The Energon Pub

[kirbenvost]

Did the site just get redesigned? It looks weird, no background, the layout on the front page is all messed up... it looks more like some tumblr blog than an actual website.

[Sabrblade]

Did the site just get redesigned? It looks weird, no background, the layout on the front page is all messed up... it looks more like some tumblr blog than an actual website.

Yeah, I don't like it either.

[kirbenvost]

Did the site just get redesigned? It looks weird, no background, the layout on the front page is all messed up... it looks more like some tumblr blog than an actual website.

Yeah, I don't like it either.

Even the fonts are different... it's weirding me out, like I'm in some sort of terrible alternate dimension or something.

[Va'al]

I think there actually is a bug, although I'm sure it'll be fixed once the final tweaks to the new look are finalised.

In the UK sightings forum (only place I've noticed so far, but could be elsewhere) the user location kind of spills into the thread-post.

I'll try getting a screenshot.

EDIT:

[Cobalt Prime]

In regards to Gold Rabbit's complaint about getting logged out, this has been happening to me all day, and it's all happening while I'm actually in Seibertron. I'm not using any other browsers or anything like that. I'll leave a post, then go to another thread, and whoa lookie--I'm not logged in anymore. Then I gotta log in all over again despite having clicked the "keep me logged in" button. It's happened numerous times today. I just had to log in again to leave this message.

[Seibertron]

Latest changes / improvements to the site ...

• Turned off repeat of background image. It was tiling on resolutions greater than 1,980 pixels wide and looked kind of silly because Megatron and Optimus Prime are cut off.
• Changed the font from Eurostile (which CSS3 supports) back to plain old boring Arial because Chrome doesn't anti-alias site provided fonts declared in CSS. * sigh *
• Changed the background color of the hover effect for the site's primary navigation.
• Changed the font color for the text in the site's primary navigation's dropdown menus
• Fixed a few quirky padding and margin issues on the homepage
• Disabled the mobile version of the site until I have further time to work on it. Some of you want to view the full version of the site, some of you want a stripped down version of it ... I'll have to come up with a more comprehensive solution later.
• With that said, this should restore the right hand navigation for you mobile users and should get the site to work again on iPhones.
• If you've got a monitor that provides less than 1,200 pixels ... it's time to upgrade. Enough's enough of catering to people who have resolutions less than or equal to 1024. It's only about 13% of you ... please for the love of all things Transformers go buy a new computer with a resolution of at least 1300. This is no longer the norm. Over 80% of the users on this site use something wider than that.
• Here's something that hasn't changed in the 11.5 years since I started Seibertron.com ... the homepage news stories now tell you how long ago the news story was posted instead of the date. This should be most useful for time zone changes and international time differences. The time "since" a news story was posted is more important to us collectively than the local time stamp.
• On that same note, I finally got around to cleaning up the CSS for the "latest" and "hottest" news stories that appears on the dedicated pages for each individual news story. (i.e. http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/new-transformers-rescue-bots-promo-image/23334/). Hottest news stories show the number of views, latest news stories shows how long its been since the story was posted.
• Cleaned up some more of the CSS on the individual news story pages, added a border and padding around the "thumbnail" news image.

I know this change seemed sudden. It's something that had to happen. I am also aware that some of the changes implemented will make the experience for some less than desirable. Efforts will continue at improving the experience for the largest group of people. Some will be permanently turned off by these changes, some will get used to it, some will deal with it, and others will continue to provide me with suggestions, advice, and compliments as I continue to move forward with this redesign.

I have 12 years of websites under my belt. Websites are ALWAYS a work in progress, at least to programmers they are. It isn't like a piece of artwork where you add the final touches. There's always something to change, improve, etc. With that said, please know that I am dedicated to working through most of these issues.

To those of you complaining about the site feeling "cramped", the content area is only 66 pixels less wide than it was previously. That's not a big difference. The "ad" column is only 46 pixels wider than it used to be, 30 of those pixels are because of the extra padding increases from 10 pixels to 20 pixels, which gives the site a more open feel. If you guys really think 50 pixels will make a difference in the big scheme of things (I don't), I might be able to be persuaded to reducing the width of the padding back to 10 pixels from 20 and getting rid of the padding altogether on the right hand side of the ad column. But I really like the look of the site, the open feel of it ... and the whole point of this redesign was to finally accomplish that goal after having wanted to do something like this for the past 3 years or so since this style started becoming popular on the 'web.

Well, those are my thoughts for the night. Upstairs I go to help my wife unpack some more Christmas decorations.

[Burn]

[*]If you've got a monitor that provides less than 1,200 pixels ... it's time to upgrade. Enough's enough of catering to people who have resolutions less than or equal to 1024. It's only about 13% of you ... please for the love of all things Transformers go buy a new computer with a resolution of at least 1300. This is no longer the norm. Over 80% of the users on this site use something wider than that.[/*]

Yeah but even on a 17inch wide screen with a resolution of 1600 it still looked small. That was before you made some changes though so i'll see what it's like when I get home.

Some of the text could be a bit darker though. Everything is just so bright and I find it a little hard on the eyes. Good thing i'm getting 'em checked next week.

[Supreme Convoy]

Did not get a chance to explore the site on my work computer but I'm looking at it now at home on my MacBook.

I'm loving the front page design with the widescreen news banner. I like the top and bottom bar remain consistent as I browse.

Haven't found any glitches or broken links.

While browsing the site and looking at the toy galleries, it does seem like portrait oriented pictures in medium size don't fit the screen. I think in medium size on the previous layout, the entire picture fit the screen. That might be nitpicky but I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done given the screen size. (Or has it always been like that and I've never noticed?)

Lookin' good so far!

[Seibertron]

Did not get a chance to explore the site on my work computer but I'm looking at it now at home on my MacBook.

I'm loving the front page design with the widescreen news banner. I like the top and bottom bar remain consistent as I browse.

Haven't found any glitches or broken links.

While browsing the site and looking at the toy galleries, it does seem like portrait oriented pictures in medium size don't fit the screen. I think in medium size on the previous layout, the entire picture fit the screen. That might be nitpicky but I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done given the screen size. (Or has it always been like that and I've never noticed?)

Number of inches for your monitor doesn't matter. It's the resolution that you have your monitor set at that does matter. If you have a 17" monitor but have the resolution set to 1024, not much I can do. I have a 15" Dell laptop with a really nice graphics card ... my native resolution is 1920x1080.

As for the gallery pictures, they've always been like that for the past 8 years. You've just never noticed before.

Lookin' good so far!

Thanks!

[Supreme Convoy]

As for the gallery pictures, they've always been like that for the past 8 years. You've just never noticed before.

Ah. Retract my note.

[Gandalf]

The new look is nice. I love the large news banner, though I don't see a way to scroll through it like in the past. My main concern is the site title banner: "SEIBERTRON.COM The Ultimate Transformers Resource". It's way too small compared to everything else. On my first visit after the renovation, I had to look for it to make sure I was in the right place. It just seems visually buried or overwhelmed by the ads and news banner. This may come off as nitpicky, but people having to look around to identify the site isn't good, especially for new visitors.

[Arrancon]

I like the update, nice job!

[ArmadaPrime]

As i've mentioned in that other thread, i do like this new redesign. obviously obth designs have their strengths and weaknesses (IMHO), but it's nice, really nice.
however:

•Cleaned up some more of the CSS on the individual news story pages, added a border and padding around the "thumbnail" news image

Since the redesign the thumbs on the actual news pages are...basically smooshed into a tiny strip which shows the left half of the picture, squashed.
I don't know how else to explain it really. It used to happen on my rather old windows XP, which we changed a few years back (two maybe?), and really I have no idea why...
If it can't be fixed, I'll just deal with it, but, it would be nice

[Zordon]

hi seibs, im really like the new layout, i was thinking why put the ads and links over on the right when most newspapers charge more to put an advert on the left, as that where we naturally look (reading left to right) but i would leave them where they are as a little by-product of the switch has stopped me accidentally selecting a news item in HMW when selecting my team on my ipod touch, im sure other iphone/ipad/tablet user find the same.

also on my old eMac (safari 5.0.6) with a screen res of 1280x960 it looks great everything is sized just right, the only criticism i have is for the seibertron.com header. i know you need the ad space but the name and linking widgets looks pushed over to the side, have you thought about 2 ad sections and the name going across the top or just under these ?

[Seibertron]

As i've mentioned in that other thread, i do like this new redesign. obviously obth designs have their strengths and weaknesses (IMHO), but it's nice, really nice.
however:

•Cleaned up some more of the CSS on the individual news story pages, added a border and padding around the "thumbnail" news image

Since the redesign the thumbs on the actual news pages are...basically smooshed into a tiny strip which shows the left half of the picture, squashed.
I don't know how else to explain it really. It used to happen on my rather old windows XP, which we changed a few years back (two maybe?), and really I have no idea why...
If it can't be fixed, I'll just deal with it, but, it would be nice

This problem was resolved at least two or three days ago within hours of me launching the new site design. Your browser should be grabbing the latest style sheet. If not, you might want to try forcing a refresh by clicking CTRL + F5 (IE, Firefox) or SHIFT + F5 (Chrome). If you continue to have problems, please let me know which browser you are using as well as which version (IE9, Firefox 4, etc). Thanks.

[Seibertron]

hi seibs, im really like the new layout, i was thinking why put the ads and links over on the right when most newspapers charge more to put an advert on the left, as that where we naturally look (reading left to right) but i would leave them where they are as a little by-product of the switch has stopped me accidentally selecting a news item in HMW when selecting my team on my ipod touch, im sure other iphone/ipad/tablet user find the same.

also on my old eMac (safari 5.0.6) with a screen res of 1280x960 it looks great everything is sized just right, the only criticism i have is for the seibertron.com header. i know you need the ad space but the name and linking widgets looks pushed over to the side, have you thought about 2 ad sections and the name going across the top or just under these ?

I have ... and that's how it was with the previous design. I have the logo and social networking icons to the right of the header advertisement so that people who have larger resolutions can have a smaller header which enables you to see the content on the page more easily because more content is above the fold (content area of a website that appears below the bottom of your monitor's screen without having to scroll), another important aspect of web design. I may have to toss this idea though and go back to the similar header layout to help with the problem that the floating sub navigation bar on the bottom of your browser has caused.

[Zordon]

hi seibs, im really like the new layout, i was thinking why put the ads and links over on the right when most newspapers charge more to put an advert on the left, as that where we naturally look (reading left to right) but i would leave them where they are as a little by-product of the switch has stopped me accidentally selecting a news item in HMW when selecting my team on my ipod touch, im sure other iphone/ipad/tablet user find the same.

also on my old eMac (safari 5.0.6) with a screen res of 1280x960 it looks great everything is sized just right, the only criticism i have is for the seibertron.com header. i know you need the ad space but the name and linking widgets looks pushed over to the side, have you thought about 2 ad sections and the name going across the top or just under these ?

I have ... and that's how it was with the previous design. I have the logo and social networking icons to the right of the header advertisement so that people who have larger resolutions can have a smaller header which enables you to see the content on the page more easily because more content is above the fold (content area of a website that appears below the bottom of your monitor's screen without having to scroll), another important aspect of web design. I may have to toss this idea though and go back to the similar header layout to help with the problem that the floating sub navigation bar on the bottom of your browser has caused.

hi just logging in and noticed the new colour back drop of Optimus and Megatron then i noticed the header/footer have gone. then came here to check the post i made earlier, i wasnt aware of any issue with placement/navigating while using safari either on my mac or ipod touch, i could use them so unless the issue is some kind of coding or background task then i liked it being there as when reading through a large news article made getting elsewhere on the site fairly easy.

[ArmadaPrime]

*snip*

•Cleaned up some more of the CSS on the individual news story pages, added a border and padding around the "thumbnail" news image

Since the redesign the thumbs on the actual news pages are...basically smooshed into a tiny strip which shows the left half of the picture, squashed.
I don't know how else to explain it really. It used to happen on my rather old windows XP, which we changed a few years back (two maybe?), and really I have no idea why...
If it can't be fixed, I'll just deal with it, but, it would be nice

This problem was resolved at least two or three days ago within hours of me launching the new site design. Your browser should be grabbing the latest style sheet. If not, you might want to try forcing a refresh by clicking CTRL + F5 (IE, Firefox) or SHIFT + F5 (Chrome). If you continue to have problems, please let me know which browser you are using as well as which version (IE9, Firefox 4, etc). Thanks.[/quote]
ctrl-F5 isn't working for me on IE8(& windows 7, if that makes a difference). It was the latest news story, again, if that makes a difference.
Haven't tried clearing my cache yet cos for no apparent reason it takes AGES, but i doubt that would be the problem seeing as it was the first time my computer was viewing that image and that page...
Just wanted to thankyou once more for all you do for the site, amn. Really appreciate it.

[Mykltron]

Why have you unfixed the navigation? Fixing it was the best thing!

[Seibertron]

Why have you unfixed the navigation? Fixing it was the best thing!

I liked having it fixed as well. It might go back. Unfortunately a lot of people complained about it claiming that it was making their browser lag really bad. I think it was the code that I was originally using that made the background image resize to match the width of your browser. I ended up utilizing a jQuery solution in the end instead of using just CSS to resolve that problem yesterday.

[Sabrblade]

The site's toolbar keeps following me around as a I scroll. It always stays locked in place in the top-middle (instead of staying at the the top) of my screen.

[Seibertron]

The site's toolbar keeps following me around as a I scroll. It always stays locked in place in the top-middle (instead of staying at the the top) of my screen.

The style sheets are cached on your computer. Force a refresh in your browser.

[Burn]

The site's toolbar keeps following me around as a I scroll. It always stays locked in place in the top-middle (instead of staying at the the top) of my screen.

The style sheets are cached on your computer. Force a refresh in your browser.

Yeah that just worked for me.

[Seibertron]

The homepage spotlight feature has been modified. There are now thumbnails of the other spotlights currently available for each section of the site. This was something I wanted to implement years ago but could never get it to look right. I think the new look achieves this very nicely.

[Mykltron]

Why have you unfixed the navigation? Fixing it was the best thing!

I liked having it fixed as well. It might go back. Unfortunately a lot of people complained about it claiming that it was making their browser lag really bad. I think it was the code that I was originally using that made the background image resize to match the width of your browser. I ended up utilizing a jQuery solution in the end instead of using just CSS to resolve that problem yesterday.

I don't see why position:fixed would cause delays!