GTPlanet's New Look, GTP11, is Live

[Jordan]

Thanks for all the comments, guys.

About the page links again.

I liked how it made threads stand out to others instantly, I miss the visual key when the page and many threads load up. You can look across and look at numbers but the old way also shows an active or week old thread and new thread instantly. In the photomode forums there's many similar thread titles and say I go back a few hours or the next day I will get or already have a visual representation of the threads. Now they blend into one and have to start looking across or longer before the thread I want jumps out. Before I could do this with hardly looking thanks to the visual clues.

It's true that multi-page threads are no longer highlighted with as much visual clutter as they were before, but I'm not convinced that's a bad thing. I just added a green arrow to the page icons which I think makes them stand out quite a bit more. The reason for the condensed multi-page link was, of course, because of the fixed-width default layout. Otherwise, longer thread titles often wrapped inside of the table cell.

I hate to complain, but I could not agree more. Kind of frustrating I have an extra click for every subscribed thread now.

You really shouldn't notice that much of a change, unless you're frequently accessing, specifically, the second or third page of a multi-page topic. The old delimiter showed (1, 2, 3) for three page threads, and (1, 2, 3 ... Last Page) for larger topics.

Now, you can always still access the first page by clicking on the thread title, and if it's two pages, you can reach the second page by clicking on the new 'last page' icon, and the same for three pages, and so on. Of course, if there's new posts in a thread, clicking the yellow "new" link will still take you the appropriate position in the thread, regardless of the page. In over ten years, I can't recall a time I've ever clicked on one of the individual page numbers from within a forum listing, so I didn't expect the removal of the second or third page links to affect too many people.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Hmm... liking some of this, not liking a few random bits thus far.

What happened to the page count after threads? I understand it cleans things up a bit but now more clicky when I want to go to the 2nd to last page, etc.

And the forced rounding on the avatars. I understand the aesthetic why, but kind of awkward on some and what not... what is the pixel radius of the rounding anyhow (can you tell I'm a little OCD?)

I'm going to miss having the other games in their own forum thing, cause I always kept all the GT stuff fully minimized >_>'

Pretty much an exact replication of that^


I'm testing the narrow view, but it doesn't seem any better than the old wide view especially when dealing with wider pictures(1440x900 btw). It seems like a tablet layout.

 

[jacnob]

Thanks Jordan! It looks much cleaner and organized. 👍

 

[Keef]

I think the only change I would make is to bring the darker gray at the top of the gradient all the way down the sides.

I like the look of the gradient at the top of the page, particularly the darker gray that gives the website a distinctive boundary. But as I scroll down the dark gray goes away, and the only thing there to separate the website from the surrounding space is a thin little gray line. Unless I'm looking straight at the line, my eyes struggle to define a border between the useful website and the useless white space outside. My brain knows it should ignore it, but without a stronger separation is struggles to find the border and it's very bothersome.

Maybe I could explain it in terms of layers. At the bottom of the page, the website appears to be in the same layer with the outside white space, which just doesn't look finished. Take the red bars for example - unless you're staring right at them, the ends of the bars aren't well defined. While I'm typing here at the bottom of the page it appears that they just end for no apparently reason and I think, "why don't they go all the way across? It looks like it should because the outside is almost the same color." But at the top of the page, the website appears to be on a distinctive layer above the dark gray, and therefore my mind ignores it as it should.

If the darker gray went all the way down to the bottom my eyes would have no trouble finding the border between the stuff it should pay attention to - the website - and the stuff that isn't worth the trouble - the 3-inch border around the outside. The darker gray would make it much easier on the brain, I think.

EDIT: I'm also curious about avatars. Typically I put a 1px black border around my avatars to separate the picture from the surrounding color. But now the avatars have rounded corners by default...so what will become of my black, square borders?

 

[HOODFIELD]

I may be weird but I usually like to open the subscribed threads in "My GTPlanet" a page or two before the last one to skim first. Just my own personal preference. I'll get used to it though.

 

[AOS-]

The rounded edges given to the avatars made the giant stash I've made in the past obsolete.

But at least now my profile page designs pack more detail per inch now

 

[Tommi]

Nice work Jordan! really impressed. 👍 Not a fan of the other gaming stuff being combined with Gran Turismo though, but i'm sure i'll get used to it.

 

[C-ZETA]

The sub-forums being listed down in rows of 3 is still there with my Google Chrome...I can see the rounded edges now, they look good. Not too fussy.

 

[Moglet]

Where has the Xbox Live field gone? It's come in very useful a few times and with Forza 4 coming up it would be nice to be able to see it again!

Also was there a contest or thread about the photomode images to be used in the banner? Or was it random?

 

[Masi_23]

You really shouldn't notice that much of a change, unless you're frequently accessing, specifically, the second or third page of a multi-page topic. The old delimiter showed (1, 2, 3) for three page threads, and (1, 2, 3 ... Last Page) for larger topics.

Now, you can always still access the first page by clicking on the thread title, and if it's two pages, you can reach the second page by clicking on the new 'last page' icon, and the same for three pages, and so on. Of course, if there's new posts in a thread, clicking the yellow "new" link will still take you the appropriate position in the thread, regardless of the page. In over ten years, I can't recall a time I've ever clicked on one of the individual page numbers from within a forum listing, so I didn't expect the removal of the second or third page links to affect too many people.

I like it. Makes it look cleaner.... and forces the casual oblivious lurker (or regular) to view the very first page of my online leagues

 

[Owen.C93]

I like that the little page icon with the green arrow now links to the final page not the final post. That's much better thankyou.

 

[Apok]

GTP11 is great. 👍

 

[Saidur_Ali]

I just wanted to know is it possible to implement the Latest News & Discussions / Hot Topics section (Can't remember what it was called. It used to be on the side of the forum). If I was browsing offline on phone without being logged in, it was handy to check what threads have been recently posted in, especially something like Kazunori Yamauchi tweets! thread. I guess it should be possible to implement it in the same layout. Don't know if anyone else finds it useful or is it just me?

 

[Small_Fryz]

Im liking how Quotes fit in and the layout and such.

The ability to select a page of a thread is gone, I want to go to the last page of a thread sometimes and not the last unread post, due to viewing from work or my phone etc. Is there anyway to do this with the new layout?

Other than that its nice 👍

 

[Ibonibo]

Nice design layout, I like 👍

 

[Omnis]

Yes, but you can set the width to be the same as the old site if that's what you prefer. What browser are you using? There is a confirmed bug with some versions of Internet Explorer not showing the full "Wide" page correctly, which I'm working on now. (Edit: That IE width bug has now been fixed.)

The wide setting is too wide. But that's because you've made the left panels smaller.

 

[Keef]

The wide setting is too wide. But that's because you've made the left panels smaller.

Another reason to extend the gray all the way down...the side empty space wouldn't seem as large if it was a darker color than the main website frame.

 

[hawkeye122]

I like the new look. It feels very Next-Gen/iPad-ish.

 

[Skython]

Wow, looking even better, this time it only took half a second to see that it had changed! 👍 Only sad thing is that I can't keep Bogan Central in my location.

Wait, I can keep it! Happy days, happy days.

 

[Irons]

Awesome new look.

 

[boiltheocean]

I really like this Jordan, certainly feels much cleaner than the previous version.

 

[Sharky.]

I'm going to come right out and say it: I'm not a fan.

I like the rounding of the quotes, buttons and the section headers and the flags are integrated into the design well (I had concerns that they'd feel out of place when you mentioned flags were going to appear in GTP11, Jordan), but that's about all.

Fixed-width on any display that's moderately large is a perplexing decision - I'm no web designer but the forum only takes up half of my 1920x1080 display. Even on my laptop, which runs at 1280 wide, it feels very narrow. It almost gives the forum the appearance of being a Blogger blog. I know about and use the "wide" setting, that was the first GTP11 setting I changed.

It also feels like there's less physical space between posts, now signatures almost meld into the start of the following post which makes threads feel very cluttered.

The icon for 'last page' is, uh... huge. Sticks out like a watermelon at a pumpkin convention, I think either a small arrow or even reverting to a textual link would make forum indexes appear "cleaner".

It's also a bit tricky to spot who has the last post in a thread imho, even on narrow. The fainter text colour for the timestamps is neat, but I think the text with the last poster's name is a bit too small. It also links to the last poster's profile and not their post, which I find a bit annoying - I understand clicking the timestamp jumps you to the last post, but is there any chance that that could be extended to the username as well instead of having a link to the last poster's profile? I can access their profile from their actual post, so it seems a bit unnecessary to have an additional link going there when it would be better working as a link to the last post in the thread imo.

But perhaps my biggest beef with the redesign: I can't collapse the GT section without hiding Console & PC Gaming.

 

[Omnis]

Oh and the new look is a lot better on Android.

 

[photonrider]

Wow. Love it. Yes. Thank you Jordan (and team).

 

[MasterLeaf]

About the Countries thing and that little flag? Well I Just founded a new Country called "Right Behind You". If you want the flag ask your nearest three-year old to draw a dog in red crayon.

 

[sems4arsenal]

Loving it .Haven't tried it on My Phone yet .Oh and is there a Directory for the Photos in the right corner?

Edit: Oh no my other PSN account isn't showing

 

[e.sport]

Looks great. Well done

One thing that's been omitted is the last/recent post on the side bar (prior to logging in) It was a good way of seeing (glancing) what's currently the hot topic.

Thanks for all your hard work GTP Team 👍

 

[Akmuq]

Shouldn't this be in the news section now? With a link to this thread in case some people are confused?

 

[Spacegoat]

The layout's very nice, great job.👍

 

[Dennisch]

Looks nice and tidy. It reads a lot better.


But where is the search button?