Forum icon upgrade and new BBtag [ongoing]

This project continues.

1) With help from Winnipeg of TWP and a lot of manual editing of my own, we now have a vectorized version of the Europeian logo. The SVG file is available in the image repository, in case you want to use it.

Because Winni does not have the original shading settings, and because many of them require that the image be rasterized, the new version is not exactly identical to the old one. Here are rasterized versions of the two so that you can compare: new, old.

2) Nearly all of the forum images have been replaced vectorized versions. The only exceptions are usergroup title images (see next item), the radiant blue background in the classic skin, and the image with the three bars at the bottom of the forum. The latter two will be replaced soon.

Forum images that used to use the Euro logo (e.g., locked forums etc.) have all been redesigned to use the new version.

3) All usergroup title images (the usergroup-specific images below avatars) have been replaced with new versions that had been pre-approved by other admins. The replacement images are currently rasterized (PNG), due to a forum bug involving the use of SVG files for usergroup images. I am waiting to hear back from ZB about the bug and, if it's something that can be fixed, the images will be replaced with SVG versions.

4) All forum icons have been replaced with font versions from Font Awesome.

5) All icon changes have been propagated to the classic skin. They were previously only visible in the bright skin.

6) Several small changes have been implemented to all skins. Most of them necessary to accommodate the new images. Others include standardizing the font, font size, button styles, color palette, and CSS border styles used by the forum, to be the same across all the skins.

Please let me know what you think of the changes. I am particularly looking for feedback regarding the redesigned Euro logo, the new usergroup images, and the icons showing thread activity when browsing a forum.

For the latter in particular, read the discussion earlier in the thread. I know that the current version is disliked by many, and I dislike it myself as well. The current icons are placeholders, until I come up with a better alternative theme. If you have ideas for what this alternative could look like, please post them. "Bring back the old ones" is not helpful - the old icons are raster images and are not coming back.
 
I do not mind the read/not-read icons but I think the "you've-commented" icons are too heavy. I would prefer the switch to bookmark-o as it really isn't that important that a user knows he/she has commented in a thread. It looks too busy otherwise with multiple things claiming top-level attention. I care, and I assume others do, more about whether I've read something rather than whether I've commented in it.
 
hyanygo said:
I do not mind the read/not-read icons but I think the "you've-commented" icons are too heavy. I would prefer the switch to bookmark-o as it really isn't that important that a user knows he/she has commented in a thread. It looks too busy otherwise with multiple things claiming top-level attention. I care, and I assume others do, more about whether I've read something rather than whether I've commented in it.
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I agree, and to be honest, I even found bookmark-o too much. I am considering replacing it with a simple angle-left:

[icon]angle-left[/icon]
 
Alright, I went ahead and did that. Now I'm thinking it may be too light. What do others think?

A possible somewhat heavier replacement could be chevron-left:

[icon]chevron-left[/icon]
 
I'm not a fan of the new thread activity icons right now, but I'm sure I'll get used to them.
 
Clerk accounts have a Non-Voting Member badge. Also, the Non-Voting Member badge text is capitalized weirdly: it shows as "Non-voting member," rather than "Non-Voting Member." While it works, a capitalization fix would greatly help my sanity. :D
 
Malashaan said:
I'm not a fan of the new thread activity icons right now, but I'm sure I'll get used to them.
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As I said in my update post, I believe they need improvement. And I'm saying this despite having been using them for 3-4 weeks now (that's how long they've been in place in the bright skin).
Rand said:
Clerk accounts have a Non-Voting Member badge. Also, the Non-Voting Member badge text is capitalized weirdly: it shows as "Non-voting member," rather than "Non-Voting Member." While it works, a capitalization fix would greatly help my sanity. :D
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Hmm, what's the correct capitalization? "Non-Voting Member" or "Non-voting Member"? Depending on the answer, I'll fix whichever of the two is wrong.
 
I would use "Non-Voting Member."

For the icons, I think the page icon is a little angular. Softening the corners might help. As I said on Skype, I also think softening the black color would help. In classic, I think matching the blue of the background wound work. I'm not sure about Bright.
 
Mal is right in the capitalization, I have no preference regarding the colors. "Non-Voting Member" would be best.
 
I'll play around with the thread activity icons based on the above suggestions.

Any comments on the new usergroup icons (outside of capitalization and the mismatch of Clerk's icon)?
 
Out of curiosity, what logic went into the number of stars each icon has?
 
In the beginning it was a kind of rank system if you will, though it isnt really very accurate and doesnt exactly confer any kind of authority. The admins and the Supreme Chancellors have five. The heads of the three branches of Government (Speaker for the legislative, President for the executive, and CJ for the judicature) have five stars as well. The Vice President has four. Senators, Minister and Associate justices have three. Anyone else not a standard citizens has two and Citizens have one star.

 
I think that Honored Citizen should have its own two-star tag, rather than the same tag as Citizen. If my memory serves me correctly, this used to be the case (I'm not entirely sure, I'm ridiculously tired right now).
 
Rand said:
Out of curiosity, what logic went into the number of stars each icon has?
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Drecq said:
In the beginning it was a kind of rank system if you will, though it isnt really very accurate and doesnt exactly confer any kind of authority. The admins and the Supreme Chancellors have five. The heads of the three branches of Government (Speaker for the legislative, President for the executive, and CJ for the judicature) have five stars as well. The Vice President has four. Senators, Minister and Associate justices have three. Anyone else not a standard citizens has two and Citizens have one star.
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It's a mix of indicating forum access and some sort of ad-hoc "hierarchy" within each branch of government.

The President, Speaker, and Chief Justice are the respective heads of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, so they get 5 stars. Citizens without any other offices get the smallest number, 1 star.

In the executive branch, things are straightforward: VP is below the President and gets 4, then Ministers get 3, then DMs get 2.

In the judiciary, there is only one other rank, Associate Justices. They get 3 stars to make the branch not as top-heavy. I'd also say that, in terms of seniority, AJ is closer to a Ministerial office (3 stars) than the VP (4 stars), but it's really hard to compare positions in any meaningful manner.

In the legislative branch, things are more complicated. We have Senators, Assembly Chair, and Assembly members. Assembly members are just one step above citizens, so they get 2 stars. Assembly Chair is one step above members, so 3 stars. Senators are probably a senior office to Assembly Chair, so you could say they should get 4 stars. At the same time, they are probably not as senior as VP (4 stars). They are roughly the legislature's equivalent to AJs and Ministers (both 3 stars). I ended up giving them 3 stars, for symmetry with the other branches.

The Chancellery is not exactly part of either branch. I don't think anyone would disagree that the SCs should have 5 stars. VCs are just a step above, and I'd say they're generally considered at least as senior officials as the VP, so they get 4 stars.

Administrators are not government officials. I considered giving them a star-less icon. In the end, I made a 5-star icon for them, for the simple reason that admins have the highest level of access among everyone in the forum.

Finally, all usergroups without voting rights get zero stars, and their icon is just the name of the group.

The Awards and Honours Act (2012) does provide some guidance with respect to relative seniority of offices. Going by it, we'd have that:

SC~President~VP~CJ > Speaker ~ Minister > Senator ~ AJ > Assembly Chair,

where "~" means "comparable", i.e., we can't tell from the Act which is senior. The icons do not comply with this ordering in certain places, for instance Speaker should be below SC, President, CJ, and VP; or, Minister should be above Senator and AJ. To accommodate the Act's ranking and within-branch rankings, we would need a 6-star system.
Rand said:
I think that Honored Citizen should have its own two-star tag, rather than the same tag as Citizen. If my memory serves me correctly, this used to be the case (I'm not entirely sure, I'm ridiculously tired right now).
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I don't think we had a special icon. If we did make a separate one, it would probably have to be much higher than 2 stars, and arguably 5 stars. Notice that the Awards and Honours Act I cited above places Honoured Citizens first in the seniority list.
 
r3naissanc3r said:
3) All usergroup title images (the usergroup-specific images below avatars) have been replaced with new versions that had been pre-approved by other admins. The replacement images are currently rasterized (PNG), due to a forum bug involving the use of SVG files for usergroup images. I am waiting to hear back from ZB about the bug and, if it's something that can be fixed, the images will be replaced with SVG versions.
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Regarding this, I've now heard back from them. It's indeed a bug, there's no workaround currently, and they may fix it in a future forum software upgrade. Given the frequency of such upgrades, I'm not holding my breath :p .

So, unfortunately, it looks like we'll be stuck with PNGs for the usergroup title images for a while.
 
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