New Template: THN Ronin Test 2 (open beta)

[Ronin Storm]

Working away in the background on getting much of the new functionality of the old templates back. Problem is that the old templates weren't at all maintainable meaning that every upgrade (and they're happening every 4-5 weeks) was painful. The last one to 3.7.0 was a major one and pretty much broke everything so upgrading them is still looking like a nightmare.

However, as the name suggests, there is a new test template available for public use now. It's called "THN Ronin Test 2", just in case you were in any doubt of its test status.

As a beta template, it will probably be recalled, renamed or something else later. For now, the major features you can see are:

• Who Is Online is alongside the shoutbox, making it easy to see who is currently on the site.
• Upcoming Events have been moved into their own snazzy bar below the shoutbox.

Yes, it's still blue. This is a functionality release only. Once we're happy with the functionality base we can start skinning templates in earnest.

Thoughts on how much you love the beta template in here. Bug reports to Hey Admins please.

Enjoy!

 

[Birdy]

its all about layout layout layout.

I love it

No really. Its great. All the things I look at in the first 5 seconds of being online are all at the top of the page which means no scrolling! woot!

And that calendar style is quite hot! its nice to see the week layout rather than a list.

Oh and just make the default blue some other random color then if ya sick of blue....I know I am... but that was mainly a layout issue, which you have since addressed!

 

[Nanor]

This rocks! Great work Ronin!

 

[thatbloke]

I just set it to be my default but it's still not being used as my default skin.

I have it set as my default (in user options), I have it saved (I know because if I go back in it says its still set to the new one). I then just logged out and back in again to refresh my cookies and it still seems to be putting me on the base template rather than the test one. Even though my settings say the test one is my default.

I can use the test one by manually selecting it at the bottom of the page though, but that kinda defeats the object of putting the new stuff at the top if i've gotta scroll down to the bottom and select an option first

 

[VibroAxe]

Works fine for me boss

Looks awsome, well done ronin

 

[Ronin Storm]

I just set it to be my default but it's still not being used as my default skin.

There's three ways to set a template. Only one of them is permanent.

Before that, though, when purging cookies purge all .thehavennet.org.uk domain cookies. I had 6 or 8 in total. When upgrading we changed the cookie domain and that's had some unforeseen consequences.

So, the three ways:

• The style selector. This only sets in cookie, not against the database, thus is only as valid as your cookie.
• Via profile. User CP | Settings & Options | Edit Options | Miscellaneous Options | Forum Skin. This sets against the database and is therefore permanent.
• Via querystring. Check your URL to see if it contains a &styleid=X option. If it does, remove that.

Any of that help?

 

[thatbloke]

EDIT: er, it seems that clearing my cache and my cookies at the same time did do the trick. Weird. Maybe I was being impatient. Maybe it sets a cookie after I log in with that style as my default?

There's three ways to set a template. Only one of them is permanent.

Before that, though, when purging cookies purge all .thehavennet.org.uk domain cookies. I had 6 or 8 in total. When upgrading we changed the cookie domain and that's had some unforeseen consequences.

So, the three ways:

• The style selector. This only sets in cookie, not against the database, thus is only as valid as your cookie.
• Via profile. User CP | Settings & Options | Edit Options | Miscellaneous Options | Forum Skin. This sets against the database and is therefore permanent.
• Via querystring. Check your URL to see if it contains a &styleid=X option. If it does, remove that.

Any of that help?

Number 1: If I set that, it works. For that session only.
Number 2: I set the option in my options first, before even selecting the style. I did this at work on my Vista PC with Firefox. I just got home, turned my own PC on (XP Pro, Same version of FF) and came straight on here. Checked my options, it said that my forum skin is set to the test one. And yet it's still the base one when I view the site.
Number 3: No style present in the URL.

I've just cleared all my cookies and my cache but still no help there either

 

[thatbloke]

Turns out I had ro remove ALL cookies to get the template to display by default correctly.

Originally I had searched for "haven" in my cookies list and removed all cookies it found - but this didn't seem to work.

 

[Ronin Storm]

I guess there must have been something else going on... I think that problem shouldn't reoccur, though, as I suspect some of it was caused by changing the cookie domain mid-upgrade.

As an aside, one piece of feedback I've had given directly to me is that the On THN Now box at the right feels a little "squashed", particularly in full-screen / widescreen view. Any thoughts on that?

 

[thatbloke]

I guess there must have been something else going on... I think that problem shouldn't reoccur, though, as I suspect some of it was caused by changing the cookie domain mid-upgrade.

As an aside, one piece of feedback I've had given directly to me is that the On THN Now box at the right feels a little "squashed", particularly in full-screen / widescreen view. Any thoughts on that?

I use a widescreen monitor - it does seem perhaps a little TOO far off to the side and could, I think, be better off being a little wider.

Perhaps we could see what people would think about having it inbetween the 7 day calendar bit and the forum listing, in the manner it was in there before (but at the bottom?

 

[VibroAxe]

Perhaps we could see what people would think about having it inbetween the 7 day calendar bit and the forum listing, in the manner it was in there before (but at the bottom?

I think that would be better, the reason I feel it looks squashed is because of the multiple line and only 1/2 nicks per line. In one long linear line i think it will look better

 

[Ronin Storm]

I can look at that as an option, certainly. Should be fairly easy to do.

My other line of attack ('cause I like the format it's in) is to make it a scalable element. I'm not entirely sure I can do that an maintain the overflow mechanism across both IE and FF but I'll see. So instead of being 150 pixels it'd be 15% of the width or whatever.

 

[Ronin Storm]

My other line of attack ('cause I like the format it's in) is to make it a scalable element.

I've just updated the test template to use scalable width (15%) rather than a fixed width and it seems to work pretty well for both wide and narrow presentations. Let me know how you get on with that.

The "bar below the shoutbox" version is still pending.

 

[Traxata]

I'm liking it much more already

nice work so far!

 

[Ronin Storm]

For those paying attention, the birthday announcements now appear just below the upcoming events. Big improvement, I think.

A side effect is that the events bar will now persist even if there are no events to display. I don't think this is a particular problem, though.

 

[Zooggy]

Ahey,

even if there are no events to display

Oh, you're funny.



Cheers,
J.

 

[Traxata]

Er, Zooggy, are you stoned?

I have no idea how you find that funny...



Also, now the birthdays are uptop, it should be alot easier to see how old people are getting

 

[Ronin Storm]

He's referring to how the WoWers always have something going on. (Which is great, by the way!)

 

[Zooggy]

Ahey,

Phew... For a second there, I thought I was going to have to explain it.

In all seriousness, though, there is indeed a gap during Monday mornings, where the events aren't scheduled yet, so it still applies, I guess...

And yes, not a particular problem.

Cheers,
J.