New feature / New look

 

  • New feature / New look

    Posted by Huw, 06 Apr 2011 03:28. Filed under Brickset.

    Now that Internet Explorer 9 is out, the time has come to be able to use the new features in CSS3 to add a few tweaks to the design of the site. If you're using IE9 or FireFox 4 and maybe some other browsers, you'll notice rounded boxes, drop shadows and so on in various places. You might also notice a slight speed increase because the markup sent to your browser is slightly smaller and the rounded corner images are no longer required.

    If you notice anything that looks a bit strange, let me know and I'll fix it; I haven't tested every page in every browser. I may drop support for the image generated rounded corners in older browsers, and instead ensure the new ones work in as many browsers as possible (but not IE7/8 since they don't support CSS3 border-radius).

    I've also added a cool new feature which was requested by DrDaveWatford. As you probably know, Eurobricks is a great source of pictorial reviews but as they can be a little tricky to find on the site, I've added direct links to them in the search results here, and also in the reviews tab on the set details page.

    Although the means to display the links is ready, we haven't yet added all the data needed to generate the links. DrDave has provided data for Episode 1 and 2 Star Wars sets so you can see the feature in action on this results page - see the small Eurobricks log in the rating column. We'll be adding more data in the coming weeks. Thanks to Kim T from Eurobricks for allowing us to do this.


    20 comments, latest one posted 25 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by ensign_dave in United Kingdom, 06 Apr 2011 04:11

Fantastic news - great updates. Keep up the good work guys!

Posted by atkinsar in United Kingdom, 06 Apr 2011 04:38

Neat, you may have played it down a bit, but it's a really cool little feature. The site looks different (and better) in Chrome too, so good work there too. Thanks to you and DrD!

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 06 Apr 2011 05:16

^ Ah yes so it does, looks like it supports pretty much all the enhancements, as does Safari (bar the drop shadows). Cool.

Even more reason to drop the rounded corner images then...

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 06 Apr 2011 05:29

^ I've removed the image generated rounded corner images for all browsers so if you're still using IE7/8 you'll just see square boxes. I'll ascertain what impact this has on server bandwidth utilisation/user satisfaction and turn it back on if warranted.

Posted by atkinsar in United Kingdom, 06 Apr 2011 07:32

^ don't forget to the make the same tweaks to the forum too ;o)

Posted by Galactus in Netherlands, 06 Apr 2011 07:44

So far nothing bad or annoying in IE 8 here. I'll get to see Chrome at home in the weekend, so I'm curious what it looks like.

Posted by robbiew in Hong Kong, 06 Apr 2011 07:45

Wow, you keep getting more awesome! The EB review feature is excellent

Posted by kaboomlegoman in United States, 06 Apr 2011 07:46

I've been using Chrome for a long time, and so I don't know how Brickset looks any other way.

Posted by ambo100 in United Kingdom, 06 Apr 2011 10:18

The image viewers/lightboxes need to be fixed for chrome. Sometimes when I click on a thumbnail the image doesn't load.

Posted by The Reviewer in United States, 06 Apr 2011 11:40

Sounds good

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 06 Apr 2011 12:46

HM! *Goes to IE 9; don't have FF 4; TERRIBLE MEMORY-SUCKER! :P* Woah... O_O Approved! :D Even in FF 3.6, even without the shadows and rounded corners, it looks nice! LOVE IT!!! :D

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 06 Apr 2011 12:51

BTW: Love the Eurobricks feature! :)

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 06 Apr 2011 14:05

Nice new look! I like the non rounded boxes! I wonder what Brickset will look like in 2020......

Posted by Matthew in United Kingdom, 06 Apr 2011 17:08

No offence Huw, if you've put all this work into it, but this doesn't feel like Brickset. I preferred the old look by far.

Posted by Leela in Poland, 06 Apr 2011 17:22

The direct links to Eurobricks reviews is a great idea, thanks for that!

Posted by cknowles in United Kingdom, 06 Apr 2011 18:08

If you're concerned about IE 7/8, how about http://css3pie.com/ or http://fetchak.com/ie-css3/?

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 07 Apr 2011 02:34

^ That's cool, I hadn't heard of that. I'll give it a go!

Posted by Ad the brickmaster in United Kingdom, 07 Apr 2011 12:44

On Google chrome, the bottoms of the boxes surrounding each minifigure (on set pages) get cropped off.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 07 Apr 2011 14:22

^ It looks OK here on Chrome. Can you send me a screenshot?

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 08 Apr 2011 18:57

Ahem, what do I have to do to become a "Trusted Reviewer"? :)

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