Requests / Concerns

[Dave C]

Is it possible with the current forum code to allow the user to change the colors of the forum layout/text on the fly to make it more user friendly at work (i.e.: spreadsheet colors)? I'm currently in an office but may soon have to occupy a cubicle until we transition to a new building.

 

Also, my firewall at work currently allows the site to pass through. I can not access most other gaming forums/sites. I'm not sure why it's not getting flaged by the firewall but I'm hoping that going public with the site will not change this.

[Romier S]

If you're accessing the site now Wetwork you're ok as far as the firewall is concerned. The forum is already opened up the public so hopefully you won't have any issues.

 

Different themes and colors were offered with the original software and it's something we want to offer members again. Don't be suprised to see them happen eventually. For now, our main concentration is on the main site and getting everything in order, adding content, more features etc. Once we get that in place, we'll be adding even more to the forum.

[Ryan FB]

If you're using Firefox, it's pretty easy to make changes to how a site is displayed using userContent.css. For example, you could drop the current style information in there like the following and then tweak the settings/colors to your liking:

@-moz-document domain(lcvg.com)
{
body
{
background: #2e2e2e;
color: #CCCCCC;
font: 10pt verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
margin: 15px 10px 10px 10px;
padding: 0px;
}
a:link
{
color: #CCCCCC;
}
a:visited
{
color: #CCCCCC;
}
a:hover, a:active
{
color: #CCCCCC;
}
.page
{
background: #2E2E2E;
color: #CCCCCC;
}
td, th, p, li
{
font: 10pt verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
.tborder
{
background: #525252;
color: #000000;
}
.tcat
{
background: #000000;
color: #FFFFFF;
font: bold 10pt verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
.tcat a:link
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: none;
}
.tcat a:visited
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: none;
}
.tcat a:hover, .tcat a:active
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: underline;
}
.thead
{
background: #000000;
color: #CCCCCC;
font: bold 11px tahoma, verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
.thead a:link
{
color: #CCCCCC;
}
.thead a:visited
{
color: #CCCCCC;
}
.thead a:hover, .thead a:active
{
color: #CCCCCC;
}
.tfoot
{
background: #000000;
color: #CCCCCC;
}
.tfoot a:link
{
color: #CCCCCC;
}
.tfoot a:visited
{
color: #CCCCCC;
}
.tfoot a:hover, .tfoot a:active
{
color: #CCCCCC;
}
.alt1, .alt1Active
{
background: #222222;
color: #CCCCCC;
}
.alt2, .alt2Active
{
background: #373737;
color: #CCCCCC;
}
td.inlinemod
{
background: #FFFFCC;
color: #000000;
}
.wysiwyg
{
background: #222222;
color: #CCCCCC;
font: 10pt verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
textarea, .bginput
{
font: 10pt verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
.button
{
font: 11px verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
select
{
font: 11px verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
option, optgroup
{
font-size: 11px;
font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
.smallfont
{
font: 11px verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
.time
{
color: #CCCCCC;
}
.navbar
{
font: 11px verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
.highlight
{
color: #FF0000;
font-weight: bold;
}
.fjsel
{
background: #333333;
color: #CCCCCC;
}
.panel
{
background: #373737;
color: #CCCCCC;
padding: 10px;
border: 2px outset;
}
.panelsurround
{
background: #222222;
color: #CCCCCC;
}
legend
{
color: #999999;
font: 11px tahoma, verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
}
.vbmenu_control
{
background: #000000;
color: #CCCCCC;
font: bold 11px tahoma, verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
padding: 3px 6px 3px 6px;
white-space: nowrap;
}
.vbmenu_control a:link
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: none;
}
.vbmenu_control a:visited
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: none;
}
.vbmenu_control a:hover, .vbmenu_control a:active
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: underline;
}
.vbmenu_popup
{
background: #FFFFFF;
color: #000000;
border: 1px solid #0B198C;
}
.vbmenu_option
{
background: #666666;
color: #CCCCCC;
font: 11px verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
white-space: nowrap;
cursor: pointer;
}
.vbmenu_option a:link
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: none;
}
.vbmenu_option a:visited
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: none;
}
.vbmenu_option a:hover, .vbmenu_option a:active
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: none;
}
.vbmenu_hilite
{
background: #333333;
color: #CCCCCC;
font: 11px verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif;
white-space: nowrap;
cursor: pointer;
}
.vbmenu_hilite a:link
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: none;
}
.vbmenu_hilite a:visited
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: none;
}
.vbmenu_hilite a:hover, .vbmenu_hilite a:active
{
color: #CCCCCC;
text-decoration: none;
}
/* ***** styling for 'big' usernames on postbit etc. ***** */
.bigusername { font-size: 12pt; }

/* ***** small padding on 'thead' elements ***** */
td.thead, div.thead { padding: 4px; }

/* ***** basic styles for multi-page nav elements */
.pagenav a { text-decoration: none; }
.pagenav td { padding: 2px 4px 2px 4px; }

/* ***** define margin and font-size for elements inside panels ***** */
.fieldset { margin-bottom: 6px; }
.fieldset, .fieldset td, .fieldset p, .fieldset li { font-size: 11px; }

/* ***** don't change the following ***** */
form { display: inline; }
label { cursor: default; }
.normal { font-weight: normal; }
.inlineimg { vertical-align: middle; }

.spoiler { COLOR: #000000; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #000000 }
}

Another option would be using elinks (a text-only browser), either via Cygwin or by using SSH to log in to a remote machine (which will get around your firewall as well).

[rustyjaw]

I also have a request. I really like the system that they have worked out at arstechnica.com, where any story that is posted to their site has a link at the end of it called "Discuss" that takes you to a thread in their forum where people talk about the content of that story or review (for example, a news item about HDTVs). It's very nice to read through a review and then read reactions and share your thoughts about it with others, including the author of the review who posts in the thread along with the general readership. I think this fosters community because people feel involved.

 

It's also just plain practical to provide readers an official place to respond directly to an article or review. I always look forward to reading through the discussion after I read a review at arstechnica, I think it's one of the smartest things they have there.

[Romier S]

It's very nice to read through a review and then read reactions and share your thoughts about it with others, including the author of the review who posts in the thread along with the general readership. I think this fosters community because people feel involved.

Already being discussed Ed, and it's something that I've personally wanted on our articles from the start. Tieing the main site into the forum is VERY important to us. It's probably the most important thing to me as I want the community very involved with the main site. Having a link off from each article to a specific thread is the best way to do that.

[The Daisy]

In some ways I really like the way that they run things on Evil Avatar, as far as reviews are concerned. Being able to have "fan" submitted news though, is just wrong as it leads to blatant fanboyism.

 

I'm really excited to watch the site grow, but of course I'm a former mod, and am biased as such.

 

Glen

[Romier S]

Being able to have "fan" submitted news though, is just wrong as it leads to blatant fanboyism.

Fan submitted reviews is something I want to add to the site with time. I'm a big fan of folks giving thier thoughts on both the reviews on the site, and submitting thier own thoughts to supliment that (in fact, when possible each review on the main site will have a second opinion that may strongly differ, or agree with the main reviewer to provide alternate perspectives). The difference with LCVG is that when we do fan submitted reviews, it will have to be approved by me, via the sites backend, to appear on the site.

[rustyjaw]

The difference with LCVG is that when we do fan submitted reviews, it will have to be approved by me, via the sites backend to appear on the site.

 

Very cool. This will make all the difference. If people know before-hand that what they write will be subject to approval, most won't bother to write stupid fanboy stuff. Basically, it will act as a deterrent.

[Romier S]

This will make all the difference. If people know before-hand that what they write will be subject to approval, most won't bother to write stupid fanboy stuff. Basically, it will act as a deterrent.

Exactly. Without that deterrent there you run into situations like reading user submitted reviews on Gamespot. Now, I enjoy reading Gamespot reviews in general. However, it's useless to look at reader reviews there because a majority are two sentence comments that boil down to very little in the way of anything with substance. You have to sift long and hard to find the good stuff. Reader scores are even more useless considering you have people rating some titles 1.0's just to be funny, while others rate a game a 10 after having played it for 20 minutes. It's really rather silly when you get down to it, and I don't want that for the site.

 

(in fact, when possible each review on the main site will have a second opinion that may strongly differ, or agree with the main reviewer to provide alternate perspectives)

To comment on this further, I would like to incorporate reader feedback into these second opinions. If someone writes something great on the forums that contradicts a review we write, I want that as a second opinion. I'll happily throw that into the review page. I don't just want the "official" writers making second opinion additions etc.

[The Daisy]

I think user submitted reviews are great. It's just that news can get out of hand sometimes.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Glen