Where is everyone?

yeah it is pretty quiet
.. im going to start posting some work soon.. just short on time at the moment but have some stuff that i have been working on...

ive been guilty of not contributing much for quite a while

Hey Tojo good to hear from someone! I hope this whole website change doesn't kill Sumea, its got me worried.

I think once the new design is finished, and we redirect all the traffic from sumea to here, things will get back to normal. I guess people are still loitering on the old site.

Yeah, gotta get that traffic moving again. I've been finding myself lurking around on the IGDA forum and CGtalk because I kinda feel like it's just me and the tumble weed here.

EDIT: Btw Souri, is it possible to change the name of my account? I havn't used the forum name "turkeyplague" in ages.

Im still with you guys but as I stated in another thread on these forums, I had to change my username from happy_virus to dark_virus_2007 simply because the old account wasnt working.

I couldnt keep the old username either so I had to go with the change and it just kept doing strange things on my PC as either I had set my firewall up wrong or there was some bug in my computers firewall system.

I also was having problems afterwardsd trying to log in from one of my computers but it is all fixed now so as soon as I have more time on my hands, I will be checking the new Sumea site ou more often.

Greetings all again, i had to re-create a new user name as i could not login with my old user name (ny7ros). I'm the same as you guys, i hope everyone starts using the forum again. I've been flat out trying to get organised for Uni this semester. Working on a few different projects right now, hopefully I'll have some WIPs to post very soon.

What do you want to change it to?

Shoot me a private message or email me at sumea at sumea.com.au if you want me to fix it up for you.

I reckon I'd start by dumping the horrendous DIY forum software. What's with the silly stripy blue background on posts? Honestly, no. PHPBB or something. It'd take minutes. Bosh.

This is a funny one because game developers do this stuff all the time. Reinventing the wheel but not actually making all of it round. :)

Gosh and new posts slap up to the top too? Good lord.

There's no reason to go the phpbb route. We've had a asp bulletin board which was just as capable as phpbb, but the reason why we're going with this system is that we have a lot more functionality, and everything is unified. You'll have to read my news post about it.
As for the forum here, sure it doesn't look as snazzy as the other forum software, but the main functionality you'd expect from a forum is here. And if and when I have the time, I can easily make it look like a phpbb forum if that's what is really needed.

This recent update is a major improvement. The background on the page when your typing your reply is a bit weird but could be easily fixed.

The only thing I would is that the threaded conversations confuse me. Does one of the options down the bottom pf the page set it so all replies are just by date?

(edit: flat list expanded is what I wanted I think. seems to be working fine)

The way the comments are currently defaulted at is in line with many blogs and comment systems (as well as the old Sumea), so we'll keep it like this. But yeh, you can changed the way it's displayed to your liking, if you wish. Threaded/flat/expanded/sorted by date etc, so it's pretty cool.

Yeh, I'll be going around and fixing things here and there.

I assume you mean the comments people left on news posts were threaded like this? If it was like this on the forums I never noticed.

I know a lot of places use the system but I think I am just easily confused to be honest :S Anyway good work Souri ;D

Oh right, yeh the forums were never threaded like this. It will take some getting used to, yeh. The thing is, the comments system and the forum are pretty much the same (and it makes sense that it is, really), and unfortunately if you set the default as threaded for the comments then the forum gets set like that as well.

Well there is because this still looks awful and has a fraction of the features of an off-the-shelf solution, and works in an arbitrary weird way that doesn't inspire one to actually use it.

But hey, it's your site :-)

At the moment it has the core features to mimick the old Sumea site, which is what I wanted. Sure, I could add a whole heap more whiz-bang features and bloat, but I doubt that anyone would be more satisfied if there were more sliding ajax effects and news tickers happening. If you're lamenting the lack of features on here, then you really need to look at the old Sumea where there are even less (other than the comments voting system).

At the moment, it's functional, works great, and the design I will admit needs more work but it's simple and usable for the time being. I wouldn't say it looks awful, but if you think it is, then that's fine. I've been working on a redesign for the last month, but as with things you do for yourself, you're your own worst critic and so I've been redesigning, building, scrapping and redoing things for weeks.

I'm sure most people will agree that content is the main reason people visit, and if you look closer, there've been more articles, news stories, job ads, event information than ever.

never fear Neffy is here .... finally T_T

Also it really freaks me out having the names of posters down the bottom right hand side, and post new topic txt was really hard to find and that seems to me something you wouldn't hide away so neffy has to spend 10mins looking for it in tears T_T

I like the colour gradient background and it looks very clean =D

Yeh, I'll be fixing how things look, and I don't think the end result will look too much like it does now.

I've settled on a design look, and I'm hammering on polishing it as much as I can before I chop it up and do the css, so it's a little while off yet.

how do you know who has typed what?,, are these posts meant t be anonymous or something? something not as friendly with the new layout/forum design or something?

need avatars and personal stuff...

i feel like i am reading a forum on property development or someting....

not a forum for creative types

Poor Souri.

We are such a bunch of ingrates :(

didnt mean for that to sound as negative as it does... probably should have thrown in a few emoticons...

i was more reffering to the lack of human feeling without the avatars and personalizing stuff..

didnt mean to sound ungrateful.. because on the contrary i am very gratefull... this is a brilliant site..

and i hope it stays that way, that is all

You actually do have avatars. Look in this thread and you can see Neffy and Horror have uploaded an avatar and it's showing. Granted, it's not placed very well in the threads, but I'm still working on the redesign which will change it all. And that's what I've been saying, I've been working on a redesign for the last month or so (I've thrown away 3 designs already, having cut up and built two of them as well, so it's been frustrating to settle on something I really, really, really like), and all the complaints about the current design (which I pretty much agree with) is mute when it's only temporary.

If you really must see, the design I've settled on and trying to finish off now is this: http://www.tsumea.com/downloads/tsumea.jpg

holycrap that looks nice

Interface visual looks super-good Souri. Can't wait to see it implemented. I better start sorting myself out with a new avatar to go with the new site.

Much easier on the eyes I have to say. Whenever I load up a page with a white background it's like that scene from Judgement Day where the nuke goes off.

I've been in development madness for a while now so I dropped off the radar. Back now, but the madness isn't over though of course.

There are a fair few things that need fixing, but I will work on them and other things in the following weeks.

I like :)

Loving the new looks, so sick ! so sexy !