Website technical overhaul

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 22 total)
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  • #202781
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    vorpX.com (including the forum) is finally usable on a phone in a decent manner, probably as the last website on earth. Never gave that overly much attention since vorpX is a PC product, but recently I realized that a surprisingly large number of visits comes from phones, so something had to be done.

    Hope you like it, for the time being I intentionally kept everything fairly close to the original layout. A visual overhaul may follow in the not too distant future though. It’s about time after eight years.

    There may still be a few glitches here and there, If you encounter anything that doesn’t work, let me know in this thread.

    #202803
    steph12
    Participant

    Hello Ralf,

    it looks nice but it’s not as responsive as the ancient version, kinda laggy, at least in my case.
    maybe others could send some feedback as well.

    chrome browser btw & w10 64 bits.

    #202806
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    There haven’t been any changes that affect performance. If you encounter any issues with loading times, that either has to be a conincidence or maybe some stuff that prior was cached by you browser has to be reloaded now.

    “Just” a more modern layout scheme for the CMS that adjusts itself to multiple display sizes, plus custom style adjustments that make it look similar to the original website.

    #203064
    steph12
    Participant

    yes i think it’s my side, sorry ^^

    #203129
    RJK_
    Participant

    Those js plugins are pure memory eater. I think its that autooptimize script with more then 2000 lines of code that slows down the site somehow. Plus all the other scripts you will probably have a few Mb to download before the site displays properly. The site is slower as the old one on this end as well, but nothing really worth to complain about.

    #203134
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    Thanks for the tips. The plugin you mentioned is in use for quite some time. The site has been tested with various page load tests that load it from around the world. There is no difference in page loading speed whatsoever. Also the page doesn’t load a few MB, not even the start page with several images is larger than a few 100KB, even less for forum pages. From Germany browsing the forum should be nearly instantaneous (<2 secs typically), just like before. If you encounter any issues with loading times, that either has to be a coincidence or maybe some stuff that prior was cached by your browser has to be reloaded now.

    #203349
    RJK_
    Participant

    Funny, all over sudden the site is loadung without any delay just like a plain html site , even on a P4 XP/32.Must have been a network thing (got a new ip today)

    #203351
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    I’m experimenting with a new caching plugin currently to minimize the need for dynamic page creation. Can’t promise that things stay as lightning fast as now though. In the past all cache plugins I checked had one or the other issue with more frequently changing content like the forum. In the worst case things will be back to the prior 1-2 secs loading time tomorrow. Looking good for now though, so fingers crossed.

    #203428
    forlaunchcast
    Participant

    Vast improvement in look on phones/tablets. Haven’t noticed any change in performance. Well done.

    #203439
    dellrifter22
    Participant

    Yes, formatting fits phones better now. Although I prefer the old timestamp display. It’s more useful at a glance to see how many hours since the last post, and how many replies the post has.

    #203447
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    In portrait view the phone should display the post metadata that is hidden in landscape view for better readability. Since the site was essentially unusable in portrait mode before, nothing has been taken away.

    #203500
    steph12
    Participant

    i agree with dellrifter.

    #203502
    HalloMolli
    Participant

    As somebody who uses their phone a lot to browse this forum I appreciate this change a lot. Good work Ralf, as always.

    #203584
    Ralf
    Keymaster

    Latest post info should now also be available in portrait mode on most phones. For super small displays it might still get hidden, but there probably isn’t any phone out there anymore with a display that small.

    Also notice the nifty new avatar image. ;)

    #203601
    dellrifter22
    Participant

    VR goggle avatars)

    Who reads in landscape mode? I thought that was only allowed for videos :)

    I still think the old display of “posted 20 minutes ago, 2 hours ago, 3 days ago” is easier to glance at and mentally sort, for those of us who check the forums more than once a day. That way I know I have read everything older than 5 hours without needing to do math for each post stamped in a foreign timezone, to figure out what I haven’t already read.

    Maybe I’ll get used to it without a problem, I’m just saying that I think it was good the way it was.

    It’s definitely more convenient now, not needing to zoom in on the text after every page load. So that’s defiantly a plus.

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