Mahz's Dev Journal

[Captain Jordan]

<Snipped quote by LegendBegins> Thanks, I see what you're talking about -- the pagination and the userbar are wrapping in that shot. I'll play with some fixes right now. Didn't even think of usernames longer than "Mahz". Four-letter name privilege.

@Mahz

Maybe we should implement a 5-letter username minimum length. ;)

[Mahz]

@LegendBegins Alright, think I fixed the userbar-wrapping issue by just displaying "You" instead of username for now. Does it still wrap for you now?

[Mahz]

@LegendBegins: Just shrunk the pagination buttons.

[Mahz]

Mobile changes are great. Functions much better, despite what some people might say. Yes, everything is bigger and it takes more scrolling to see a whole thread, but that's for the best (because goddamn buttons were small before).

@Hank

Would it help if, when viewing a topic, there were buttons (next to the Top/Bottom buttons) that quickly jump to previous/next post?

[Mahz]

Text is easily three-four times the size I normally have it on mobile version

@Shienvien

This is blowing my mind. So you're saying that every post on the guild now has massive text and there's nothing you can do about it? Can you even zoom it? Is it possible for you to take a screenshot?

[Shienvien]

@Mahz: Mobile version only. Desktop looks OK. I could zoom mobile version in, but I could not zoom out any farther than it started me out with. If I remember to, I'll check whether the anomaly is still there tomorrow and see whether I can screenshot it.

[Mahz]

@Mahz: Mobile version only. Desktop looks OK. I could zoom mobile version in, but I could not zoom out any farther than it started me out with. If I remember to, I'll check whether the anomaly is still there tomorrow and see whether I can screenshot it.

@Shienvien

Cool. I'm trying to figure out how I can add a button somewhere that lets you toggle between the two polar device-width and fully zoomed-out scales. I think being able to easily toggle this will offer best of both worlds to mobile users as the desktop-scale is more reliable. As usual, my job here is never done. Like most things on the Guild, the experience will get better over time as I kinda chip away at it all. I'll be using the Guild via my iPhone as much as possible to try and smooth things out.

[Captain Jordan]

<Snipped quote by Shienvien> Cool. I'm trying to figure out how I can add a button somewhere that lets you toggle between the two polar device-width and fully zoomed-out scales. I think being able to easily toggle this will offer best of both worlds to mobile users as the desktop-scale is more reliable. As usual, my job here is never done. Like most things on the Guild, the experience will get better over time as I kinda chip away at it all. I'll be using the Guild via my iPhone as much as possible to try and smooth things out.

@Mahz

Typical button placement for that kind of functionality is at the bottom of the page.

[Captain Jordan]

@LegendBegins Alright, think I fixed the userbar-wrapping issue by just displaying "You" instead of username for now. Does it still wrap for you now?

@Mahz

This is kind of bugging me now. I got so used to seeing my username up there, now it kind of feels like I have no identity.

[BBeast]

<Snipped quote by Mahz> This is kind of bugging me now. I got so used to seeing my username up there, now it kind of feels like I have no identity.

@Captain Jordan

Maybe only got to "You" if the screen size is too small?

@LegendBegins: Just shrunk the pagination buttons.

@Mahz

But they look ugly now. I like the rounded buttons.

Second, I managed to find the full-screen button while editing a post. When exiting fullscreen, however, I discovered that the body of that post had realigned to the center, shoving the avatar section aside. I reproduced it just to make sure it was not the resizing- it wasn't, just the fullscreen.

@BBeast

There's still this misalignment issue, on the PC version no less. Encountered by editing a post, going to fullscreen, then back again.

[Mahz]

Now that I'm home, I got to try the Guild on my iPhone (I almost never use my smartphone for web surfing). My thoughts: - The homepage is a hellish experience on a small device because of all the scrolling. Having to scroll the entirety of the Roleplaying category just to go between News and Off-Topic makes me feel like Odysseus trying to return home. - At the very least, I need to let users collapse/expand each category and then make the browser remember it. - I can't wait for the roleplaying/interest-check forums to be obsoleted by the tag system. Instead clicking/scrolling for eternity just to check out Nation RP checks, I should be able to land on the homepage, click "All Checks", and click once more to apply the "Nation" tag filter. No scrolling. Then uncheck "Nation" and check the "1x1" filter when I want to look for 1x1 checks. - Safari on iOS feels like Internet Explorer 5 in 2015. Can't even click the lil green top/bottom buttons in landscape mode (until I put a 20px margin between them and the edge of the screen). And in portrait mode, clicking the buttons open up Safari's status bar, so I have to click the green button again to let Safari know I indeed was interacting with the website I'm on. Feels like Clippy the Paperclip interrupting me. - I need to fit more forums on screen. There's just too much padding between elements. If a forum has a subforum, it's pretty much doubled in height. - I also need to auto-collapse the Who's-Online/Stats box. Mobile users can expand it if they ever want to make the page 2000px taller. - There need to be left/right buttons next to the top/bottom buttons for going to prev/next post. Then I stopped and decided to start working on addressing these issues.

[The Slenderman]

What about Console Users.

[Mahz]

There's still this misalignment issue, on the PC version no less. Encountered by editing a post, going to fullscreen, then back again.

@BBeast

I can't reproduce the issue on my end, but let's consider the fullscreen-editor an unsupported feature.

[Mahz]

What about Console Users.

@The Slenderman

I don't know. What issues have you been experiencing since today's changes? You told me that yesterday hiders stopped working for you. I'm looking into that. Anything else? What do I need to do? You need to help me help you.

[Captain Jordan]

Now that I'm home, I got to try the Guild on my iPhone (I almost never use my smartphone for web surfing). My thoughts: - The homepage is a hellish experience on a small device because of all the scrolling. Having to scroll the entirety of the Roleplaying category just to go between News and Off-Topic makes me feel like Odysseus trying to return home.

@Mahz

But the siren song is so beautiful. The RPs, they call to you!

- At the very least, I need to let users collapse/expand each category and then make the browser remember it.

@Mahz

This should probably happen on desktop, too. I'm sure there are a few people who would collapse the Off-Topic section if they could.

- Safari on iOS feels like Internet Explorer 5 in 2015. Can't even click the lil green top/bottom buttons in landscape mode (until I put a 20px margin between them and the edge of the screen). And in portrait mode, clicking the buttons open up Safari's status bar, so I have to click the green button again to let Safari know I indeed was interacting with the website I'm on. Feels like Clippy the Paperclip interrupting me.

@Mahz

Safari on iOS is just pure shit. I'm sorry to the iPhone users out there, but it is. At least on Mac, users have a choice of browser. I feel equally sorry for those folks actually using Internet Explorer on Windows Phone. I hear tell it's not awful, but still, it's IE. The web is no longer designed for IE, and Microsoft has a bad habit of ignoring the standards that don't suit them. /rant

- I need to fit more forums on screen. There's just too much padding between elements. If a forum has a subforum, it's pretty much doubled in height. Awful.

@Mahz

Eh, just don't crowd it too much. The fun part about modern smartphones is kinetic scrolling, which means I can usually fly past the parts I don't want to see. Eventually, my finger learns how fast to fling the page to land where I want, and then it's all muscle memory from there. Crowding the page will just introduce more link-clicking problems. You could make the link area larger, but that would probably also impact the desktop theme too much (for a while, phpBB had this thing where you could click most anywhere on a row to get into a board/topic, and it made for misclick hell!).

- I also need to auto-collapse the Who's-Online/Stats box. Mobile users can expand it if they ever want to make the page 2000px taller.

@Mahz

Is that so necessary for something that only takes up space at the bottom? What's below the Who's Online box that is so important on mobile?

Then I stopped and decided to start working on addressing these issues.

@Mahz

*cracks the whip*

[Mahz]

Latest push: - You can now collapse/expand categories. When you collapse a category, it's saved in a browser cookie (Your browser will remember your settings). - Who's Online list is now collapsed. You can click "View All" to expand it. - The userbar replaces your username with "You" only if you're on a small device (to prevent long usernames from making it wrap).

Is that so necessary for something that only takes up space at the bottom? What's below the Who's Online box that is so important on mobile?

@Captain Jordan

Only an issue because of the new "Go to Bottom" button. You shouldn't have to back-track across the Who's Online list.

Safari on iOS is just pure shit. I'm sorry to the iPhone users out there, but it is. At least on Mac, users have a choice of browser.

@Captain Jordan

These days you can install Chrome and Firefox on iOS. I just made the mistake of loading the site in Safari first. Breath of sanity when I loaded it in Chrome.

[Midori]

I'm not sure if I should be posting this here but I just wanted to say that I'm really impressed with all the work that's gone into this site. It makes me happy to know that we have such a dedicated architect creating this refuge for all of us roleplayers out there. Keep up the good work Mahz we all love you for it. Edit: Maybe that should be a new section? Something like "Letters to Mahz" where all of us can write nice things and you can look at them whenever you're feeling blue!

[Ellri]

Something about those shiny new "Go -->" buttons strikes us wrongly. Its nice to have something that is easier to hit than the old single-character button, but something feels off now. maybe its the lack of yellow(ish) coloring, or maybe its the word "go" in there. Not sure, but maybe it'd look better with that old link symbol you had plus an arrow inside one of those gray boxes? Oh, and one other (also minor thing) that we've been annoyed by for a while... RP topics. Character sheet tab. Tab title. It uses the abbreviation [CHAR], when most abbreviate character sheets to [CS]. Is it an option to change that? And if it won't clutter too much... Would it be possible for RPs with the [NRP] tag (or in the NRP section) to have that tab renamed to [NS]/[Nation Sheets]? Or would that be more work to accomplish than its worth?

[Mahz]

Something about those shiny new "Go -->" buttons strikes us wrongly. Its nice to have something that is easier to hit than the old single-character button, but something feels off now. maybe its the lack of yellow(ish) coloring, or maybe its the word "go" in there. Not sure, but maybe it'd look better with that old link symbol you had plus an arrow inside one of those gray boxes?

@Ellri

I've run across enough people confused about "chain arrow" to realize it's just not a good analogy. But like you, nothing really came to mind. Hence, "Go". Maybe you're right or just even an arrow will do.

Oh, and one other (also minor thing) that we've been annoyed by for a while... RP topics. Character sheet tab. Tab title. It uses the abbreviation [CHAR], when most abbreviate character sheets to [CS]. Is it an option to change that?

@Ellri

Sure.

And if it won't clutter too much... Would it be possible for RPs with the [NRP] tag (or in the NRP section) to have that tab renamed to [NS]/[Nation Sheets]? Or would that be more work to accomplish than its worth?

@Ellri

Maybe we could get more general and allow GMs to give each tab a custom title if they'd like. [IC] My Title, [OOC], [CS] Nations Just not sure where I'd display them on mobile device-widths.

[Captain Jordan]

Oh, and one other (also minor thing) that we've been annoyed by for a while... RP topics. Character sheet tab. Tab title. It uses the abbreviation [CHAR], when most abbreviate character sheets to [CS]. Is it an option to change that? And if it won't clutter too much... Would it be possible for RPs with the [NRP] tag (or in the NRP section) to have that tab renamed to [NS]/[Nation Sheets]? Or would that be more work to accomplish than its worth?

@Ellri

Until I came to RPG, I never called the character's description a sheet, and I've been in the RP world for 12+ years now. CHAR is an abbreviation for something that all roleplayers know, a character. The character description has many names. Character sheet, bio(graphy), app(lication), design, blueprint, etc. A newbie to RPG may never have heard the term CS before, so it would be completely un-intuitive what that tab was for. Keep it as CHAR.