No matter how comfortable an old pair of shoes may be, sometimes we have to admit that they need to get tossed out because they're old, full of holes, scuffed up, and completely unstylish. Not to mention stinky.

I know that many of you like the look that this site has had for the past four years, and you've grown accustomed to it, like a pair of old comfortable shoes, but tonight I am installing a new look and feel for totse.com.

All of the pages are still here: Drugs, Bad Ideas, Ego and the rest still exist, but their look has changed and the site navigation has been modified. Instead of having 24 navigation buttons in the left-hand column, there are now only a few.

Trying to pick top-level category names was probably the hardest part of this change. I played around with various ideas for page taxonomy, and finally settled on About, Self, Community, Society, Technology, and Fringe. Under those categories you can find everything interesting about practically anything, as well as the usual assortment of lies, half-truths, and amazing factual data.

The main thing I wanted to accomplish with the new design was to speed up page loading time. The new page look has 1/5th of the graphic content that the old pages had. That means that the new pages should load about 5 times faster than the old pages. People with slow Internet connections can commence rejoycing now.

The other thing I wanted to accomplish was to increase the page color contrast for the articles. Cyan text on a black background may look cool, but it's hard to read after about an hour or so. The new design uses black text on a white background. Maybe not as hacker-chic as cyan on black, but you'll be able to read articles without going blind.

Finally, I just wanted a new look. When I first set up this site I promised myself that I'd update the design every 2 years. The current design has been up for four years, twice what I'd planned on, and it was due for an overhaul.

Welcome to the new totse. It's the same as the old totse, it just looks different.

I actually like it. I do not really care for the colors though.

Not bad. The layout, that is. The color scheme has made the forums nearly unbearable, though. I assume you've got further plans for that. The big logo at the top is far too Geocities-ish. The edges look rough and it just seems to be sub-Bombshock in quality...

Eh. I dunno if this is shared sentiment, but cyan on white is crap, and so is yellow on white.

i agree with change

but only when change is for the better

and so far i prefer the old site but its still in its early workings as i see

so good luck

yah i like the new design except fot the color scheme. but you must be working on this right? i hope so cuz its not goin over to well.

Dude, it sucks!

Change it back, for the love of god!

Uh, guys? It takes a little while for all of the changes to write out to the disk.

Give it a couple of minutes for everything to finish loading.

Any plans on changing board software? As for the new look, I think it's good but will take some getting used to.

It's alright, the old back ground doesn't seem to fit for some reason... but if your still working I'm sure I'll enjoy the finished product.

yes je... I mean root perhaps change the board software, (think PMing on totse)

i miss the old read, know, do and i also think that the white background on the forums is way to bright and straining on the eyes.

If what im seeing is the finished product, sorry root but it sucks.

It looks like wierdpier.com

The page layout is ok but the colors look like graffiti on the walls of a psychiatric hospital.

Whats with the writeing changeing size?

The buttons are better and that greenish colour fourms are getting nicer...I just hate that white

I'll admit i like some of it, but really my first thought was... have oyu lost your mind?!

The colors are going to take me forever to get used to. But i'll be one of the ones screaming for you to put it back in another 2 years, i bet.

http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif)

keep it up http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif)

good work, always be a wild card.

one thing that probably should be changed is that the location under handles and the post count font should definitley be reduced. look at the second page of the food mod thread to see how it stretches out the page.

Root, how could i contact you? I am making a logo for totse.com with this new color scheme, and i was wondering if you would consider it.

Nice! I'd like to see one change on the main navbar -- move the articles to the top or bottom, and have tabs with different features appear in different colors. For example, make all the articles blue, and everything else green. Something like that. It's one of the basic priniciples of design.

the big orange-red totse title really doesn't look good...

can't the tabs on the side be a little smaller?

also the background don't really mix well with the new colour scheme...make the page looks like a clipboard with bits and pieces stick on them...

but other than that...it's nice and fresh

I definately like the new look. You couldn't help but keep the old background though..But alot more tidy and functional imo.

The light blue is a lot better than the green you had moments before, and even better than the dark blue. You still have one problem. The wierd background, aka http://www.totse.com/bbs/back_main.jpg. It doesn't match the layout at all, which is annoying. I'm sorry that I don't have any suggestions for alternatives, but perhaps someone else can think of a substitute.

Too bright. But professional-looking, sort of.

...and the logo looks like spaghetti-o's

As so many others have stated, it is strange. I am sure that I would enjoy it if I had no comparison (such as the old totse). It isn't bad. It will be good, after a while.

I just find it amusing that a website that contains the things that totse does can look so happy and fresh. I must admit to liking the darkness of the last design, although the new one is nice.

If you're taking suggestions, though, I will say that I did like the subject heading things down the side (ex. fringe, hacking, bad ideas, etc.) and although some are still there, they aren't as easily accesible.

Your right, sometimes you do need to change. Now I think it is time for another change. To change back to the original.

i dont like it too much. too...bright? the logo could use a change..and the backround. where the post counts are, the font to is too big too. i dont know, it'll take me sometime to get use to

I loved the old style. The new one is just OK I guess.

Edit: I like it less and less by the moment. I liked the old look better. I think the white has gotta go, and I hate the grey.

[This message has been edited by confuzious (edited 02-18-2003).]

Besides the in your face color scheme

The user information looks odd as the garbage we write in where we are from, post count and even registered date is larger then our user name or status

<--- Shouldn't our user name and status be larger and more bold then our registered date?

Edit: Look how Static Firefly's posts look with the enlarged user details ...Here... (http://www.totse.com/bbs/Forum1/HTML/000021-2.html)





[This message has been edited by bangbangbooty (edited 02-18-2003).]

Try a plain background, and for the love of god please get rid of all this brite whiteness. It burns man, it burns.

Well, the new layout's probably already done, but the one suggestion I have is to somehow make it easier to find the forum (like spurious, food, etc.) you want faster. It gets a bit annoying having to scroll down searching for it. Like perhaps you could have a bunch of really small links at the top or something?

quote:Originally posted by corruption:

Well, the new layout's probably already done, but the one suggestion I have is to somehow make it easier to find the forum (like spurious, food, etc.) you want faster. It gets a bit annoying having to scroll down searching for it. Like perhaps you could have a bunch of really small links at the top or something?

Look down..See Hop To:

Personally, I invite the change. I don't care much what the board looks like, it is the content that really matters. As long as totse still has the stuff and people I was visiting the site for before, I will not complain.

Keep up the effort Enigma, it can't be easy jugling this whole totse thing along with the other things that come with a real life.

I think the new design will take a lot of getting used to, but less if the colours change, eg when you click a link inbetween the page loading you gat a bright white screen which is extremely ahhhh, and i dont like the white and grey, - im going to have to move my comp now due to the sun reflecting with too much ease on the white. I also think a reduced main logo would be good. anyway- good luck

I think I like the old one better, though. Seemed less "slick", more comfortable, and it didn't look too bright like the new one. Ah well. All things change.

peace out.

sph3ric pyramid.

The more I use it (the new-look totse) the better I like it. I can't look at the neon logo too long, though, my eyes get all weird on me.

wow, this was a shock. i didnt expect to see something so friendly looking.

i think the old color scheme was easier on the eyes [brightness wise]. but i like the reduced menu and the easy readability of text, and you kept the old background, i love that background.

Good Work.

but whats with the fonts changing size?

[This message has been edited by XIPHER (edited 02-18-2003).]

The fonts need to be fixed. Anything after the first paragraph is too large. As is the user info.

For the love of god, bring back the blue. I think the blue is easier on the eyse, perfect for those of us who spend lots of time here. Not to mention it would look better with the new buttons on the side.

I use dialup, and have never had much problem with page loading, although this did load a hell of a lot faster.

As long as the site is being overhauld how about some new UBB codes? I can't count the number of times I found myself wanting superscript and subscript.

All in all I liked the old one better, but this does have potental.

i like the change, it makes things alot neater, but it would be nice to tone down the backround colour a few shades. it is too bright to read for hours on end. keep the colour, just make it a bit darker.

(and also the user info font size needs to be addressed)

just out of intrest, are any suggestions going to be noticed or should we all give up now?

Its not bad.. I like the mechanics of the site better but like others have said, there are three main things that are irking me:

1) the logo.. just dosen't seem to fit, for some reson.

2) the colors of the background... its not bad, but is there any way you could fit it a bit better with the jade-ish teal-ish scheme you've got going?

3) the avatar text... its too big. you knew this, though, i'm sure.

Overall, looks good!

Change is good, only an idiot stays in the same place forever. You take what you have got and move on, doubling up on what you had before. Totse in a way is at a good place in its history at the moment, there are more active members now than ever before, and the community is in pretty good shape so it I important that Totse doesn’t fall behind and become the old number one information site. A new layout along with the possibility of a new forum on the way can only be good news for Totse’s future. The admin obviously knows that adding more images etc will cost them money, a lot looking at Totse’s traffic so the layout they have done bearing this in mind is very generous. Remember though in the end Totse is intended to be a functional site not necessary look all that nice, people come here for the information and community not to see a greatly designed site although I did with time begin to see how well designed the old Totse site was as I may with this one. The layout from a design point of view offered numerous benefits especially in generating traffic and giving Totse a good search engine position, which is something I hope to mirror in my new site.

In general I think the layout looks more professional now.

its very....bright...

quote:Originally posted by confuzious:

I loved the old style. The new one is just OK I guess.

Edit: I like it less and less by the moment. I liked the old look better. I think the white has gotta go, and I hate the grey.

[This message has been edited by confuzious (edited 02-18-2003).]



quote:Your right, sometimes you do need to change. Now I think it is time for another change. To change back to the original.



I agree with you two. I loved the blue. This white and grey with the dark blue background is giving me a headache. If in 2 years you change it back to the way it was let me know.

i like the new design a lot

however, the post reply and post new topic buttons are an annoying color.

SJ

If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

I don't understand why sites change their proven appearance. I think the site looked a LOT better before the change.

But then again what do I know?

Mr. Enigma, I have one little request. Could you make the font size in the right hand coloum (posts, from, registered,...) a little smaller. It's kind of too big...

Oh yeah, one more thing. Why does the first alinea of my post have smaller fonts than the rest of my post? Anyway, fonts are a little too big. Other than that, it's okay.

Example...

I must say I am getting used to the change. I liked the old format better but this is growing on me .

The new colours and lay-out of the board itself aren't that bad at all, but the lay-out of the entire site kind of sucks. It's to much of a hassle to find what I need. And to be honest, i really liked the old style. Though this site is indeed much faster.

My first reaction:

Oh wow, this really sucks.

Taking a second look:

This could work once I get used to it and some colors/bgs are changed, but the old design was great.

Even once I get used to these new sneakers, the old sneakers can still kick the new sneakers' ass. Oh well.

Totse is still the best.

In my humble opinion though, the background needs to be changed, and the TOTSE.COM logo is really hurting.

--Jake

Graffiti of the Genius (http://iq.filetap.com)

Well...I was surprised..had to make sure I was in the right place...at first......but--I must say it's a refreshing change!!! Good Job!!!

i coulnd't see the fonts b4!

Now that the font sizes have changed, the UBB template has "the paragraph problem." (This was fixed in UBB 6.)

Make the fonts on your browser larger and smaller, and notice how the first paragraph's text size isn't changing. This looks okay in IE, but looks screwy in Mozilla and Opera.

Black text on white background was a good move, and is appreciated. The border imagery is now hip and slick as well.

btw, "This site's subscription to SpellChecker.net has expired. The webmaster for this site can renew their subscription by visiting www.SpellChecker.net (http://www.SpellChecker.net)

The reasons I do not like the new layout.

A) The colors are to bright, and the background is dark. They dont mix very well, and it makes everything look ugly.

B)The text is too big.

C) Not ENOUGH buttons. I liked it better when there were 20 or so buttons. It's kind of confusing because I cannot find what I am looking for some times.

But it is not my site. It just seems to me not very many people like the new layout. I think you should have a vote, whether to have the new layout or the old layout.

I can't stand the new layout. I don't know how much longer I can keep looking at it, the colors hurt my eyes.

The logo at the top is annoying and clumsy, and the menu on the side looks too empty. But the main problem is the colors.

I'm not noticing an increase in load time, either. And even if there was one, it's not worth this new design. Change it back!

root, have you ever considered maybe going with a portal? You could mod it to your liking, and have different skins availible for the people that are bitching about the new layout.

I, for one, love the new layout. The colors are a good change from that horrid blue. I think you should drop the old background though.

Correct way to view the blinding whiteness ----> http://www.totse.com/bbs/cool.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/cool.gif)

Thanks for the constructive comments. I'll be tweaking the design, the navigation, and the colors over the next couple of weeks, and I'll take your comments into consideration as I tweak things.

quote:Originally posted by XeNobiTe:

Oh yeah, one more thing. Why does the first alinea of my post have smaller fonts than the rest of my post? Anyway, fonts are a little too big. Other than that, it's okay.

Example...

What browser are you using? I checked this page in IE6, Netscape 4.77, and Mozilla 1.3b (Windows and Linux). I don't see any difference.

As for the "Posts" and "Location" fonts being too large, it depended on how the browser interpreted CSS code. It looked screwed up in IE6, looked fine in Netscape and Mozilla. I modified the UBB code to fix the problem. Now the fonts are small in all browsers.

On this note, if something looks screwed up, it's REAL HELPFUL if you can state the browser, browser version, and operating system you're using. There are big differences in how all of them display the same, identical HTML. I spent a lot of time tweaking things so that pages look OK in any browser, but sometimes weird browser inconsistencies pop up. (As with the IE larger fonts problem I just mentioned.)

P.S. If you haven't tried browsing the web using Mozilla with the Orbit 3+1 skin, download it and give it a try. You can modify the settings to completely eliminate pop-up ads, force all cookies to die at the end of the session, and block cookies from sites other than the one you're logged into. I fire up IE and Netscape on Windows to test new designs, but I spend most of my time using Mozilla. (http://www.mozilla.org)

yeah i am glad you left the classic background.

http://www.totse.com/bbs/frown.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/frown.gif) you shoulnd't change totse that much. The backround is what set Totse to be the best BBS on the web(my opinion,becuase ive seen alot) adn if you change it it will look like all the others and suck like them.

i wont lie..

i want the old totse back, i am a simple creature, and i dont like change..

good luck with the new design, you did not build it to please me, so i hope you like it

http://web.archive.org/web/20001208062800/http://www.totse.com/index.html

I MISS THE BLUE! IT WAS SO SOOTHING.

wow, after i saw that archive link, i like the old site better. im not saying the new one is horrible, but the old was better.

at least they replaced the logo now.

SJ

good except the white is really killing it right now.

I see the paragraphs like XenaBite does.

IE6, XP

Ahhh, I like the buttons etc, but the colour scheme needs a little changing.

http://www.renderosity.com/

The green and off-ornage colour are cool and I can actually see with out sunglasses at 2 in the morning the bright colours just own my cornias. http://www.totse.com/bbs/frown.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/frown.gif) And I just realised all of this will be big lol http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/smile.gif).

Good work (y). The navigation is good, and yes change is good and all.

But the white is blinding. Another minor gripe with the white is that the "Post New Topic" and "Post Reply" buttons at the bottom do not stand out well with the white background.

At first I didn't really mind much, but after seeing the archive link I noticed I reallllllly miss the old design.

ok i was startin to get used to it but that archivelink has just made me hate the new way. sorry root but the old is just better. maybe you could try and incorporate the old colour shemes into the new design. the new design is, sorry to say it, rather cheap looking. it sorta looks like you wanted to look classier but didnt quite get it down. i think this is only because of the colours.

Switch back to the old design! When you had more buttons I actually liked it better, it made the site look like it had a lot more content.

Totse is slower than it was before for me,sorry...

to be totally honest... i totally hate it, i think putting it back to what it was would make alot of people happy

I argee it really sucks now and the colors are shit.

They dont make shoes like they used to. We should hold on to those shoes as long as possible.

Edit: This site is much much slower than it was before. Before there was no problem, Now everything takes like 10 seconds to load where as it took half a second before.

[This message has been edited by Lenin (edited 02-19-2003).]

Yeah i get that same small/big font thing. I use IE 5.5 or something...

The new look is good, faster pages are good, i just dont think the white works well with the background image.

I feel that it clashes and I just don't like this new design.

We might as well go greyscale. It'll give the site that old-school feel. If not that, then MONOCHROME ALL THE WAY!

--KP

My first impression was "WTF!!, Is this a joke?"

Then after checking my calendar realising it was not april fool i though "Oh My GOD!".

I'm all for faster pages \o/ but i even prefer the one before the last (remember?) to this new...um,one.

I think the main disheartening points are the contrast of the Background and board.

[it looks like it's been hacked by a spastic daycare centre during their lunchbreak]

[This message has been edited by XliMun(Frontalobe)~ (edited 02-19-2003).]

You know, at first, this design looked way off with that background. Now that i've seen it alot more, it looks normal. I guess it just looked weird because we were used to it with the other colors.

I love this theme about 100x more than the old one. It is just a lot more professional looking, cleaner, and more effecient.

its slower(for me),blinds you, can see anything, doesn't go well with the backround, the font is fucked up, etc....

I hate this font!!!change back our totse!

My opinion on the new design?....I'm sorry but I think that it sucks, its too damn bright and hurts my eyes when Im staring at it all night long with no lights on...for God's sake please change the backround color to a darker shade,the old format just felt so much more comfortable....this one reminds me of a computerized job application

Okay...I hardly ever post, as you can see...but I just have to post now. HOLY FUCK SHIT MY GOD!!!! For the love of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Prophet Mohammed, Buddah, and who ever else that might be able to save us, PLEASE CHANGE IT BACK!!!!! CHANGE IT BACK, CHANGE IT BACK, GOOD GOD ALLMIGHTY, CHANGE IT BACK! Totse was never professional looking....we were 'underground' dude! And now I feel like I'm in a fucking office!!!!! I loved the blue, I loved the old look, and I must have it back...lol....or I'm not going to read here anymore....lol....I guess that does sound stupid doesn't it. I really don't like this white though...it hurts my eyes!

BTW, we need to just post a link to totse.com's site under the BAD IDEAS tab...this was a reallllly baaaaaaaaaaad idea root.

[This message has been edited by MDSCIENTIST (edited 02-20-2003).]

Root, you said it. I think it looks nice, but the thing that ruins pages is the edges. The edges of everythign are rounds. Make then sharp and change the scheme to somethign that are opposites on the color wheel (ex: Red and black, Blue and red, ) Make it match the background. OTherwise it looks nice.

Roots i think you did a REALLY good job, except the colors on a few things are somewhat not fitting with everything, you should keep the other things but change the forum colors back i think that would make alot of people sort of happy.

Yeah I like how the archives look. But the forums should go back to the way they were.

ROOT PLZ PLZ CAHNGE THE SITE AGAIN OR BRING THE OLD LAYOUT BACK ALSO THINK PM

it looks good but u should probley make the background just plain white or something, it looks kinda goofy with the old background back there, but im a much bigger fan of the way it use to be heh

The black on white is awful.

It's tolerable for the forums, but I can't read .txt files with it.

Totse looks a hell of a lot better than it used to. The colors could use a bit of tweaking/changing, but I think its all good for now.

i agree with everyone about the color scheme and logo. i think my main problem though is the side bar things, bad ideas, drugs, etc. i liked when there were alot of them..it was easier. the new site itsnt awful but i definately like the old better.

great site love it but why dont you change the back ground I hate that dark blue and black shit...well good luck...

ew no i dont like it.

the gradients are poorly made and poorly encoded n stuff.

And then it looks like the centre column overlaps the left one.

And we've still got that shit down the side i HATE that stuff. cant we just put it below the categories on the left hand side?

thing is this style was fashionable a couple of years ago. following fashion is one thing, but following it two years late...? maybe soon it will be 'retro' but for now it looks icky.

please reencode the pictures at a higher quality (including the gif's with transparencies)

sorry to be so negative but yes i had grown accustomed to the old one http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif)

wish we could get at the files as geniune text files tho, i'm sure we could before the last site design. and it was uber-leet green on black too http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif)

I have a problem with the font too. Anything after the first paragraph becomes bigger. I have Internet Explorer.

Nice dots! Much nicer than the lightbulbs, now can you replace the folders?

What's the deal with the variable font sizes now?

Have you guys noticed this? Font sizes are constantly changing in the posts.

Can you fix this?

I'm not saying that totse couldn't do with a new pair of shoes... or site i got confused... but ne way i REALY think this needs redoing i never realy like this old layout but YAAARGJKGAKH! This is HORRIBLE! The colors realy don't go

quote:[it looks like it's been hacked by a spastic daycare centre during their lunchbreak]

i tend to agree with that i don't care if you change it back... BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CHANGE IT FROM THIS!

Why arent the "totse" files at the top of the list anymore. all the new files push them down. is that going to be sorted?

anyways the new site layout is really good now that i have got used to it, like the new logo aswell.



yay 100th post in the topic

yay 101st post in topic.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.



~!~

first of all i hated the site and wanted the other one back but now for those that have been on totse most of their days since the change i bet have "kinda" fogoter wat it looked like

CHANGE IT BAC!!!! IT STILL SEEMS 2B TOO STERILE.

~LOON

well, it works. new logo helps.

But the old design was so much better. Not even close. It was just perfect. But whatever. It's your site. And I still love it.

I used to like the old design better, but now I look at it and I like this one a lot better. I guess I just got used to it.

I'll still bitch about the colors. I think that white text on a forest green background might look damn good on totse; if I get around to it, I'll make a sample page to show you my vision for totse.com

site looks good. A Little on the xp style but i like it. shoulda kept the chinese dialect characters though.

Wow! Big change! Nice new look to the site. It looks like I have a lot of catching up to do.

i like the new design, it is much cleaner and more smooth than the old one, and i don't care what anyone says, the background gif stays!!!!!!!!!!! The white does look bright, admittedly, and i may be forced to sue for retinal damage in a few years... but keep up the good work!

Thanks for fixing the font size proble....I mean, feature.

cc

...but are you sure the font's not too small, or can we change it now? (hint hint)

The new design is growing on me, it's just sometimes thinking about the old shoes kind of brings a tear to my eye

Resurrected! :eek:

-Angus