With the new forums back up and zippier than ever thanks to the Ben the Badass, we're having a debate about whether they should go full width or remain in the current two-column setup. I've kept the side bar because I thought it would be handy to have the list of current contests, recent posts, and common links. But as Ben points out, most forums are full width -- if you're in the forums, you probably aren't super concerned with the bloggy stuff.
So I figured I'd keep with longstanding HeroMachine traditions and ask -- Which do you prefer?
Personally, as one of the bloggers, I find it really useful to have the Recent Comments on a sidebar on the forums as well as the blog, because then I can see when people have entered a new entry into the CDC and with the Site Admin access also being in the side bar I can quickly and easily check if there are any posts in moderation for any of my blog posts. If I’m going back through galleries on the forums (which I do frequently) it’s much easier for me to keep an eye on the blog side of things without either having to stop what I’m doing and go back however many pages I’ve been through to check if anything has happened (which is actually what happened here, I was going back through my gallery, checking everything had been transported over alright and I saw a new topic had been posted on the blog).
But of course, this doesn’t apply to everyone, so if everyone else would prefer a full screen layout, I won’t complain.
I’ll put my vote for the full screen. I always like seeing the whole pic that someone has created and not have to click for a separate window to view it. The forum is about presenting your latest stuff.
Just my 2 cents…or 1.7844 cents Canadian.
Cheers!
I agree with AMS. The forum is for showcasing art, and the more room for the art the better.
Not to say that the blog isn’t important, certainly not, but when I go to the forum I want to see as much of the artwork as possible.