New FTR graphics

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Hello everyone,

after some annoying setbacks, we managed to get the new graphics, made by H4NI (http://88media.hr/) going. How do you like it?

- SS

Edit: Please report any bugs you might have with it. I will read it in the morning and decide what to do.

Edit 2: After seeing some of the bug reports, I decided to rollback to the old template for now, until they are fixed.

167 thoughts on “New FTR graphics”

  3. A bit quirky but It looks nice :)

    I liked the old layout more but then… I was just used to it, maybe I’ll get used to new one too :)

  4. Hmm the comments are too messed up.. You cannot see the difference when somebody replies.

    And posts are half empty: the SerB picture only has the one where he holds the paper, if you expand the article

  5. It’s very nice. Personally I preferred the previous one, this nice, weathered paper-like theme was very nice for a blog that collects information, historical articles and so on.

    But I’m sure that this look will grow on me too, it’s definitely not bad, it’s just different. :)

  9. Looks good, but that shrinking menu makes it a little bit lagy. What do you think about disabling that animation and making it fixed?

  10. Nice upgrade, even though I preferred the old background and banner.

    I’d like to point out how youtube embedding isn’t aligned with the rest of the text frame and doesn’t scale correctly when you resize the window.

    • Another thing I noticed: when you click the “[number] comments” from the main page, it brings you to the comments section of the post, but the upper bar covers the first comment, so in this case the first comment someone see is Silentstalker’s one and not FredTMK’s one.

  11. It’s nice, but I’m a fan of simplicity. These scrolling backgrounds and other fancy, shiny stuff is just distracting.
    But if it has to stay I have two suggestions for improvement:
    1. Make the top panel smaller.
    2. Show the whole article after clicking “Read more” rather than just the second part.

  12. Im ok with it I guess, only thing is that the top menu bar doesnt work on my phone, its just empty white and doesnt scroll. Dont really care about it though as I barely used the menu anyway.

  14. I’d like to echo that I’m a fan of simpler formats rather than a enhanced graphics for news and blogs, but I appreciate the effort you’re putting in SS and others helping you. I like that you seem to be trying to bridge the gap between simplistic layout and clean graphical layout as there is still not a lot of distraction and eye candy, which is good. Ultimately I enjoy the blog in whatever body you choose to use.

    PS: I would keep coming here to read the posts if it was on a rainbow background with 500 1990s web-style animated GIFs pasted everywhere, and the buttons made some horrible ear-wrenching noise when they were moused over. The content is good enough reason for me :)

  15. I feel that the content width is way to small for a webpage made in 2014.
    And the articles use only 60% of the already tiny space being given to the content.

    I have myself 430px on each side that could’ve been taken to better use, than just some fancy background.

    Using something around 75-80% of the page width would so much better to look at.

    I’ll probably make a style for myself with userstyles anyways. :)
    At least its a step in the right direction.

  16. I think its AMAZING. Only one thing that i don’t like in new view is the white bookmarks bar going with u everywhere u go :(

  17. I like the new theme. Hopefully it works well on mobile devices as well.

    I also noticed you trying to apply the new theme like a week or two ago, but everything was messed up. I think it had some blue in it. I’m guessing that one didn’t work out too well.

  18. Articles too narrow, too much white background is already making my eyes hurt alot, comment replies get mixed fast, no editing, posts missing half the content..
    I really prefered the old look. Had much more of a “home feel” to it.

  21. I generally approve the new design, it’s nice. Still, the top menu is too large, and the posts to narrow – there is so much unused space on the margins. Also, it would be nice if the images would automatically fit the screen, i.e. they should not be appropriated to the users’ screen.

  22. Nah, sorry i don’t like it :(
    I still have old one [layout] in one open tab and so i can compare.

    1. top menu is too big – it’s using height resolution and it makes site looks more overcrowded
    2. too contrast colors – makes eyes hurt after 12h working with monitors
    3. bugs – it’s good You know about it, so most of them will probably be fixed (no edit, top menu working weird, layout looks strange on mobiles, reload full site when clicking smth from menu]
    4. comments – hard to read, hard to recognize threads
    5. site is probably bigger [more kb] so it will load longer on mobiles

    Generally it looks like anotherWordpressLayout – one of millions available to download.

  24. There is bug under the comments.. but that was probably pointed out by someone above..

    I like the new look, what about adding some “shell” holes in that background, that would look neat C:

  25. Haven’t seen the new site on my desktop yet but on my phone there its no top banner, just an error icon. At the top of each article it just says “blog”.

    The rest looks nice tho

  26. Haha, it seems there’s a problem with closing the HTML bold tag :D

    Let’s see if this helps.

  27. The Top bar is wasting a lot of screenspace just beeing white. it produces even more white when scrolled to the top, while the font stays the same size. please make that bar thinner.
    I like that it is following.

    • This, and when using Internet Exploder 11 the bar itself is empty and the tabs hang outside of it and blocks the screen.

  28. I dont really like it, it feels incredibly generic, there is no ftr “branding” whatsoever.

    Headline font isn’t very easy to the eyes, hyperlinks are hard to spot and even the general text feels somehow hard to read.

    I understand the old FTR looked like a decade old web page, but 1) that was never really a problem 2) whoever did this one favours fanciness over actual usability. Or rather to say, cares very little about usability.

  29. This page feels slow and lagging for me… All those “java scrips” are only an turnoffs and pissing me off + they are totaly unnecessary. I liked the old style. Simple, pleaseant for eyes and simple, as blogs should be!

    If this is only an skin! I think old one was “better”

      • I’m getting the same thing in my feedreader, the items in the nav bar are being displayed below the bar and on top of the rest of the blog. I’m using Liferea, which is afaik using WebKit for rendering, same as Opera.

    • It works ok in Opera 12.16, the problem is tied to the width of the browser window and will happen in Chrome/FF too – there is a breakpoint that switches from the fixed header to the mobile version with the non-fixed one and the main menu as a drop down.

      Nevertheless, the main menu at some point no longer fits alongside the search button and falls below it. So the solution is to have the mobile version kick in a bit sooner than what it is set to now.

      I would say it is a quite easy fix :)

  31. The new layout is overall working. I am using the mobile version. The comment section is linked to the post below it, very confusing. When I click “read more” on SerB picture post, the picture already shown is gone. This is a little annoying for careful readers. The color theme is ok, but I miss the coffee stain background. Good change so far.

    • Oh yeah, the top picture isn’t displaying either. Noticed it when I switched to desktop. I was using Boat Browser Mini.

  32. Okay, at least for IE:
    - treats Enter line breaks as spaces, which makes for fugly and unergonomic Walls O’ Text
    - too narrow, everything gets crammed into the about central 1/3 of the screen
    - the above turns recursive Nth-step responses to responses to responses into goddamn pillars which is terrible to read >.<
    - no edit option
    - top menu needs to stop hovering over stuff when you scroll down
    - the first part of the actual posts visible at the "top level" of the site is inaccessible and invisible once you move to the "Read More"/Comments sub-page

    • More a preference, but I liked the old system with distinct boxes around each comment and its sub-replies; made it easy to tell the things apart with a brief glance.

  34. I like it, it feels very fresh and somewhat more professional. Different layout, but I think I will get used to it.

  35. The white is very bright tbh… otherwise it seems to bee working decently. Previously the menu bar and buttons were scrolling with the top of the page and made piles of text unreadable.

    One step at a time SS… Just like WG EU… Well hopefully more successful then WG EU…

    • I agreed with this. It’s not easy on my eyes. I don’t mind the whatever changes you guys make but could the whitespace be less sharp and more of a mellow cream like before?

    • Note that I’m not complaining, I like the new layout. I just think you should’ve given us some forward warning that changes were incoming.

    • This is actualy very good, my friend!
      This new theme is a design nighmare, or specifically – usability nightmare. FTR is now a page to be admired for the looks, because the content is forgotten.

      • Agreed, besides looks this current template has nothing. Usability sure as hell was not considered by whoever made this, neither is there anything that would let you know you are on the FTR/WoT fan site. It just looks fancy and that’s about it.

  40. I found bug, that if theres a link in the article, it should be light blue in order to let ppl click on it, but it shows the same colour as other texts.
    e.g. Feb.17th’s QA

  41. SS please undo this, it might be appealing for a first few glances but it’s very tedious to use and tiring for the eyes. Content is completely lost in the form and it’s hard to find what you want and actually grasp what you are reading, including comments.

  44. It is not so bad, but the body background (white) is too bright, I would suggest something like FFFF66. Clear white is just so bright for me …

  45. Could you please make the background an off white. I find it painful to read black lettering on white backgrounds.

  46. Perfect on Chrome. Well, maybe too bright be very neet. Very buggy on Internet Explorer 11. The menu bar gets all over the place. very confusing.

    Thx for everything SS.

  47. Surely you could have run a beta in parallel with the old design, to get rid of all these bugs beforehand.

  50. There is an old Saying K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple Stupid otherwise if it’s not broke don’t mess with it. please put it back the way it was. The Whiteness is killing my eye’s :)

  51. Tried it on IE and Chrome, and it seems it’s buggy on IE. Top banner is a few pixels below the white bar and ofset to the right (except for the search button). Broken image button on the white bar where “Home” button should be (and does indeed go to the home page). In both versions, “Comment” is to the left of the comment box, rather than above.

    • ‘hotlink to comments for a post on the main page’

      Still there, just moved to the left part now.

  54. Can’t edit comments.

    Comments ignore line breaks (they will post as a one wall of text).

    RSS feed is trimmed (as in Martinez’s screenshot).

    Hovering over the main menu triggers a JS error in FF, IE11 – Chrome seems ok:
    TypeError: e.toElement is undefined
    http://ftr.wot-news.com/wp-content/themes/FTR2014/js/website.js?ver=3.5.1
    line 406

    In IE11 the top menu doesn’t fit alongside the search button all the time and drops below the white header.
    In IE11 the search button isn’t vertically aligned, instead it is almost aligned to the top.

    Guess that’s enough for now :)

  59. Android version don’t work very well at all.
    Takes ages to load and text is all over the place,lost of reply on comments go off the screen and can’t be read.

    Also, clicking on the comments button on the homepage takes you to the post below rather than the comments of the post you want.

  62. The layout looks nice, but it is scrolling very slow in comparison to the old layot (34 MBit/s synchronous internet connection, Linux 64bit, Firefox 20.0 – okay not the newest version).

  64. Chrome on mobile works fine. No issues with white menu bars etc.
    There is an odd grey space off to the side (right hand side) which appears to have no purpose, however comment threads expand into there – and get very thin, very quickly.

    • Oh and on the front page, the Posted On text is above the title instead of under it as in the articles themselves.
      This leads to ending up in the comments section of the previous article (used to having comments link at bottom instead of top – like having it right under title though)

  65. Overall I think it was time for a new layout. Generally I like the modern, simplistic design, although it unfortunately does look like form dominates content. Other way round would be better for this blog imho, since content is really what people are here for.

    I like the new position of posting time and comments besides the article. Also the general more modern feel of the page (i.e. following navbar) is great.

    However there are a few points of annoyance and could- or maybe even should-be-betters:

    1. the top navigation bar is just WAY too wide. In every case. When I’m scrolled to the top it should be at max be like 2/3 from what it is now and when scrolled down it should be slim, only just wider than the letters. Also the black thin bar above could be thinner IMHO, but i won’t nail you down on that one ;).

    2. WHERE AM I? -> no headline :( I think for the record is a valuable name within the wot-community and you should present it in some way on your page.
    maybe put it within a black bar above the upper navigation bar, because it feels like something belongs there anyway.

    3. the reading width is too narrow. Please make it like 10 – 20 % wider and save some white space on the sides.

    4. overall the warm colors of the old theme were very welcoming and eye-friendly for reading. It’s a pretty cold now and sort of generic as in not as distinguishable from random other blogs with modern themes. Maybe there’s a chance for a slight overhaul regarding the colors of the new page?
    Maybe even just tinting it in a yellowish or beige way here and the (or overall?) to lean on to the historical design :).

    That’s it for now.

    Bugs I did not see any critical on my desktop PC, but the mobile layout is sort of broken, text everywhere in the comments and imho too space wasting. Would be nice if the mobile layout would be more space efficient.

  71. I don’t like the new layout, too crowded for me, but this is just my taste…

    BUT:

    88MEDIA ????

    please one up with an really good explanation about this STUPID NAZI NAME !!!!!

    sry for cap, but…

  72. Maybe this new design looks more modern and simple, but i think that its step back. Its too simple, that is problem to navigate through pages and comments, and also that White color is so painful for eyes, especialy in night.

  73. Everything is spread around randomly like a gigantic pile of garbage… Also the new look is SO MUCH like the Battlelog website of EA.

    Not a creative website style, that’s for sure.

    Let me try a little more for bugs…

  74. Looks good :) Needs a bit getting used too, but thats just a matter of time :) Thou there are some formatting errors that need to be sorted out

  75. First impressions arent bad. The actual oposite, but why changing something that was working good in all web browsers and ppl got used to it.. Other then that I kinda like the layout and how simple it looks in these grey tones. Ppl need to get used to new stuff so some ppl complaining is normal.

    • Some additional notes:
      1. tags seem to not work propperly
      2. the top white bar is to wide
      3. to much space wasted by the empty white areas on the sides. Make it wider to make more space for the comment text and content
      4. overall quite cold apearance
      5. for my taste the text is to grey(ish)

      PS: some ppl might have already mentioned my points since I havent red everything.

  76. Sorry,

    But the old one was much better, to much white it really hurts the eyes, and ftr looks really ugly on an iPad now almost unreadable.

    Usability has gone downhill :(

  77. If it hasn’t been brought up yet: Fire/Waterfox users can get the ColorThatSite! extension, lets you screw with the colors of just about any page or entire site. I use it for here (it actually works better on the new style than it did on the old, woo), Google, Youtube, lparchive, etc etc because I like to browse at nighttime with the lights off and default white is eye-searing.

    As for the new style itself, I actually like it. Gotta agree with some of the posts above though, just like in the old style, there’s way too much wasted space with everything bunched up in the middle…let things span more~

    Also, paragraph breaks please D:

  78. 1. who chose the colors??? they are ugly.
    2. Where are the “next” and “previous” article buttons?
    3. why does the top bar keep following me and eat’s a part of the screen?
    4. Where is FTR banner?

    To sum up: new layout is just a bad shadow of the old one. Pls, get the old one back. And I do not car eols layout might be “old” or “outdated”. It was damn usefull!

  80. Links at the top (HOME to CONTRIBUTORS) drop below the top white strip in IE11′ seems ok in Chrome. The old one suited the era that we are talking about more than this one.

      • YAY, thank the gods.
        I know people always fight any change but that really wasn’t nice, VERY narrow and the replies slowly disappeared up their own backsides.
        The pure white was hard on the eyes and well….just not pleasant really.

  83. I cant see the new theme atm….
    Did you remove it or something.
    Yesterday at around 23:00 i was able to see the new theme which looked prety fancy, Everything was animated and it looked cool. But there was a lot of bugs (like the one with SerB’s pictures and comments)

  88. I have the same problem with both graphics: white background. It’s hard to read from it, especially at night.
    PC screens are not paper! why are people still using bright white backgrounds in 2014? :(

  90. I love the old one! I relax my eyes on the old one at least a couple of times a day.
    I know for sure that the new one would make me visit the site less – sorry, I appreciate the effort but please leave as is for now.

    Best,

  92. I dont mind the new skin! But please dont owerlead the page with useless javascripts! For example the top menu had the arrow that follows on wich menu you “aim” with your cursor! Those java scrips do not add anything, just consume computing power and are anoying!
    Because I have simulteniously 20 + diffirent tabs open on chrome, those javascripts start to lag! Please keep this in mind!

    + The yellow/brown collor is way more relaxing for eyes! The white/black screen strained my eyes too much! And it was tireing to read.

  93. Wohoo, I can read it again! Was really shocked this morning with the new theme as it was basically unreadable for me (1400×1050 resolution on Firefox with javascript turned off). There was a window of about 20% of my screen area where stuff could be seen. -_-

    I’m really curious though Silentstalker, whats the reason that you want a different layout for? Is there some functionality missing?

    Because from my perspective as a regular reader (I just registered today to comment on this) I don’t see any reason to change the current, old layout.

    It has some big advantages for me:

    Its fast and lightweight for mobile (works perfectly on my Ipad when I’m on the train). Its easy to read and very straightforward to navigate. It looks unique enough to easily identifiy when browsing through all my open tabs.

  94. The current graphical layout are just fine in my opinion, maybe change the background wallpaper but otherwise its just fine, maybe add a feature where comments compressed to 20 or 50 comments a page and you need to expand the list to view more of them kind of like the feature that exists on YouTube.

  97. While it had a nice, modern look to it, the ‘new style’ had a major flaw with it: you couldn’t edit posts.

  98. It’s refreshing to see a new layout. I can’t say for now if I like it or not, but there was something off in the color, maybe the contrast or brightness, can’t tell for now. Maybe people will get used to it after a while, like the 1st time I visit this blog and says the color of the blog looks like an oldie, but got used to it loved it after a while.

  99. I like this old layout much more. It’s just perfect for this blog, and I don’t see any reasons to change it.