Building a Better NikeTalk: What are your favorite website designs/layouts?

[thunderchunk69]

Originally Posted by socluis90

only ghetto forums have avys that size. what is important is the content of the conversation, not the picture under the username.

YUP!
I remember visiting a forum with images in their signatures 

dudes had their whole mixtape discographys in there

page with 5 posts took 3 minutes to scroll down

 

[Fresh Like Will]

Originally Posted by whywesteppin

Is there a way to limit the width of the posts?

I don't know of any modern sites that use the full width of the window like NT does (well, minus the 150 pixels devoted to avatars/usernames on the side). What's worse is that the user post area gets even wider when someone posts an oversized picture. And it's even worse these days because every monitor is a widescreen.

How about putting more content on the side and reducing the width of the posts. Maybe put signatures, ads, etc. on the side. Also, a static menubar or something on the side would be nice too. Kind of like in google news, google reader, and gmail.

I don't know if we could or would want to do this, but another idea is to have a list of favorite posters, and you could show them on a sidebar, kind of like how gchat is in gmail. It would show if they're online and maybe their last post or something. It would be nice too to chat instantly and/or have a group chat function where you could invite people.

Of course, we would need a mobile version of NT too to go along with any of these changes.
In short, we should take hints from facebook and google.

This.

Sometimes people post behemoth sized pictures making every post on the page stretched horizontally. Each post has to be read by scrolling horizontally back and forth because of it.

Is there a way to have large images automatically shrink to fit within the confines of the page without stretching everything horizontally? Sometimes when I see the horizontal scrollbar after loading a page I just close the tab.

 

[whywesteppin]

One more suggestion -- as part of the static sidebar/menubar, we could have a list of the most recently updated threads that YOU are interested in. Interest would be based either on a) which threads you've posted in, b) which threads you marked as "interesting," c) which threads you visit often, or d) threads that NT thinks you'd be interested in based on your previous posts and which threads you tend to visit (kind of like pagerank).

This would be a live feed. And since it only requires text, it shouldn't slow things down much.

 

[marvin hagler]

I think having something like rep points would be cool.

 

[Methodical Management]

Let me give you a concrete example of a problem with the current layout:
Try loading NikeTalk on an iPad or similar tablet in landscape view.  You don't see ANY content until you scroll down.  None.  

You can see the banner, the top bar, the ad unit, the forum name, the search box, and the header message.  At the absolute bottom of the screen, you see "Featured Topics."  That's it.  

You basically have to scroll down one ENTIRE screen to see the actual topic list.  

Obviously we need ad units to keep the lights on around here, so taking that out isn't an option.  

Would you be open to moving the primary ad units to the side of the screen instead of the top, and using that side margin to include supplementary information like "related posts," etc.?

Someone mentioned http://www.overclock.net/ as an example.  What do you think of that layout?  (Both within threads as well as the front page.) 

i think theres too many jerks on NT for a rep system, feed back for Buy/Sell doesn't sound bad tho

If it's a free for all, yes, a rep system is problematic in that you don't want users to REWARD bad behavior.  We have trouble enough with people swinging for the fences on every post trying to get a cheap laugh.  However, if the ability to rate is, itself, something that you have to earn by posting quality content, then the system can be more representative of NikeTalk's standards rather than the lowest common denominator.

All of this, however, is discussion for another day as we're currently focused on layout.  

I know you will shoot me down, but gives us options on our avatar dimensions. For the love of all that's good, raise the dimension size. Before The Yuku conversion we were at 60x60, you then gave us a much needed increase to 100x100. All I'm asking is for an option for either 200x200 or 150x275.

Nobody loads a post to look at avatars.  They serve a functional purpose, but that function is to COMPLEMENT posts, not dominate them.  When you have HUGE avatars, that means you have a ton of wasted space.

The average user's post is maybe 2-3 lines long, tops.  If the vertical dimension of your avatar exceeds the number of pixels required for the post itself, then you just have a ton of dead space below a user's post, because the cell containing the post has to be the same height as the adjacent cell containing your avatar, join date, etc.  If you want to put a six foot tall picture on your profile page, fine, but nobody wants to see a bunch of blank space on every page just so we can get a better look at everyone's avatars.  It's a thumbnail image used for identification purposes.  Until pixel density improves even further, I have no interest in expanding the default size of avatars.  The site's scroll-intensive enough as it is.

The same is true for signatures.  One of the best decisions we ever made was to limit the height of signatures and prohibit images and annoying text effects.  

And just so we stop getting people posting about the same thing:

1. We're not changing the color scheme.  




2. We ARE going to address the Yuku problems.

 

[whywesteppin]

Originally Posted by Method Man

Let me give you a concrete example of a problem with the current layout:
Try loading NikeTalk on an iPad or similar tablet in landscape view.  You don't see ANY content until you scroll down.  None.  

You can see the banner, the top bar, the ad unit, the forum name, the search box, and the header message.  At the absolute bottom of the screen, you see "Featured Topics."  That's it.  

You basically have to scroll down one ENTIRE screen to see the actual topic list.  

Obviously we need ad units to keep the lights on around here, so taking that out isn't an option.  

Would you be open to moving the primary ad units to the side of the screen instead of the top, and using that side margin to include supplementary information like "related posts," etc.?

Someone mentioned http://www.overclock.net/ as an example.  What do you think of that layout?  (Both within threads as well as the front page.) 

Meth, here is what I would propose:


I took some of the ideas from facebook but we could play around with the exact placement of things.

 

[servechilled81]

^i like that

 

[noskey]

I like that too

; only suggestion would be to halve the ad space and 'recent posts' area to fit in one bar, and take out the 'who's online' section (there's hundreds of people on at a time, at least. It'd be kind of overwhelming to have so many names listed in such a small space). With the ad space/recent posts part condensed the thread itself could be spread out more so it's not stuck in a space that's only half the width of the whole page.

 

[whywesteppin]

One last suggestion... for tonight...

How about a "save draft of reply" option?

What I'm envisioning is an NT of the future where everything is fast and streamlined. You won't need to open a new tab for each thread. Instead, you will have just one tab open and you can quickly jump in and out of topics. The sidebars/navigation will be static and remember where you've been or suggest where you'd want to go, so you can quickly jump from one thread to another or one page to another. It won't need to load much data so each jump will be nearly instantaneous. You can start typing a reply, hit "save draft", then jump around the thread, reopen your saved reply, add a quote, and resave.


Granted, I'm asking for an overhaul that will, in comparison, make facebook look like a website some lady made to sell hats for cats in the 90s, and we don't have money to hire facebook-level programmers, but I gotta dream.

Originally Posted by Noskey

I like that too 

; only suggestion would be to halve the ad space and 'recent posts' area to fit in one bar, and take out the 'who's online' section (there's hundreds of people on at a time, at least. It'd be kind of overwhelming to have so many names listed in such a small space). With the ad space/recent posts part condensed the thread itself could be spread out more so it's not stuck in a space that's only half the width of the whole page.

Good suggestion, Noskey. Yeah, I added the ad space a bit haphazardly. Your suggestion is good -- having just one sidebar on each side of the post content would look best and leave the right amount of room for the actual posts.

I was thinking the "who's online" section would only show your favorite posters (you could choose who to show/hide, and it would show your favorite 10 or 20 based on who you interact with the most), kind of like how gmail and facebook do it. Of course, having this section at all would depend on whether we want to have a live chat option.

edit: PRIME, I really like some of the elements in that website you posted, especially the way they do the threads (navigation/sidebars could be better though). The usernames/avatars are very non-obtrusive and the post content area is incredibly clean.

If we could incorporate that, we would get rid of the whole username/avatar column that is taking up space. It would fix a problem I have when browsing on my phone, too -- in order to fit posts in my small screen, I scroll to the right, thus cutting out the usernames. But having the usernames at the top row of each post (like in macristocracy) would let me see both the posts and the usernames as I scroll down a thread.

 

[PRIME]

Originally Posted by ServeChilled81

I like the look of the hypebeast.com front page and forums

Meth will there ever be something like NT related features/spotlights of or created by members
on the front page?

No. Please no. NT will turn into BX.. Dudes making stupid topics for the sole purpose to get on the front page. 
And Meth Macristocracy has a dope setup. Overall placement and flow of the design is organized and simple. I think we can learn a few things from their setup and build upon it to help NT flow better. 

NT really just needs to jump from 2002 to 2012. Simple doesn't always mean plain and boring and outdated. 

All NT needs is some cleaning up. A modern update. 

I can make a mock up tomorrow while I'm working on some class projects...

I major in Web Design/Development btw. 

 

[troymcclure]

But for real...
let's worry less about mimicking other boards...

and create our own unique style.

If we are barely going to switch crap, why do it at all? It's fine how it is now, minor changes won't do much for the appeal.

Let's play hard or not at all.

 

[rawsheed]

I'm all for anything widget based and more minimalistic

 

[servechilled81]

Originally Posted by PRIME

Originally Posted by ServeChilled81

I like the look of the hypebeast.com front page and forums

Meth will there ever be something like NT related features/spotlights of or created by members
on the front page?

No. Please no. NT will turn into BX.. Dudes making stupid topics for the sole purpose to get on the front page. 
And Meth Macristocracy has a dope setup. Overall placement and flow of the design is organized and simple. I think we can learn a few things from their setup and build upon it to help NT flow better. 

NT really just needs to jump from 2002 to 2012. Simple doesn't always mean plain and boring and outdated. 

All NT needs is some cleaning up. A modern update. 

I can make a mock up tomorrow while I'm working on some class projects...

I major in Web Design/Development btw. 

nah, I don't mean like that.  I mean like some NT sanctioned features.  Like Q&A's or spotlights on members and collections and whatnot

 

[teamjordan79]

i like the rep points idea

 

[noskey]

Originally Posted by whywesteppin

Originally Posted by Noskey

I like that too 

; only suggestion would be to halve the ad space and 'recent posts' area to fit in one bar, and take out the 'who's online' section (there's hundreds of people on at a time, at least. It'd be kind of overwhelming to have so many names listed in such a small space). With the ad space/recent posts part condensed the thread itself could be spread out more so it's not stuck in a space that's only half the width of the whole page.

Good suggestion, Noskey. Yeah, I added the ad space a bit haphazardly. Your suggestion is good -- having just one sidebar on each side of the post content would look best and leave the right amount of room for the actual posts.

I was thinking the "who's online" section would only show your favorite posters (you could choose who to show/hide, and it would show your favorite 10 or 20 based on who you interact with the most), kind of like how gmail and facebook do it. Of course, having this section at all would depend on whether we want to have a live chat option.

Ah I see what you mean. That'd be cool if we could limit it to who's on our friends list, or your suggestion, or something like that. As long as we have the option to block someone, I'd be all for that. Cant imagine the amount of trollolol messages Meth or Dirty would get though

 

[PRIME]

Originally Posted by ServeChilled81

Originally Posted by PRIME

Originally Posted by ServeChilled81

I like the look of the hypebeast.com front page and forums

Meth will there ever be something like NT related features/spotlights of or created by members
on the front page?

No. Please no. NT will turn into BX.. Dudes making stupid topics for the sole purpose to get on the front page. 
And Meth Macristocracy has a dope setup. Overall placement and flow of the design is organized and simple. I think we can learn a few things from their setup and build upon it to help NT flow better. 

NT really just needs to jump from 2002 to 2012. Simple doesn't always mean plain and boring and outdated. 

All NT needs is some cleaning up. A modern update. 

I can make a mock up tomorrow while I'm working on some class projects...

I major in Web Design/Development btw. 

nah, I don't mean like that.  I mean like some NT sanctioned features.  Like Q&A's or spotlights on members and collections and whatnot

That would be pretty cool... 

 

[slab_diaz]

this is a site i frequent to, http://www.tipidpc.com/viewtopic.php?tid=246315

just change the colorscheme, add the current user info box we have next to ever post, and it'll be nice.

its similar to whywesteppin's proposal really.

 

[quik1987]

1. IDGAF about "who's online"

2. whyweststeppin if you made each section in the sidebar more spaced out in it's own tile it would be nicer

 

[quik1987]

More inspiration

 

[odog24]

keep the ads at the top.

i hate ads and by them being at the top i can easily avoid them

 

[air justinxi]

Im a up for a layout change as long as its only for mainstream daily functions and features the forum already provides. I am not down for a major overhaul that will compromise what long time users have been comfortable with for so long. Just keep it simple and mainstream without gutting what we already know.

I would love to a quick view of my favorite threads that i follow without having to search or go to my recent post page. Also the user profile needs some help - as a community our profile should reflect more of who we are as users and as a community.

 

[jordan novice]

Originally Posted by Method Man


To say that NikeTalk is overdue for a redesign is like saying the Sacremento Kings are due for a championship. 

I don't think I've ever seen this. Meth made a typo

He/She is human

 

[cap1229]

Originally Posted by whywesteppin

Originally Posted by Method Man

Let me give you a concrete example of a problem with the current layout:
Try loading NikeTalk on an iPad or similar tablet in landscape view.  You don't see ANY content until you scroll down.  None.  

You can see the banner, the top bar, the ad unit, the forum name, the search box, and the header message.  At the absolute bottom of the screen, you see "Featured Topics."  That's it.  

You basically have to scroll down one ENTIRE screen to see the actual topic list.  

Obviously we need ad units to keep the lights on around here, so taking that out isn't an option.  

Would you be open to moving the primary ad units to the side of the screen instead of the top, and using that side margin to include supplementary information like "related posts," etc.?

Someone mentioned http://www.overclock.net/ as an example.  What do you think of that layout?  (Both within threads as well as the front page.) 

Meth, here is what I would propose:


I took some of the ideas from facebook but we could play around with the exact placement of things.

I like layout for ease of use but the left sidebar could be something that had a show/hide. Also the quick reply box could be in th show/hide user menu instead of at the bottom of posts. Before we get into layouts it's important to know the platform.

 

[Dragonflijones]

vBulletin please.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/

I would like to see NT modeled after something like the Straight Dope MB, minus all the so called subject matter experts and amateurs intellectuals.

I know something like this isn't exactly cheap, but I'd gladly throw some bones your way if we could get something decent.

 

[AEA18]

Originally Posted by ThunderChunk69

Originally Posted by imvictor

Originally Posted by redsfan3

I like it the way it is... simple

just need a feedback system for the buy/sell