New VB-World Design

[James]

Hello,

You may have noticed that we have just released a new VB-World.net design, and I'm eager to hear all feedback and criticism. Please use this thread to aim your views. The design isn't 100% finished - we will be making many improvements over the next few days based on your feedback.

For those that are wondering, we have altered the design in order to extend our partnership with About.com (our advertising partner). They have agreed to help us sell more advertising spaces on VB-World, in order for us to generate revenue which will be used to pay for the dedicated servers that power VB-World and these forums.

All the best,

James

[dimava]

good job, I like it, its more organized, keep up the good work

[chrisjk]

I was actually going to mention it when I first saw it a couple of days ago after searching for something. I'm not too fond of it though. I liked the links down the side, but now they have moved to the bottom (and the disscusion link is in the middle of the pack!!) which means I have to scroll down to the bottom of the page.

[chrisjk]

I've just noticed the links at the top!! D'oh! I still preferred the old one though, sorry! That "About" red line at the top really doesn't sit well with the rest of the colour scheme. It looks a bit bare as well, like it's missing a background picture or something.

[Active]

Very Nice..The tabbed style is better than the old style.

[honeybee]

I didn't find any obvious flaws in the new design, but the old 'unique' feeling is gone, now. The site looks like just another site, except of course, for the contents!

.

[PJB]

I like the new design, but isn't there anything you could possibly do about that nasty looking globe in the Vb-World logo?

I've actually ordered 2 books and a resize control after reading articles at VB-World about them, so the advertising may be working

Keep up the good work!
not that it matters but the books were:
Beginning VB6 Database - by John Connell - Wrox Press
Professional VB6 Database - Charles Williams-Wrox Press

and the control was Larcom & Youngs Resize OCX

[denniswrenn]

what does the resize OCX resize?

[PJB]

Here's the article on it Dennis
http://209.207.250.138/articles/resizeocx/

[sail3005]

The new layout is very nice especially with the tab bar at the top. The only thing that i can think of that could be a little better is maybe the logo in the corner. It looks a likkle pixely.

But, that is really no big deal, just a suggestion.

[Xenonic_Rob]

Mmm... I agree. The design is great, but the logo looks rubbish ;-) Especially since it's been resized and the JPG quality set to something low... I think it's time for a change... how about something like... this?

[Xenonic_Rob]

[chenko]

Nice logo

[Jethro]

Good work James, considering you had to do most of it due to the fact that John was down the pub

Could you change the buttons to reflect favourite body parts of super models? Just a suggestion.

[onerrorgoto]

Hmmmmm
I just cant decide if I like it or not

So I guess it's ok. I think I like it as long as it keeps this site maintaining its high standards

I mostly use the forum and that has not changed so

I LIKE IT

[Stevie]

I was wondering what new style was being talked about, as it looks exactly the same to me - that was until I came out of the forums (99% of my usage) and headed for the main page.

Looks good to me, a change is always nice to freshen things up, and it's not too different.

[PsychoMark]

Well, I love the fact that I don't have to scroll anymore to the right on the Forums (yeah, I know, 800x600). And the tabs are great.

But I don't like the red About.com bar at the top at all, and the background color of the text area in which I'm typing right now should be changed back to grey too.

Well, that's about my opinion for the moment...

[amitabh]

Might be unrelated with the topic, but i seem to get too much server busy messages in the forums.

[ChimpFace9000]

I dont like the new look at all. The old one was perfect.

[zmerlinz]

if you don't like it goto the vbsqure skin, it looks nicer, BTW john/James why all of the changes ??

[Static]

Most of the New Design is nice..I like the tabs at the top.

But I agree about the ABout bar.. If there was a way they would allow you to incorporate the bar and logo more it would look nicer. Something like thisSee image)

And I also Agree...the logo has got to go..(I used the new logo supplied...Nice work)

Also: John/James: Can you put the Members List back up top? I like to see it w/o having to scroll to the bottom. Please

[SurfDemon]

I really like this.

As I mentioned in post race, I really like the fact that the entry is now in courier. It makes fiddly things like

... "'" & strUsername & "'"

much easier to see.

Nice work,

SD

[Bloodeye]

I like the new design, but believe you should play around with the layout at the top some more. Of course you could just leave it how it is and let our eyes get used to it.

Suggestion: Hard code the bgcolor of each page instead of leaving it to default. I personally change the default background for windows(I don't care for pure white and change it to light blue....If I leave it white I feel like I'm sitting in front of a light bulb.) In other words, the bgcolor of your web-page is light blue for me...which doesn't exactly go with the color of your layout.

[KBER0139]

I just noticed that you VB World homepage had changed. Looks pretty good for the most part. Though, I did find a few glitches. When I tried to subscribe to the newsletter the page went to the search results page. I have sent an e-mail letting your developers know where I was dropped off at. And I was trying to find the place where I could update my profile. Still haven't, but I keep checking.

The upside to the new page is the new index you have for searching other users. I really like the advance search. Thanks for adding this feature. The old way was booooring! The rest I haven't had a chance to test drive yet, but keep up the good work! :-)

[Xenonic_Rob]

So... what does all ye think about the logo I made?

[Bloodeye]

One last suggestion:

Have a logo creation contest -
-members submit logos (maybe even a small animated logo?)
-a time period to submit the logo (a week?)
-judgement period where anyone can vote (a day or two?)
-a big party afterwords (bring your own donuts and milk?)

[wossname]

Urgh!

I don't like it! One glaringly obvious flaw, is that (and I think this has already been mentioned) you have to scroll down the reply page just to find the textbox that you type your reply into (even though my screen resolution is 1280x1024 !). Couldn't you find a way to rearrange the page so it's in the middle of the screen the instant it loads up, and if you could make the textbox have focus too, than that would be horny!

Yes, I admit I am incredibly lazy!

Oh, and another thing, get a new server (or 2) because half the time I come in here, it says "Sorry, the server is too busy at the moment...", bummer!

[amitabh]

Nice one

[SurfDemon]

Originally posted by Xenonic_Rob
So... what does all ye think about the logo I made?

I like the logo. Cool.

As for the site, another good thing I really like the fact that it now discolours the links I've already visited (it didn't used to). This makes it so much easier to see which threads I've already looked at etc.

Cheers,

SD

[rockies1]

It's too bad that About has to take over the top of the site...I know they provide revenue, but it's ugly, it's distracting, and it's a waste of screen real estate.

Were it not for the About garbage, all of the other changes look good.

[Edwin_Drood_1870]

I liked the "currently active" user list at the top of the page too.

Something really has to be done about the about.com banner. The red banner and ads at the top of the page combined with the blue are really ugly. Something needs to be done to set them apart from the rest of the page. Some type of border or something.

Besides the list and color, It's really cool!

[Fox]

I liked the old desing better, especially I'm missing the left frame

[Static]

I like the Idea of a Logo Contest. That would be alot of fun. and you could create a POLL to determine the winner.

(as long as John doesn't spike the results! )

[Xenonic_Rob]

I think it's a great idea, the logo contest I mean... but please allow a week for them to be submitted, 'cuz some of us have school work to worry about :-(!!

Also, would we be able to submit more than one logo? 'Cuz I could come up with some more decent ones...

[techman2553]

The layout isn't bad, but I have been getting the "Sorry Server is too busy" prompts more and more lately. Are there any plans to upgrade the server ????

Thanks !!!

[chrisjk]

Small design issue: My reso is 1280x1024 and all the forums appear lopsided, i.e to the left of the screen (see attachment) but I tried with lower resos and it is centered. Why is this? Looks lopsided and not

[ricmitch_uk]

I prefer the old version with the menu bar down the side but I suppose you guys have to conform with About.com's style. A reply button on the PM section would be nice.

[chrisjk]

Originally posted by ricmitch_uk
I suppose you guys have to conform with About.com's style

Why? What have About.com got to do with it? It says they just recommened this site at the top, not own it!
I also miss the links down the side

[SurfDemon]

Mmmm, I hadn't noticed the About bar. Is that new.

Mind you I'm running in 1600x1200 and it looks pretty small

SD

[ricmitch_uk]

I just read about the logo contest. I'll post my logo as soon as it is finished.