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So, I didn’t see a topic on this and I really wanted to give my opinion as I’m sure other people do as well. The site revamp just… doesn’t look or feel good? And I hate to say that because I’m excited for the site to get a facelift but I don’t feel like this is the way to go about that.

Not only does the layout look a bit primitive (for lack of a better word) it feels like it requires so much scrolling. I know things are still being worked on, but the new layout is easily forgettable and doesn’t make me go “ahhh, Subeta”. Everything is large and it just looks clunky and thrown together almost. x-x I don't know if it's the fact that the navigation is just floating over an image... but it doesn't seem cohesive. Everything seems overly sectioned off. Not trying to be harsh here, I just feel like if we’re finally getting a revamp we should be taking steps forward and not backwards?

Here are a few screenshots of potential layouts posted on the subeta twitter. In my opinion all of these look like they would function 1000x better and I'm confused as to why we're getting what we are over these? Image 1 - Image 2 - Image 3

Feel free to toss in your opinions. I just couldn't stay silent on the matter as I doubt I'm the only one who feels very good about this. :/

This is what I've gathered just from the wardrobe and what is already done. That's not to say that if improvements are made/thing are worked on, my opinion won't change.

- Not sure if y'all want to weigh in/give feedback or not! Pinged you guys just in case, though. n_n

I'm not sure if it will look the way it does now but I'm confused as to why theres one scrolling box inside another scrolling part? Pls correct me if I'm wrong

I don't think it's ready yet, so a lot could change before it is.

I know that things will probably change with it over time and that it's probably still in its beginning stages, but clicking that link made me feel like I was looking at a blog on Tumblr, not an official pet site. ;n;

Okay, so I wasn't the only one who got the Tumblr vibe.

I don't like this new layout. Everything feels crammed into one box. It just seems too cluttered compared to the current layout we have now. There is also too much scrolling I have to do just to view the shops page.

I don't think its really finished enough to give a lot of feedback yet, tbh, its definitely a WIP.

It's in a way too early phase for me to give my impressions yet!

honestly just as an idea i....... actually really like it? i like the idea of having notifications + navigation up top and i'll miss widgets but they're something i'd be willing to give up for a cleaner layout lmao plus mobile responsive?? bless

or maybe i'm just rly weak when it comes to minimalism who knows

Yes, this! Mobile friendliness is the primary goal, and widgets... while they are nice create a ton of issues (and we almost never update them).

I'd love to find ways to make the information folks use widgets for (tracking dailies, quests, etc) be baked into the experience so they aren't needed :)

Well, it's too early to really say if I would completely dislike it or not, especially since it's not even finished. But what I can say is that it will likely take A LOT of getting used to, since it seems to be so completely different to what we have now.

After using Subeta for nearly 10 years, it's just kind of jarring to see such a different layout. But I suppose it's something I could get used to eventually, as long as all of the functionality remains.

maybe some could be tied into notifications? such as coda caves and melody's cottage (like you have an option to receive notifications for those)

for things like quests or notepad maybe there could be a dedicated widget page? where users choose what widgets to display it's not as convenient as having them on the sidebar but it's the first thing that came to mind haha

I don't particularly like it for a lot of the reasons mentioned (so very simple, a bit bland, the titles and stuff seem big and plain), but I don't hate it either. And I think part of what I don't like is that the image used for the header is just a dark image of distant mountains and the rest is white boxes on a white background - if the image is changed to something more distinctive, and the colours tweaked, I'll probably like it a lot more.

Anyway, I think it looks promising.

I have opinions but since this is an early phase I'll keep it for now (especially since I'm spicy after 4 hours of back to back webex) however I really want to chime in on widgets and being mobile friendly:

My primary use of widgets is pretty much notes (terrible memory + handy for site event links for dancing etc) and more importantly navigation.

Drop. Downs. Via. Hovers. Not. Mobile. Friendly. (emphasizing my frustration here)

I also have this very strong opinion on the basically graveyard of an inventory (so if things are changing, hint hint please let me easily access account/shop search via items in my inventory). Links/information hidden behind hovers = it basically doesn't exist on mobile devices.... especially when clicking on the hover box also does something (example: commerce goes directly to main shops, meaning if I don't have a built in stylus/pc... the other links don't exist).

No sidebar? Big, blank, white spaces? Notifications on a new page, forcing you to stop what you're doing to check them? Our HA being reduced to a tiny little headshot in the corner? I rarely post on the forums, so there's no point in buying clothes if not even I'm going to see them.

I don't like it, at all. 0/10 so far.

Honestly there's so little here that it's impossible to give any kind of real feedback. And I know that generally basic appearance stuff is easy to change later on (text size, margin size, colors, etc.). I honestly don't have a problem with the boxes inside boxes approach if that's what it takes to start getting stuff up to snuff. And if the site becomes mobile friendly that will be a huge benefit.

People always ALWAYS hate new layouts no matter how much better or worse they are. I'm sure whenever this goes live there will be plenty of people freaking out how the changes have ruined everything, how the migraines will be unbearable and the site is unusable, everything is ugly, it looks 'out of date', etc. Functionality is the most important thing, though. In the end, it doesn't matter how ugly the site is, if it works. It's not like Reddit or Facebook look nice. The new stuff you've been working on lately looks great and it's clear you're working your ass off.

(Was anyone here over on FR when they adjusted the forums? Good lord, you'd think they'd made all the text onsite hot pink on a neon green bg for how people complained.)

Please make an official toggleable dark mode. I'm using custom css to force a dark layout now. This new layout will be unbearable for some people.

As a side note, no amount of baking will be a good enough replacement for widgets. These are my constantly-accessible, never hidden quick links to do everything that I personally do on site. Having to manually navigate to a page dedicated to a quest hub for instance, instead of having a link to each quester on every single page, is not a good replacement. The widgets are a cornerstone of customization for every individual user. Not everyone wants or needs the same widgets and forcing everyone into a less convenient experience isn't a good change. I've said this since the first whispers of the layout revamp years ago, please don't take away the widgets. :(

widgets Can't live without them! How many times has someone complained, made a suggestion, asked for something to be more easily accessible and what responses do we get? The two most common are:

1. Use CSS
2. Add it to your notepad (or add another widget).

So we tweak CSS, we add notes/links/kissing, dancing, totting, etc to our notepad. And now you want to make that disappear? You can't constantly point to a feature we should use to make the site better then remove that feature...

Scrolling/wide swathes of useless empty space I like a clean presentation...but even more I like functionality, I hate scrolling and really detest having to move my mouse all over the place to find "hidden" features and links.

The very first thing I did years ago when I discovered CSS was to get rid of the postcards and header. Yeah they're pretty, I like them, but they take up so much space and make me scroll everywhere. So they're gone. The first thing I noticed about the "new" (WIP) site was that humongous useless Shengui Guo that takes up a third of the page!

Now its nice that when you open the wardrobe, (and potential other pages), that it covers a fair bit of that background, but its not enough. The new wardrobe already required excessive scrolling and this makes it even worse.

White, white, white, white Can you please, please, please consider off-white, eggshell, cream, gray? Anything that isn't stark painful white? Sure white looks nice and crisp and clean, but it hurts!

what I like Sadly, I'd really love to be able to also leave some positive feedback...but I have none. I'm hopeful this will change since the current set up is so very rudimentary.

Does it really have to change so much to be functional with new coding? I agree that so far, it looks more like a blog than a full site with anything to actually do on it. I'm not feeling this new layout at all but I'll try to refrain from complaining about it too much for now since it's still early. But I hope custom CSS will still be an option to...fix everything.

The most important feedback I can think of for now:

• Dark Mode is an absolute must

• I will be lost without my customizable widgets, the Notepad in particular. It's where I keep links to everything I personally want to do here: dailies, event links, collecting income, reminders, etc. Taking away the ability for users to customize their experience is a HUGE step backward. You cannot predict and accommodate how every individual user will want to play and prioritize their time here. You just can't. One size DOES NOT fit all.

• In your efforts to make the site "mobile-friendly", please don't forget some of us still use the site on desktop (or on both). I still don't understand the complaints about mobile functionality as I actually spend about equal time on desktop and mobile and I have no trouble with the site on my phone at all (Samsung S7, using Chrome for Android). If a particular page does give me trouble on mobile (pretty much just the wardrobe) switching to the Desktop version in Chrome makes it work just fine. I think this may be more an issue of people learning how to navigate their devices. Maybe tablets are just awkward; I don't know, I don't use one. Anyway, it appears we may have a huge amount of functionality taken away to cater to "mobile-friendliness" and that's super frustrating. I'm aware it's the current trend in web design but I don't like it; it seems to make everything superficially "cleaner" and "easier to navigate" but there's just less substance to it. I like my links and my "clutter" in my layouts...those are what I'm here for, to click and do things. A clean, streamlined page full of empty space is not engaging.

• I completely agree with about not reducing our HA to a tiny headshot everywhere. I want to see more of our HAs, more of our pets...those are why most of us are here. Show us the pretty art we come here for, not white space and minimalism.