Sonical is Back! Happy Birthday to The Sonic Stadium!

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

Actually now that it's been mentioned, the recent situation aside, I have wondered why the default theme is historically left in. Is this in case other forum themes fail? Because otherwise I can't see a reason to give people the option of a skin that strips out half of the board's custom features.

[Chris]

Actually now that it's been mentioned, the recent situation aside, I have wondered why the default theme is historically left in. Is this in case other forum themes fail? Because otherwise I can't see a reason to give people the option of a skin that strips out half of the board's custom features.

Preference. While we encourage members to use the theme tailored to Sonic Stadium, it's not always a favourite to all because of it's high contrast on some hardware or differing levels of what you're used to looking at (it could strain after long periods of time and whatnot). Sonical doesn't hurt my eyes personally, but I've spoken to many over the years whom have had other opinions about both mine and/or Dread's work.

Maybe when more themes are available this might be reconsidered.

Honestly though, it's always been a goal of mine to make a theme that appeals to all. From an artists standpoint, that's the major goal -- but it may not even be possible due to the reasons mentioned above. Someday!

Edited October 24, 2011 by Chris

[Flyboy Fox]

In my opinion it's always useful to have a default skin to hop back to if there's ever a glitch or issue with any of the custom features on the personalised skins, whether it's server or user end problems.

[Komodin]

Hm, as pleased as I am that the Sonical theme is back and better than ever, all this... dark blue is gonna take some getting used to. I guess having to put up with that generic theme for the past several months has taken its toll.

[Blue Blood]

It's useful to keep the default version for the reasons mentioned above, but I'm using is simply because don't like how narrow the new Sonical is. IPB is much less pretty, but it makes better use of the space.

[Random Rhyme]

I have a feeling that I should work on sorting out the New Content link and Rep links.

[Tornado]

It's useful to keep the default version for the reasons mentioned above, but I'm using is simply because don't like how narrow the new Sonical is. IPB is much less pretty, but it makes better use of the space.

I have to second this. I'm considering switching back to default because Sonical looks really weird on my TV.

[Meow]

Now we just need Knucklehead back. :3

A knuckles skin would be the raddest thing ever. I remember using that one a long time ago . If I recall correctly too, weren't the skins able to be applied to the homepage as well? My memory is a bit foggy there too but for some reason I recall using a knuckles theme on the main page. I could also be going crazy and fabricating this in my head and/or thinking of some other site. Wouldn't be the first time my memory has played strange tricks on me

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

I too feel that the current Sonical post width is too narrow after giving myself a chance to adjust and see how I feel. It was fine in the days before widescreen monitors were commonplace but these days it's virtually impossible to buy a 4:3 screen at all and the theme looks plain odd on a high resolution monitor.

I'm running at 1920x1080, and the default theme makes decent use of this space. Seeing how other forums handle this issue, it may simply be that you need to optimise the theme differently for 4:3 monitors and widescreen, in which case perhaps having two versions of the theme would be a good idea.

EDIT: Whilst updating this post I ran into a forum bug: the quick edit box doesn't allow you to use the image tags properly for some reason.

Edited October 24, 2011 by Velotix Lexovetikan

[Flyboy Fox]

I actually have to confess that I'd prefer it if the theme weren't quite so narrow. I can live with it, but I preferred the proportions of the default skin. Other than that, t'is tres sexaaaay!

[Roarey Raccoon]

Well these criticisms are all valid and I'm sure they will be addressed in the near future. Remember that Dread worked through this one quite fast so that it could be released on TSS's bday XP.

[Dark Qiviut]

Well these criticisms are all valid and I'm sure they will be addressed in the near future. Remember that Dread worked through this one quite fast so that it could be released on TSS's bday XP.

[Ferno]

I actually like the narrowness in a way, it's almost like a throwback to the old days before widescreens were the norm, but I can see why people don't like it.

[/nostalgia fag] *still gushing over here* ;<; so beautiful

Edited October 25, 2011 by Inferno

[Dark Qiviut]

I love the narrowness, too. One thing I absolutely despised about the former build was how everything stretched from one screen to another. I have a very wide HD iMac (27 inches), and it gets really painful to read after a while. Scientifically, when reading, after about two alphabets (a.k.a., 52 characters), the eye gets really tired to read text on a line. The old skin basically forced me to read about five to six alphabets. With the narrower format, the text is much easier to read the sans-serif type because I have the ability to give my eyes a break here and there.

[Xenos]

This reminds me when I used to lurk about during the 06 hype, 'twas nothing but 8 back then... <3

[Forest_GS]

The new skin looks great. Feels like a true sonic forum now, and adjustable width would be nice, as most people have widescreens <.<. The empty spaces on the sides added together are the same width as the forum posts on my main screen. I seem to remember this being a problem in some old skins for some reason....Though, I do prefer this over the default.

*waits for the green one*

Edited October 25, 2011 by Forest_GS

[Dreadknux]

I'd consider a wider width for Sonical, given that most people's monitor resolutions are much larger than 1024x768 these days. However as Qivit said earlier, having a liquid skin for a forum (or in fact any site) is simply atrocious design and I don't like it in principle. But I admit that in this day and age, 1000px width is a bit behind the times. I'm willing to compromise.

What would people say if I widened the place by a hundred pixels or two? My only concern is iPad and TVs (but then I'm a bit concerned if you use a TV to do most of your browsing...), but then I'm sure there's be an iPad-friendly skin somewhere...

[Chris]

What would people say if I widened the place by a hundred pixels or two? My only concern is iPad and TVs (but then I'm a bit concerned if you use a TV to do most of your browsing...), but then I'm sure there's be an iPad-friendly skin somewhere...

iPhones have the ability to download Invision's own application for browsing forums, or you can use the mobile skin they have (or had) in previous versions before their recent rework. The mobile skin I installed last year (?) shouldn't be necessary anymore despite how slick looking it was.

Edit: Oop, I was thinking about Apple's architecture as a whole -- the Invision app should work on the iPad but it's a fairly large hoop to have to jump through.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Chris

[Dreadknux]

Yeah but that's iPhones. I'm worried about iPads.

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

I was under the impression that unless capped forum object dimensions were dynamic and tried to fit the visible screen space as best as possible.

*tests this*

...Ah indeed, the Sonical dimensions are static! That might be a problem. Now where did I find examples of a dynamic posting space?

*hunts*

I knew there was at least one place. Pardon me having to advertise here.

Note the posting spaces are dynamic. Change the dimensions of your browser window and see how it morphs to cope.

[Sami]

I have to concur with the "too narrow" complaint. Could you guys make it as wide as it was with the IP Board skin?

Also, a small nitpick: Would it be possible to make the Sonic 3 art extend to the bottom of each post? I remember Nu Sonical being able to do this, and this just looks odd.

Other than these two things, I'm absolutely in love with the new skin. Very nice work, you guys.

[Sonaos]

As someone who's using an iPad at this moment, it looks perfect to me. I suppose there isn't a way to make different versions of the same skin to support different resolutions?

[Dark Qiviut]

Yeah but that's iPhones. I'm worried about iPads.

I'm not an iPad user, but what I would recommend is research the minimum pixel width of the iPad in the vertical position. Then consider building the minimum width of the comment frames through there to make the place iPad/tablet-friendly as well as computer-friendly.

Repeating myself, I LOVE the narrow width because it's very eye-friendly and text-friendly.

I'm in a "*insert noun*-friendly" mood tonight, aren't I?

Edited October 25, 2011 by Dark Qiviut

[Forest_GS]

A secondary skin?

I imagine you could just copy the current skin and add the new code...though that'd be a bit untidy when more skins are added.

Maybe an option in the user settings for Fixed or Stretched? That way it'd work with other skins down the line...though it could also open up a fairly sized can-o-bugs...

Decisions, Decisions.

[Kevin]

Happy birthday, Sonic Stadium! I'm really liking the Sonical skin! Well done

Edited October 25, 2011 by Kevin