Site Design

Question

We should make our site look more "Physics-ish" than it currently looks. This is achieved not only by changing the logo, but changing many other images, and etc. 

Not only should we make the site more physics-ish, but also concentrate on the usability and user-friendliness aspect of the site.  

So use this thread to suggest improvements to the design of the site.           

Answer 1

Can our vote buttons look like creation and annhilation operators? 

Replace qa-theme/Snow/images/vote-buttons.png with 

SVG (install the "Euclid" font first): http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140223062610/psiepsilon-test/images/2/28/Votes.svg  

Comments

This is not a good idea, because the operators are not as visually clear as the arrows. It would be more clear to use up-down arrows as the notation for the creation and annihilation operators than to do this.

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I agree with that. I will try and come up with something that is both maths/physics-ish and looks user-friendly enough.               

Answer 2

[DONE]    

Can the number of upvotes and downvotes be styled different so that the look more clear?      

Answer 3

[DONE and changed]  

Please change the background-colour of the navigation options when we hover on them. 

The current colour change and cursor pointer change (buh) is not enough. I recommend we use the following CSS:           

ul.qa-nav-main-list li.qa-nav-main-item a:hover {background-color:#808080;}  

Answer 4

[NOPE] 

What's the point of the Attributions link at the top right?

I don't understand why anyone would want to click on it, and so should be moved elsewhere. Likewise, the text about regaining an account should be put on the registration page. News: should be moved to the top of the box, to make clear what this bit of blue background is for.

Edit: The Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Generic license requires attributing work to authors or licensor in a specified manner.

When I first saw the attributions link, I didn't realize it was in fact a legal statement, and instead saw it as a pointless explanation of how questions and answers were imported from TP.SE. I therefore think the text should be changed from attributions to 

Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Generic license: Attribution

This way, people logging on for the first time can see that it's some sort of legal blurb. I also think it should be put on the bottom of the text box, separate from everything else.

Comments

-1: It is perfectly designed for conforming to legal requirements, and it should stay like that, to stay safe.     

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The boring attribution link is needed to prevent our "friends" from jumping into our face colloquielly speaking ... The importance of people who already have an account on the site because their questions are imported, first trying to regain their accound as we have presently no possibility to merge accounts, justifies offering this facility directly on the front page I think.
 

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@dimension10 what's the legal requirement of the atributions link?

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@physicsnewbie Read Dilaton's comment above. PSE data is licensed under CC-by-SA, we have' to attribute them. I don't know if the text at the end of the imported posts is legally enough, but this link helps keep them happy.            

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That reminds me, just before we go public, we should do a site-wide search for "Stack Exchange" and hide all the posts with these words, except the FAQ, which can be made to sound nicer, ; "Stack Exchange" would have to be an exception to "Be Frank". 

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@dimension10 But please do not remove the name in the attribution lines of imported questions.

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@polarkernel I know that of course, I meant mentions in comments, questions, and answers. 

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@dilaton, assuming it was you who moved it, the attributions link looks much better at the bottom away from the more important stuff on top. But I still think you need the following text: Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Generic license: Attribution

This can be either replace the current attributions text at the bottom of the box on the main page, or it could be the title of the page it links to. First time round, it's difficult for a new user to understand the point of the attributions link.

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@physicsnewbie I moved it after seeing your suggestion here, but since the attributions link is for attributions to SE, and not attributions required by us, the new link title you propose is somewhat ambiguous. 

Answer 5

[DONE]  

Should we change the way the NavBar options are highlighted? 

I know I had earlier suggested that the NavBar options are highlighted when hovered on, so that it is clearer when an option is being selected. This was implemented, but I think it has turned out to be quite ugly. 

I don't want to give up on the idea of having a better visual effect upon hovering on options in the navigation bar, however, this is not the way, I now realise.  

A better idea would maybe be to underline the options when hovering on them.    

Also, I don't like the animation of the navigation bars slowly changing colour upon hover, it doesn't look good, and is troublesome when you want to quickly navigate through the site.        

Comments

On the third row of the navigation bar, the options light up in a way that looks neat - especially the red "hot" option. It's a little disappointing the stuff above doesn't highlight in the same way, rather than as just a blue underline. I find this to be very effective on the math and stack overflow sites that highlight theirs in orange/yellow.

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There was a period during which we did that; it didn't look professional at all, not for big options. 

Answer 6

[DONE]

Can we remove the "hello" and the avatar from the top bar? I'm sure everyone would agree that it is extremely distracting.   

Answer 7

[DONE] 

Those "shadow"s should be removed. Here's the site without those shadows.     

Comments

Shadow has gone.

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@polarkernel Thanks.   

Answer 8

[DONE] 

Can the titles on the question page of a question have the same size as on the the title of the questions in the question lists?

To me, it seems they are too small now ...

On Physics SE and MathOverflow the titles on the question pages are not that small either.
 

Comments

Sorry! I thought this would make the site look more professional. I have removed the CSS now.  

Answer 9

Can we remove the unnecessary grey border?

I don't see why we can't copy Maths stack exchange in making as much of the screen as white as possible. It should also help to sharpen up the logo quite a bit by increasing the contrast.

Comments

You mean grey background, right? 

I have tried this before, but it doesn't look good, it looks eye-hurting (even when the screen brightness is 1). 

But thanks for bringing this up, though.   

Answer 10

Can we have an option in our profile for setting up email alerts?

I was thinkinging of something on the lines of:

• enable
  • immediately
  • daily
  • weekly
  • monthly

Comments

I guess you are talking about the email me unticking, which isn't "design".