Thread icons are confusing.

[A Boojum Snark]

Please find a new package of icons, because the current ones are horribly inconsistent.

Going by the filenames:
[snip]

Anyone else see the messiness? Checkmark seems to mean you posted, but only on normal threads. Then with hot threads, if you haven't posted and there's no new posts, it's just plain orange book. If either of those two criteria are met, it gains a blue arrow, which apparently means diddlysquat. If both are met, it gains an orange square... again meaning little since it appears by itself.

So uhh, can we get some new ones, preferably with one symbol for being posted in, and another for new posts. :P

[umbratile]

Yeah, they're a bit stupid.

If someone wants to create new ones, I have an idea: Let's make some of the TF2 symbol.
http://forums.tf2maps.net/enlighten/misc/logo.png
Would look nice and clean, too.

[FaTony]

Uh, I'm orienting by bold font.

[drp]

Yeah, they're a bit stupid.

If someone wants to create new ones, I have an idea: Let's make some of the TF2 symbol.
http://forums.tf2maps.net/enlighten/misc/logo.png
Would look nice and clean, too.
weird, but valid request.
tf2 symbols based on color would be cool.

[A Boojum Snark]

The crosshair logo would be neat to use, I might actually be able to do it if none of the more artsy people around here do so. I'd just need a list of everything needed so I don't miss one.

[umbratile]

The crosshair logo would be neat to use, I might actually be able to do it if none of the more artsy people around here do so. I'd just need a list of everything needed so I don't miss one.

Heck, even I could do some of those, I used to make sprites for a hobby back in the day you know. :P

Nah, I'd rather give way for someone else, honestly. I guess what you'd need to do is:
Threads
Polls
Announcements
Stickies

And all of the above will need variations to indicate you've posted there, whehter they're hot, if they're locked, that there are new/no new posts, not to mention all possible combinations of all of these.
I may be missing something, though.

EDIT: Why do only a few of my posts count towards my post count, by the way?

[Nineaxis]

I don't care much about the different icons, if it's gray there's no new replies, and if it's orange somewhere in there I'll take a look at the discussion...

[A Boojum Snark]

Oh look, yet another symbol, the plus sign... http://forums.tf2maps.net/enlighten/statusicon/thread_dot.gif Seriously, I wonder who made this icon set. :rolleyes:

[AWESOME-O]

Just go to new posts if you want to read new posts...

[Solynth]

I don't look at the icons, I just look whether the writing is bold or not.

[A Boojum Snark]

It's not so much the new posts things I'm bothered with, it's the have-I-posted-in-it part. I can't be bothered to keep track of what threads I've posted in on all the forums I visit.

Beyond that, though, just because you don't need/use it (you meaning everyone who's posted as such), doesn't mean it's a reason to leave it unpolished, unprofessional and basically broken :P

edit: a wave of ideas just hit me *gets to work on icons*

[A Boojum Snark]

Doublepost for great justice!

Here's a sampling of what I made, until pepper finds my PM and puts them in if he approves.

[snip]

I was going to make a stickybomb to replace the pushpin for sticky threads, because it would have been perfect, but I couldn't make it look good at ~12 pixels, and I think it would break the tables if it was larger and the sticky was also rated. :(

edit: haha, awesome, this is post 33,333 :D

[Solynth]

Doublepost for great justice!

Here's a sampling of what I made, until pepper finds my PM and puts them in if he approves.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/aboojumsnark/announcement_new.gif New Announcement.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/aboojumsnark/forum_new.gif New posts in section.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/aboojumsnark/forum_old_lock.gif Locked section.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/aboojumsnark/thread_dot_hot_new.gif Hot thread with new posts that you've posted in.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/aboojumsnark/thread_dot_lock.gif Plain locked thread.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/aboojumsnark/thread_new.gifPlain thread with new posts.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/aboojumsnark/thread_moved.gifMoved thread or link (the uploader link on the board index).

I was going to make a stickybomb to replace the pushpin for sticky threads, because it would have been perfect, but I couldn't make it look good at ~12 pixels, and I think it would break the tables if it was larger and the sticky was also rated. :(

edit: haha, awesome, this is post 33,333 :D

Those are great! That's exactly what we need. The normal post with no new posts is just a grey crosshair right?

[A Boojum Snark]

Those are great! That's exactly what we need. The normal post with no new posts is just a grey crosshair right?
Yup.
and to drpepper... if you know where to do it, it'd be fun to change the "Moved:" text on a thread to "Teleported:" :P

edit: Yay, they're active now. Force refresh the content if you can't see them. :D
Thanks for the greenname, drpepper!

[Solynth]

Thank you so much, I can understand these ones and there Tf2-y. 10/10

[grazr]

Much more appropriate thread icons i think, a lot more pleasent on the eye too.

Love the new Avatar too Snark.

[laghlagh]

Completely unrelated, but can you have small handy pixel icons like here (http://www.clockcrew.cc/talk/showthread.php?t=77765) , not the giant ones taking up important bandwith!

[umbratile]

Completely unrelated, but can you have small handy pixel icons like here (http://www.clockcrew.cc/talk/showthread.php?t=77765) , not the giant ones taking up important bandwith!

I think you posted the wrong link.

Anyway, the new icons are awesome. Good job on them, now the forums look much more TF2-ish!

[joshman]

Heh...

Stickies should look like sticky bomb!

[FaTony]

TF2 logo failed. CP logos won.

[umbratile]

TF2 logo failed. CP logos won.

Huh? What do you mean?

[FaTony]

http://forums.tf2maps.net/enlighten/statusicon/forum_new.gif - win
http://forums.tf2maps.net/enlighten/statusicon/thread_hot.gif - fail.

[umbratile]

But why do they fail? :|

[laghlagh]

I think you posted the wrong link.

Anyway, the new icons are awesome. Good job on them, now the forums look much more TF2-ish!

No, look under each posters avatar. Those are the awards.

[FaTony]

Because Hot threads and Hot threads with new posts have almost the same color. And BLU sux too.

[A Boojum Snark]

Stickies should look like sticky bomb!
I was going to make a stickybomb to replace the pushpin for sticky threads, because it would have been perfect, but I couldn't make it look good at ~12 pixels, and I think it would break the tables if it was larger and the sticky was also rated. :(

so... don't think I can. Though I could always make and send one to pepper to try...

Because Hot threads and Hot threads with new posts have almost the same color. And BLU sux too.
Says the man with a blue avatar :P But uhh, the red-team red is noticeably brighter than the dulled version when they are both there. Though if more people think they need to be farther apart I could adjust it.

Completely unrelated, but can you have small handy pixel icons like here , not the giant ones taking up important bandwith!
I doubt we'll ever be giving out as many awards as that place... but bandwidth is hardly an issue, since the browser should be caching the image anyway.

[laghlagh]

I doubt we'll ever be giving out as many awards as that place... but bandwidth is hardly an issue, since the browser should be caching the image anyway.
The bandwith thing was just a joke, but having awards at the size of avatars is unnecessary.

[FaTony]

But uhh, the red-team red is noticeably brighter than the dulled version when they are both there. Though if more people think they need to be farther apart I could adjust it.

All tf2 icons are almost gray on my monitor.

[grazr]

I agree that there should really be more contrast between them, but i prefer the crosshair one to the cp hud one.

[A Boojum Snark]

The bright red, blue and gray ones are all exactly the same color as they are in-game... so I'm sorta confounded as to why they seem so gray to you. The dull one I can change and make more gray, I wasn't sure what to do with it in the first place.

The two different styles I did just because it seems forums always have one for threads and one for boards, so I didn't really put thought into which is better :P

[AWESOME-O]

can someone repost them?
I dont see them, nor in chrome, nor in firefox

[A Boojum Snark]

They are active on the forum, you probably have the old ones cached still, force a full content reload by hold shift when hitting refresh. (for firefox anyway, dunno what chrome's is)

[FaTony]

The bright red, blue and gray ones are all exactly the same color as they are in-game

But in-game brightness is bigger.

[laghlagh]

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8585/num1ek8.gif
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/4396/num2cc5.gif
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/4487/num3ix3.gif
I was thinking like this :/

[umbratile]

Those are not bad at all, but they're just so boring. They should at least be themed.

[laghlagh]

Those are not bad at all, but they're just so boring. They should at least be themed.

They were examples >;-()

[grazr]

The contrast difference doesn't have to be massive.

The red are fine, it's only really the blue and grey that have a tendancy to be hard to disdinguish between.

[A Boojum Snark]

Well... I was hoping for quick input but there wasn't many people in the chat, nor any of you... so I was going to post here but then things ran further than I expected... so I'm just dumping all the cars from my train of thought in here.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v401/aboojumsnark/test.png

So here is a preview with all my ideas in the order they came. O is the current stuff. 1, 2 and 3 are various TF2 reds n blues. Then a friend suggested the gray be lighter since no-new really shouldn't stand out. That led me to the idea in column 4, which bypasses the issue of contrast entirely. Finally resulting in 5 which is my preference.

So what's the opinion on 5? Any colors in 1, 2 or 3 you'd prefer instead? The CP board red would be changed to match a changed thread red. I feel all locked threads would become paddlelock-on-gray, regardless of heat level (it's locked... not like it matters).

edit 3 weeks later: guess it wasn't very important after all!