Werkspace 2.0

[Josh]

I tend to prefer the softer gentler bar:

[Thomas]

I tend to prefer the softer gentler bar

I like it

But now this 'Forum' label is a thorn in my eye.

Do we need it? Would it be possible to remove that?

[Josh]

Two more:

 

 

Without the "Forum" title, the light bars kind of stack up and it looks confusing.

 

The darker bar is kind of ugly, but does a better job of drawing your eye to the main content. Now I understand why Apple's pages put the breadcrumb bar on the bottom.

[Rick]

Just curious, and I'm not saying your designs are bad, but didn't you make a blog post once about letting experts do their thing. Just thinking you should have your designer expert give you multiple ideas like this and you pick and make slight changes instead of the other way around.

[knocks]

It can be teal and hot pink for all i care, as long as view new content remains.

[Josh]

Just curious, and I'm not saying your designs are bad, but didn't you make a blog post once about letting experts do their thing. Just thinking you should have your designer expert give you multiple ideas like this and you pick and make slight changes instead of the other way around.

Well, you saw what I got so far. I have to give feedback, and I don't know how to do that except draw a picture and give them an idea of the style for the whole site.

 

It can be teal and hot pink for all i care, as long as view new content remains.

It's the image icon on the top-right.

[Thomas]

Well, you saw what I got so far. I have to give feedback, and I don't know how to do that except draw a picture and give them an idea of the style for the whole site.

 

This won't end in the best result. It's far better to give feedback to certain things as text, instead of pressing the designer's creativity in a template (more or less).

[Josh]

You may be right. I tried to phrase it like I was just experimenting with ideas, and nothing was set in stone yet.

 

On the other hand, the concept I made has a really well defined theme and mood. Maybe having that theme defined will give the designer lots of ideas for the whole site. When I look at it, I feel like it actually has a definite theme, and the original image looks confused in comparison.

 

This is what we started with this morning:

 

And this is what I sent back to him:

 

I'll let you guys know how he responds. I did get some good feedback from the community today, too. Lazlo was bugging me about the Facebook, register, and sign-in icons, and that gave me the idea to move those links into the right side of the menu bar, and get rid of the transparent bar in the header image altogether. That and the "View New Content" icon in the upper-right are my favorite detail so far.

[L B]

Here's some attempt. Ignore the ugly header. Josh said this is too far from the IPB code so not viable, but I still like it. I wish Werkspace looked this clean.

[Scott Richmond]

My feedback:

1. Best concept so far is the one you've sent in. I like it.

 

2. I really dislike the 'Forum' word. I understand the reasoning behind trying to cut up all those bars but for me it just introduces redundant space in the form of a long invisible bar. Solution? I would recommend seeing how the site looks if you lift "IPB Forum Skins" tree directory bar up into the banner as a replacement for that flat semi transparent bar we have now. Give it the same dark color as the header and hopefully the effect you get is a good distinction between the 'website navigation' (dark/black) and 'website content' (light grey). It should cut up the website nicely without too many bars.

[Josh]

2. I really dislike the 'Forum' word. I understand the reasoning behind trying to cut up all those bars but for me it just introduces redundant space in the form of a long invisible bar. Solution? I would recommend seeing how the site looks if you lift "IPB Forum Skins" tree directory bar up into the banner as a replacement for that flat semi transparent bar we have now. Give it the same dark color as the header and hopefully the effect you get is a good distinction between the 'website navigation' (dark/black) and 'website content' (light grey). It should cut up the website nicely without too many bars.

I actually had that same idea. Here's a try at it:

 

 

 

 

[Scott Richmond]

Ah I like that much better! It segments the website perfectly in my opinion.

Its hard to say which design is best of the 4. Probably the last that places the solid black bar outside of the banner to keep it consistent with the header.

 

This idea just came in and I haven't thought about it fully yet: What if you overlayed the entire black bar and header on top of the banner? mmm actually probably a bad idea. Nevermind.

 

Here's another one: Take the last of the 4 designs you have there, and additionally add the 'Forum' text on top of the banner area, possibly in bold white with a black shadow. Could give the banner space something to live for and also let the user know where they are. Its really a minor detail though and I'm not sold on it myself. Just saying.

The tree directory bar tells you where you are.

[VicToMeyeZR]

Here's some attempt.

 

 

I like this idea the best.

[Josh]

[Scott Richmond]

Perfect! I'd only add now that the last remaining thing is functionality. Are you looking at any functionality changes as part of this work?

[Josh]

Yeah, I like it quite a bit, too.

 

Functionality of the site is mostly the same. I'm upgrading to the latest IPB, but there's not any programming work to do.

[Scott Richmond]

Good enough I suppose. Personally, I'd like to see the following:

1. Code tag integration for the main languages plus LE3D syntax highlighting.

2. Reconfiguration of the forums - I'm all for the 1 programming forum with thread tags. You've clearly had quite enough discussion on this though.

3. Online version of the LE3D manual to link to, for people asking for advice.

[Josh]

1. That's actually likely to be possible, since I think that code highlighter everyone uses...whatever it was called...supports all three.

2. I can't rewrite IPB functionality. Even if I could hire someone to write and maintain it, I wouldn't because we would be branching from IPB.

3. I talked about this in a recent blog.

[Scott Richmond]

1. That's actually likely to be possible, since I think that code highlighter everyone uses...whatever it was called...supports all three.

2. I can't rewrite IPB functionality. Even if I could hire someone to write and maintain it, I wouldn't because we would be branching from IPB.

3. I talked about this in a recent blog.

Thread tagging is part of IPB - I think I linked to the official documentation when I mentioned it in 'the thread'.

 

Regarding the documentation blog, i wasn't sure whether you were going to provide an online version that is linkable.

 

Other than those, I can't think of much else that the site needs. Really, all in all, you've done an amazing job at fostering a community.

[Scott Richmond]

I just had a thought: Something I find difficult with LE is syndication of official news/blog posts. Take for example UDK - I get an email each month of the latest version of UDK with pictures and lists of changes, as well as changes to the documentation including new tutorials - Its actually quite nice. The only missing part is that I feel no connection with the dev team. For LE I get nothing. For LE I have to check G+ for your personal updates, or manually check 'Latest Content'/Blog for new information.

This is generally fine, but I think you could do more to market meaningful updates:

1. Do more in G+ for those of us that subscribe to you - Link your blogs.

2. Add 'status updates' for each of your blog posts so it appears on the Forum front page.

3. You'd be surprised at the amount of people interested in the inner workings of hardcore development such as video game engines. Obviously you need to plan your time carefully, but I'd just like to let you know that there is an audience of people who'd probably buy your engine based purely on cool blog posts about cool technology you're developing. Whether its worth your time is another thing, but just saying.

[VicToMeyeZR]

^^ +1, and I am sure almost anyone here that is experienced would be willing to write them for you also.

[Josh]

I just had a thought: Something I find difficult with LE is syndication of official news/blog posts. Take for example UDK - I get an email each month of the latest version of UDK with pictures and lists of changes, as well as changes to the documentation including new tutorials - Its actually quite nice.

I don't have the money at this time to do this. After the release of Leadwerks3D, that may be possible.

 

^^ +1, and I am sure almost anyone here that is experienced would be willing to write them for you also.

The community has done lots of great stuff, but when the company commits to providing something, there has to be accountability. An employee has to do this.

 

These kind of requests are actually good. The plan is to raise cash with the Leadwerks3D release and then carefully expand the company and decide what additional services and benefits we should offer. I worry more about finding the right people to hire than having the money to pay them, since the first few employees are really critical. Aria's doing a really good job with the stuff he specializes in, which is compilers and operating systems...my biggest weak point.

[VicToMeyeZR]

Well if you ever need help with CDN distribution and emailing bandwidth. let me know. We can work something out with you...

[Scott Richmond]

Likewise. Really you shouldn't have to commit too much effort or money to at least grab the low hanging fruit. Simply remembering to publish your blog posts to various places would be a great start.

[gamecreator]

Bonus points if you can put the login directly on the "An Error Occurred" page.