Young Composers Design

I don't care for ipb default, but i certainly care for lo-fi mode! And now it's been removed alltogether. :- (

First off....

As for the skin its self... Why does it have to associate so closely with Record Hall? Sure, the theme looks decent there but why carry it over completely here? It's like having two adjacent rooms of your house decorated the exact same way :blink:

Also, why is the text entry box still blue if the theme is brown and greyish?

I find it hard to believe he won't listen to the people that he knows make this site what it is.

Hmm... the new design. I like the idea behind it. But... something just seems out of place. It's a very good concept, but... something isn't quite right... It's not the G clefs either. They aren't bothering me at all, lol. In fact, I really like the musical imagery overall.

I think the issue is, the colors are clashing, and there is too much high-contrast. We have the dark brown backround with the white post boxes, and it makes everything seem very boxy and cluttered and sort of unpolished. Oh, and the piano at the top of the page is way too far to the right. lol

I'm not trying to sound harsh, I like the idea here. I just think it could use some polishing, that's all. :)

I find it hard to believe he won't listen to the people that he knows make this site what it is.

Not like it hasn't happened before.

But in any case, it's his loss. Right now what we could do is just wait and see how much of it he listens (like the fact the current design makes it look like a tripod page) and really if he doesn't then oops, nothing you can do about it eh? He's really got no reason to listen to any of us, haha, since he's waiting to "hit it big" with all this investment and we're just leftovers more or less! I wouldn't doubt if he is planning for the user numbers to inflate so that we don't really mean much anymore (not that he has anything directly against us in particular, but y'see what I'm saying.)

Plus I'm a little annoyed that this is going live as-is and we have to do all the beta testing for him, likewise doing all this design without actually asking the community for feedback BEFORE it went live. Also, I noticed there's an "UPGRADE ACCOUNT" option too in record hall, even if it's filled right now with gibberish. As soon as money is involved, my goodwill to help out drops to negative numbers if I know that I'm a chump helping for free when in the end someone else is going to profit from it. Anyone else get similar vibes?

Some answers are in order, I think.

PS: I also have to ask where is the copyright/licensing agreements/bla bla information in record hall? Hell not even an about page? What if I were to go and upload pieces which were not mine, would anyone from the outside have a way to reach the staff responsible for such correcting such violations???

That this info is missing considering what that page is just sort of sad, honestly... but understandable. It's hard to squeeze more stuff in there between the clefs and pianos!

Some complaints:

I hope the 'Record Hall' skin will be changed for when the network becomes active. I don't think a photograph of an electric guitar is appropriate for a composers' forum. We're trying to differentiate ourselves from the thousands of guitar/songwriting type forums. (We include space for that stuff, but it's nowhere near a representative amount compared to classical / incidental etc.)

Why is the Archive coming up as the uppermost forum? That's the exact place it shouldn't be. I've minimised it, but it should be at the bottom.

Why is it up there? Because people are complaining like mad that it's in the archive in the first place and the real ones aren't fully functional yet. When the network is active we'll move the archives back down south and people will see the NEW upload forums first, which will be garnished with a "Upload here" link or something of the sort that takes you to the "Add Composition" page on the Network. I'm just going to say The Network from now on... I don't like "Record Hall".

The "electric guitar" is actually an acoustic if you look closely. It's blatantly obvious. Also, it's a nice graphic, and it's at the footer. Would you rather we move it to the top banner where people will actually notice it? If you can look at the top banner and say "this is the perfect place to promote my alternative psychedelic rock band" without looking any further, you can then complain. :happy:

Alright, no need to get whiny and defensive, James. I address these questions to Chopin. You've answered them anyway, but you ought to watch your tone.

"Why is it up there? Because people are complaining like mad that it's in the archive in the first place"

Complaining that what is in the archive? I wasn't talking about anything in the archive, I asked why is the archive at the top of the forum index?

"The "electric guitar" is actually an acoustic if you look closely. It's blatantly obvious."

Right, whatever. That's irrelevant, and it could easily be an electric with a maple/varnished body. You can't see the cutaway, the body, or the head of the guitar, so it's not definitely acoustic.

"Would you rather we move it to the top banner where people will actually notice it?"

My point was I don't want it at all. Did you not understand this? If you DID understand it, then why would you make the problem worse by moving it to the top? Are you just trying to be difficult to annoy me?

Never mind, I see what's happening with the archive.

Even with all the people who have complained about the senseless repetition of treble clefs and musical symbols, do you think he cares? It's not going to change, I'll tell you that.

Here is a little update for you. I have given Hillary and James FTP access and administrative rights to the forum so that they can help fix the skin, and create different versions. I'll tell you what, give us suggestions, take photographs, give us color ideas. We are all ears.

I hope the 'Record Hall' skin will be changed for when the network becomes active. I don't think a photograph of an electric guitar is appropriate for a composers' forum. We're trying to differentiate ourselves from the thousands of guitar/songwriting type forums. (We include space for that stuff, but it's nowhere near a representative amount compared to classical / incidental etc.)

The footer is the easiest thing to change. By all means, if someone wants to go on a trip to an orchestra and take nice pictures for me, please do and send them my way!

Why is the Archive coming up as the uppermost forum? That's the exact place it shouldn't be. I've minimised it, but it should be at the bottom.

It's temporary until we iron out the bugs of the new system. I want people to test the new system, yet we can't use it 100% yet, so the archive is still available for posting works.

Yes, my tone was rather flippant, I apologise.

Are you just trying to be difficult to annoy me?

I'm better now. =]

Me likey this. Looks really professional. Still trying to get used to the new functions and features, but that won't be hard.

I find the treble clefs behind the 'fast reply' and navigation bar extremely kitsch and gaudy. In a cringe-worthy way. Almost as though they're a bad Christmas decoration that will come thankfully down on New Year's.

Just for that we'll make sure the Christmas decorations last a day longer. Or maybe we'll supplant them with New Year's decorations. We could do Easter as well, come to think of it. :shifty:

Note to all, I made the IPB default blue available again, I'm not sure why chopin didn't want it.

I think the impression of christmas stems from the red treble clef in the logo that's surrounded by the successively wider rings, suggesting tree-ness.

Just for that we'll make sure the Christmas decorations last a day longer. Or maybe we'll supplant them with New Year's decorations. We could do Easter as well, come to think of it.

Already on the xmas ones :shifty:

I PM'd Mike about it a few weeks ago... but then he left :(

Excellent work on the design!

EDIT: Let me qualify that by saying the banner continues to need serious work, and something needs to be done about the thing under one's user title reading: "Icon".

The banner is in two parts. There is the piano stage, then there is the logo on top of it. Which do you find issuous? Chopin is making a new logo, but we'd appreciate feedback so we don't repeat any old pitfalls.

Excellent work on the design!

Seconded. It's looking a lot better now.

EDIT: Let me qualify that by saying the banner continues to need serious work, and something needs to be done about the thing under one's user title reading: "Icon".

I'm well aware of that and a few other issues... and they'll be fixed this weekend... after my 24hrs of hell are over :P

The icons are pretty though, I promise.

What about the Record Hall design?

Sure the functionality looks good, but the site looks clumsy.

The whole thing is too narrow and the text in the middle is too big and clunky (the user-input text is bigger than the section headers.....why?)

Not meaning to be a moan, but I probably won't upload anything there until it looks presentable.

One more thing: Is there anyway the thread that contains the discussion of the RH stuff on YC can link back to the RH page? It's one way at the moment.

What about the Record Hall design?

I will have Hillary and James help design this too, if they want. I think the RH design is pretty good but I am open to changing some things such as the header, color of links, etc. In fact, I will see if there is a way so that we can have a few skins.

The whole thing is too narrow and the text in the middle is too big and clunky (the user-input text is bigger than the section headers.....why?

Yes, it does need good CSS work.

Not meaning to be a moan, but I probably won't upload anything there until it looks presentable.

I will try my best, I promise. We really need to get people using the network, and if a redesign is what it takes, we will do it. I just can't afford to pay the developers any longer. I need them to fix how it is in IE 6 which is the most important, regarding design.

One more thing: Is there anyway the thread that contains the discussion of the RH stuff on YC can link back to the RH page? It's one way at the moment.

This functionality has been complete. I think the problem is existing threads do not link back, but new threads will.

I will have Hillary and James help design this too, if they want. I think the RH design is pretty good but I am open to changing some things such as the header, color of links, etc. In fact, I will see if there is a way so that we can have a few skins.

I was going to tackle the wiki next (i.e. this weekend if I'm awake)...and an skin that works prefectly in IE :shifty:

...but that works too!

We aren't ready for skinning on Record Hall yet, they are still in development. So focus on the forum/wiki for now.

I will have Hillary and James help design this too, if they want. I think the RH design is pretty good but I am open to changing some things such as the header, color of links, etc. In fact, I will see if there is a way so that we can have a few skins.

Yes, it does need good CSS work.

I will try my best, I promise. We really need to get people using the network, and if a redesign is what it takes, we will do it. I just can't afford to pay the developers any longer. I need them to fix how it is in IE 6 which is the most important, regarding design.

This functionality has been complete. I think the problem is existing threads do not link back, but new threads will.

OK, great. Glad to see a positive response.

I think the functionality is good, and it's *close* to looking presentable, but not quite there yet.