DGN Updates/Upgrades 2018

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Carbon - Your Gaming Website!   Sweet I finally found my gaming website!  lol (teasing)

[TronRP]

58 minutes ago, Troy Spiral said:

Carbon - Your Gaming Website!   Sweet I finally found my gaming website!  lol (teasing)

Yep, still tweaking, but I do not have the graphics you used for the board icons so I will need those from you in order to finish customizing the look.

 

Also, you have to scroll to the very bottom of the emojis to find the original "core" group.  The phone emojis updated with the 4.3 upgrade.

[torn asunder]

Thanks for all the hard work Tron!

[TronRP]

Updates are happening slowly, but surely.  I'm getting a kick out of seeing all the little changes as they occur.  Many things still need to be tweaked, but should you notice anything that appears as a blatant violation or missing feature, please let me know asap so that I may address it first.

 

Thank you for your patience and cooperation. 

[kat (1)]

I really like it so far!

[TronRP]

Doing some more behind the scenes work.  Some necessity.  Some for fun.  

[TronRP]

Whoa...I just saw that the smartphone version and the desktop version have different looks.  The majority of the desktop edits are lost on the phone.  I'll check the settings to see if I can make them match because, in my opinion, the color pallet makes an impact when you can see the entire look. 

[TronRP]

Current Desktop Version - Forum Front Page

[TronRP]

Current Desktop Version - Post Page

[Trene4000]

Pretty! 🌹

[Troy Spiral (13)]

 

If you look at the stats 80% of users are on a phone.  So as much as you can stand it, try to look at it on the phone rather than the desktop.  A lot of the cool features this site has been lost on phone users.  😞 

 

I know the CRAZY amount of time that gets spent "behind the scenes" for every 1 thing that gets changed in a visible way.  

 

I'll make a different banner at some point, one that goes better with the black > white (red) color scheme.  Which is a pan-house spiral color scheme, not that anything other than DGN and HouseSpiral.com has the option of using it.  (and the HouseSpiral "stuff" (cards, the pins.. things to come) 

 

Random FYI that maybe 4 people will read:  DeeGee (the little bat) is specifically the logo for DGN.  Deegon (the dragon) is the "house sigil" for the whole group of things (DGN, HS.com, The Gathering (which has no real mascot as yet) , various gaming things, the currently inactive but I've got plans to restart it at some point YouTube channel, Me, My 'real' family (not necessarily my biological family) and the House Spiral Deegon holders which are close to family, as one of the requirements to get the pin is that I trust you.  But going forward it might be a bit awkward as everyone that currently has them did everything without any expectation of any recognition)  /ramble mode off. 

 

 

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Love the donate block.  Noticed (awhile ago) the "dgn night" getting removed from the banner (good) although I had a mild /sniffles about good old DGN night (not that there is anything to be done about it).  Mostly I don't have the energy (which might change if i could get some GOD DANG SLEEP) secondarily is the $$ & health, otherwise, we'd have a DGN night every Saturday just like we used to.  The location would have to change as there is no "every saturday" gothy-place within driving distance anymore.  /sniffles. 

 

The old banner was an 'image map" (various areas of an image clickable and lead to different places... such as the donate button leading to the donation post and "dgn night" leading to the nightlife forum (and the banner itself just leading to the home page).  I'll do that...  after I get all the cards done, and figure out my finances... ok maybe ill have to skip that last part heh.  

I'm hoping to add a "micro badge" system at some point, that is a whole series of icons that would go under your profile picture <------- over there and denote various things from simple stuff  such as say a badge that means "likes cats" or something bigger like "top donor" or just random things that people would like stars , skulls whatever. Similar to the "supporter" and "benefactor" icons but a lot more extensive.  Unfortunately, the way IPB works right now it gets really confusing and a pain in the ass to do what I'm thinking about needs customization.  *another thing on the to-do list that will be gotten to god knows when* (and it is something I personally need to do, as I'm pretty relaxed about most changes to the board but icons under everyone's name I know I'll be anal about.  /hangs head.

Thanks for all the hard work, time, money and encouraging presence. *hugs* 

One thing I would like to see is a way for images to be auto-resized to fit the board / some maximum size that we can set (and if you clicked on that reduced image it would open up to whatever we want to call "full size".  I looked around for something that would do that but didn't find anything (granted I only looked for about 20 minutes)  People really like pictures if we could figure that out and make it easier to add them that probably would be big. 

 

[TronRP]

@Troy Spiral

To be honest, when I do the board, I am on my phone at the same time.  I noted the differences, but there is also a Desktop mode for most mobile devices if you see a browser banner at the top of the page.  You can switch over to see the desktop mode from time to time to see what's new.  I was actually going to make a statement about that.  I tested it with @Trene4000 first to make sure it worked along with all the current bells and whistles.

 

I also used to have it set where non-members would see the previous "Surface Dark" theme while logged in members would see the current "Carbon" theme.  It was kind of cool, but the Surface Dark was outdated and made parts of the board look unfinished so I loaded everyone to the current theme. 

 

Also, as I stated in a different thread to a few members, I was thinking of doing a monthly theme where it changes according to what's going on or just customized for certain months.

 

As for the main banner, I have several versions to fit according to what's going on at the time.  Since DGN Night was not a major happening at the moment, I simplified the banner to be a return to the main forum page.

 

With the uploaded images, there is a setting for the onsite size that you can click to get the full size version.  I started to change it earlier today, but got caught up updating the htaccess file and relocating the favicon for deegee to add him back to the browser tab.  Then I added some very special "Social Icons" to the top banner of the forum which you can also click at the bottom of the page on the mobile version.  I think you might like that if you get around to having a chance to click on them. 

[TronRP]

I just reset the image display, but it will only take effect on images going forward.  For past images, I would have to rebuild the existing images, but I will only handle that once I have a backup of all previous and current images.

 

Earlier I was viewing the images still being hosted by the host server and noticed that several folders for multiple months were now empty.  My next priority is to rescue all remaining images so they may be uploaded remotely in the event they go missing or are deleted from the DGN hosted database. 

[TronRP]

I just tested the Desktop Version of the board on my smartphone and everything works exactly the same on mobile as it does on my computer.  If anyone else could check this out on their phones and let me know if there are any difficulties, it would be much appreciated. 

 

Just be sure to enable the "Desktop Version" on your mobile device. 

 

Thank you in advance. 

[TronRP]

Current Desktop Version - Forum Front Page: JUNE

[TronRP]

As before, if you should have any update/upgrade suggestions, questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to post them here.

 

Thank you. 

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Thanks for all the work.  Its much appreciated.   And just thanks for being you.   

 

Please keep in mind this is "Detroit >gothic< .net"  not that I've ever pushed that aspect of it all that hard, the gothic aspect more than anything just keeps the closed minded people out.  But, in terms of the look of the board, we want it to look gothy.  Pastel colors and pretty stuff doesn't work well with that unless its surrounded by skulls and pentagrams.  lol   Mostly black, tiny bit of white or gray (simulates 'silver' as black and white/silver are sorts of the base of gothy color schemes) and dashes of color, the usual 'goth' colors are black, black and black... oh colors... yeah red and purple occasionally that Xbox green color.  

 

[TronRP]

43 minutes ago, Troy Spiral said:

Thanks for all the work.  Its much appreciated.   And just thanks for being you.   

 

Please keep in mind this is "Detroit >gothic< .net"  not that I've ever pushed that aspect of it all that hard, the gothic aspect more than anything just keeps the closed minded people out.  But, in terms of the look of the board, we want it to look gothy.  Pastel colors and pretty stuff doesn't work well with that unless its surrounded by skulls and pentagrams.  lol   Mostly black, tiny bit of white or gray (simulates 'silver' as black and white/silver are sorts of the base of gothy color schemes) and dashes of color, the usual 'goth' colors are black, black and black... oh colors... yeah red and purple occasionally that Xbox green color.  

 

Thank you for the input.  I tried to go with the darker blue instead of the Carbon pastel blue.  For this particular color, I darkened the existing "theme".  I checked a few gothic, wiccan and gaming sites to make sure it wasn't too light, but I will "gothy" it up.  Just so you know, I only changed 2 colors the rest is still the original theme...

[TronRP]

Current Desktop Version - Forum Front Page: JUNE

[TronRP]

I used the colors I see in crushed velvet.

 

I forgot I'm not a "true" goth, so I will continue to need you all's assistance so DGN doesn't look like it's run by "posers" (I assume that's the proper use of the word).

[TronRP]

@Troy Spiral

Glad you stopped me.  This month was representing water.  I was about to create seasonal Favicon of water droplets for "read" and "unread" content.  I forgot "skulls" is the thing.  My bad.

[TronRP]

Better Version

Current Desktop Version - Forum Front Page: JUNE

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Definitely looks good on the phone. What I always tried to keep in mind is if someone showed up they should be able to tell its a goth site without reading any text. 

 

Can we change the 'submit reply' button to red? I actually thought it was gone twice.

 

If you want to do something monthly google 'occult months' or  the zodiac and throw in a spider web or the pagan triple moon symbols. Research into occult symbol stuff will give. you mountains of ideas.(Not saying to do that just throwing the idea out there) black & some white won't ever get old.

 

Is there a way to have a (smaller) version of the desktop donation box toward the top of the mobile version? I think one of the reasons the donations are a struggle is people just don't see it.

 

Thanks again for everything.

[TronRP]

4 minutes ago, Troy Spiral said:

Definitely looks good on the phone. What I always tried to keep in mind is if someone showed up they should be able to tell its a goth site without reading any text. 

 

Can we change the 'submit reply' button to red? I actually thought it was gone twice.

 

If you want to do something monthly google 'occult months' or  the zodiac and throw in a spider web or the pagan triple moon symbols. Research into occult symbol stuff will give. you mountains of ideas.(Not saying to do that just throwing the idea out there) black & some white won't ever get old.

 

Is there a way to have a (smaller) version of the desktop donation box toward the top of the mobile version? I think one of the reasons the donations are a struggle is people just don't see it.

 

Thanks again for everything.

You might hate me for this comment, but I feel all the symbolic "Gothic" stuff is a bit played out on websites.  I kinda want to keep DGN fresh with a unique Gothness.  That's not to say I won't mix it up with some traditional occult things, but just not what everyone else is doing.  But don't get me wrong, you do have the final say on the matter.

 

Also, I was actually just on the Theme Editor looking into the "mobile" aspect of things...especially the coloring.  Like I mentioned earlier, I only changed 2 colors to make it easier to get back to the original theme, but I see going back will not be an issue.  The buttons and most of the gray colored texts are lost in both versions.  Now that I'm not worried about the settings, I'm in the process of modification.
 

At The Gathering last week, I showed people how to change the display from Mobile to Desktop Version so they can see all that's available.  There is actually already a "Donation" button at the top of the mobile version, but you would have to select the 3 horizontal lines to see the options.  The Carbon Skin pretty much has everything hard wired in the code (which I am currently in the process of learning for myself so I can personally make all the edits to create a board that functions more to our liking/needs).