Site Redesign on Pets.ca

(This was also posted as an announcement)

Hi Members,

We have been redesigning the other sections of Pets.ca for the past bunch of months and we are finally really to roll out the new design. This redesign will not affect this forum directly, but it will affect all the other sections (articles, tips, etc.) on the site.

The new redesign should go live within the next 8-24 hours and then we'll open up this thread where issues can be reported.

We just wanted to give people a quick heads up that the redesign is coming shortly and we'll be tweaking things for the first couple of days .

Thanks everyone,

Marko
Admin

Hi members,

The new site redesign www.pets.ca (http://www.pets.ca) is live and we'll be tweaking it over the coming days.

If you have a moment feel free to take a look please fell free to comment in this thread.

Many Thanks!
Marko

Wow I thought I was on the wrong site. Looks great I will let you know when I check it out further but it looks so much better. Good work I think you need to keep consistency so you will need to change the other pages to match the look of main page. Just in case you don't have enough work.:thumbs up:pawprint:

Wow I thought I was on the wrong site. Looks great I will let you know when I check it out further but it looks so much better. Good work I think you need to keep consistency so you will need to change the other pages to match the look of main page. Just in case you don't have enough work

thx for the comment! Yes indeed we will try to match this forum's look to the rest of the site shortly.

Any other comments?

thx!

marko

the new look, looks great!!:thumbs up
just a question though when you go to the front page and then click on the forum it opens another page is this normal?? or is it just me :o

No me too get two pages now

Thanks Breeze! I noticed that too just now.....and it's on the list of tweaks to fix.

many thanks!

BTW - If anyone doesn't like the new design for any reason, or is having problems with anything, we really want to know that as well. :goodvibes:

Thx!

Marko

Love the new look!

I initially had some issues trying to log in on the new home page, but I seem to be able to log into using the forum page no problem.

Really like the new layout! Great work! :thumbs up

I, too thought I was at the wrong site, checked my book marks, right adress. Wow! it really does look nice. Is there any way you can stick a tiny version of the old cat,dog,bird logo somewhere for a while, just until we adjust to the new look?

the board is really lagging, and lagging when you want to post a reply it is taking forever it seems :(

is it cause of the tweaking marko??:fingerscr

on the front page where it has the pets.ca forum activity, if you click on it the first time it does nothing, but if you click on it the second time it will bring you to the forum, even when your signed in.
same thing with the pet blog.

Thanks for these observations! Please continue :)
I am not the one coding this but i will pass all this on to them.

many thx!

you can watch the featured video, but on the bottom botton of the video "watch more videos
I don't have access I get a notice..

not sure if it applies to anyone else.

Copied this merged posts from closed thread http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=72519 so that all issues are in 1 place.

At 9:38 this morning I got that "server too busy" message again. Anyone else?

yup here too...trying to post to Brenda not to give up on what she does so well but................

I got it too.

yup me too so far I got it about 5 times..

but I think it's cause Marko is "twiking the site for the new look

Just as an FYI, many elements were technically impossible to test in design phase, the site actually needed to be live. So we appreciate all your help testing this.

thx! Marko

Hi everyone,

We are aware of slowness issues and will be be keeping a close eye on things.

Feel free to report any problems right here in this thread.

Many Thx - marko

I like it! Looks great.

I found if you scroll down to the section titled Pets.ca Forum Activity and click the link there, it doesn't open in a new window :)

Diane

I just tried to set up a page in the dog photos section of pets.ca and couldn't get logged in. Is that disabled right now till things get tweaked?

If not--it seems to want my forum logon, but when I go to home from the BB and try to start a page for the Pack, it logs be out of the BB and won't take my logon/passwd on the picture site. :shrug:

But I like the new look :thumbs up Very easy on the eyes! :D

I just tried to set up a page in the dog photos section of pets.ca and couldn't get logged in. Is that disabled right now till things get tweaked?

If not--it seems to want my forum logon, but when I go to home from the BB and try to start a page for the Pack, it logs be out of the BB and won't take my logon/passwd on the picture site. :shrug:

But I like the new look :thumbs up Very easy on the eyes! :D

I had a similiar problem hazel. I could not log in on the main home page, but I am able to log in if I click on "Forum"... hmmm. I'm sure some things just need tweaking. Looks great though!! :thumbs up

Yup still tweaking that section - Thanks for letting us know though! :)

Hi everyone!

We are aware that the site is going through some issues and is somewhat wonky speedwise.

We are doing optimization tests this weekend and we should be able to solve these issues and get the site stable over the next couple of days.

Thanks for your patience everyone! :goodvibes:

Marko

Hi members!

Some optimizations were made today to the site and for the last few hours the site and forum seem faster. Can other members chime in on whether this is true for you?

Thx!
marko

the site is much faster this morning Marko for me. :thumbs up
I'm using firefox.

hey marko

since this morning, the site seems to "freeze" on the home page.
:(

When I logged in last night, I too thought I was another site. It was a little laggy last evening but appears to be fine today.

Personally, I like it opening in another tab cause you can go back to the first tab an read up on the home page. :shrug:

All in all, it looks great Marko. :thumbs up

On another note, when you log into the home page on the top left side (My Pets), it displays My Pets profile along with the last time you logged in.

Currently it is displaying "You last logged in Sunday, September 12th 2010 at 8:27pm" The time now is 4:30 p.m. Are we in a different time zone and is there a log off feature from the home page My Pets profile? :shrug:

Just wanted to report, that we are still optimizing stuff and are making good progress.

Thx - Marko

thanks Marko,,,it was lagging really bad lastnight but it's all zippy canoe again today.:thumbs up

Marko, just wanted to let you know that I think the new "look" is really great. Thanks for all the hard work involved in making this a wonderful forum for us pet lovers. patti

It lags for me once in a while but no biggie :) the new front page looks great btw , I think it will be easier for newbies to look for infos. :thumbs up

Thanks again for the comments and please continue to report problems. :)

Just as an FYI, once we finish the optimization and bug squashing, we will likely 'reskin' this forum so that its look matches the rest of the site.

Thx!

Marko

I love the new look and great choice of colours as well. :thumbs up

Looking forward to the new colours in the forum. :cloud9:

Will the forum be shut down while you are doing the upgrading there? :)

I love the new look and great choice of colours as well. :thumbs up

Looking forward to the new colours in the forum. :cloud9:

Will the forum be shut down while you are doing the upgrading there? :)


Thx RB!
Nope, i do believe the forum will stay open while the forum colours will be updated.

Thanks!
marko

WHEW ......that's good news. :D :thumbs up

I'm still getting significant lag, Marko--both on IE (it actually froze and I had to go into task manager to end task) and Firefox (not quite as severe--usually, just refreshing the page it fixes the problem). I don't notice the same lag on other sites :shrug:

Thx for that note HRP!
How often does it happen, and the NEXT time it happens, can you record the day, time and your timezone?

many thx!

marko

hey marko.
for me it happens almost every day if I log on to the front page.
especialy around 3-7pm..

if I save the site with just the forum I'm fine but not if I save the site with the front page.

thanks breeze! I'll check to see what's going on at that time.

Thx!
Marko

How often does it happen, and the NEXT time it happens, can you record the day, time and your timezone?

Yep, I'll try to remember, anyhow :o

It hasn't happened today, yet :thumbs up

Just as an FYI forum colours are likely to change within 24 hours.

Thx! Marko

Just as an FYI forum colours are likely to change within 24 hours.

Thx! Marko


Looking forward to it. :goodvibes:

Ooooooo! madame hazel is trippin' in brown! :eek: :D

Ooooooo! madame hazel is trippin' in brown! :eek: :D

Just don't fall in it madame!!!! :laughing:

This looks really nice, Marko - good job!

Diane

Thanks for the comments on this new forum look which now matches the rest of the site. :)

All comments/issues should be reported in this very thread.

many thx!

Marko

Ooooooo! madame hazel is trippin' in brown! :eek: :D

Just don't fall in it madame!!!! :laughing:


:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Good one qmc :D

Okay, I'll be the first to say that I don't like it. :o

I was hoping that more blue/green would be used as all the brown is very hard on my eyes. :eek:

The background colour is fine but is it alot of trouble to change the browns to blue/green? :cloud9:

Okay, I'll be the first to say that I don't like it. :o

I was hoping that more blue/green would be used as all the brown is very hard on my eyes. :eek:

The background colour is fine but is it alot of trouble to change the browns to blue/green? :cloud9:

sorry to say Marko but i have to agree with Rainbow,,this is really making me have to squint. i do like the brownish background but the rest looks kinda washed out now.:(

That's the first thing I thought too, it's really hard on the eyes. Although I love the color, I can't look at the screen for longer than a few minutes before I have to look away :shrug:.

Now I like the color scheme, very kind to the eyes....and different from so many other sites out there.

My roomie said she liked it too...

Diane

Can the "post reply", "edit" and "quote" buttons also be in the brown scheme?

They stick out, LOL

Diane

Oy, the brown is starting to give me a headache. Not sure if it's the color or the lack of contrast with the standard post font, but the font looks smaller and is harder to read, too. :o

Marko--pp 35 and 36 in the TJT--experiments with fonts and colors. :D If you're totally tied into the brown theme, some colors (like navy) "read" better than others.

looks better like this tho marko....oh and we've also discussed our plastic surgery bill being covered due to new frown lines occurring.:D

uhm... why the colour of sudden baby surprise? :shrug: I dont like it... very hard for me to read.. :(
if there were maybe options? to choose your preferred skin theme?:shrug:
my:2cents:

Same here , very hard to read :(

http://bestsmileys.com/geek/1.gif

:p

sudden baby surprise?

:o :eeew:

:laughing:

sorry Hazel, by that I mean of course elegantness of this greyish-brownish hue...:laughing:

I think it's just all the brown bars that are overwhelming. If I go to the home page with the featured article, I find it much easier to read. I think it's all the spots of color in the header bars that break up the page...

is there a way to tone down the white background?? maybe then it won't be so hard to read??

also when I logged on tonight the forum froze, not for long but still froze on firefox :o

Thx for that note HRP!
How often does it happen, and the NEXT time it happens, can you record the day, time and your timezone?

many thx!

marko
2024 CDT -- lag while trying to change pages...but maybe someone is 'tweaking'? :o

Marko there is too much white if you toned the white with a little of the taupe it would reduce the brightness. But I think what it really needs also is a bit of pop lile a hit of orange. Also the blue box has got to go. But I like the taupe it just needs tweaking. But it is looking good and thanks for asking for our input. Even though you know we would give it anyhow

Even though you know we would give it anyhow

:laughing:

Well I'm sure glad lots of members feel the same way I do. :D

I logged on earlier and read 4 pages of the tjt to get caught up and then had to log off cuz my eyes were so crossed. :frustrated:

Marko, if it's not possible to change the two shades of brown bars to blue/green then would we be able to go back to the previous colours in the forum? :o

So members - tell us how you really feel :D

Ok, let me have a talk with the designer dude....this colour design took a quite a few hours to do. When we first saw it, Both Dave and i thought it looked great :shrug:
At the very least in the short term we can change the main text colour...

Thx for the comments!
Marko

So, Marko, are you sorry now that you asked for our thoughts? :D

If you and Dave were like some of us that read and post here (for a lot longer than I care to admit) then you'd see how hard it is on the eyes. :o

And, also the type size seems to be smaller than before or else my age is really showing. :laughing:

I'm sorry you and Dave already spent so much time on this but we really do appreciate how hard you try to please us. :grouphug:

I agree us old folks need a larger font. I still like the brown it is the bright white background that is so hard on our eyes Good thing we are not opinionated.

Oh wow, I just opened the site this morning and I love the colors!

You know I like the color scheme but I am tending to think its a tad hard on the eyes for some reason?? I am sure you and Dave will come up with something!

Great work so far Marko!

S
At the very least in the short term we can change the main text colour...



That is my only concern , the text colour and also , it seems smaller ? So makes it hard to read.

But I don't have a problem with the brown and the beige background.

I agree...I love the colour scheme but find the text a teeny bit hard to read...it does seem smaller

TeriM mentioned in the TJT how to make the writing bigger ... I have mozilla and went to the "view" option on top , clicked on it and zoomed in. I's much better now :thumbs up

I love the new color scheme. it looks very modern and classy. love it :)

Are some of us seeing different colour schemes? In the main forum my backgrounds are light brown. I like the background but the brown type is hard to read.

It's only here, in my REPLY TO THREAD box, that I see a white background, surrounded by a grey box. With black type.

my background is pale grey/cream tone with brown font... i fid it very easy on the eyes :shrug:

I'm just finding the wording is smaller. But that is easily fixed. I just have to remember where. :D

Are some of us seeing different colour schemes? In the main forum my backgrounds are light brown. I like the background but the brown type is hard to read.

It's only here, in my REPLY TO THREAD box, that I see a white background, surrounded by a grey box. With black type.


That's the way I see it too. :)

I could get used to the brown bars but still find the blue/green a much more calming/relaxing combo. :cloud9:

But definitely need to do something to improve the text. :fingerscr

The biggest complainer is back again. :D

If we keep the brown can we just get rid of the green bar at the top? The blue one is fine as it ties in with the Post Reply, Edit and Quote buttons but the green bar just doesn't seem to fit in to me. :shrug:

Then if the text was changed to dark blue that would be even better. :thumbs up

I'll go away now. :D

But I like the green bar!!! I wish the bars were all green and blue...the dark brown is okay, but the mauve seems to be what's botherin' hazel's eyes... :o

Mauve? What do you see in mauve? I might also call this lavendar or lilac. On the colour font choice it's called plum. I know monitors differ, but mauve?

Still kinda like this one the best tho...and gotta say i agree with the liking the green and blue...the browns just kinda look washed out

Mauve? What do you see in mauve? I might also call this lavendar or lilac. On the colour font choice it's called plum. I know monitors differ, but mauve?
LOL Okay, okay....so it's really not a purply-brown enough to qualify for a true mauve, but I'm referring to the mid-tone, mid-contrast tan/brown. I'm just trying to distinguish it somehow from the true brown. :p

I kinda like the lavender, too. :D

Yikes ......you guys are really confusing Marko now. :D

Yes, I would prefer the blue/green theme much better but it seemed like I was out voted by other members ....so since I'm an easy person to get along with I could adapt to the brown but would really like the suggestions I made to go along with it if we did have to keep the brown theme. :fingerscr

And, Hazel. you need new glasses if you see mauve. :laughing:

I'd like green and blue bars...lavender...maybe even orange...or mauve. :p Just not so much mid-tone brown. :o

Hi members,

Since there's so many differing opinions here, I'm going to let this sit till the end of this week so more people can give opinions.

Many thanks!
Marko

Hi members,

Since there's so many differing opinions here, I'm going to let this sit till the end of this week so more people can give opinions.

Many thanks!
Marko

marko could you atleast increase the font size before then?

If we had only two choices, the old and the new, I prefer the old.

Hi members,

Since there's so many differing opinions here, I'm going to let this sit till the end of this week so more people can give opinions.

Many thanks!
Marko


:laughing: I don't blame you Marko .....you definitely need a lot of patience trying to make a bunch of women happy. :D

I also vote green/blue or the old.. I cant seem to be able to stay on pets frmore than a few minutes at a time, which truly sucks... My eyes are not happy at all with the current theme... :2cents:

Ugh...sorry Marko :o but I too prefer the blue/green from the top. The brown hues are not too too bad on my PC but they do not show up well on the Mac and the netbook I can't stay on but for a few minutes.

I bigger default font would be helpful too.

TeriM mentioned in the TJT how to make the writing bigger ... I have mozilla and went to the "view" option on top , clicked on it and zoomed in. I's much better now :thumbs up

have you guys tried to make "the writing" bigger ? It worked for me and it's much easier to read :thumbs up

My Mozilla zoom only works till I change pages, then I have to redo it. So I'm stuck in IE if I want to zoom...

My Mozilla zoom only works till I change pages, then I have to redo it. So I'm stuck in IE if I want to zoom...

Hazel , I tried it and even when I close the computer , when I get back to pets , it's still zoomed in ...

I clicked on "view" (top left) and clicked on zoom in twice.

i'm using google chrome and it's staying zoomed for me too,,but then i have to unzoom when i go somewhere else on the net..

i'm using google chrome and it's staying zoomed for me too,,but then i have to unzoom when i go somewhere else on the net..

Mine only zoomed for here and is staying this way. I get on other sites and it gets back to normal by itself :thumbs up

Mine only zoomed for here and is staying this way. I get on other sites and it gets back to normal by itself :thumbs up

but hon you're using firefox,,i'm using google chrome,,i find it faster than even ff..

Hazel , I tried it and even when I close the computer , when I get back to pets , it's still zoomed in ...

I clicked on "view" (top left) and clicked on zoom in twice.
I'll try that! :thumbs up TY

Marko--lag at 2103 CDT, logging in. I could pull up who's online, but trying to get to today's posts was a struggle. At this point, though, considering the flooding, I'm not sure if it's something with the site or something with my connection. :o

Hi members,

I'm sorry some of you are having trouble with font sizes colours etc. I'm actually away for the next few days with a lousy Internet connection and so I cannot try to make changes that some will appreciate and some won't.

If we agree that for the time being the Font should 1 size larger and be black or navy (or a SPECIFIC colour (like #FFFFFF - which is white)) that i can likely make happen.... but anything more major, I'm afraid will have to wait for next week....

Thanks for your patience everyone,

Marko

Hi members,

I'm sorry some of you are having trouble with font sizes colours etc. I'm actually away for the next few days with a lousy Internet connection and so I cannot try to make changes that some will appreciate and some won't.

If we agree that for the time being the Font should 1 size larger and be black or navy (or a SPECIFIC colour (like #FFFFFF - which is white)) that i can likely make happen.... but anything more major, I'm afraid will have to wait for next week....

Thanks for your patience everyone,

Marko


I would love to have larger font and navy colour for now. :thumbs up

And, sure appreciate how you always try to please us. :D :grouphug:

I vote for navy and a bit larger, too! :thumbs up

I'm totally open for a larger font in navy!

me too,,,the navy seems to stand out better and less harsh on the eyes..

Look, Marko ....you got four women agreeing in a row. :laughing:

Make that five:p

Hmmmmm.... testing

This sentence is original colour

This sentence is navy

The sentence is black

I actually prefer the black ink to the navy.

I don't mind the brown header/accent lines but I do find the overall pinkish background colour a bit hard and would prefer that back to a plain white background.

Thanks for the input!

I'm kind of with TeriM on the black being easier than navy, but 4 said navy so navy it will be hopefully by day's end with the main font being 1 size larger.

I can make further modifications next week.

Thanks again!

Marko

Just wanted to mention that the current font and size is identical to the old design. During the first few days the font WAS different and smaller, but now it's the same size.

Thx all!

Marko

Hi everyone,

Our design guy made a number of changes a few days ago based on the info from this thread. To me these changes make things much more readable and friendly on the eyes.

Any further comments on this?

Thx! Marko

The font size is easier to read :thumbs up but other than that, I don't notice any other changes that he made. :shrug: :o

It was harder to read before the designer made those additional subtle changes. He played with the contrast of the typing space versus the font colour. It used to be white and now it's a light beige, so he reduced the contrast to make it easier on the eyes but still kept it very readable imo.

Nobody is complaining of headaches anymore....but if I'm off-base let me know.

Thx - marko

Funny...I was just thinking, "Oh yeah...they made changes!" I'd forgotten about the new facelift altogether! Must mean it's easier on the eyes now...:thumbs up

I still cant stay on the site for longer than a few minutes at a time, my eyes hurt. However, I am one person and as long as majority here like it - it'll be fine.
I am not on all that much anyways.:shrug:

Jennie, can you adjust the brightness on your monitor? That may help a bit. :shrug:
Marko - Can the font size be changed for the blogs as well. I got maudlin last night and added one but when I went back to check the print was so small it's really difficult to read.
Thanks for all the effort to make us happy. :thumbs up

I like the changes but ......

Would still like to see the font colour changed to black.

I'm still finding it hard on the eyes as well. I've 'zoomed' and made the font larger and it does help a bit but still not that great. I vote we all look after each others eyesight and write in black until Marko changes his mind :D.

I think you are all getting too old :evil:

Well now that I got new glasses things are much clearer.

Isn't the font color already black? :confused: It looked black to hazel... :o ...but now that I play with it, I see it isn't. :eek:

Just as an FYI - All the games in the arcade should be working now.

Thx - Marko

Just as an FYI - All the games in the arcade should be working now.

Thx - Marko

Where's Yahtzee? And that Poker Wheel game? :confused:

new system - new games....:shrug::sorry:

(The games that WERE there weren't working for a few weeks, but now they are)

new system - new games....:shrug::sorry:

(The games that WERE there weren't working for a few weeks, but now they are)

:( :cry:

:( :cry:

aaaaaaaw:2huggers: that bad ole marko...

I think you are all getting too old :evil:

Youze is still the leader. :D


Isn't the font color already black? :confused: It looked black to hazel... :o ...but now that I play with it, I see it isn't. :eek:

I thought it was black too .....so what colour is it? :confused:

new system - new games....:shrug::sorry::eek: No more Yahtzee :eek: STRIKE :D

WOWWW!!! Haven't been around in weeks, come here and lookit, what an awesome change! Marko and everyone who contributed to the change - great job!

I thought it was black too .....so what colour is it? :confused:
I think it's either a charcoal gray or dark brown, rainbow...not as dark as black. See the difference? Very subtle...

I think it's either a charcoal gray or dark brown, rainbow...not as dark as black. See the difference? Very subtle...

Rainbow still doesn't see any difference. :o

And, she still wishes the brown bars would go away and changed to blue/green. :D

black / forum color

Look closely...

Your eyelids are getting heavy...you're getting sleepy....sleeeeppppyyyyyyyyy....





When you awake you will feel refreshed and remember nothing of what just happened :p

Testing the available colours.....

This is black

This is dark slate grey

This is dim grey

This is indigo

This is sienna

This is dark slate blue

None of them are the current color which looks to be sort of a gray brown or a brown gray... :shrug:

Still looks black to rainbow. :D

None of them are the current color which looks to be sort of a gray brown or a brown gray... :shrug:

Wth is the difference between gray brown and brown gray?

I really don't see any brown at all. :shrug:

A gray brown is a brown that leans toward gray and a brown gray is a gray that leans toward brown, of course. :p

Sort of like violet red and red violet in a Crayola pack. Or blue green and green blue. :D

Now that I look back at my test colours I would say that it is a light black (grey black?) but still don't see any brown tinge at all. :shrug:

hazel's eyes work in mysterious ways :p :laughing:

That's cuz she has to share them with her other personalities. :D

It just means we have 5 times the color perception of an ordinary human being! :laugh:

Or else you see things that aren't really there. :laughing:

I like my theory better :p :laughing:

Why do I have to keep logging in :yell:

That's up next....is it affecting everyone?

I didn't have any problems this morning. I did try to log on last night around 8:00pm pst but got server busy so I just went and watched tv instead.

i just massively got the "server too busy" message again..

Yep, I no sooner posted here then went to post in the tjt and got "server too busy" again so went and ate breakfast.