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Public area => Bug reports => The Pub => Archived fixes => Topic started by: Arantor on March 12th, 2012, 05:24 PM

Title: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on March 12th, 2012, 05:24 PM
We gotta fix this, it's missing a few things that I think need fixing; it's most prominent to me because of the theme work I've been doing.

* when in the board index, there's nothing in the linktree, and it should really have something
 (site name > Community?)

* when in a given category specifically
 (site name > Community > Category?)

Thoughts?
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: spoogs on March 12th, 2012, 06:21 PM
Wouldn't site name and community be linking to the same thing ; the board index?
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: PantsManUK on March 12th, 2012, 06:35 PM
I can think of conditions where they wouldn't (me, f'rinstance...) but in some cases they would go to the same place.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on March 12th, 2012, 06:46 PM
No, that's the thing, the front page is not the board index.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: spoogs on March 12th, 2012, 06:47 PM
Ah then yes I agree.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on March 14th, 2012, 10:55 AM
Quote from Arantor on March 12th, 2012, 05:24 PM
We gotta fix this, it's missing a few things that I think need fixing; it's most prominent to me because of the theme work I've been doing.

* when in the board index, there's nothing in the linktree, and it should really have something
 (site name > Community?)
It's not 'should', rather 'may need to'...
It's actually a design choice on my part, back from the early days when I imported the Noisen code.
And it could be argued, for instance, that the owner wants the forum homepage to point to other areas that aren't maintained by Wedge and as such don't use a breadcrumb system.
Quote
* when in a given category specifically
 (site name > Community > Category?)
Just had a look and... Heck, looks like the category links are not even working...?!!
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on March 14th, 2012, 12:34 PM
Quote
And it could be argued, for instance, that the owner wants the forum homepage to point to other areas that aren't maintained by Wedge and as such don't use a breadcrumb system.
Actually, I'd argue this should be related to the new menu item; if the new menu item is set, the first item in the linktree should point to that, with Community then being present to point to the forum itself.

Right now though there's a lack of linktree items until you actually get inside a board...
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on March 14th, 2012, 08:16 PM
Quote from Nao on March 14th, 2012, 10:55 AM
Quote
* when in a given category specifically
 (site name > Community > Category?)
Just had a look and... Heck, looks like the category links are not even working...?!!
Fixed in the latest commit.
Just so you know -- Subs-BoardIndex.php was indeed an oversight of mine, but I committed the Load.php change in rev 1013, and you (yes Pete, I'm talking to you :P) reverted it by mistake in rev 1016 by committing your plugin work...
I admit that it was a very large commit to make, and I'm to blame just as you are because I try to check all of your commits one by one, but I hope this didn't happen in other areas... :^^;: Hopefully with the latest TortoiseSVN this should no longer happen, should it...? It always tells me to update my stuff before I commit into a file that's been modified.

As for linktrees... Ah, well, it's up to you. Nobody cares but me, and you have as much to say about it, so do it your way and if I really can't adjust to it, I'll say it ;)
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: spoogs on March 17th, 2012, 12:53 PM
Indeed this does need some tending to, it more evident now using Wedge here, I can't get back to the index well unless i do/boards.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on March 17th, 2012, 12:54 PM
Or the home page (first item in the linktree), or indeed using the dropdown menu that's the first menu item ;)
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on October 19th, 2012, 02:46 PM
Bumping this old topic, because it's better than using the thought system for that...

So, this is the best I could come up with. As you can see, it has two drawbacks:
- it's a circle, not an arrow...
- it's pointed to the left, not to the right. It goes against the 'established standards'.

The advantages, though:
- I can set a box-shadow on it.
- I can add hover effects that change the background entirely. (Except for the current entry, because I haven't been able to extend the background width to the entire rest of the line without resorting to HTML...)

What do you think is best..? Current[1], or proposed?

I, myself, have a small preference for the current one. I think I can get around the lack of border by adding another pseudo-element behind it... Hmm, well, I'm not so sure actually, because the current implementation relies on transparent backgrounds a bit too much...
 1. See in the Wuthering skin...
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on October 19th, 2012, 02:50 PM
I quite like it actually.

Though the arrow or similar would be better if at all possible.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on October 19th, 2012, 02:56 PM
I'm doing my best, at this point... It's like I'm throwing all of my CSS super-skills into the game.
There's a way to invert the 'arrow' direction, but it involves at least 500 bytes of extra CSS... Meh!
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on October 19th, 2012, 03:12 PM
Even when compressed?
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on October 19th, 2012, 03:15 PM
Oh, it probably compresses better, than it's still not a very exciting implementation to have...

It's basically the same as here:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2345132/reversing-z-index-based-from-page-render-order

Not exciting, I told you!
Posted: October 19th, 2012, 03:14 PM

Of course, I could work a bit harder and try to use linear-gradients for the arrow, which would solve all of our problems, but I'm way, way behind CSS gurus when it comes to manipulating gradients... (e.g. Lea Verou)
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: agent47 on October 19th, 2012, 04:22 PM
Yeah, I agree with Arantor. It's doesn't look bad per se but the arrow or similar definitely seems slightly more suited or appropriate. Seeing it in live action may help a little.
Quote from Nao
- it's pointed to the left, not to the right. It goes against the 'established standards'.
I don't quite understand?
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on October 19th, 2012, 04:29 PM
In a linktree, usage shows that 99.99% of those websites that have 'arrows' will make them point to the right, rather than to the left...

Wedge > Forum > Topic

!=

Wedge < Forum < Topic
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on October 19th, 2012, 06:10 PM
So... For further reference, I'll post the entire linktree code for the rounded corner version, so that I can easily restore it. I would usually save it in a file aside, but I thought users with access might want to see how it looked in context.
(Plus, it's some cool CSS... :))

That's in skins/Wine/Wuthering/extra.css, of course.
Now I'll work on trying to add a border on the arrow version... I think I can do it.

Code: [Select]
// The navigation list (i.e. linktree)
#linktree
background: transparent
margin: 0 -math($sidebar-width + 20) 0 0 // This is to allow the linktree to use the sidebar space...
ul
border-radius: 8px
background: linear-gradient(0deg, #fdfdfd, #ededed)
padding: 0
border: 1px solid #ccc
margin: 8px 0 12px
height, line-height: 30px
overflow: hidden
li
position: relative
margin-right: -11px
padding-left: 8px
padding-right: 18px
background: linear-gradient(0deg, #fdfdfd, #ededed)
box-shadow: -2px 0 5px
border-radius: 20px 0 0 20px
:first-child
border-radius: 0
:hover
background: linear-gradient(10deg, #fff0f0, #efe0e0)
:nth-last-child(even)
background: linear-gradient(0deg, darken(#fdfdfd, 5%), darken(#ededed, 5%))
:hover
background: linear-gradient(0deg, darken(#fffdfd, 5%), darken(#efeded, 5%))
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on October 19th, 2012, 11:22 PM
Ah HA!

This is far from perfect (probably because I'm per-pixelling it in my head -- the box-shadow isn't half as good as the previous one), but this is much closer to what I had in mind...

Works with hover effects, too.

So... What do you think?
I can still go for the arrow version, but I'll only accept it if I can do that small border on the side of the arrow... Which currently I'm still far from getting, I'm afraid. Perhaps it'll come to me at one point...
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on October 19th, 2012, 11:28 PM
And... Nailed!! (It was a clip issue. I forgot to account for the shadow width and resorted to an inset out of laziness...)
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: agent47 on October 19th, 2012, 11:59 PM
Doooood! that's just visually stunning. Nice work, Nao! Super stuff...
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on October 21st, 2012, 10:58 AM
Do you think I should use it across all skins?

The main issue is that I can't support multiline link trees for now...
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on October 22nd, 2012, 03:20 PM
Also bump...

Awfully quiet these days, innit? It's like I'm the only want who want that alpha to be out... :P

Maybe I should start asking everyone here who wants to be part of the private alpha sessions...?
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Pandos on October 22nd, 2012, 03:39 PM
It's quiet because it only depends on you and Arantor to realease the beast :)
For sure everybody wants to get involved and starting to test wedge.
So if both of you think the world is ready for an alpha, let's go :)




 
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on October 22nd, 2012, 03:41 PM
It is quiet, yes :( As it stands, if we're happy with the fact that certain things are quite heavily broken (banning, basically, though group/board UI is broken), then yes, there's no real reason a private alpha should be held up any longer.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: billy2 on October 22nd, 2012, 03:47 PM
:hmm:
The calm before the storm ?

My forum users have all f*cked off - its too cold to dive. Pussies !!
Willing to help out testing 'non technical' stuff if required though.

Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on October 22nd, 2012, 05:03 PM
Quote from Pandos on October 22nd, 2012, 03:39 PM
It's quiet because it only depends on you and Arantor to realease the beast :)
Well, then I guess it's time to open a new topic to prepare for it...
Quote
For sure everybody wants to get involved and starting to test wedge.
So if both of you think the world is ready for an alpha, let's go :)
Yes, it's ready.

Well, it isn't ready for Pete because of broken features. I don't mind about them.
It isn't ready for me because of unwritten features that I really wanted in, but are too complex to be done in less than a month, and we've already postponed enough as it is. Pete doesn't mind about them.

So, since none of us see any problems with the reason the other has to postpone, it probably means we're simply wary of a release in general, because it's been comfortable working in our own little dark corner for the last two years, and we're just scared of having our first noobs telling us it doesn't work :P
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on January 22nd, 2013, 06:20 PM
So... For those curious, here's a screenshot of the tentative linktree for Weaving.

It's using an arrow instead of a circle, the CSS is a bit shorter but not that much.
There aren't any pretty animations or anything, it's just what you can see below.

Is it worth committing, or should we stick to the default Weaving one..?
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on January 22nd, 2013, 06:50 PM
I like it :)

I'm not sure about replacing the default one, I'd sort of like to leave all the options for people if they want them.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: agent47 on January 22nd, 2013, 06:54 PM
The arrows are definitely working for me too :) but yeah, like Arantor said some may choose the current circular style over the arrows but I am totally digging the arrows.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on January 22nd, 2013, 07:05 PM
The circles are here to stay. They're in Wuthering, which isn't the default skin.
Weaving, however, has the difficult task of trying to please everyone, and also staying a 'bare' skin that can easily be modified to your own taste. Wuthering is a child of Weaving and as such I can try to be as inventive as possible, because it's not going to be the default.

So...
- Weaving: boring linktree
- Wine and Warm: inherit linktree from Weaving
- Wuthering: has its own cool linktree

What I'm trying to do is change the boring Weaving linktree to the arrow version you see above. I'm trying to determine if it's "neutral" enough to be used in default skins. If yes, then it might be worth including.
After all, technically Wess has a nice little feature called 'reset' which allows you to entirely rewrite a selector without having to 'cancel' its current definition manually... And although I'd rather not encourage users to do that for anything, I'm trying to determine if it's okay for the linktree.

(Oh, and I also tried to move the Wuthering linktree to Weaving... It still looks great, but it's too "in your face". It tends to draw your attention, a bit too much. If I make it flat, though, it's better, but it looks a bit weird.)
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on January 22nd, 2013, 07:07 PM
Quote
What I'm trying to do is change the boring Weaving linktree to the arrow version you see above. I'm trying to determine if it's "neutral" enough to be used in default skins. If yes, then it might be worth including.
I'd leave Weaving's alone and have Warm and Wine use this new style.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on January 22nd, 2013, 07:27 PM
Thing is, one of my plans is to separate Wine from the rest, i.e. move Warm and Wuthering to be direct children of Weaving. So... Warm for now, I guess?
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on January 22nd, 2013, 07:38 PM
That works for me :)
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on January 23rd, 2013, 03:18 PM
Done, and website updated.
Can you switch to Warm and give me your opinion on the changes...?
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on January 23rd, 2013, 03:24 PM
Looks good :)

Could use a touch of space between the bottom link tree and the footer, and perhaps a bit of space between the top tree and the menu, which dropping the dotted border on the menu.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on January 23rd, 2013, 03:30 PM
I wanted to use as much horizontal space as possible for the linktree because (1) bigger font (1) included next to sidebar rather than above, all of which contribute to increasing chances of having it take 2 lines... Then again, one of the good points in this linktree is that it doesn't "break" when shown over two lines.
I also wanted to have the linktree and the menu bar next to each other as some sort of design choice, but it may very well be the reason I'm going "meh" on the end result...

I'll try this in a sec.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Arantor on January 23rd, 2013, 03:32 PM
Horizontal space is fine, just needs a shade of vertical space.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Nao on January 23rd, 2013, 03:40 PM
Good instincts. This padding works tons better in Warm. Will commit in next batch.
Title: Re: Linktree
Post by: Aaron Smith on January 24th, 2013, 01:00 AM
The linktree for Warm looks nice, but the linktree in Wuthering is just straight sexy.