The first of several updates is now complete, and aside from a few style issues (mainly in the footer and my wardrobe) all is good. I welcome feedback, good or bad!
Note on the left hand side, I’ve added a new Support Fourtheye section. Starting now, I’m offering a subscription service for those wanting to support the site. Don’t fret though, none of the content on the site will removed for non-subscribers. Supporting the site is more of a token of gratitude, rather than a Toolarmy type secret site (though there will be a members only section of the forum). You can read more about membership here.
This update is the first of several. Over the coming weeks you can expect the following:
- Some further tweaks to the blog, including a more robust tag system and some social media buttons.
- A conversion of the Forum from the old bbPress version 1 to version 2.
- Maybe some other cool stuff.
Thanks to all of you who continue to support the site, and a special welcome to the many new readers that have joined so far in 2012. I’m promised some exciting things will happen for Tool fans this year!
Slave I
I wonder if you can clarify that at all. There’s actually significantly less clutter on the new version.
As far as it looking outdated? Perhaps, I definitely don’t consider myself to be a good designer. I will say that in my opinion it looks no more outdated than the old version did.
TooLywed?
I also really liked the older and better version of the forum on the main page! But, I still love it regardless and will be purchasing a membership.
aka Francis Brie
I have never seen the blog, let alone the blog vs. the forum….
this may be where the confusion is happening as some here are quite familiar with “the blog” where others seem to be familiar with the site yet never have become familiar with the blog…ie, I see “Forum” to click on but where is the word “blog?”
Ranga
I love a good Blog in the morning.
OGT
are we against integrating both into a recent comment section? or maybe having two sections?
aka Francis Brie
same with napalm
Slave I
A Blog is just a term for a news feed.
When I say Blog, I mean the main Fourtheye page which you see when you click http://fourtheye.net
When I say Forum I mean the forums accessed via http://fourtheye.net/forum
Most people tend to operate in one section or the other, and those who only frequent the forum part may be wondering what the commotion is about, as they’ve noticed no difference.
Slave I
Not against it at all. In fact I’d be keen to see if people think it’s worthwhile at all to be honest.
It’s more of a technical reason why it’s blog comments only at the moment, and it could well be something easily resolved with the forum update.
aka Francis Brie
.net to me is the ‘main page’ and the forum is the forum….
lol
OGT
i didn’t realize they were so separate. i noticed that there was always a thread in the forums that mirrored the front page news but just figured it was tagged as top news so it would show up on the front. i would definitely be for a recent comment section for the forums. i really like the new look. personally i would rather the news be on the left, and the subscription/ad/rumour mill to be on the right just because i am so used to that. a logo would definitely be nice, too! i am not very creative but i would love to see NotChildFriendly come up with some ideas.
Slave I
Well, switching the column from left to right would be easy to do, if there were a consensus that it were preferable.
newb
I don’t know if it’s been said, but can you please increase the font size a little bit? the text is much harder to read now…..
newb
CTRL +
Dude
You beat me to it. I bet somebody’s mind just got blown. lol.
However, that doesn’t work real well on a smart phone…
aka Francis Brie
where’s the fourtheye emblem/logo?
aka Francis Brie
this increases or decreases all the font. the text font is what I think needs to be bigger as suggested in a previous post…
newb
New look is stylin, hellbrah.
I diggs.
newb
I like the new look as well, a very welcomed change keep it up fourtheye.
aka Francis Brie
oopp, check that…my zoom level was off three % so NOW it looks normal to me…carry on…oh wait, two things
1: Before the changes, I could log in, close the site when finished, come back later and am still logged into the site and I don’t have to enter name and password again, unless I log off the internet completely. Now, I have to log in with name and password everytime I leave the site (when I want to go to the forum), even if I’m still on the net. Sup?
and 2: and the background on the main page, the grey looking stuff behind everything…I think that would be cool if it were a recognizable ‘tool’ background of some sort, provided you have permission to use such, ie ‘the net of being’ or something like that would look super cool as a background…just suggesting
OGT
i second that. this is my google home page:
something along those lines would be really nice, just to show some sort of Tool theme.
aka Francis Brie
^killer. i always play around with desktop tool themes and such…
or even the fourtheye logo, that way you wouldn’t have to worry about permission bs…
OGT
if i was to attempt to make a banner what size should i make it?
Slave I
Problem with using backgrounds such as the one above is that hey don’t scale to fit browsers with varying widths/resolutions. A tiled background is needed to make it work nicely, and making a tiled background is easier said than done for the artistically challenged like me…
Slave I
That said I’m very happy to accept artistic contributions from readers.
The Nippler
Puscifer link down at bottom or no?? I saw APC but no Puscifer or is that Taboo?
aka Francis Brie
furthur ex: of log out/in stuff. I just read the Intronaut diary post, clicked the link at the bottom, it took me to the main page, when I clicked on Forum to go back, i had to log back in, and i didn’t even leave the site. Is this because I haven’t subscribed yet or possible something else?
Slave I
It’s a bug cheese, basically when you go to the blog site, and then back to the forum, something happens to the cookie which logs you out. If you use the forum exclusively you’ll find you don’t get logged out. I will look into this further, probably on the weekend and see if I can fix it in the short term. I’m pretty sure when the forum get’s updated, it will be fixed permanently.
Slave I
Just never got around to adding one. I will one day!
OGT
threw this together quick:
Master Baiter
Loving the ALT F4 function
Moderator’s note: Tyson is not to be trusted. He’s a funny bugger sometimes though, I’ll give him that
OGT
i updated the banner photo i uploaded and the image is now only showing up in the forums.
Slave I
That’s another quirk caused by the difference between the forum and the blog. Should be fixed when I update the forums.
Slave I
Going to make a few changes tonight, fixing a couple of small bugs, and a few style changes. Feel free to comment on whether or not you think the change is better or worse:
Slave I
Also, if anyone wants to get an idea of how the new forum will work, feel free to check out http://www.fourtheye.net/brain/
Note that it contains a bunch of spam, and it’s basically an import of the forum from about a month ago. Feel free to post in there and play around, but be aware it will all be cleared out when it finally goes live…
Feedback welcome, though to be honest I’m yet to do much with the new forum other that just turn it on.
OGT
i like the new layout of the blog much better. the header needs some tweaking: the wordpress bar overlaps the title, and the links, now centered, don’t fit on one line.
Slave I
Can you elaborate a little on what resolution and browser you’re using? I can’t get the links to appear on mutliple lines for me no matter what I do…
newb
This is what it looks like in Chrome (windowed) for me. When I change to fullscreen, they all fit on one line.
http://i.imgur.com/uzLTD.jpg
Also, sidebar on the right looks MUCH better.
Slave I
Strange, as I’m using Chrome as well. I’ll take a closer look in the morning.
newb
hellboy, I even make a favicon for you.
I can also send the .ico file.
The blank spot in my bookmarks bar kills me.
OGT
my ignorance will shine here…
i am using Safari on a 13″ screen, screen resolution is set to 1280×800, the browser is maximized but not in full screen mode. the ‘contact,’ and ‘about me’ links are on a second the second line and 1/3 of the Fourtheye title is covered by the wordpress bar. i have the same results when viewing from my iPhone.
aka Francis Brie
yea, links are on two lines now for me too; just started yesterday?ish…
try not to be distracted by my gravatar too much as well….mmmm…..green…
newb
Sorry if I’m mentioning something that has already been pointed out but the only thing I’ve found that I would like to be fixed so far is the upper bar. The “Fourtheye” logo isn’t fully visible due to the WordPress-bar. Everything else looks sweet so great job on that HB!
aka Francis Brie
turned it on? did you talk dirty to it again?
anyway, when logging in, I noticed the greeting “Howdy, ilikecheese!” Awesome stuff but could you change that to, “Howdy ilikecheese! You are soooooo good lookin!” This should take precedence over other things please.
newb
Damn… I quite enjoy the current forum style. Maybe the look could use a little sprucing up, but I love the fact that there are just threads without me having to enter specific subforums to view them. It makes Fourtheye pretty unique from the other forums I visit. That’s just me though.
OGT
mine always tells me i am looking good. must be a browser problem for ya, or… well, maybe it is just being honest
Dude
Yeah, I kind of agree. Also, why are the formatting characters showing up in posts (like the /p and < > etc)? And there are some other weird character issues. I’m on Safari mostly, sometimes Chrome or FireFox but usually only if a specific site needs me to be.
Slave I
I intend to try and keep the current style of forum, with the recently updated posts as the main focus.
As far as the characters in posts go, there are no plugins installed at the moment, so that kind of character encoding isn’t enabled, however I do plan on turning it back on (presuming it’s possible).
newb
Did you see my favicon post?
Slave I
Yes I did.
I already have the favicon, it’s more a laziness thing at the moment (this current forum has a much more painful way to update the theme than the blog).
newb
A favicon has always showed up for me.