- This topic has 21 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 22 years, 1 month ago by
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Posts
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- It’s too bloody slow
- There are too many graphics
- Can’t read the text because of the silly colours
- The messages go from oldest to newest (at the bottom) what the hells that all about!? Other BBS’s have the messages at the top!
Are some of the critisisms.
I actually agree with them and I’d like to have a no-holes-bared (that’s such a great phrase isn’t it!
) discussion about it.The SG Guide is run by a newly married sadgeezer from his spare bedroom. He’s just got a new job and he’s a bit dim (especially after a couple of beers). He likes to think he know’s what’s what when it comes to developing a site for like minded sadgeezers and lady sadgeezers, but he isn’t always right.
The long and the short of it is, that I’m now planning the next BIG (and i mean ****ING HUGE) developments for the site to turn it into a sci fi portal. This time, I’d like to find out what YOU think should be here (as opposed to what I think should be or what I can develop with my fairly limited programming skills).
So…
Colour. I don’t care WHAT any of you say, green (colour of serenity/calmness) and purple (colour of frustration and madness) are perfect for the SG Guide!
I dare you to dissagree
quote:
Originally posted by SadGeezer:
- It’s too bloody slow
- There are too many graphics
- Can’t read the text because of the silly colours
- The messages go from oldest to newest (at the bottom) what the hells that all about!? Other BBS’s have the messages at the top!
Are some of the critisisms.
Your in absolute love with the new rant board aren’t you?
Personally I don’t think its slow at all. Except between 1am-3am my time or 8am-11am gmt. But I’m on a t1. Loading all the graphics takes about 3/10 sec to do so I don’t view it as a porblem. But then again when I’m at home, on a modem, its takes until the next cycle of time to load.
I can easily read everything, the colors are almost opposites and thus are easy to read.
I like having old posts at the end, so that I can read the earlier posts that lead to them. I’m not too lazy to scroll.
quote
The long and the short of it is, that I’m now planning the next BIG (and i mean ****ING HUGE) developments for the site to turn it into a sci fi portal. This time, I’d like to find out what YOU think should be here (as opposed to what I think should be or what I can develop with my fairly limited programming skills).
Wood it b posibL 2 put a spelll cheker in2 the sadbored? I typ 2 fast + make alot f spellllling misteaks.
Also can the message window (the one I’m typing into now) be made any larger. IMHO its too small right now.
The only problem I have with the board is that it does tend to load slowly and demand reloads, but only when I’m using Netscape. When I’m using IE, no problem, even at odd hours of the night. Netscape is the browser of choice at our offices, and it’s what I’m usually using when I drop by during the day. And it usually takes a couple of “reload” button hits before I remember to open up IE. Other than that, I have no complaints.
–Aleck
i love the way this bb is set up. especially the way it puts the posts that have been replied to at the top. instead of it getting achived, where no one reads it. also one click of the scoll bar at the bottom puts everything where it should be for you to read it instead of having to scroll back and forth to read something. and it does take a little longer to load, but i don’t have to reload it ( i am on aol). i do occasionally get an internet explorer error which i just say yes to continue running scripts and it does. it is a minor inconvienence to put up with. but anyone with a computer has to put up with stuff like that hehe. i happened upon this site quite accidentally months ago and didn’t really come back alot. but that was before i realized how much fun it is to post and talk to other fans out there. i am amazed every day that i actually get to talk to people from other countries. i love the internet hehehe!!!!!!!!
i used to go to the scifi bb but like alot of people have said the bb has fundamental flaws which make it difficult to enjoy unless you get into the CFs and FFs. which obviously i don’t!!!!
sorry to get off topic
i guess i am trying to say is I LOVE THIS BB!!! don’t change anything except maybe the download speed. and btw i love the colors and the cute little graemlins (maybe add a few new ones hehehe)!The graphics could be simplified in order to speed-up loading time. The purple and green colour scheme could still be used.
If I can get the time, I’ll play around with some ideas. BTW, I never got any go-ahead to work on any banner ads…
quote:
Originally posted by SadGeezer:
The messages go from oldest to newest (at the bottom) what the hells that all about!? Other BBS’s have the messages at the top!
The sensible way – when opening a forum for the first tiome you read from top to bottom. When returning you scroll down as far as you got before then continue.
With newest posts at the top, the first time you read it you have to scroll right down to the bottom and then back again, the next time you have to scroll down to the bottom, then scoll back up to where you got to before and then read back up to the top.
If nothing else the first was a lot quicker to say.
Ditto what Cat said.
I’d also like to see the window for typing messages a little larger.
The white type on dark background gets a little tiring to read (course it could be my glasses), but it’s not a big deal, it’s a nice clean font. And I think green and purple is quite appropriate for a cult sci fi page!
I had trouble loading the board on Netscape also, but have been using the Opera browser for a few months now. Loads up super fast, graphics and all. I’d recommend people give it a try. (www.opera.com–I am in no way shape or form connected to them
)Gotta think about what else I’d like to see here–it’s already one of my favorite sites!
elmey
Great comments thanks 🙂
Keep ’em coming
Flame: please DO have a go at some banners! I’m after 468×60 to start with.
Probably the most frequently expressed complaint about SadGeezer.Com is the white text on black background.
And, uh, well… white-on-black is simply a no-no for webpage design. Black text on white backgrounds is alot less strain on the eyes. This is what was taught to me in my web design classes. Printers and graphic designers figured out this concept a long time ago.
But in the case of science-fiction webpages, white-on-black is very, very, common. I think this has to do with outer-space themed websites. To quote Holly, the Red Dwarf’s computer, “The thing about space is that it’s black…”
I think it’s possible to design a science-fiction webpage that has predominantly black-on-white text with a strong purple and green colour scheme that is executed in a tasteful manner.
quote:
Originally posted by Flamegrape:
Probably the most frequently expressed complaint about SadGeezer.Com is the white text on black background.
hmmm, must have something to do with my vision, which frey can tell you is close to legally blind, but i find white on black less headache inducing…if there are any anomalies in the refresh rate or background, i get distracted by the strobe effect on a white background…and although i am not epileptic, i feel prone to seizures with too much ‘strobing’
…just my two cents anyway…
as far as topic order; this must be one of those ‘toilet paper up or toilet paper down’issues; from my standpoint, checking the newest posts for something to reply to is much easier if they are at the top…then i can work my way down to the older posts at my leisurenow, i know this is a lot of work, but is there anyway for us to know when other peeps are on line here at the sadboard, so that we could go to the chat room and play? (i think we all have the same feelings about the chat room by the way, so i won’t go there
)quote:
Originally posted by SadGeezer:
[list]- It’s too bloody slow
- The messages go from oldest to newest (at the bottom) what the hells that all about!? Other BBS’s have the messages at the top!
No, it is not too slow, it is just fine.
And I like having the begining of the thread at the top. That way I get the whole message, from start to finish, without a lot of back tracking. If I have read it before, I can easily scroll down to the new stuff.
But what I really, really want. When I an wishing for the moon, is a SPELL CHECKER!!!!! Please God, I’ve been good!
The black, purple and green are you Sad, I wouldn’t have it anyother way.
quote:
Originally posted by FX:
hmmm, must have something to do with my vision, which frey can tell you is close to legally blind, but i find white on black less headache inducing…if there are any anomalies in the refresh rate or background, i get distracted by the strobe effect on a white background…now, i know this is a lot of work, but is there anyway for us to know when other peeps are on line here at the sadboard, so that we could go to the chat room and play? (i think we all have the same feelings about the chat room by the way, so i won’t go there
)
I also like a white, or preferably light grey text on a black background. I am with you on the annoyance of a white background with a bad refresh.
So go to the new chatroom FX. There are two ways to get to it, so the mIRC’er and the Browser crowd can still get together. It is not as annoying as the little chat, and if you mIRC it has tons more features.
quote:
Originally posted by Flamegrape:
Probably the most frequently expressed complaint about SadGeezer.Com is the white text on black background.And, uh, well… white-on-black is simply a no-no for webpage design. Black text on white backgrounds is alot less strain on the eyes.
The white on black backround isn’t a problem for me; I never evvn knew you could get eye strain from it!
quote:
Originally posted by FX:
now, i know this is a lot of work, but is there anyway for us to know when other peeps are on line here at the sadboard, so that we could go to the chat room and play?
That sounds like a great option. I’d also like to see a chat portal(name?) like the one at thedarkzone.org here. It would just make things more convienint.
And Fx don’t worry about the Ms Nukey thing. I figured it was just a typo or other innocent mistake.
quote:
Originally posted by Headgehog:
That sounds like a great option. I’d also like to see a chat portal(name?) like the one at thedarkzone.org here. It would just make things more convienint.
We do have one just like that. In fact it *is* that.
Rachel (Pause for songs of praise from Angels On High) has given us a link on her site to fef.net. All you have to do is scroll down where it says Join Channel until you get to #sadgeezer. That way the mIRC’ers and the Browsers can chat in perfect harmony. We will be able to use it for the Ellen Giggy Chat, but it is available for use all the time. Currently only myself and the KEB’er are using. (they occassionally use it as a jump station for there Non-mIRC members when they have a chat. When I am working on the comp, I am usually logged into it, to redirect any lost souls who wander in there. So if any Sadgeezer’s want to hang there feel free. http://thedarkzone.org/chat/%5B/url%5D
Oh the CGI seems to be the more stable of the two choices.
iB3, the forum software I’m using for the lexxfanclub forums, is skinnable – you can provide multiple skins which members can choose from. There are probably other forums with a similar feature, and I know it’s possible to ‘skin’ a whole site…
It’s a great board. Those people should quit whining and appreciate what they have! No complaints here.
Only complaint I ever had was that it took way too long to load the Saddy template for every new page, so I just saved it to load locally and its been fine.
Otherwise its about the best board out there for Sci-Fi. Not a lot of clutter and not too many griefers.
I’ve got no complaints Saddy, but I would like to see what FX suggested, about seeing whose on the board the same time as me, kinda useful if you want to get someone’s attention.
And also a facility where maybe you get a flashing envelope to inform you that you have received private mail, I’ve seen it on other sites and it’s quite handy.
I think the Sadboard has a unique appearance and I wouldn’t change it too much, and the green and purple does add to it.
SquishyMy computer is ancient compared to most, so I don’t think I have room to talk about load times. Everything is slow on this thing!
A spell checker would be a godsend! Please, oh, please, oh please!
And if you could, it would be nice to know if anyone is in chat or not.
*looks at purple nail polish* Keep the purple and green.
I like having the oldest messeges on a thread appear at the top. It seems more logical to me, like reading a book. I just skip the stuff I’ve read and if I need a reminder as to what’s going on, it’s handy dandy for glancing over!
The white on black hasn’t bothered me, but if you feel the need to change it…no neon or red colors, please. They kill my eyes.
I always thought the expression was ‘no holds barred’ as in wrestling holds? Or am I just being thick because I missed a play on words? I find the text a bit small and the purple on black a little hard to read. But my vision isn’t that good anyway. Aside from that, the ‘sites’ very good.
quote:
Originally posted by SadGeezer:
…I’d like to have a no-holes-bared (that’s such a great phrase isn’t it!
) discussion about it.
quote:
Originally posted by dgk:
I always thought the expression was ‘no holds barred’ as in wrestling holds? Or am I just being thick because I missed a play on words? I find the text a bit small and the purple on black a little hard to read. But my vision isn’t that good anyway. Aside from that, the ‘sites’ very good.
hehe, it is 🙂 My bad spelling again. Ok Ok I’ll get a spell checker for the new board when the new site is uploaded
Cat: Yes, we are working on a skinable interface for the whole site, something that you can select as part of your user profile. I’d like to have the skin loaded from the users pc but me and Newkate arent sure how to force that.
The new board software is only at the early stages yet. Newkate is designing it all completely from scratch using ASP.
Once we have the new BOARD setup we will integrate things like upload areas, a comprehensive search facility and lots of other interactive elements. The hard part isn’t putting up all this new stuff, it’s making sure that the design isn’t too slow for the server. It’s a bit of a trade-off, speed and bug free site that doesn’t do what you or your visitors want, or a new site designed specifically for the visitors that may be slow.
Newkate is a bit of a perfectionist so the design process is slow at present, but when things are looking like we can demonstrate them, I’ll be posting messages on the board pointing you to the new software for you guys to take a look and comment.
We’ll soon be asking for the things that you guys would like to see on the site as a whole, not just the SadBOARD.
woo hoo!
*performs the “getting a spell checker” shuffle* Getting a spell checker, getting a spell checker, woo hoo!
Can’t wait to see it the new site.
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