Re: Redesign of Minimalist Theme
 

After fielding some comments in IRC last night I did some minor/major changes to the layout. First we decided to try it with 1 image being the maemo.org logo on the main page only. Then we shrtened the main menu on top of every page some names where made smaller and some links were moved to the User CP. Also the main page where it list categories and sub categories now appear as one white block per main category like how main theme does it. If you have any more comments let me know it is getting close to being ready to go live.

Re: Redesign of Minimalist Theme
 

Well, those mobile devices are really another issue. ;) We're targeting tablets here, not cellphones. If you want a cellphone oriented theme, then I'd say bringing in a real mobile vBulletin theme would be worthwhile.

Re: Redesign of Minimalist Theme
 

Andrew,

I kind of do not expect any of my forum or website related suggestions to be listened to any more, but let me try asking you something, maybe you can help:

I often access ITT from a Nokia mobile phone when on the road. The old ITT had two low-bandwidth mobile themes that worked like a charm. The new ITT has no mobile themes and Reggie insists that the Minimalist theme is the new mobile theme here:

https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4487

Personally, I feel ok using the Minimalist scheme, but it has got a few problems making it pain on small mobile devices (i.e. any Nokia or WinMobile smartphone with 320x240 or 240x320 display):

1. The theme does not resize to fit this display horizontally, so there is a horizontal scrollbar.
2. The header (title+buttons+welcome+metadata+...) is so thick that I have to scroll down just to see the actual content. This problem also occurs on 800x480 tablets (480 is just not high enough).
3. The drop down menu is cumbersome to use without a mouse. A simple horizontal strip of menu options would work much better.

Would you be willing to adapt your Minimalist theme for mobile devices by addressing these problems? Please? The alternative would be to install a ready-made mobile vBulletin theme, but the discussion in the above bug tracker indicates that it is unlikely to happen.

Thanks.

Re: Redesign of Minimalist Theme
 

Well if you take a look at the new shots I have done a lot of minimizing of wasted space. I dropped the Quick Menu already and have gone to a single row of menu items on main page and any other menu items you need will be under the user CP. As far as the horizontal scrolling there isn't a lot I can do for that except for design the theme to look good on that size screen and then it would not look right on tablets. I would be willing to work on another theme. I personally am a supporter of multiple themes my big problem is that some people want Reggie to design theme all. I have offered to do a Dark Varient of Minimalist but I don't know if it will be added as an option. I would also be willing to do a cell phone version if I had a way to test it but I really don't. The only phone i have is a real striped down version and it would be very hard for me to design a theme without a way to test it. If someone has a extra Nokia S60 phone or windows mobile phone they want to donate for me to use for testing a very light weight mobile theme I could do something that is very striped down and setup for mobile phones. Maybe have a vertical menu and all to make it where you wont have horizontal scrolling. Could even move all the links to one page like the user CP and only have a link to that page on main page so if you want to view subscribed threads or anything else you had to go there first I know it would make a few extra page loads but I would design the theme so low bandwidth you wouldn't care. BTW if someone does want to donate for this project I would need a phone that would work on at&t.

Re: Redesign of Minimalist Theme
 

I guess, if you do not fix the minimal size to a constant, that would do the job, at the cost of "swallowing" some horizontal elements on small screens.

Aside from screen size and limited cpu/memory/bandwidth, S60 browser is not much different from other WebKit based browsers. So, simply resizing your desktop browser window to the desired size (240x320, 320x240, 352x416, 416x352, etc.) will "simulate" mobile browser well enough.

Actually, extra page loads are a big deal for the phones because establishing that connection takes time (seconds to tens of seconds). But the old mobile theme was relatively good at having just a few most important options in the top menu bar and the newest posts below.

Re: Redesign of Minimalist Theme
 

Quoting a few comments on the new design screenshots I made on IRC:

1. The post header (author / date /etc) can be shown in a single line
2. The post header does not have to be white, I would go for a thin 1-pixel frame around post header+body and a thin 1-pixel line separating header from the body. This way it is clear which header relates to which post.
3. The number of top menu items can be reduced and their font size made smaller - right now they are bigger than titles on those shots.
4. Stuff like Bugs, Talk FAQ, Buddy List, Member List does not have to be there on top. These items are rarely used.
5. For the top menu bar I would leave: Home | New | Today | Mark Read | User CP | Subscriptions
6. For width-constrained mobile version, "Mark Read", "Today", and "Subscriptions" can be dropped from the top menu.

Re: Redesign of Minimalist Theme
 

To give it a unified corporate image...in other words, BS!

Re: Redesign of Minimalist Theme
 

almost all those where changed but only first ss was updated

Re: Redesign of Minimalist Theme
 

What you talking about?