Which design is easier to read?

[Jade Elizabeth]

I need some help figuring out which design is easier to read so if everyone would take a moment to click the links below and comment that would really help me out . Please read all of the posts and tell me which design is easier to read, when reading the whole topic (I want it to flow nicely)

Design A

Design B

[Antes]

A, because it gives faded information makes eyes read the bold places (gives focus in general).

[Arantor]

A. Having the time above the content means you're not dividing the focus between the top and bottom of the content area, and Antes is right (much as it pains me to admit it )

[Jade Elizabeth]

The difference is where the time/datestamp stuff is. In design B it's at the bottom of the post. I feel like it's easier to read but much more messy looking... You can skip it easier without searching for the start of the post you know?


It's a conundrum ha ha.

[Antes]

I personally like adding bordom-bottom same color with text.

A. Having the time above the content means you're not dividing the focus between the top and bottom of the content area, and Antes is right (much as it pains me to admit it )

lol

[Jade Elizabeth]

Yeah I am going to try to do that, the mockup program I am using doesn't let me .

[Jade Elizabeth]

Okay I got something similar.

[Antes]

On design stuff I always use "personal taste" don't like talking in general, its better looking now.

[Jade Elizabeth]

I like to get some feedback every now and then .

[Jade Elizabeth]

This is what I have so far, Antes, what do you think?



Linky

[Arantor]

Why is there what looks suspiciously like cartoon pr0n at the top?

[Jade Elizabeth]

That's the work that's being shown off, it's what this post will look like in the future: http://www.creativeburrow.org/drawing/libby/

[Antes]

This is what I have so far, Antes, what do you think?

When we got selfie with you...

other than you need to upgrade your theme to CSS3 & get rid of all those useless image blocks. Rest is nice to me

[Jade Elizabeth]

That's a mockup, not going to touch anything until 2.1 comes out and then I will likely be using bootstrap or similar .

[Arantor]

So you're going to wait until 2.1 comes out then entirely rip the theme to bits and start over with it? Sounds like a fantastic use of time to me.

[Jade Elizabeth]

I'm waiting until 2.1 comes out before I start building the design I'm working on now, since it will be for 2.1.

[Arantor]

But if you're then tearing the design apart completely to push Bootstrap in...?

[Jade Elizabeth]

I'm not sure I am following...am I tearing SMFs design apart or this one I've just made?

If you mean this one then it's just a mockup - it's not code at all. I've been using a program called Axure to make it look like it's real. It CAN convert that to code but that's not going to work because of how I've had to do certain things (those lines under the datestamp would be turned into divs, instead of a div with padding and a bottom border like I might make it for example).

If you mean SMFs...that's always been the plan . I want the site to look and feel more like a website as opposed to a forum, and that's always been my goal with Creative Burrow....I am just going to take some more steps towards making this a reality when 2.1 comes out .

As for bootstrap I might decide to use something else or to just steal some of the LESS stuff . Probably the LESS stuff, that crap is AWESOME.

[Arantor]

If you are going to insert Bootstrap into SMF 2.1's theme you will encounter many, many problems.

Meaning that you will have to rip it to bits to make Bootstrap work with it. I have tried this already, remember.

[Antechinus]

I need some help figuring out which design is easier to read so if everyone would take a moment to click the links below and comment that would really help me out . Please read all of the posts and tell me which design is easier to read, when reading the whole topic (I want it to flow nicely)

Design A

Design B

B, by miles. Getting all the crud out of the top of the post makes it flow much better. Of course it then goes under the post instead, but my mind is tuned to ignore sigs anyway so mentally it just gets skipped.

[TehCraw]

I have to agree with Antechinus here. It's nice to look at a post and have the content itself be the first thing I see.

[Jade Elizabeth]

If you are going to insert Bootstrap into SMF 2.1's theme you will encounter many, many problems.

Meaning that you will have to rip it to bits to make Bootstrap work with it. I have tried this already, remember.

Well Reseller seems to do it okay I think? I'm pretty sure it's using bootstrap.

I need some help figuring out which design is easier to read so if everyone would take a moment to click the links below and comment that would really help me out . Please read all of the posts and tell me which design is easier to read, when reading the whole topic (I want it to flow nicely)

Design A

Design B

B, by miles. Getting all the crud out of the top of the post makes it flow much better. Of course it then goes under the post instead, but my mind is tuned to ignore sigs anyway so mentally it just gets skipped.

That's exactly what I was thinking!

I have to agree with Antechinus here. It's nice to look at a post and have the content itself be the first thing I see.

It's a bit daunting at first but when you realise how much focus and attention goes into finding the post itself you start to appreciate it being the first thing .

I think what I will do is keep it at the bottom but have it hidden by css, and when you hover over the post it will display. You don't need it really anyway .

[Antechinus]

I tried that, and some people grumbled that they got lost about where they were on the site. What I ended up doing was having a light grey and truncated thread title (text-overflow: ellipsis;) that was just enough to nudge any failing memory without being in yer face. That kept me (Mr. Clean) happy and stopped the little sheep getting lost.

ETA: Oh yeah, standard font weight too. No bold.

[Arantor]

*shrug* If you know best, you go do it and see how much fun you have. I *have* done Bootstrap against 2.1, I know *exactly* how much frustration was involved.

[Gwenwyfar]

If you're gonna go through all the trouble of trying to put it into bootstrap, why not just write the code yourself by hand (and end up with a better, cleaner code as well)?

As for the designs, as it is, I would say b is a little easier to read since you don't have to ignore the title at the top, but I think a is best overall, especially if you put some different styling to it to give it less attention, or be easily ignorable, also taking into account it is what most people are used to in a forum, and there would be too many things in the bottom if you had signatures, attachments, edits or others things there too.