Any Improvements?

[Skater]

The horizontal scrollbar is killing the skin Matt.

Which horizontal scrollbar?

 

[Pak_cricketer]

The new look is amazing! I just noticed the 'Latest News' on the top right, looking good.

 

[aussie1st]

I've been using the new skin for a month but I don't feel it's too bright. If you have used one of Matt's International skins then the transition to this one won't be much. It's pretty much the same brightness as the default vBulletin one. Anyway personal preference the old skin is still there.

 

[lancashire666]

i am quite happy with the latest news section, well done for this idea

 

[MattW]

The horizontal scrollbar is killing the skin Matt.

When do you see a horizontal scrollbar and what resolution are you using. The only time I've seen a scroll bar is when an image makes the page width too big, and that can't be fixed. If you are using a resolution lower than 1024x768 then you will see a scrollbar, but the same is the case with every other skin, including the Cricket style.

I'm referring to the entire Cricket Zone, which now consists of 16 sections. A forum such as the Australian Domestic forum only contains 5 threads. Now on the surface it appears to have better organised these threads by separating them from other threads, but I know I am looking at a bunch of threads that were started in different forums; as would be the case throughout; and most of the posts in this particular sub-forum could have been confined to a single thread. Indeed, only 3 threads are active and within the entire Domestic Cricket forum, there have only been 8 threads active in the past week. Bearing in mind this is not a peak period for domestic cricket, in practical terms a single page of a forum can display 25 threads, so having 4 pages of threads when there might only be a maximum of 20 simultaneously active threads is a little over the top.

First off the forums aren't fixed in their current state and we can always make changes. The domestic section was made partially because I think it was odd that there was a huge thread for each comp in the Current (or Past) Events forum, it seemed to be in the wrong place, and I think that having a split between domestic and international goes with the hugely different structures they have.

Now because of the old system there are only a few threads, but there doesn't need to be a massive thread which contains several conversations on totally different matters that are on at the same time. Perhaps having subforums for countries is overkill, but I think there are benefits to a separation.

Beyond that, it seems certain that numerous forums overlap in context. The Cricket News forum, for one; what defines the difference between a news thread and a thread relevant to domestic or international cricket, or merely even just Cricket Chat? If you start a thread on a current affairs topic without a news article in the first post, where should it go and how many forums must a forumer browse to find such threads? Similarly there are threads in the International Cricket forum for players not playing international cricket. While the threads might be in the most appropriate place, what is preventing confusion for the next forumer to create such a thread? Between the International Cricket forum and the Cricket Chat forum I don't think there have been more than 25 threads active in the past week, so I'm not sure the need for distinction is there.

I agree there is problems with the current news system, a few posts behind yours I explained why it exists and offered a solution to having separate discussions.

The news section is there partially for the benefit of the portal and the latest news thing that appears in the top right of the new skin, so someone can go to one place to get the news, rather than having to look through threads.

The thing that perhaps needs to be done is to have no replying directly into the news forum and have the discussion go on in the relevant forum. I've seen other sites where there is a centralised news section that then points out to subforums for discussion, either by the article being cross posted and linked to, or by linking to pre-existing discussions on the subject.

When we added the forum initially we weren't sure how to go about where to have article related discussion, so perhaps that is where we need to go.

As for player threads, tbh when I was trying to decide where they should go I couldn't decide, hence them ending up all over the place. Theortically if you are discussing a current international cricketer it goes in International, likewise a current domestic cricketer would be discussed in the domestic forum. But yes there is doubt there and I would welcome any ideas on how to best avoid it.

I know I've blown the word count for a reasonable post on a considerably minor issue, but I wanted to be clear. A lot of threads do need to be kept separate and there are probably only 4 more forums than there need to be, in my opinion, but I think it is at a point where organisational gains are outweighed by the amount of time spent browsing for threads instead of reading them.

The idea is to lessen the browsing time by having clearer categories for discussion, the example I'll use is the Your Cricket forum, before I have seen threads on that sort of stuff in the General Chat section. So having a clear category there helps imo. But as I mentioned before the subforums within the cricket zone could be dumped.

I'll add my thanks for your feedback, it is good when someone can be clear about what they think the problem is then a useless 'I hate this...' sort of comment.

 

[Hitterman]

Nobody is liking the new style. Can we change the styles on portals?

 

[Jaztheman]

I love it, I am alternating between it and the NZ skin.

 

[Hitterman]

Iam using the old style which is still best.

 

[zimrahil]

Nobody is liking the new style. Can we change the styles on portals?

Correction, you don't like the new style

 

[Simbazz]

I'm no fan of any of the new skins. I use the same skin as it was when i joined. Its far better than any others, they're bland. This is nice, simple and i don't do change

 

[surendar]

Nobody is liking the new style.

The very first thing we have to realize is to appreciate the efforts put up. It's far far better than those negative statements which can create only frustrations.

I too like the new green skin. I often switch between, cricket style and England style. Now this green style also adds in my favorite list.

 

[Kiko_97]

are we having a calendar here if not can we have one?

 

[Hitterman]

New style had the best collection of buttons but the green colour is too bright causing pain in my eyes. I will reps for Zimrahil and surendar for their efforts. .

 

[Karachi Xpress]

The new skin looks really good. Although it didn't take me more than a day to get used to it as I was using the Pakistan skin anyway.

 

[barmyarmy]

New style had the best collection of buttons but the green colour is too bright causing pain in my eyes. I will reps for Zimrahil and surendar for their efforts. .

Erm, the person you should be repping is Matt. He has put in hours of hard work to give us a huge range of professional skins. How many subscription-based sites do you know that have the variety and individuality of the skins here?