[WEBSITE v2] MusicBee website and forum redesign

[hiccup]

how about "Read this or die"

What, you will promise them everlasting life if they do read it?

[AvikB]

What, you will promise them everlasting life if they do read it?

yup.*

*terms and conditions apply

[AvikB]

New update with some bug fixes for the forum.

WYSIWYG editor bug fixes where inserting image button won't work in wysiwyg view(but works in source view) and
Youtube, link button not working.

Some minor bug fixes.

Dashboard improvemnt.

[redwing]

@Steven;

Let me know what you think of my suggestions regarding questions board and discussion board.

And there are topics that deserve such a separate board such as 'General Discussion', and preferably shouldn't be mixed with 'Questions'.

To name a few examples:

- [NEW UPDATE] MusicBee website and forum redesign!!
- GUI changes for v3.0
- Official MB appreciation thread
- Wiki pages
- Any polls could go there
- other matters which are not a specific request for help or assistance.

That makes sense.
Then I'd suggest (1) move Questions board to General section (2) make the General Discussion board a child board under Questions board.
That way it would be much easier to maintain because mods can move only a few "real" discussion threads to the child board and it won't disrupt existing members' posting habit nor cause any confusions by separating boards. Also it won't suppress any spontaneous development of discussion out of a plain question, and there would be no need to create a new thread from ongoing discussion.

[Steven]

@redwing, i quite like how its been done now - especially having Questions under support. Of course some people will put stuff in places not intended no matter how clear things are made.
For now I not sure how well "General Discussions" as its own topic will work but i can see the need for it. This sort of thing is easily changed if it doesnt work out

[redwing]

@redwing, i quite like how its been done now - especially having Questions under support. Of course some people will put stuff in places not intended no matter how clear things are made.
For now I not sure how well "General Discussions" as its own topic will work but i can see the need for it. This sort of thing is easily changed if it doesnt work out

OK, then I won't raise this issue any more until the community starts re-discussing it when things don't go well as planned. Thanks for replying!

[phred]

just regarding the new forum, i really like how its been done but i have one thing i dont really like and thats the orange bar in the left of each section header - I find the orange bars quite distracting and to me makes it feel messy.
If i'm the only one that feels that way then please leave it as-is

You're not the only one who feels that way about the orange.  It's distracting and seems to interrupt an otherwise clean look.  Especially since the various groups are already nicely defined by the horizontal gray bar.  I think the orange vertical bars should disappear and extend the gray all the way across.

[AvikB]

New update.

With this update the new addon submit form has a much more cleaner look.
Language file is improved for dashboard.
Notification popup is now much more robust. and validates json object.
For worst case scenario, you will get notification popup with "copy error" button and instruction for posting on forum.
Mediafire upload is removed.
added security for preventing directory listing.

Removed orange bar from forum.

Some styling are still broken for dashboard. i am working on them. but overall it is nearly complete.

[AvikB]

just regarding the new forum, i really like how its been done but i have one thing i dont really like and thats the orange bar in the left of each section header - I find the orange bars quite distracting and to me makes it feel messy.
If i'm the only one that feels that way then please leave it as-is

You're not the only one who feels that way about the orange.  It's distracting and seems to interrupt an otherwise clean look.  Especially since the various groups are already nicely defined by the horizontal gray bar.  I think the orange vertical bars should disappear and extend the gray all the way across.

Orange bar Removed, you will need to refresh the page to clear the cache.

[phred]

Orange bar Removed, you will need to refresh the page to clear the cache.

Much better!!  Thanks.
I feel the top level categories (General, MusicBee Add-ons, Support, etc) are difficult to read when hovered over.  If the color is red (and I'm not sure what it is) perhaps changing it to the same orangey color as the sub-categories.

[AvikB]

Much better!!  Thanks.
I feel the top level categories (General, MusicBee Add-ons, Support, etc) are difficult to read when hovered over.  If the color is red (and I'm not sure what it is) perhaps changing it to the same orangey color as the sub-categories.

Fixed.

This is unimportant, but I thought to mention it anyway. Light theme has a mouse over color for these chilboard buttons, dark theme hasn't.

fixed.

new updates are pushed. refresh the page to see the changes.

[hiccup]

I have some new observations.
(and perhaps one or two I mentioned before, so then forgive me please)

This could be a personal preference, but I would like it if it would be possible to have some more relevant information on the screen at the same time, without the need for much scrolling.
We can't expect the massive amount of context MusicBee itself is able to show on one screen at once, but we might try to go a little bit in that direction?

Some possible items that might help to accomplish that (if you agree with the basic idea of course)

From the first screenshot,
- perhaps 1, 2 and 3 could be made thinner?
- if icon 4 would be a little bit smaller, perhaps that could effect the hight too?

From the same screenshot,
- at 4 it now only shows post counts, on the current forum it also shows topic counts.
- 5, and a few others are misaligned, but that's probably because you were working on that and had some issues


From the second screenshot:
- 6 is very high and massive, could also have to do with the extremely large font for 11

Then about the order of the number items.
This will also be personal, but I would like the most interesting/most viewed items on top.
My preferred order here would then be:
8
9
6
10
7

[hiccup]

This is unimportant, but I thought to mention it anyway. Light theme has a mouse over color for these chilboard buttons, dark theme hasn't.

fixed.

Very nice!

[AvikB]

We can't expect the massive amount of context MusicBee itself is able to show on one screen at once, but we might try to go a little bit in that direction?

Some possible items that might help to accomplish that (if you agree with the basic idea of course)

From the first screenshot,
- perhaps 1, 2 and 3 could be made thinner?

1 and 2 are thin enough already. I have no plans for making them thinner.

yes 3 could be a little bit thinner. maybe 4px less. it won't make any huge difference though.

- if icon 4 would be a little bit smaller, perhaps that could effect the hight too?

Yes it will effect the height. this was brought up long time ago, and i trimmed some height to make it more compact. Right now it is as good as it is.

From the same screenshot,
- at 4 it now only shows post counts, on the current forum it also shows topic counts.

Yes i removed them. is there any reasons to have them back? there is no point of having topic count?(even the post count does not makes any sense rather than showing popularity of boards)

- 5, and a few others are misaligned, but that's probably because you were working on that and had some issues
From the second screenshot:

It was fixed in the last update. refresh the page.

- 6 is very high and massive, could also have to do with the extremely large font for 11

Yes it is a general overview of the whole forum. thats why i made it larger. also it gives forum a nice look.

Then about the order of the number items.
This will also be personal, but I would like the most interesting/most viewed items on top.
My preferred order here would then be:
8
9
6
10
7

I think you missed few things.
first the black bar is the header. it can collapse everything beneath it.

so collapse it to save scrolling.
The order of 7,8,9,10 are the smf default one. no point of changing it.
i only added 6. But i have no plans to put it at the bottom.

The scrolling is probably because of the footer. but i can't do anything about it.
For a full HD display all the board should fit in display. the info on the other hand are not meant for front page presentation. Even with the current forum, with that much board you will have to scroll eventually.
It is a fine compromise i am willing to make.

[hiccup]

From the same screenshot,
- at 4 it now only shows post counts, on the current forum it also shows topic counts.

Yes i removed them. is there any reasons to have them back? there is no point of having topic count?(even the post count does not makes any sense rather than showing popularity of boards)

I agree with that. I think post count could also go. It will give a lot cleaner look, and make navigation easier and less distractful.
For those interested, it can always be found in statistics, right?