Welcome to SFF.Network. We're just getting started.

TL;DR: We've upgraded our forum, which will unlock lots of new features! As a part of this, SFF Forum is now merged into SFF Network, and the two are now one website and online experience. The website as it looks and feels now is mostly the 'default' setting of our new template; this will be updated and refined over the next few weeks. If you encounter bugs or other issues, flag them here and we will work to address them as quickly as possible.

Hey all,

I'm pleased to share that we've successfully updated our forum today! This release is the result of considerable work behind the scenes, much of which isn't visible to end users. That said, it's the sizable effort culminating into today's release that will enable us to begin development work on some exciting stuff that you will be able to see, use, and enjoy.

Here's what's new as of today:

1. SFF Forum and SFF Network are now one and the same. Our newsfeed and forum are one unified website, and will imminently share deep integration, such as native forum threads for comment sections. Our domain name will also soon be updated to sff.network (though smallformfactor.net will continue to work)
2. Our website has a new interface. Our focus for today's release was to transition the forum to a new platform, and as such the look and feel we have today is merely a sign of what's to come. Expect a bunch of changes and refinements as we turn towards creating the ideal user experience and functionality for the community, atop of our new technology stack.
3. A bunch of new features are now available. From native support of high-DPI screens, to emoji support, to tables (FINALLY), to inline Giphy GIFs in our post editor, there are all sorts of new functions of the forum that members can enjoy, right away.

Here's what to expect in the next few weeks:

1. Changes to our Patreon and supporter tiers. Just as we've merged our newsfeed and forum, we will be unifying the ways in which community members can support our content and our forum. We will be retiring our Patreon account and making significant changes and investments in the feature set we offer to existing and new supporters, who will now be backing our content as well as our infrastructure.
2. New content, with a focus on mediums beyond written posts. We'll have more to share later, but are excited to expand the scope of what content is published in the SFF.Network newsfeed!
3. A genuinely modern forum, with an interface and functionality set that leads the pack. Advanced searching, tagging and indexing; improved media and embed integration; better formatting tools and content; new capabilities and controls for creators; improved web performance... there's a lot we have in our backlog, and much of it will be deployed in the coming weeks.

As with any transition of this magnitude, there are inevitably going to be some bugs or regressions; I would ask that you flag any issues you encounter and let us know about it, such that we can address. Of course, feel free to share any questions or feedback here, as well!

We're excited for what's next. Welcome to SFF.Network!

MRW I didn't melt down our servers while updating everything:

Best,

– Joshua

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Bug report: Template public:_media_site_embed_imgur not found.

Thanks for the heads up! We're aware and are working on a fix ?

We have a task board to organize and manage all of these work threads; I will try to set that up to be publicly viewable by the community later today. Thanks for all the feedback and bug reports, everyone!

 

[Ganelon]

Seriously who is the person in charge of UX over there

There is a very good reason websites don't animate their content loading every time we click on an internal link

it's eye cancer and I need it to stop

sorry for the strong words but aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh

 

[Dstrm]

Agree.

 

[vanbeveren]

Totally agree.
Looks cool a few times and then it becomes quickly annoying.

 

[confusis]

@Ganelon merged threads, as it is relevant to this thread and keeps things concise.

 

[ignsvn]

OK I think I can live with the blue color. Feels more at home

Also, thanks for making the font size bigger, it helps a lot.

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Seriously who is the person in charge of UX over there

There is a very good reason websites don't animate their content loading every time we click on an internal link

it's eye cancer and I need it to stop

sorry for the strong words but aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh

Yes, they were a bit much. I've toned it down a few notches.

 

[Dstrm]

That works a lot better for me.

 

[Soul_Est]

This new setup is nice. Looking forward the continuous improvements going forward. This will never truly be finished.

 

[ignsvn]

Some suggestions:
1. On the forum title, you may want to consider to decrease the left padding to align the icons with the menu items under it.
2. Just ignore.
3. On the thread title, you may want to consider to add a block to group these elements together. The seem very loose to me. Also, the phase label (like "Prototyping" doesn't have to be so big, and perhaps they can be moved a line below).

Also, when I tried to embed from IMGUR, it gives error saying "Template public: _media_site_embed_imgr not found"

 

[Windfall]

I still do think that the old layout was far more refined, but I guess this one will get there eventually.

 

[owliwar]

the red is our brand, not just a styling choice.

I guess that's not exactly what we are complaing about, ( we are mostly old people yelling at cloud right now) it does make sense as a branding direction and the update in general is a bold but necessary move. Upgrading the inner engine of the plataform so it can live longer is a really important job and I'm happy you all show really a lot of care in this
. BUT I just prefer some of the mood the old color scheme for the forum bit as I grew attatched to it
With that said, I feel like, for example the logo should not change colors even on the blue theme as its blue right now. a bit of red wouldn't hurt. I'm looking forward to the rest of the updates and I'm getting more used to it, and the text edditor is quite nice now that the quoting actions work again

good job yall

 

[tinyitx]

... ( we are mostly old people yelling at cloud right now)...

Yes, we are.

 

[Windfall]

Yes, we are.

I'm not very old.

But I am old enough that I should know better!

 

[BaK]

I still do think that the old layout was far more refined, but I guess this one will get there eventually.

Sort of have the same feeling, good job on the blue theme though and on all the fixes done since the new start.

(Btw smilies are not aligned with the text I guess )

It happens that I still have the old layout on a chrome tab loading from cache, for me it was still easier for the eye than the new blue theme. A reason may be the regular font being bolder that before. Regular and bold are almost identical now:
New bold font
New regular font

Or maybe the font that is still too white and has more contrast with the background than before.
Or both...

Old layout screenshot for comparison purpose:

 

[VegetableStu]

For reference;

The red has been the main brand colour of SFF Network since we launched the news site way back. The blue was kept for the forum for posterity - this place isn't just a community but a new and reviews package as well!

Since we have been representing the red at events and in the content that really helps us draw in readers, it was time to simplify our branding structure. (believe it or not, we used to have red, blue, green, orange and purple cubes across sites).

So TLDR; the red is our brand, not just a styling choice.

I'd leave the red theme on if the reds were a little bit brighter ,_, it's hard to read the last I used it

 

[Mortis Angelus]

My personal feedback:

1) Bring back the blue. The red somehow feels like too much "GAMING!!!!"; as someone said; it is a bit like MSI gaming, or Asrock fatality or something like that. In general, red on black is really not good for the eyes to look at. Was also one of the rules we learned on a presentation seminar: never put red on a black background.

2) I also agree that the more grayish-font color was more pleasant to the eye.

Otherwise it looks more clean and more organized, even if my first reaction was like "WHAAAAT! I can't find anything", but that is just a question of getting used to the new layout.

But yeah, I really want the blue back. Or even better: make it possible for people with accounts to choose the color scheme when logged in.


EDIT: I also noticed that when marking text, it is now black on dark gray background. It is extremely difficult to see where you have marked the text now. This really needs to be fixed!


But awesome work on the update!

 

[BaK]

But yeah, I really want the blue back. Or even better: make it possible for people with accounts to choose the color scheme when logged in.

It sounds like you missed it, have a look at the very bottom of the page, there is a style chooser -> Dark blue

 

[Jaxel]

Seriously who is the person in charge of UX over there

There is a very good reason websites don't animate their content loading every time we click on an internal link

it's eye cancer and I need it to stop

sorry for the strong words but aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh

We had UI.X installed on one of our forums... ditched it after a week. Made everything so slow and bloated.

 

[VegetableStu]

hey uhh seriously petty request here: on the red theme, is it possible to change marking text (selection box) from black to something a bit further away (i.e. brighter) from background gray? ,_, sorry

blue theme is A-OK in that aspect ❤