So, I've been working like a mad man on v4 lately. The majority of the foundation-work for the site is done. That comes with a very heavy sigh of relief. The foundation work, as I've said before, is the hardest part of any project, and the part that shows the least amount of visible progress. When you can't see progress, it's hard to continue.

Fortunately, we're now past that.

I cannot count the number of nights I've spent, staying up until 0400 in the morning writing code, when I have to be up at 0600 to be to work by 0800. Two weeks ago I went through oral surgery, and I spent a good deal of the recovery time with a laptop on my lap, writing code for Side 7, even through the extreme pain and fog of pain killer drugs.

Visible progress is one hell of a motivator.

With that said, I have a new batch of screenshots for you guys.

First and foremost is the main page. You'll notice a better, cleaner layout than v3. Our Featured Artist of the Day gets up to 8 images displayed on the main page, chosen at random (and they switch with each reload of the page). There are also 8 images from the recent uploads, as well. Additionally, we have the news blurbs, and the last five threads from the forums displayed.



Click on a thumbnail, and you'll be taken to that image's display page. A bit cleaner, with better layout. The image page isn't completely, yet, as there are still more features to add to the page, but this is pretty close to what the finished page looks like. The new navigation bar at the top now includes small thumbnails of the images previous and next. Additionally, if you come from a non-gallery page, such as the Recent Uploads page, there's an additional tab on the nav bar to allow you to navigate either through the member's gallery, or through the non-gallery page.






Here's the new gallery page. Not terribly complete, but you get the idea. The navigation has yet to be completed, so I won't even get into that. What's there is a placeholder for testing. Yes, gallery pages can be viewed either in list mode, or in thumbnail mode. The thumbnails are larger in size by default than v3 (75x150), and users can choose an even larger thumbnail size if they wish (150x150 or 200x200). This will help with image visibility. Thumbnails are now generated through a new process that produces cleaner, clearer thumbnails, and any image resizing uses the same system. v4's thumbnails and resized images are superior to v3's in clarity and color, as well as flexibility.



Lastly, my current tasking: the member profile pages. This is still very much a work in progress, and much still might change, but I figured you all might enjoy the current results. There is a tonne of information that goes on the profile pages, but it only shows if set as public, and filled out.

The screenshots look very good. I'm glad you made the background a light gray rather than white since that won't hurt the eyes as much. Composition looks clean and efficient.

Quote:

Quoth BadKarma:
I cannot count the number of nights I've spent, staying up until 0400 in the morning writing code, when I have to be up at 0600 to be to work by 0800. Two weeks ago I went through oral surgery, and I spent a good deal of the recovery time with a laptop on my lap, writing code for Side 7, even through the extreme pain and fog of pain killer drugs.

I'd wager this is one development you won't forget for a long time, no matter how hard you try. Rest assured we do appreciate all the time and effort you put into this site.