Blizzard's New Forum

[BondGamer]

Blizzard has recently launched the beta of their new forum.

http://beta-us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/

There are quite a few interesting features and design choices. It is very minimalistic. Most features, such as post rating, are hidden unless you mouse over a post or topic. I am unable to locate any area resembling a user control panel to modify forum settings.

I think it is quite the departure from what most forum software currently strives to pack as many features as possible into an increasingly cramped space.

Is it possible that phpBB4 might pull back like this or will we just see an updated version of Prosilver?

[R45]

Less is more when it comes to an intuitive interface. There are many lessons to be learnt from Blizzard's forum.

[GravityDK]

I like how they have:

• mouse-over preview of the post's content
• mouse-over the posted "three days ago" to get the actual date
• mouse-over the post to see the reply/quote buttons
• little menu for each avatar, which displays choices like show user posts/see profile, etc

Source.

[Ethan-ol]

Blizzards minimalism and layout is quiet brilliant and I think phpBB should really take some inspiration out of it. I don't have an account on their forums so I can't check all of its aspects, but nevertheless I'm very pleased with the things I can look at:
The board's index page for example, is quietly brilliant. You can pretty much all their different boards in one glance, newcomers can easily find their way through the forumboards. But the thing that I believe is most eye-pleasing, is the topic page and its layout;

Sometimes, you visit forums just to read stuff. At those times you don't want too much data on the screen. Blizzard exactly understood this and kept that in mind while designing the forum: When you just want to read, you just read.. you don't need to see the reply-button, quote-button, profile-button, etc.. But when you occasionally do need them, you can easily let them pop up just by hovering the post!

I think that both a minimalistic design and use of jQuery / Ajax can really enhance the overall experience, both for active posters and for those who just read the forums, as R45 said:

There are many lessons to be learnt from Blizzard's forum.

[Oleg]

I think they have overdone it. A lot of information it placed in popups that are impossible to copy and paste data from. Without javascript functionality is missing.

[Darksminky]

I agree with nn-, too much information in such a small space, it's (one of) the reason(s) that phpbb does so much better than SMF, among other things, SMF just crams to many bars and whatnot in one space, and makes it look a little stupid
meanwhile, why do this as a default? you can already do this with the 'make a custom page' page, with rather minimal knowledge of html. . .

[hanakin]

I agree with nn-, too much information in such a small space, it's (one of) the reason(s) that phpbb does so much better than SMF, among other things, SMF just crams to many bars and whatnot in one space, and makes it look a little stupid
meanwhile, why do this as a default? you can already do this with the 'make a custom page' page, with rather minimal knowledge of html. . .

not sure i follow ur logic as Blizzards theme is minimalistic so only nessecary information is visible giving it a cleaner look than a clutter one.

I think they have overdone it. A lot of information it placed in popups that are impossible to copy and paste data from. Without javascript functionality is missing.

I somewhat agree, they have some flashy useless stuff but for the most part I disagree from a design/UI standpoint phpbb is lacking far behind the curve of the modern web or even its payed rivals. The UI of the theme could benefit from several design approaches the blizzard has chose to implement.

As for the javascript functionality, they do not need it as its simple hover states which can be implemented via css and not js on fallback for a graceful degradation it would be no different than a dropdown navigation which requires no JS what so ever.

I have been putting a good amount of thought into an idea for 4.0s theme though its just that an idea/wireframe at the moment, alot of which is inspired by there theme as well as some others across the web.

[Sierron]

The german language strings are out of area they should be in. Nice feature

Well, it is minimalistic. Actually if you want, you could make your phpBB3 the same way. Just remove all the buttons if you don't like them and it would look similar. But I don't understand what is the appeal to get less than before. Stick with phpBB2 and you have your minimalistic forum software

not sure i follow ur logic as Blizzards theme is minimalistic so only nessecary information is visible giving it a cleaner look than a clutter one.

I think he means because everything is hide behind javascript popups. Information of the user (mini userprofile on the left) only on a click. Some menus are again hidden hinter javascript navigations.

[hanakin]

not sure i follow ur logic as Blizzards theme is minimalistic so only nessecary information is visible giving it a cleaner look than a clutter one.

I think he means because everything is hide behind javascript popups. Information of the user (mini userprofile on the left) only on a click. Some menus are again hidden hinter javascript navigations.

ah yes then ok, I do dislike the permanent info boxes, they should at least dissipate over a few seconds after initiating. and the user profile box should act more like that of the reply button hover over the profile sidebar of a post and it shows the links.

Well, it is minimalistic. Actually if you want, you could make your phpBB3 the same way. Just remove all the buttons if you don't like them and it would look similar. But I don't understand what is the appeal to get less than before. Stick with phpBB2 and you have your minimalistic forum software

sorry but phpbb2 is a far step in the opposite direction from bettering the UI and simplifying the theme. The UI of subsilver is bulky and extremely unintuitive. Also I believe you misunderstand what minimalistic is. It has nothing to do with clutter. It has more to do with the addition of space and the weight of functionality.

[Un1matr1x]

But as far as see in the blizzard board there is nothing that you cann't achieve with the themplate-engine of phpBB 3. So why is this something for phpBB4 and not something for a style-author now?