Design changes
Hello, i want to suggest a few design changes. As how it is now, for me, it's not much visual appealing and somehow looks confusing.
So, let's start:
-Fixed navbar at top
I do not see why is a navbar fixed at top(mobile view), as it do not provide anything functional.
-Buttons and text
Buttons look out of place and outdated.
And why "categories" have underline? It would be bettet without decoration.
-Add swipe gesture for mobile and for desktop users when mouse is pointed at left or right edge
Basically, remove > and < buttons which opens sidebars and make them accesible by pointing mouse or by swipe.
KajMagnus @KajMagnus2018-03-15 15:36:29.327ZHi Razor! Thanks for the ideas and feedback.
The fixed topbar:
Maybe the fixed topbar could auto hide, when one scrolls down. And show again, when one scrolls up.
It does provide some functionality though: there're links so people can get back to the topic list. And notification indicators, and open-sidebar buttons.
The fixed navbar does look a bit weird: I see I haven't vertically-aligned all buttons:
and, on mobile, sometimes the topbar becomes too tall:
Buttons and text:
You have in mind (maybe among others) the login buttons? (You mentioned over at Flarum, right.) Hmm yes the signup buttons get an a bit odd placement, in discussion topics. Because: Discussion pages, and the topic list page, have different widths. (And the reason for this, is that discussion pages need to be a bit narrower, to avoid too long lines.) So wherever the login buttons are placed, they'll sometimes look out of place. ... Now I had a look at Flarum and Discourse, and both of them have this how-much-have-you-read scroll indicator to the right of the topic text. Which makes discussion pages wider and the login buttons look better aligned — maybe Talkyard can do this too, then:
The "Categories" link is underlined, otherwise people sometimes believe it's the title of the current page, rather than a link to another page.
Swipe gestures to open the sidebars seems like a good idea I think. The > and < buttons are still needed though (but maybe they can be redesigned to look nicer). I think it wouldn't occur to most people to try to swipe left-right and see what'll happen. But the buttons are visible, and then people will know that "oh, there's something I can click and apparently open a sidebar, what could be inside?"
Yep, elements are not alligned properly so it looks a bit weird. As well as on mobile view, links that appear and the user options(search, profile etc) looks a bit weird too. Users options are on right and links are on left side, one below another. Maybe float:right would be a better way to display that?
Yes, i referred to a sign up and log in buttons,(yes, mentioned that on flarum) but after i saw a create topic, post reply, etc which also looks a bit outdated. In few days, i will be back home, so i am gonna to show u how it can be redesigned. About placement, looks like u are aware of that, so i hope it will be fixed.
Text that is displayed after a < button(which say about online users) i think is unnecessary, so probably than can fix a placement.
Maybe categories can be shown as a button or dropdown menu?
Well, u can create a little pop up as a tip, which will tutor user about a gestures? Or to keep button(redesigned) and gesture at same time?
As well a index page should better differentiate a discussion title and short content of discussion.
And time after posting. Why it shows for example a 90mins, rather than a 1h or 1h 30m?