Welcome back!
Hello my friends!
First things first. If you had a membership in the old forum, you don't need to re-register. Your old forum memberships and all messages were transferred over to the new site. However, for security reasons you will need to request for a password reset. If you have any problems, please contact me on creativebits@gmail.com.
Sorry for the downtime. We worked hard day and night on bringing you the new creativebits. It was not easy to convert the blogger.com based blog and the phpbb based forum into Drupal. A brand new conversion code had to be written by Tim. But it's worth it. Drupal is one of the best content management systems available with clean code and a great future. This site is still a beta, so please do comment if you find any glitch.
Here is a list of what's new in order of importance:
1. We have our own domain and reliable Dreamhost server.
2. The most important thing that many asked for is more content in certain fields. So, we have free for life professional blogging accounts for members upon request. See more on this in the Help. Hopefully we gonna have several bloggers in some time, hence the avatars next to the blog titles. We're hoping to find professionals in all creative fields, but especially in Adobe InDesign, Digital Photography, Web design (php/mysql) and general Design theory.
3. Unified membership for all services to get rid of the separate blogger and phpbb user management.
4. New critique gallery to better support the popular practice we had in the forum before.
5. New messages are highlighted and are easy to follow up using the recent posts menu.
6. Categories in the blog for better navigation of old content.
7. Selectable light theme for those many readers who prefer light backgrounds for reading. Select your account from the menu to choose the alternative theme.
8. Advanced syndication. For example you can syndicate just one author from the blog or one category if you want to. Look for the xml icon on the bottom of the pages.
9. Advanced search with google like previews for each result.
If you were expecting more from v2, let me tell you that we're just getting started! Let us know what's missing and what would you like to change.
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Looks great so in my eyes!
Really nice work!
I've just got here.. I have to check out the other things now..
Great to have Creative Bits back online! Finally!!
Btw. Don't take a vacation now.. feed us with new great articles!
Whoa, I'm impressed! Good
Whoa, I'm impressed!
Good job Ivan. Loving the concrete theme, A Mac kind of feel... thanks! Nice to have CB back up again, a long wait but worth it!
woops...
oh well... made a comment about the new site in the forums and not here... :) so you get it here as well...
congratulations on a new site. looks great!
and... i answered you there,
and... i answered you there, so here is the link: http://creativebits.org/node/1123
good stuff, but...
what concrete theme? looks the same pretty much, right?
You can enable it in your
You can enable it in your account settings after you login.
You have to log-in and then
You have to log-in and then you can choose between this current Tarmac theme and a new light so called Concrete theme.
Congrats
I really like the Concrete theme. Looks like you pulled off a smooth transition. Good Job!
How about the left control panel?
Do you mind it on the left instead of right?
Although it doesn't bother
Although it doesn't bother me much, I think it would be better on the right than on the left.
Very nice :D I love the new
Very nice :D I love the new features, espacially the new, brighter theme :)
Kudos
Woot!!! Well done guys!!!
Woot!!! Well done guys!!! Can't wait to get home and explore!!
Something that bugs me...
I might be the only one who feels this way, but I am not crazy about how the fade works. It feels, awkward. I would like their to be a box and then a fade. To see what I mean, I've attached the image
It just seems crisper. Any thoughts?
kenyabob: good suggestion
i like it, you're right. maybe we can give it a try. what do you guys think?
On the concrete look, I
On the concrete look, I think the fade works very nicely. It may just be the tarmac theme.
Ivan, when I typed my email address for a new password on the tarmac theme, I realised that when I typed in the address, it was in black font, almost couldn't see it. You might want to check that.
That's enough bitchin', you've done a great job!
ohoh!
That's quite a bug! black on black. :) Now i really want to know what system you're using. I know it's a PC, but which flavour of Windows and what browser pls?
It's not called bitching, it's very valuable beta testing! Keep it coming!
Sure is!
I'm on Windows XP Home (SP2) and using I.E 6. Check the image attached. Only when it's highlighted, it shows up.
Looking really great
I've spent some time with CB 2.0 now and I really like it and it looks great.. Get those bugs sorted! (order some smilies as well) HEHE
RSS Feed?
Just a question..
Don't you have a RSS feed anymore.. it just says XML under Syndicate..?
Same thing more or less. Any
Same thing more or less. Any news aggregator is able to read it if you plug in the address.
Mehhhh
I like the original v2 design MUCH better. For some reason, this design feels "clunky/choppy." Nothing seems to be "anchored" and is just floating in space (like the navigation bar).
I'm sure I'll get used to it. For now, I like the dark theme.
Get your "fix" of design software tips, tricks & commentary.
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Visit The Graphic Mac for graphics and Mac OS tips, reviews, tutorials and discussion.
Nav Side
I would agree that with this current two column layout, the sidebar on the right would allow better readability of the main content column.
Also I would say that you could go wider if you desired. You are dealing with large resolution userbase so you could use that square footage for air space or wider columns. Of course all said and done nice implmentation of Drupal and the site works well. I think it is very accessible and not overbloated.
Interesting
I was thinking a lot about it and couldn't decide what works better, right or left, but i felt it's more natural to have it on the left, but I may need to reconsider it.
Quote:"Also I would say that
"Also I would say that you could go wider if you desired."
ABSOLUTELY!
The format now is optimised for an 800 px browser window width; surely most of us are viewing at a higher rresolution than that? A quick look at visitor stats would provide some insight, to be sure.
There just seems to be sooooo much wasted space at my usual browser window width, which is generally in the neighborhood of 1180 px.
got it!
I will definitely address these issues very soon, but first I'd like to sort out some small technical issues.
Consider the market
I would venture to guess that the overwhelming majority of readers of CB are running at the very least 1024x768, with most probably even higher. There IS a lot of wasteland in the layout.
Also, as far as the columns goes, I think the navigation sidebar should be on the right, close to the scroll bar. The main content is what people want to see, so it should be on the left. It's much less "distracting" on the right as well.
Get your "fix" of design software tips, tricks & commentary.
-----------
Visit The Graphic Mac for graphics and Mac OS tips, reviews, tutorials and discussion.
800 is dead
You're right. Less than 1 percent of the users have 800x600 monitors. Most of them use 1024x768.
Width
In reference to the width discussion, one site that comes to mind looking at is the [IMO] nice float at Narayan Nayar's site etherfarm.
I agree
I don't mind it that bad on the left but:
I agree with Jim and I may add that most ppl are right handed,
the sidebar on the right would be easier to reach with the mouse,,,
less inches to travel to :)
_P_o_m_p_o _M_u_l_t_i_m_e_d_i_a
http://www.pompo.com
=============================================
You will know fear...Then you will know pain.
Then you will use a Mac.
_P_o_m_p_o _M_u_l_t_i_m_e_d_i_a
http://www.nolaPIC.com
=============================================
You will know fear...Then you will know pain.
Then you will use a Mac.
Something that kind of freaks me out...
...but it's not really a bad thing:
When I click to visit CB, first the gray BG color loads by itself and is nearly the same color as my desktop, and it keeps making me think my browser window has closed.
It's funny to me, anyway!
Colour scheme
Man, it's still so dark - small, darkish text on a dark background. It's a worthwhile site but if you pontificate on design then let's have it more readable - every time I visit I have to increase the text size, switch off the stylesheet - or just read the RSS instead.
thanks for the comments
I'm reworking the layout a bit to make it more user friendly. Just wanted to get out the new engine as soon as possible. SO, it's work in progress and your inputs are most helpful.