I need to search for the forum first etc. Sure I have my favourites locked in but the appeal of boards was that browsing around you came across a new forum and joined that out of interest.
There's nothing for that anymore unless you browse the main page and no one does that.

The whole point of Boards is to encourage conversation. Most people aren't going to be bothered working out what category their subject is under. The top menu provided a fast, easy way to find anything. Removing it seems counter to what Boards is supposed to be about.

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#76 27-01-2020 11:02am
Boards.ie: Mark

Boards.ie Employee Posts: 5,461 ✭✭✭✭✭

Boards.ie Employee

Join Date: September 2016

Posts: 4877

If people would like to idly browse, there is a list of forums available here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/ . It's not perfect; you will need to click into a main forum (e.g. Photography) if you would like to see its sub-forums (e.g. Cameras & Accessories). But the main forums tend to be busier, in most cases would be the first port of call if interested in general discussion on a topic, and you will find related or more specific conversation housed within these.

How can I? User's guide to some features on the new site

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#77 29-01-2020 12:52am
colly10

Registered Users Posts: 3,002 ✭✭✭

Join Date: July 2006

Posts: 2808

Is it possible to get the new posts link back on a bar across thd top?

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#78 29-01-2020 9:21am
[Deleted User]
Posts: 17,378 ✭

Join Date: -

Posts: 17378

Working on a proper night mode the last while. I don't think anyone likes the Halloween-style one they have available.

Making good progress. Along with colours, I'm trying to simplify / modernise the interface as much as possible by getting rid of the excess, like joining the post box and thanks box in the screenshot. Also fixing up lots of careless styling around the site.

At 600 lines of css so far.. Night modes are not easy.

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#79 29-01-2020 10:23am
upandcumming

Registered Users Posts: 2,715 ✭✭✭

Join Date: February 2010

Posts: 2666

Boards.ie: Mark wrote: »

The decision to remove skins didn't come down to appearance. As stated in the Announcement, we are working on necessary back-end upgrades and users on these unsupported skins would have encountered serious issues that would have essentially left the site unusable. We have to best utilise development resources available and unfortunately that meant that these skins had to be disabled rather than simply left unsupported as they had been.

When will these necessary back-end upgrades be completed?

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#80 30-01-2020 3:18pm
cnocbui

Registered Users Posts: 19,814 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: March 2009

Posts: 19705

Boards might want to consider limiting the Spruiking of facebook groups as an alternative to Boards. I was a member of a motoring interest forum and it died completely due to people coming on and promoting a parallel interest discussion group on Facebook.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=112395953&postcount=6733

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#81 30-01-2020 7:15pm
Discodog

Registered Users Posts: 15,833 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: October 2008

Posts: 15185

cnocbui wrote: »

Boards might want to consider limiting the Spruiking of facebook groups as an alternative to Boards. I was a member of a motoring interest forum and it died completely due to people coming on and promoting a parallel interest discussion group on Facebook.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=112395953&postcount=6733

Really ? You mean like censorship ? It didn't die because of Facebook. If it died it was because people preferred discussing it somewhere else.

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#82 30-01-2020 8:02pm
cnocbui

Registered Users Posts: 19,814 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: March 2009

Posts: 19705

Discodog wrote: »

Really ? You mean like censorship ? It didn't die because of Facebook. If it died it was because people preferred discussing it somewhere else.

Er, yes. Where have you been, there has always been censorship on boards? Try advertising your services or posting referral codes that will bring you financial benefit and see how long you last.

There is a big difference between individual preference and actively trying to recruit people from one forum over onto another. I think people actively trying to cause a migration to Facebook are just as in the wrong as people trying to exploit Boards for financial gain without paying Boards owners something.

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#83 30-01-2020 8:07pm
CrowdedHouse

Registered Users Posts: 6,810 ✭✭✭

Join Date: November 2004

Posts: 6690

Ah folks this thread is about how crap boards looks (trojan work by Ads by Google excepted):p

Seven Worlds will Collide

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#84 31-01-2020 8:49pm
lordgoat

Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,359 Mod ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: August 2003

Posts: 10841

The UI of this version is bad.

It looks bad.

It's hard to find forums.

The ads at the top of every page are awful.

It is genuinely the worst version of boards I've used. I do understand that there needs to be adjustments made at times but come on, does anyone think this is better than the old beta version?

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#85 31-01-2020 9:06pm
Beasty

Administrators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 75,559 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭

Join Date: May 2009

Posts: 70574

lordgoat wrote: »

The ads at the top of every page are awful.

As a subscriber you should not be getting ads when logged in

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#86 31-01-2020 10:00pm
lordgoat

Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,359 Mod ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: August 2003

Posts: 10841

Beasty wrote: »

As a subscriber you should not be getting ads when logged in

Cheers B, it seems to have sorted itself out now was very weird!

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#87 12-02-2020 8:23pm
lordgoat

Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,359 Mod ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: August 2003

Posts: 10841

As someone who normally doesn't like too much symmetry I admire this horrendous visual turd that you guys have presented us.

Every quick reply left filtered.

Also the placement top right of the My Forums drop down really is one of the best 'worst places to put something' I've come across in quite some time.

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#88 12-02-2020 10:34pm
Hotblack Desiato

Registered Users Posts: 34,060 ✭✭✭✭

Join Date: February 2005

Posts: 32756

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Anybody got a screenshot of Boards with the old white skin, so I can pick the exact colours off it? I thought I'd taken one before it was killed off, but I can't find it.

Found it, so this is probably as close to the old white skin it's now possible to get - here

Fingal County Council are certainly not competent to be making decisions about the most important piece of infrastructure on the island. They need to stick to badly designed cycle lanes and deciding on whether Mrs Murphy can have her kitchen extension.

0