View Full Version : Has anyone noticed............
.......that we've reduced the size of the banner by 15%?
And be honest! ;)
Was this a good idea or not? We invite your comments, dear members :)
Marco.
When did you do that? I hadn't noticed - until this post pointed it out.
Looks fine to me, but some members will, I'm sure, complain that you still have to scroll down in order to read the first post.
Regards
Rare Bird
12-07-2010, 09:58
Needs a whole new make over imho
I never noticed it had shrunk... Did you wash it at 50 degrees by accident? ;)
I doubt many (if any) will have noticed - 15% is a relatively small difference.
Techno Commander
12-07-2010, 10:16
I hadn't noticed. And it doesnt look noticibly smaller either. :)
Needs a whole new make over imho
Interesting. So what would you suggest, dude? :)
Marco.
P.S What's happened to your avatar?
The Grand Wazoo
12-07-2010, 10:26
Uh-uhh, I'm saying nuffink
.................go on, keep scrolling...............
...............loads more to scroll yet...................
.......................nearly there....................
.............but it's still too big!
LOL!
Indeed, for you, perhaps (and some others), but the 15% reduction, for me, makes it less intrusive.
Remember that the whole point of the banner is to showcase real examples of equipment used by our members. How can we do that if its tiny and you can hardly make out the gear that's being shown? ;)
Marco.
The Grand Wazoo
12-07-2010, 10:30
Actually, I had noticed, but my monitor has been doing strange things lately so I thought it was that
Stratmangler
12-07-2010, 10:30
What about making the middle bit of the banner into the banner itself ?
That's just the box with "The Art of Sound" as the banner.
The Grand Wazoo
12-07-2010, 10:33
LOL!
Indeed, for you, perhaps (and some others), but the 15% reduction, for me, makes it less intrusive.
Remember that the whole point of the banner is to showcase real examples of equipment used by our members. How can we do that if its tiny and you can hardly make out the gear that's being shown? ;)
Marco.
I made some suggestions before about how to deal with that but they were ignored or shot down.
I don't think that's true, Chris. We don't ignore or 'shoot down' anything our members suggest.
We might not implement some suggestions, because we don't feel they're right, but that doesn't mean we've ignored or shot them down.
Go on, let's hear your suggestions again, please :)
I'm curious to know how we can fit in everything that needs to be fitted in, and make the images clear and visible, to the standards we require, inside a much smaller banner.
Marco.
The Grand Wazoo
12-07-2010, 10:41
No, I'm sorry, I'm not going down this road again.
Ok, that's fine :)
Marco.
Beechwoods
12-07-2010, 10:47
The only way it's getting any smaller would be for us to design a new one. The existing design will not work if it gets any smaller.
If we go for this, I suggest that we ask members for their high quality system / gear pictures and create a new, smaller (heightwise) design from scratch...
This design would work with a single panel of pictures, rather than 'rectangular border' of pictures. The height would need to be about half the size of the current one.
The implementation of Google Ads increases the need to reduce of the height of the existing banner, IMO.
I appreciate your consideration of members requests BUT the change is so relatively small as to make the problem I have had much the same. Speed of loading pages.
Solved that problem by buying my own MAC laptop which handles AoS much better. In Firefox and Safari on the mac the banner was filling most of the screen (13") yesterday. I'll check how the mac is later today.
Hi Nick,
The only way it's getting any smaller would be for us to design a new one. The existing design will not work if it gets any smaller.
If we go for this, I suggest that we ask members for their high quality system / gear pictures and create a new, smaller (heightwise) design from scratch...
This design would work with a single panel of pictures, rather than 'rectangular border' of pictures. The height would need to be about half the size of the current one.
The implementation of Google Ads increases the need to reduce of the height of the existing banner, IMO.
Agreed. We should look into this at some point soon then, as I'm all for giving people what people want, *providing* I think it fits with the existing ethos and 'feel' of the site :)
Marco.
Mark Grant
12-07-2010, 11:16
The implementation of Google Ads increases the need to reduce of the height of the existing banner, IMO.
I would suggest to move the google ad box near the bottom of each page.
Maybe put it between the 'tags' box and the 'quick reply' box.
That would make the top of the page less cluttered and more people might click on the adds if they are at the bottom of the page.
Google advert content changes based on the content on the page, people are more likely to click on an advert after they have read about something than before they have read about it, all in my opinion of course :)
Mark.
Beechwoods
12-07-2010, 11:17
Good thought Mark. And not difficult to implement either...
Let's do it then! :)
Marco.
Rare Bird
12-07-2010, 12:12
Interesting. So what would you suggest, dude? :)
Marco.
P.S What's happened to your avatar?
Sorry dude changed it forgot to save
Why do you have to have toys on the heading? Would restricting the users Avatar height gain anything?
Another thought....I would think most people have wide screen computers today. Maybe we need a poll of users to check. The current image could be almost double the existing width and then half the height.
Also, there should be some way to prevent avatars being loaded when access is via a mobile/smart phone. For those that travel this would be useful as 3G isn't as fast as home broadband.
Beechwoods
12-07-2010, 12:54
Clive - good suggestion. You know that can set your Control Panel to suppress Avatars, Signatures, and even (all) Images via the Edit Options control... in terms of page width I'm going to stick with a general standard of ensuring things 'work' on a 1024 x 768 display, which is the standard for most laptop displays these days, while still big enough to have a reasonable impact...
Clive - good suggestion. You know that can set your Control Panel to suppress Avatars, Signatures, and even (all) Images via the Edit Options control... in terms of page width I'm going to stick with a general standard of ensuring things 'work' on a 1024 x 768 display, which is the standard for most laptop displays these days, while still big enough to have a reasonable impact...
I could turn off avatars etc but they are interesting when on broadband but time consuming on my phone. Some sites have the ability to switch to a /mobile version. Not a big deal anyway.
I see the banner is 870 x 311. When I said that many people have widescreen today I meant w-i-d-e not svga or whatever 1024 x 768 is. My laptop is nothing special but is 1440 x 900. I don't think it's that unusual.
Hi Nick,
Agreed. We should look into this at some point soon then, as I'm all for giving people what people want, *providing* I think it fits with the existing ethos and 'feel' of the site :)
Marco.
It's now your site Marco, so in principle you can do what you like with it. However, I remember the distress caused to some founder members when a redesign was suggested some time ago
Maybe a new banner design ought to be (carefully) considered, but please bear in mind that the banner defines the look and style of the forum. It's the first thing visitors see and it needs to be welcoming and look interesting, which it does. Personally, seeing Nick's Nagra tape machine did it for me.
The border of the banner also nicely represents the varied topics we discuss here: computer audio; analogue vinyl and tape; digital; solid state and valve. In other words, no agenda, no partisanship - we're a broad church.
These are just my thoughts. Perhaps after some suggested designs have been shortlisted, members could vote on which they like best?
Regards
Beechwoods
12-07-2010, 14:17
Barry - you make some good points, and your concern is appreciated. There are a lot of people who put a lot of effort into making the forum work, and obviously people want to feel that people like what they've done.
Any redesign will not be a major departure from what we've had. I like the current banner a lot, and to be honest, the best design for me would be one that looks like the current banner, but with one panel of pictures, each representing the diversity of sources and interests on AOS.
There'll be no throwing the baby out with the bathwater as it were!
I like the idea of a vote, but bear in mind that working up a lot of different designs is a lot of work. I'd like to focus on working with the 'design template' we already have, subject to the improvements I've mentioned. It would be good to get Member input in the form of the specific images though. Unfortunately I don't have hi-res copies of all the original images incorporated into the current banner. It would be a good opportunity to refresh the pictures used. I hope that the Nagra will still make an appearance!
Hi Barry,
Good points. Rest assured that I wouldn't implement any change which was considered as grossly unsatisfactory in some way by the majority of the membership. It's about retaining the core of the design we already have, but streamlining it and/or improving it where necessary :)
I like the idea of a vote, but bear in mind that working up a lot of different designs is a lot of work. I'd like to focus on working with the 'design template' we already have, subject to the improvements I've mentioned. It would be good to get Member input in the form of the specific images though.
I think that is essentially what we need to do. Therefore if anyone's got some high-quality images of equipment they use, which they feel would grace the banner and fit in with the ethos of AOS, then please PM them either to Nick or myself for consideration :cool:
Marco.
Techno Commander
12-07-2010, 14:58
Another forum I mod on has a "skin option" for mobile access.
I am sure it is a simple bit of code that could be easily implemented, I can sak if you want.
When implemented, there is a drop box at the bottom of the page giving options for default or mobile skin.
.......that we've reduced the size of the banner by 15%?
And be honest! ;)
Was this a good idea or not? We invite your comments, dear members :)
Marco.
I hadn't noticed. To be honest, since you asked, I'd prefer the banner by itself without the equipment pictures, which always looks to me like a jumble/car boot sale. But that's just me.
Lol - what are you like! :doh:
:eyebrows:
Marco.
Rare Bird
12-07-2010, 18:39
I hadn't noticed. To be honest, since you asked, I'd prefer the banner by itself without the equipment pictures, which always looks to me like a jumble/car boot sale. But that's just me.
:lol:
Techno Commander
12-07-2010, 19:32
Looking at the banner (at home) on my wide screen monitor, it doesnt look right. Needs to be made wider to fill in some of the page width.
Beechwoods
12-07-2010, 19:49
:D You can't please all of the people... ;)
:D You can't please all of the people... ;)
But....I think if it did fill 1024 wide screens totally, allowing for the scroll bar, it would then look much better on the newer widescreens. Most people who've bought a new laptop in the last 3 years will likely have a widescreen. They may chose to use it at 1024 but I don't understand why they would...
Beechwoods
12-07-2010, 19:59
That would be the plan; optimal usage of page width, while only using around half the current page height... I'm sorry if I might sound like I'm compromising to a historical standard, but we've had a lot of feedback over the years and it pays not to be too demanding of member's hardware.
I'm with Chris.
Still afar too big, but I hate anything that steals my screen without good reason.
"The Art of Sound" in that nice font would be enough.
YMMV
You're missing the whole point of having the banner, Brian. We want to showcase selected equipment our members use. It's a key part of the identity of AOS and helps make us unique.
Anyway, I'm confident that whatever new banner design Nick comes up with will be innovative, use up less vertical screen space, speeding things up in the process, and be more than acceptable for the vast majority :)
Marco.
You're missing the whole point of having the banner, Brian. We want to showcase selected equipment our members use. It's a key part of the identity of AOS.
OK. I'm a minimalist. I sent plain text emails and my email reader, by default shows me only the text.
But I don't mind either way!
Honestly.
No problem - you could say we're anti-minimalist, or rather we have a penchant for the 'creative and artistic' :eyebrows:
Basically, anything which avoids the (for us) bland and rather 'soulless' look of some other Internet sites. AOS will always be a colourful site full of equally colourful characters! ;)
Marco.
O, this is almost Bauhaus - no, it's Hufhaus
http://www3.huf-haus.com/gb/intro.html
Certainly has style, but you would want to put B & O in there, not Tannoy Westminsters!
I could live in one of those, but I would also enjoy a Cotswold Cottage style or a Georgian Town House.
Couldn't live with 1960s brutalism.
:)
Unfortunately, Brian, I'm not getting that image - just a little white box with a red cross inside....
Marco.
Unfortunately, Brian, I'm not getting that image - just a little white box with a red cross inside....
Marco.
I don't even see that in Firefox. I presumed vBulletin had detected it could not display a Flash (?) image and had refused the link. I have deleted that URL from my post.
The URL to the main Hufhaus site should be OK - let the opening page alone for a bit and watch the slide show!
See what happens when you depart from simplicity!!
I noticed although I have no idea about those equipments :lol:
To be honest, most of time I only see "The Art of Sound" as the banner.
Nick, Marco I like the redesign. Here's my suggestion for a future banner.
How about making the AOS text go all the way across the top half of the banner, leaving just the bottom part for the thumbnails? Then you could maybe put each thumbnail in it's own cell or something and have it randomly load different ones on each page refresh. You would have the ability to showcase more equipment and it would be unique from the other forums.
Do I get the prize for noticing the latest change - and when did it happen - don't tell me - days ago!
Several days ago at least
Do you like it? :)
Marco.
Not sure I have strong feelings either way! I don't think the name stands out as much as it did with a plain background?
I'm with Alex on this. And the 'new' images are just a duplication of some of those in the footer. Maybe it'll grow on me :)
Do I get the prize for noticing the latest change - and when did it happen - don't tell me - days ago!
Sorry Alex, no cigar. I noticed the banner change several days ago!
Not sure if I like it, but I'll get used to it.
Regards
Techno Commander
18-01-2011, 23:48
I noticed the banner change several days ago!
Yep.:)
Some folk have no sense of finesse! :eyebrows:
;)
Marco.
electric beach
19-01-2011, 10:05
Personally I love the latest tweek to The Art of Sound panel.
Not to take anything away from all the considerations and thoughts being expressed regarding improvements, the appearance of this site is way ahead of the pack.
Techno Commander
19-01-2011, 15:14
I noticed it a few days back, although it took another day or so to actually register it had changed as opposed to wondering if I had brain fade. :)
Filterlab
24-02-2011, 15:49
Uh-uhh, I'm saying nuffink
.............but it's still too big!
:lol:
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