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There's a new theme in town...
If you're reading this post on the forums, you've most likely noticed things look a bit ... different. After MUCH tweaking, fiddling and fixing, I'm very happy to be releasing the new forum theme! Although still purple, it's a very different look. The theme has been made the 'default', and I'm hoping via everyone's feedback, we can get it working to make the majority of you happy. Hopefully all of you, but I realise that might be asking a bit much hehe. Please note that the old themes are still available and can be selected by going to your User CP and then the Edit Options menu. At the bottom you can choose any of the other existing themes to use.
Be aware that the current layout (side menu sections, search bar at the top) won't be there. The new theme is a complete design change and works separate of the other themes. I am considering making a version of this layout to match the old colour scheme, but that will be done later. Pernicious also mentioned redoing his theme to match, and of course, I am always welcoming other members to design a theme to use on the site.
Ok, so what's new? Well, ignoring the obvious shift in colours (purple and grey), I have implemented something that was asked for by a lot of members a while ago.
All members who are logged in will have the ability to search from the bar at the top left hand corner. Once I get the front page finished (a little more work), this search bar will carry over and you will be able to use it from either the front page or the forum. Yay!
The other most noticeable difference (apart from the colours), is the menu located on the left hand side. This is a really cool feature!
Not only has the log in menu / members area been moved there, (moving the log in section there also frees up a lot more space at the top) it's going to allow for A LOT more! At the moment, you will be seeing the very basic. A link to the help center (told you there'd be one), a link to the Ulduar section, as well as the Library. At the moment the Library link takes you straight to the forum section, same as if you'd simply clicked on the forum section itself. But, once I've put the final touches on it, it's going to link to a main 'index' page. This page will provide a much easier over view of the library, the guides currently available, newly submitted and requested. That index will then take you to any guide you need. (Trust me, sounds a lot better than I can explain in text...)
Back to the menu section... as mentioned, the default view has the bare minimum links. But, if you head into your User CP and then to the Group Memberships option, you will see three new joinable groups. Affliction Warlocks, Demonology Warlocks and Destruction Warlocks. When you join one or more (you can join all three if you like) of those groups, new menu sections will appear. So lets say for example, I'm primarily a Demonology Warlock, but are also interested in Affliction. I join those two groups and my menu now looks like...
A menu section appears for both Affliction and Demonology! Now, at the moment they are extremely boring menus. But that's where YOU come in! I'm looking for Your Thread Recommendations! As mentioned in the thread linked, these links will be for what ever you guys want them to be. Links to gear guides, prominent talent build discussion threads, help with DPS or any general discussion related to any of those talent threes. The menus can be updated and changed when ever they needed to be. It is 100% up to you guys to tell me when a link should be removed or a new one added. To tell me your recommendations, you can reply to the thread linked, or make use of the Contact Us link at the bottom of the forums.
I am also open to other suggestions on what you think should be linked from this menu. There's a lot of other little changes here and there, but over all, those are the major ones.
So, what do I need from you guys? FEEDBACK!!! If you love it, hate it, etc. If there's issues such as font too small, too big, too hard to read, the wrong colour, etc. I had a few people helping me test it over the past few days, but nothing beats everyone testing it hehe. I'm still working on bits here and there, but if I waited until it was perfect it may have never seen the light of day...
Things I'm already aware of: -
The area at the bottom not lining up properly. I'm working on it.
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The current Library still uses the old theme. The hack that makes the Library work the way it does, doesn't work with the new coded theme, so I'm leaving it as the old one until I can get it working 100%.
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The new sections like the Pet Handbook and Demonology Best in Slot guide have graphical issues. The backgrounds of the images were done of the old theme. I'm working my way through them.
My Thankyou!!
I want to take a moment to say a very special THANKYOU to the members who donate to the site. Recently we've had some very generous members. While a lot of the tweaking to get the forum theme to look as good as it does (chuff), the coding was done by someone who knew what they were doing. If anyone's ever looked into purchasing a custom vBulletin theme, you will know they do not run cheap. Due to the wonderful nature of some of you though, I was able to get a theme that, I think, is perfect for our needs! So thankyou, I couldn't have done it without you. /bow.... /pounce /hug!
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