As you all know, months ago I started rebuilding the site's code and design from the ground up and then slowly started to migrate pages to the new code. I took a break from the migration process because of a lot of things getting in my way but I've continued the process of migrating pages again and the first page I decided to work on since continuing is the Vizzed Board Index page which I've been working on for the past week.


New Content
There's a few new sections on the page which I think will really help increase forum activity.

Vizzed Board Community Content Scroller
I personally love this thing. For those who use the RGR, they'll somewhat recognize this. This scrolls through 4 pieces of content (I may add 1 or 2 more in the future) in order to grab your attention and briefly show you what's going on in the Vizzed community. It shows you the top 15 users with the most posts so far today, it shows you the latest trending threads (threads with the most unique replies in past 24 hours), birthdays of users who have at least 1 post, and the most recently created threads.

Users on Vizzed Board
This is similar to what the previous board index showed except this is a little more condensed.

Your Friend Actions
Just like before, you can see the latest things your friends are doing. This is pretty small but you can click the 'Your Friend Actions' title link to see a full list and you can also Pin it from that page to your User HUD.

Your Online Friends
Just like before, you can see all of your friends who are online. Clicking the 'Your Online Friends' title link brings you to a full page and from there you can Pin it to your User Hud.

Last Threads Posted In
This was on the old board index but it wasn't as detailed. This shows you the last threads you've posted in and if they have new replies since you last posted in them. Clicking the 'Last Threads Posted In' title link takes you to a full page and while that page isn't finished yet, it's cool to finally have a full page dedicated to that.


Organized Content
The content in my opinion is far more organized. Before, there was no real organization or flow to how the content was presented. Now, I have it so that everything is neatly organized and it should be easier for new users to take everything in.


Forums Displayed Nicer
I personally think the forums are displayed a lot better and neater. The Rented Forums area shows more forums and to take up less space, has a scroll bar allowing you to see all rented forums beyond the 10 with the latest replies.


Faster Loading
The page should load a lot faster than before, probably around 2 times faster. The rendered HTML should be a lot smaller as well which means the page should be pretty lightweight in your browser.


Links to Forum Categories
There are links toward the top of the page and in the left Navigation column that let you jump to the various forum categories. I'm not sure if I'll be keeping those links at the top though since they push down the page and may be unnecessary. I'll eventually add additional links to that area to forum pages like the New Posts page, Your Posts, etc.


Mobile Friendly
This page is incredibly mobile friendly. To get an idea of just how mobile friendly it is, see below.

Vizzed Board Index on Tablet
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/index.php?mobileDevice=Tablet

Vizzed Board Index on Phone
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/index.php?mobileDevice=Phone

Vizzed Board Index on Desktop
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/


Threads Coming Soon
I've done a few other things lately which I'll be making threads about soon. Things I've done lately or have been working on and am almost finished with which I'll make threads about over the next few days include:
-Thread Keywords (I completely rebuilt the thread sub forum feature into a multi-keyword system)
-Widgets
-New Forums (I've currently added 'Information' and 'News and Current Events'; more info here)


Some things still need fixing with the new board index page and with things related to it but I'll get those things taken care of tomorrow. If you notice anything not working because of these updates, please let me know in this thread.

If you have any suggestions for anything on the new board index page, let me know. If there's something you think needs to be added to the page, let me know. Things I still plan to do is adding a 'Mark all Forums' link back, adding the 'NEW' icon back to any forum with new replies, adding cometchat back, and a few other things missing.

If there's anything you really really don't like about the new design, I may be willing to make adjustments but I definitely think that this new page is for the best. Just give it time and be patient with it, I think that once everyone gets adjusted to it, they'll definitely like it better.

I got a sneak peek at this already and so I wasn't surprised when I woke up this morning to see the new index page.

It'll take some getting used to but I think the change will be good in the long run. Can't wait for more of the customization to be rolled out.

Also - https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=91129 - I made a thread about some of the missing features/links etc that people were used to seeing on the index that aren't there anymore. Most of that is low priority stuff I think but hopefully easy things to fix when you've got some time. I figured it was better to make a thread than to have people making a thread in general chat complaining about the fact that certain features were suddenly gone or not working.

its kinda hard to read certain text and links.

mastergame : which kinds of text and links (referring to where on the page), and what view are you using?

I personally dig the new layout a lot more than the last. It really is far more organized and WAAAAAAAAY more mobile friendly. And while there are a few bugs (log out link not working on phone and chat link being broken), it's to be expected with a work in progress.

m0ssb3rg935 : chat link works on the forum and thread pages. Try there instead for now.

I really like the community tab, being able to see post leaders as well as latest threads is a great thing, but scrolling should be a thing there.

The thread tab there is a lot like a New Thread page that was suggested a while back and it should work really well if you could see more than like 5 at a time.

It'll take some time to get used to for sure. Initial thoughts are that the desktop version is a bit cluttered, but it's got a nice aesthetic to it. Mobile view is leagues better than it ever has been, and easily ranks for one of the best I've ever seen. So far, so good, man

The one thing I love the most of the mobile version is "Alerts". Because "Notifications" isn't only long, it's also too mainstream

I actually like the new mobile design. It was rather hard to navigate before compared to the desktop version, but now they are fairly equal to me.

I can't wait to see the complete version, it looks very promising.

I really don't like the new layout, for one it looks odd with the rest of the board and also it's really cluttered and messy.
If the rest of the board was updated then I'd probably warm to it better.
(Using Pale Moon, usually detected as Firefox 31.9 because it has that in the useragent despite it now not being a Firefox clone.)

[sigh].... well, either David could have updated the entire site all at once which would have meant waiting even longer for it or he could introduce the index and work out the kinks in the code there which will make changing other pages easier going forward.

There really isn't any winning regardless. No one is going to be 100% happy.

Still, even after only a week or so I'm already getting used to the new index page. It feels normal now.

geeogree : Yeah, it's like I mentioned before in another thread. People always complain when a site changes it's layout. Even if it's much needed, which is the case here. Once people have some time they will get used to it.

Remember how much people freaked when Youtube changed it's layout a few years back? You would think the world was ending lol

I like the new features of the index page. I'm really loving the "community" box that shows all the trending topics, top posters and all sorts of cool information. IT's great to be able to see what everyone's doing on the site at a quick glance. I'm hoping this feature also encourages people to be more active on the boards.

The new layout looks great on mobile.

The only issue I am having(and I know it's been mentioned elsewhere) is the cometchat bar.

Otherwise, great job on the new layout! :3

I know the idea is to change all of the pages on Vizzed eventually, but I've noticed that the post radar doesn't show up on the new Index Page. Is that going to happen on every page you put the new code on, or will the post radar return?

I really like the changes made. I specially like seeing what's trending, what my friends are doing, top posts of the day, and those with most posts- it helps stay more active.