Warmest Greetings,

Cre8asiteForums Has a New Look  

:: Saturday, December 10, 2005 ::

Once again, we pulled off another miracle. First it was changing servers, and now, software. How do you move 3 years of forums posts, hacks, mods, emoticons, avatars and other stuff from one forums software to another?

Very carefully.

Cre8asiteforums.com looks new. We've added a "wrapper" around it that will permit us to do more things, like showcase articles, interview industry professionals, sell advertising and introduce tools and books.

The forums also offers several different "skins" that we modified with colorblind and mobile users in mind. There's a "Skip to Content" visible link in the top left for screen readers.

We have a long, long list of hacks and mods to work into the new software. Many are things the Cre8 Community are used to and have had on their "Wish List" for the new boards.

The Cre8tive Flow blog will be making a comeback too.

There's much to do yet, but you're welcome to see what we're up to and join in the "live" testing.

You may enjoy the Taking The Cre8asite Tour.

"For the better part of a decade, almost all community forums have been based on a liquid page design. As you increased your resolution or made your browser window larger, the layout would stretch and flow and from edge to edge, occupying most if not all of your screen. This is so traditional, and so ingrained, that most of us probably give it little thought. It's simply how forums are.

Forums, however, are also heavily oriented towards text, and just about every usability study in the world has concluded that lines of text longer than about sixty to eighty characters becomes increasingly tiring to read. There's a reason, after all, that most newspapers and magazines in the real world publish their content in narrow columns. The human eye needs a place to rest every now and then, and text that stretches from one side of the screen to other creates an unnecessary strain on our ocular muscles.

The new Cre8 design, unlike almost any other forum today, is based on a fixed width design of 744 pixels. For many, it's going to feel a little strange at first. It probably won't take more than a day or two to get used to it, though, and I suspect your eyes will soon thank you for making the switch."

Congratulations to everyone (you know who you are!) who designed, coded and spent a million hours, for over a year, helping us to get to this point. It's a huge volunteer effort - a real labor of love, by some incredibly dedicated, creative people that I'm very proud to call my friends.

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 12/10/2005 10:28:00 PM

:: Today's Post Permalink | Back to the BLOG Home
:: Website Evaluations
:: Email this Post  
:.................................

Feed Bin

Learn how to make RSS Feed Buttons

Highly Recommended!
(Read review)
Search Engine Marketing Kit, by Dan Thies

• User Centered Design
• Usability Industry Research
• Increase Website Conversions
• Starter Ecommerce Checklist

• Web Design & The Usability Effect
• Usability and SEO Humor

Crooked sunglasses

My artistic friends love this picture.

• About Kim Krause Berg
• My Articles
• Me Again (My Fave Blog Posts)
• August 2005 : Expanding on Usability - An Interview with Kim Krause Berg
• Kim's Wish List

Recent Posts

Where Are The Women SEO's?

When Did Blogs Sell Their Souls to the Devil?

Never Mention the Words "SEO MYTH" Around Bill

Yale Law School Hosts A Symposium on Search Engines, Law, and Public Policy

You Are Not a Web Professional Unless You're Rich, Single, Childless and Can Hire a Maid

Search Engine Optimization's Cousin, Accessbility

Online User Study on Whether to Charge For Shipping, or Not

Be Kind To End Users - It's World Usability Day

Threadwatch Support Group for Work-at-Homeaholics

The History of an @ Sign

Monthly Archives

It's That Book Again

Conversions Topic is New York Times Best Seller (Seriously)

Kim is a Member of the Usability Professionals Association

"This report exceeded my expectations. After reading it a few times, I went through and highlighted those parts of your actionable advice that I want to implement right away... I ended up highlighting most of the report. Stellar job. I won't hesitate to recommend you to one of my own clients." -- Andy Hagans of AndyHagans.com

"I have implemented the most obvious changes and I suppose the fact that we've seen an immediate increase in sales/conversions is no coincidence. I'd highly recommend your service to anyone running a serious web based business." -- Steve Clay, Plumeriabay.com

"As soon as we get our hands on one of her usability studies, my clients and I have a better understanding of what needs to be done with their sites to make them the best they can be from their site visitors' perspective."
-- Jill Whalen, HighRankings.com

"This is an exemplary piece of work." -- Rand Fishkin, SEOMoz.org

View more Testimonials | Clients
Learn about Website improvement services.