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Retiring the "TMC" style and other forum changes

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doug

Administrator / Head Moderator
Administrator
Get ready to say goodbye to the TMC forum style which has been the default for a while.

As part of a multipronged approach I've been planning in order to make things easier to find on this forum (which will get a thorough explanation soon) I'm going to have to retire the TMC style. With each upgrade of the forum software, more and more of it breaks. Within the next couple days, I plan to upgrade our forum software to the most recent version. At which point the "TMC" style will be broken beyond usability.

To remedy the situation, I've created a new style currently named "TMC-2012" which you can actually select now at the bottom of the page. It's built out of a more default style but with a few tweaks to make it not too different from the existing TMC style. I encourage you to go ahead and switch now, since once I upgrade, the "TMC" style will be removed and "TMC-2012" will be set as the new default. This may cause an error for a few users until they clear their cache and reload the page.

Other things coming down the pipeline:

ItemDescriptionstatus
New "TMC-2012" styleFixes a lot of subtle errors we had with the existing "TMC" style. Will survive software upgrade.done
Enable thread tagsSearchable user generated tags on threads. If you spent a lot of time searching for a thread, add a useful tag so that it will be easier to find in the future.done
Google searchAvailable in the "TMC-2012" style. TMC specific site search by Google. Replaces existing search box. "Advanced Search" link available for standard forum search.done
Wiki postsThe ability to insert a wiki post in a thread for a member generated summary or for updating information.done
Forum software upgradeWill break the "TMC" style. Initially differences will be more noticeable on the Admin side or things.very soon
Wiki articlesA proper section with wiki articles. This will be the place for FAQs, history, and whatever else. No longer will this info be left buried deep within some random thread.very soon
Subscribed Threads buttonLike the "What's New" button, but will only return the new posts in the forums to which you have subscribed.very soon
 
Thanks, doug; looks fine. The banner ad up top now (in addition to the one at the bottom that's present in the old style too) makes it look a bit busy now; a necessary evil?!

635901f9-5cb5-c008.jpg
 
looks nice. my only comment would be that the differentiation between forums with unread content and those without is a lot more difficult to see now. The colors are light blue and grey in my monitor - hard to tell the difference. Would prefer more contrast there.
 
For me it was at the top of the page in a drop down. When you go to TMC-2012 it appears at the bottom.
That's one of the customizations in the TMC style that is broken by the upgrade. By default that selection is in the bottom left corner.

looks nice. my only comment would be that the differentiation between forums with unread content and those without is a lot more difficult to see now. The colors are light blue and grey in my monitor - hard to tell the difference. Would prefer more contrast there.
I guess you're talking about those icons. Light Blue versus a light grey. Maybe we can make our own if someone has the skill.

+1. Same minor issue with Stickies, could use more differentiation.
Yeah. There are lots of little tweaks that can be done. My focus has been on the functional stuff, and it's amazing how long the cosmetic stuff takes.
 
Thanks, doug; looks fine. The banner ad up top now (in addition to the one at the bottom that's present in the old style too) makes it look a bit busy now; a necessary evil?!

I agree...don't get me wrong, this is a great forum, which I don't pay a bean for, but I'd love to lose that top ad banner, if that's an option. If not, fair enough, servers and disks don't come for free.
 
I agree...don't get me wrong, this is a great forum, which I don't pay a bean for, but I'd love to lose that top ad banner, if that's an option.
I'm not the biggest fan either. There are probably some other options, but it's back burner for now.

Nice job! One nit-pick I have is that the name and title fonts are noticeably larger. I prefer the smaller fonts of the earlier TMC style, but I suppose I'll get used to it.
Heh... I actually spent a lot of time figuring out how to make them bigger to be more in line with the existing TMC style.:tongue: That control isn't one of the pre-existing knobs and you have to write some code to change it. Compare the font size on the "vB4 default" style. Eventually I can make a few style options, but again back burner for the moment.
 
looks nice. my only comment would be that the differentiation between forums with unread content and those without is a lot more difficult to see now. The colors are light blue and grey in my monitor - hard to tell the difference. Would prefer more contrast there.

I'm not very good at this sort of thing. But if any forum member is good with Gimp or Paint.Net, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to make forum_new-48,png some shade of ... Tesla red, perhaps? Then it would just be a matter of renaming the old icon and uploading the new one.
forum_new-48.png
forum_old-48.png
 
Thanks for everything, Doug. When you do get around to the list of cosmetic changes, may I request that the buttons be bigger (like the ">>" to get to the last post of a thread, or the page navigation at the top and bottom)? I noticed in the new format the buttons seem smaller, and even with a mouse I find them hard to hit. Haven't tried it on the kindle yet but small buttons are even trickier on the tablet with my fat fingers.