poll Do you think NamePro should change interface?

[Jimmysun]

 

[HotKey]

Well how bout' just like a straight-up "No" option on the vote there..

 

[Internet.Domains]

My opinion is it's fine as is. @Paul Buonopane does a great job with custom tweaks and other IT matters.

 

[Paul]

If so I’d use as stock XenForo a theme as possible. If what we have here is stock, I’d stick with it.

The general appearance is close, but we've been gradually modernizing portions of it over time. In particular, any aspects of the stock style that are likely to lead to decreased performance or usability are liable to be changed. But overall, it still looks pretty close to stock.

You know, the experience might be different depending on your device. Wholly recommend everyone just get a desktop, then no one has to change a thing.

Smartphones are ubiquitous these days; more and more NamePros members are using the site from their phones. It's usually not a huge issue, but it does mean we need to do additional testing for any changes. Legacy browsers are a far more serious problem than smartphones.

 

[Paul]

My experience has been that any modifications to skins do not improve performance they just are visual changes and if anything lead to issues as the forum software is upgraded over time. I would stick to a 100% stock theme.

There are definitely performance issues with the stock theme. For example, we've substantially decreased the time to FCP, as the vanilla theme lacked a modern approach to handling resources--many of the technologies we used to accomplish that didn't exist when the theme was first written (or weren't widely adopted).

Upgradability of themes isn't a major concern in our case. We've forked and rewritten large chunks of XenForo already; that's a far bigger barrier to upgrading than themes. Many of our theme changes are implemented as XenForo's "template modifications" through add-ons, rather than manual changes directly to the templates, which makes upgrading templates pretty easy.

Keep in mind, vanilla XenForo isn't really designed for a site of our size. It doesn't scale well out-of-the-box, and even with their enhanced search add-on, you can see pretty clearly that they didn't think through things like search from the perspective of a large forum. Some large forums solve this by just throwing beefier hardware at the problem, but that's relatively rigid, fragile solution. (What do you do if the whole datacenter goes down?)

Don't be afraid to request visual/UI changes--those are among the easiest changes for us to implement, with relatively little long-term overhead. Major functionality changes are far more time-consuming and have a greater impact on upgradability.

So considering NP is already significantly hacked (behind the scenes), I don't think it's realistic to expect any significant theme modifications as well. As it stands it's likely a pretty big pain each time the forum software updates.

Theme modifications are among the easiest we can make. As for the "hacks", they're stored in the form of a patch queue. When we upgrade, we simply reapply all the patches automatically. This doesn't work for major version upgrades, though--for those, we have to rewrite everything, including add-ons and our patches.

Don't worry about the viability of changes when requesting them. If a change will be difficult to implement, we'll tell you.

 

[Rhinnnn]

It's fine as it is now. But I would like to see some sort of Dark Mode available someday.

 

[Martin Andrews]

No. It's fine as it is

 

[xynames]

What do you mean by interface?

Do you refer to their use of XenForo forum software? The only bug I notice is that often when someone likes your post in a thread and also replies to that same thread that you are watching, you receive only the like notification. In any case XenForo software is set there’s not much Paul B or anyone else outside of XenForo may do to alter its core. There are hacks/modifications that may be added but otherwise it’s set. It remains just a XenForo forum.

 

[Paul]

What do you mean by interface?

Do you refer to their use of XenForo forum software?

I think @Jimmysun is only referring to the theme/style, not the underlying software or functionality.

 

[Mister Funsky]

I voted no...too many sites trying to conform to the 'trend' in streamlining. I don't have any desire to try and learn a new interface, theme and/or style. Lets leave well enough alone.

 

[Samer]

“If it ain't broke dont fix it”

Samer

 

[Jimmysun]

 

[HotKey]

just feel a little old, wondering how others feel.

Well we all have our days..

I think Np's interface is more complex to view/run than we give credit for, a lot we take for granted to be sure.

 

[timestamp]

I kind of miss Rob Monsters "This thread is stupid" among options to vote for. That should be included in every poll.

 

[HotKey]

You know, the experience might be different depending on your device. Wholly recommend everyone just get a desktop, then no one has to change a thing.

 

[creataweb]

It looks fine now imo, you should have seen it many years ago.

 

[HotKey]

some days ago I was looking for any discussion about tokens.com thread in the search bar I couldn't be satisfied with the search results, I kind of remember I saw some people were discussing it maybe I was in the illusion.

That's a whole other thingamajig. No not an illusion, you probably did see it but hard to find via NP search. Paul's recommended using Google search otherwise what can't be located here. It's on a to-do for them too:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/are-search-results-displaying-properly.1130257/

 

[Jimmysun]

What do you mean by interface?

Do you refer to their use of XenForo forum software?

Just refer to the UI design and some sort of dynamic pop up window.

 

[xynames]

I think @Jimmysun is only referring to the theme/style, not the underlying software or functionality.

If so I’d use as stock XenForo a theme as possible. If what we have here is stock, I’d stick with it.

 

[The Durfer]

other than trying to find the specific thread you are looking for, its an excellent interface.

 

[xynames]

The general appearance is close, but we've been gradually modernizing portions of it over time. In particular, any aspects of the stock style that are likely to lead to decreased performance or usability are liable to be changed. But overall, it still looks pretty close to.

My experience has been that any modifications to skins do not improve performance they just are visual changes and if anything lead to issues as the forum software or php is upgraded over time. I would stick to a 100% stock theme.

 

[Ategy]

I remember back when I had my big music forum the only thing you had to worry about was desktop. As monitors improved and the super-majority of users went from 640px to 800px then to 1080px you could hack the heck out of your forum and add more and more stuff. I remember hacking my vB forum to death. But with the new reality of PC, tablet, mobile it's got to be a nightmare to tinker with anything visual.

So considering NP is already significantly hacked (behind the scenes), I don't think it's realistic to expect any significant theme modifications as well. As it stands it's likely a pretty big pain each time the forum software updates.

 

[Bravo Mod Team]

Hello,

NamePros tends to make a lot of small visual changes and improvements that over time add up to its unique theme.

Interestingly, visitors ask us often (as recently as yesterday) what theme we use because they're starting a forum in another industry and would like to use the NamePros design, but every design change is custom, so unless someone steals it without permission, you won't see anything that looks exactly like NamePros elsewhere.

Show attachment 145692

Thanks for taking the time to offer a new design for everyone to consider!

The "More..." link at the bottom of widgets is a good idea. The functionality already exists, but many visitors don't realize that the headings of most widgets are links to view more.

The down arrow on the username is also a good idea to indicate that there are more options available there.

The only bug I notice is that often when someone likes your post in a thread and also replies to that same thread that you are watching, you receive only the like notification.

This may be a misunderstanding of how thread alerts work, but we reached out to you in a direct message just to be sure.

If so I’d use as stock XenForo a theme as possible. If what we have here is stock, I’d stick with it.

That's the idea, since it allows users from other forums to be familiar with many aspects of it, and we hope any modifications by NamePros are for the better.

You know, the experience might be different depending on your device. Wholly recommend everyone just get a desktop, then no one has to change a thing.

There is a "Desktop Version" link at the bottom of the website for mobile devices that might help.

some days ago I was looking for any discussion about tokens.com thread in the search bar I couldn't be satisfied with the search results, I kind of remember I saw some people were discussing it maybe I was in the illusion.

other than trying to find the specific thread you are looking for, its an excellent interface.

Agreed; the search is a major pain point for us. We hope to improve it.

Let's please keep that discussion in its own thread.

It's fine as it is now. But I would like to see some sort of Dark Mode available someday.

The tech team tends to like that kind of theme/mode, so there's a good chance it will happen one day.

some sort of dynamic pop up window

Example, please?

Thanks.

 

[iAdam]

I'm kind of familiar with XF themes and I find this one is minimalist and just perfect. The only thing that might need a lift is the logo design, but that's another topic.

 

[Jimmysun]

just feel a little old, wondering how others feel.