Small design change on the site

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Small design change on the site

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Forceflow
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Post by Forceflow » Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:27 am

Hi folks,

some might have noticed that the page layout change a bit. I *finally* moved away from the frames setup of the page and made sure to include the navigation-sidebar to all pages including the forum. I also tried to make the page a tad more mobile-friendly. Viewing the page on a mobile device should now move the navigation bar to the top to free up more space for the main text.

We also reworked the menu options. A lot of the items were almost empty, so we bundled them into the 'About' section. Here you can now find the Members, FAQ, Disclaimer, Rules and Links (which also has been overhauled to remove all the dead links)

All in all the visual change should be very small, but since there is a bit more f a technical change in the background I'd ask to give it a test-run and let me know of any issues you see. You might need to clear your browser caches to see the new page. Make sure you clear the cache before reporting any issues. (Unfortunately on mobile browsers this doesn't appear to be that straightforward at times)

Hope you like the change!
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Rookie_One1
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Post by Rookie_One1 » Tue Jun 30, 2020 11:58 am

frame still present while accessing through xwaupgrade.com
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Vince T
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Post by Vince T » Tue Jun 30, 2020 12:38 pm

Try flushing your browser cache
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the_stag
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Post by the_stag » Tue Jun 30, 2020 2:57 pm

If you're still having issues seeing the new page changes click on the little lock to the left of the web site address and click on "Clear Cookies and Site Data" (Firefox) or "Cookies" (Chrome), then click on remove. After that refresh the page and it should be working (you will have to log back into the forums after clearing cookies).

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theonegalen
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Post by theonegalen » Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:24 am

New site layout looks great!

Is this the first time it's been changed, or just the first time in a decade?

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Vince T
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Post by Vince T » Wed Jul 01, 2020 5:12 am

First time in over a decade. May have been 15+ years
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Forceflow
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Post by Forceflow » Wed Jul 01, 2020 7:40 am

General_Trageton wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 5:12 am
First time in over a decade. May have been 15+ years
Oh come on, I am not THAT lazy ;) There actually have been quite some redesigns over the year. Though I do agree the basic design and look hasn't changed much in a long time. Mostly the redesigns have been similar to the one done now. A lot of technical updates under the hood and some eye-candy here and there ;)
Decoy used to do the visual aspect of the page, so when he went MIA you guys got stuck with my limited artistic skills ;)
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marcop000
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Post by marcop000 » Wed Jul 01, 2020 12:25 pm

Hi Forceflow,

The site now is better for my opinion.

I leave some small feedback:

1) I suggest to update the progress page that seem unchanged.
2) Another good think can be a sort of bug report list: a simple list with the actual known bugs with status (work in progress, fixed, not fixed, etc..).

However this is only point of view.

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Post by Forceflow » Wed Jul 01, 2020 12:43 pm

marcop000 wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 12:25 pm
Hi Forceflow,

The site now is better for my opinion.

I leave some small feedback:

1) I suggest to update the progress page that seem unchanged.
2) Another good think can be a sort of bug report list: a simple list with the actual known bugs with status (work in progress, fixed, not fixed, etc..).

However this is only point of view.
What do you mean that the progress page is unchanged? It shouldn't be, Everything has moved over, though you need to be aware that all pages use new links. For now all old pages are still there, so if you are using an old link it will forward you to the old page.
The new progress page can be found here:
https://www.xwaupgrade.com/index.php?action=progress

As for the bug tracker, while I understand the idea and reason behind that it would be a lot of work. Honestly for now the bug subforum is the place to go for that. Though I do agree a sticky there with known/fixed issues beyond what is currently there might be a good idea.
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Post by marcop000 » Wed Jul 01, 2020 1:17 pm

Forceflow wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 12:43 pm
marcop000 wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 12:25 pm
Hi Forceflow,

The site now is better for my opinion.

I leave some small feedback:

1) I suggest to update the progress page that seem unchanged.
2) Another good think can be a sort of bug report list: a simple list with the actual known bugs with status (work in progress, fixed, not fixed, etc..).

However this is only point of view.
What do you mean that the progress page is unchanged? It shouldn't be, Everything has moved over, though you need to be aware that all pages use new links. For now all old pages are still there, so if you are using an old link it will forward you to the old page.
The new progress page can be found here:
https://www.xwaupgrade.com/index.php?action=progress

As for the bug tracker, while I understand the idea and reason behind that it would be a lot of work. Honestly for now the bug subforum is the place to go for that. Though I do agree a sticky there with known/fixed issues beyond what is currently there might be a good idea.
Hi Forceflow,

About the lot of work I can understand, however becouse seem that you think is a good idea, there is a compromise:

Instead of creating a specific page with all html and table, a more "light" a good solution for my opnion can be simply create a download for a excel file with all details (bug name, status, note, etc..).

About "progress page" report 83% of complete ships since many months (or years), but I visit this site every day and I see many new ships , Probably now there are more ships complete. is right ? If yes, for my opinion, is a good idea update the status.

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Post by Forceflow » Wed Jul 01, 2020 2:20 pm

marcop000 wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 1:17 pm
Hi Forceflow,

About the lot of work I can understand, however becouse seem that you think is a good idea, there is a compromise:

Instead of creating a specific page with all html and table, a more "light" a good solution for my opnion can be simply create a download for a excel file with all details (bug name, status, note, etc..).

About "progress page" report 83% of complete ships since many months (or years), but I visit this site every day and I see many new ships , Probably now there are more ships complete. is right ? If yes, for my opinion, is a good idea update the status.
Well, keeping track of everything is most of the work, that's why I prefer to keep it in the forum. I know it's far from perfect and I do agree some sort of sticky could help.

As for the progress of the project that is actually up-to-date. Though some changes made the number go down. Since we have several installer packs for stuff that really belongs together several objects were groped together. Most notably the containers were all moved into one group. So were the weapons, Zero-G Troopers, mines, etc. Because of this the total number of projects was reduced, but even more so the total number of completed projects was reduced as well.
So before we had 31 projects for Freighters and Cargo Stuff with 29 being finished. (so 93% complete) now with all containers packed into one group we have 18 projects in total with 16 being done which is only 89%. Since this also carries over to the complete total we dropped by a couple percent recently. Also keep in mind that quite some of the new releases we had were actually updated versions of already updated crafts. So while those certainly improve the project quite a bit they don't really move the completing counter forward ;)

But don't worry, lots of new stuff is also in the works, so the counter will go up for sure. Though I doubt we'll ever truly be done. Even if we do update each ship I am sure there are plenty of older releases that will just get updated further down the line.
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marcop000
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Post by marcop000 » Wed Jul 01, 2020 2:43 pm

I notify you a strange situation (I don't known if is normal):

In the download section if I choose: "show only non included craft" don't show nothing .. in the past show the only the new craft, now nothing.

If is normal ?

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Post by Forceflow » Wed Jul 01, 2020 3:17 pm

marcop000 wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 2:43 pm
I notify you a strange situation (I don't known if is normal):

In the download section if I choose: "show only non included craft" don't show nothing .. in the past show the only the new craft, now nothing.

If is normal ?
Thanks, should be fixed now.
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Post by BattleDog » Thu Jul 02, 2020 2:56 am

I see we are also now on HTTPS.

Looks like the wiki doesn't have the new menu, though.

Otherwise, very nice - modern.
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Post by Forceflow » Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:15 am

BattleDog wrote:
Thu Jul 02, 2020 2:56 am
I see we are also now on HTTPS.

Looks like the wiki doesn't have the new menu, though.

Otherwise, very nice - modern.
We've been on https for a long time now. I set that up over a year ago ;)
As for the wiki, yeah I know. Unfortunately that resists any and all of my attempts to include my custom code :(
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Post by BattleDog » Thu Jul 02, 2020 9:32 am

Forceflow wrote:
Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:15 am
BattleDog wrote:
Thu Jul 02, 2020 2:56 am
I see we are also now on HTTPS.

Looks like the wiki doesn't have the new menu, though.

Otherwise, very nice - modern.
We've been on https for a long time now. I set that up over a year ago ;)
As for the wiki, yeah I know. Unfortunately that resists any and all of my attempts to include my custom code :(
The thing is, I believe you but until now seems Chrome did not, kept saying "not secure" in the address line.
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Post by Forceflow » Thu Jul 02, 2020 9:43 am

That is strange... Though it could be that some pages still had some unsecured content. Though that's always the case for the forum unfortunately. Not sure how Chrome handles that
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Post by Old_Jedi » Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:06 pm

Much better view on a mobile now - thanks!

O_J

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Post by Griffin » Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:25 am

Forceflow wrote:
Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:27 am
Hope you like the change!
Very nice, I think you are doing a fantastic job! Anyone complaining about your site, just send them to mine... currently a few issues. Deleted one too many items, ...that was the database I was looking for...

Image

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Post by m0rgg » Sun Jul 05, 2020 6:31 am

Nice work Forceflow!

Just one small issue for me: the fixed navigation menu is displayed permanently, with a fixed positioning at the screen top. In a mobile device (Android) it occupies a considerable amount of screen/reading space.

My suggestion would be to make it disappear when scrolling down. Ideally make it reappear immediately when scrolling up, same as the URL and buttons bar in the mobile browser (Chrome). I can try to play a bit with CSS to adjust it.

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Post by Forceflow » Sun Jul 05, 2020 6:43 am

m0rgg wrote:
Sun Jul 05, 2020 6:31 am
Nice work Forceflow!

Just one small issue for me: the fixed navigation menu is displayed permanently, with a fixed positioning at the screen top. In a mobile device (Android) it occupies a considerable amount of screen/reading space.

My suggestion would be to make it disappear when scrolling down. Ideally make it reappear immediately when scrolling up, same as the URL and buttons bar in the mobile browser (Chrome). I can try to play a bit with CSS to adjust it.
Can you post a screenshot? It shouldn't take up much space
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Post by keiranhalcyon7 » Sun Jul 05, 2020 7:05 am

On desktop, very nice. I frequently arrive at the forums directly via the email notification links, which before, left no one-click method to get to the rest of the site. That's resolved now. However,
Old_Jedi wrote:
Thu Jul 02, 2020 6:06 pm
Much better view on a mobile now - thanks!
Forgive me if I dissent. I've attached a screenshot of the way the forums look on my Galaxy S8 in Chrome. Specific changes I would make are:
  • Reduce the size of the main logo so that it's fully visible, along with the size of the Falcon
  • Replace the translucent floating nav bar with a floating three-line popup menu (probably opaque).
EDITS:

Note that I composed the above before seeing m0rgg's post, but I think we're talking about the same issues.

Playing around a little now on desktop, I've also noticed that the side menu converts to the top menu whenever vertical screen space would clip the bottom of the side menu, even if there's well enough space to fit it in. It should just move itself up a bit. (It should only convert to a top menu when the horizontal space becomes too narrow to display the menu on the side, which would be coincident with the format jump I'm seeing around 1220 pixels in width.)
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Post by Forceflow » Sun Jul 05, 2020 7:54 am

How does it look when you are not in the forum but on other parts of the page. Is the menu still so big?
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Post by m0rgg » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:11 am

The menu is much smaller, in one single line (too small for my fat fingers 😅)
Screenshot_20200705-100736_Chrome.jpg
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Post by Forceflow » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:47 am

Ah I really hate mobile browsers, they always do all kinds of magic to make things 'better' but it's a huge pain to get it to work consistent.
I have to look at it, though not sure how well I am going to be able to fix it since it's so difficult to test.
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