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Do you like the background image?

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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22671 - Karma: 75,830
We've been thinking about the background image for a while now. Many computers (dependent on graphic software) will have trouble loading this thing every time.

We are really hoping to be able to work to speed up the performance of the site in the future, and this is one of those things that could bog it down.

I'd love to remove the background for performance sake, but I've always felt that too many people are used to it and love it.

Thoughts? How do you feel about the image background of newschoolers?


Oct 14 2009 11:43AM
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PopsicleStand
Posts: 6890 - Karma: 147
honestly, while it is baller, i would not die if it was removed. as it stands right now i can only see a tiny bit of the image anyways.

so you can shitcan it with my permission bishop.
Oct 14 2009 11:58AM
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Malcolm
Posts: 15949 - Karma: 9,431
isnt there an option to not show the background image anyways? what if you just reverse it so that when you first make an account you have to click the option to see it.
Oct 14 2009 12:04PM
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Jwenz
Posts: 8893 - Karma: 7,633
i dont mind it, i dont care if it was gone. it would be nice to have a picutre there when you go to the splash page though
Oct 14 2009 12:14PM
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freeskibum82
Posts: 6355 - Karma: 5,055
just make it a mountain scene that repeats well over the x-axis or create a stylist pattern. and then youll just have a 6kb image to load instead of 125kb (estimating) id say leave the header image but that just gets covered by glorious ad space (so why not lose that as well)
Oct 14 2009 12:55PM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22671 - Karma: 75,830
I mean this would be the best idea. THe backround is huge... more like 250k which is crazy for a website. We have it set up so that most of your browsers just cache it and don't re-download, but still there's a lot of computers out there that it will be slow on.

Lets get the new site launched, and then maybe we'll try a month of no background image and see how everyone likes it?


Oct 14 2009 1:28PM
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daytripper67
Posts: 681 - Karma: 11
i just wanted to say that youre great
Oct 14 2009 1:48PM
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brickerenator
Posts: 316 - Karma: 10
Can you make it so it only show on the homepage?
Oct 14 2009 2:55PM
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quixotic
Posts: 6937 - Karma: 2,978
While I do like it, you can't really see much of it besides the outer edges. Keep it on the splash page for sure, but a simple background for all pages will work!
Oct 14 2009 3:05PM
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J-Wallz
Posts: 1264 - Karma: 54
this spounds like it would be a good idea cause u cant really see the image anyways
Oct 14 2009 7:22PM
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MANDER
Posts: 4017 - Karma: 2,038
if there is no background can we have a desktop photo of the month or like a high res photo of the month so all our desktops can look cool?
Oct 14 2009 7:31PM
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BootySpunk.
Posts: 8148 - Karma: 84
Yah all the ads block the image anyways and it isn't very noticeable and seems like a hassle to change it and it makes the page scroll really slow for me.
Oct 14 2009 10:58PM
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Funnel
Posts: 7808 - Karma: 1,414
Fuck the background. It's pointless. It's good for like the first two days, but then I kind of stop noticing it. Plus, it has stayed the same and I find that it's more annoying having that same damn image, than no background. Go no background.

I also think that the next thing to be worked on should be a mobile site. I would love to have a site that was a little faster on my iPhone. Luckily, it's not bad right now, but it could be so much faster. Maybe it will be faster without the background?
Oct 15 2009 12:05AM
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sirskizalot
Posts: 4370 - Karma: 161
Not a big deal to me. I do like it on the login page but if it were gone there too i wouldn't die.
Oct 15 2009 1:00AM
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B.Aussie
Posts: 5851 - Karma: 4,522

The background image is great, I really like it. But I wouldn't mind if it wasn't there if we were able to get high def pics for our back grounds. If it's causing problems the majority of NS wouldn't care it was gone

Oct 15 2009 9:29PM
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no_steeze
Posts: 23992 - Karma: 4,270
on a somewhat related note, it'd be sick if you guys updated the downloads section...i'd love some backgrounds and that one of sage was a while ago
Oct 15 2009 10:14PM
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B-runge
Posts: 16558 - Karma: 360
i like it

but a permeant one of like some mountains wouldnt be bad.....
Oct 15 2009 10:20PM
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DaveM
Posts: 2936 - Karma: 1,558
The background picture TRUELY only serves a purpose on the splassh page. Not that i think it's bad to have it the way it is now but you can probably only see an eight of the photo on each side as it is now so your really not going to be missing anything if it was gone. If this is one main things holding you back from getting a faster website then i think it would be foolish not to do something about it.
Oct 15 2009 10:20PM
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freeskibum82
Posts: 6355 - Karma: 5,055
maybe take advantage of the transparent abilities of ping graphics and make the thread posts background 75% transparent to show the background?

like so:
Click for larger image
Oct 16 2009 1:22PM
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MNBlake
Posts: 658 - Karma: 32
personally i think its important. its a really NS specific thing, not too many sites out there do it with such a high quality picture
Oct 16 2009 3:56PM
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assface
Posts: 4319 - Karma: 2,031
i think just have it on the cover page
Oct 16 2009 4:07PM
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Funnel
Posts: 7808 - Karma: 1,414
The transparent is a good idea, but there is no way I could deal with that, haha.
Oct 16 2009 10:20PM
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caucasian_chad
Posts: 4078 - Karma: 3,625
Greasemonkey script?
If so, share.
Oct 16 2009 10:21PM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22671 - Karma: 75,830
Whoa!
Well, not quite the response I was expecting. Though, its one of these issues that when you think about it there's a lot going against the picture background. I mean yes it is this awesome NS specific thing, but there is a lot of NS specific things.... hell we only added the background like two years ago - before that there was just a normal background like any other site.
For people who get slow page loads because of it the site would speed up immensely. I mean we're talking about a difference of like 200k per page here... that adds up.
As for the transparency thing, I'm pretty sure that doesn't work on all browsers. I know that IE has difficulty with transparency...
I also think that it could get annoying after a while. I mean think of how many threads you read in here. :)
I have an idea... Why doesn't everyone bust over to their account tools page:
https://newschoolers.com/web/members/accounttools>Set your connection speed to "Dial Up" - this will disable the background. It doesn't really change anything else... its one of those things we put in there but haven't actually linked that much to it. :)
Give that a go, and try it for a couple of days. Let me know what you think!

Oct 17 2009 8:22AM
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[Dawn
Posts: 1718 - Karma: 69
i have the background image turned off, it slows down my whole computer. personallly i'm not a big fan of it anyways.
Oct 17 2009 3:17PM
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summersover
Posts: 5777 - Karma: 233
holy god the site runs fast with just the grey background
Oct 17 2009 4:23PM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22671 - Karma: 75,830
Do you have the fancy GUI editor turned on? If you turn that off, you're spitting lightning.

That would be another easy improvement... have the GUI editor for forum posts disabled by default, and you have to click to turn it on if you want to use it in a post.

Oct 18 2009 7:29AM
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Hubsta
Posts: 1279 - Karma: 156
Wouldn't this solve the problem?
Oct 18 2009 11:14AM
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B-runge
Posts: 16558 - Karma: 360
mine running so fast without it bishop
its sooo much nicer
im turinin gui off in a few mo's.....
Oct 18 2009 2:54PM
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summersover
Posts: 5777 - Karma: 233
yeah i always run w/o the fancy, i hate the GUI editor
its so much easier to just paste the code and have it embed videos for me
Oct 18 2009 5:49PM
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B.Aussie
Posts: 5851 - Karma: 4,522
I personally liked the background better. But once I got used to not having it didn't make much difference. Although it could be I have a fast connection so it doesn't take much time to load the page. I think we should just have the option like we do now to take it off, unless it's easier for you guys not to have it.
Oct 19 2009 6:15AM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22671 - Karma: 75,830
Probably the easiest and best way to do this would be to set no background image to default, and give you the option to turn it on. Its not much extra work to put it up when we do the splash page.

We'll get the new site launched first, then we'll do an experiment of ditching the background for a month or something and see what happens.

Oct 19 2009 9:26AM
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neutralzombie
Posts: 8629 - Karma: 606
i like it because it adds some color. so if you were to remove it i would suggest putting some type of wallpaper up...
Oct 19 2009 11:44AM
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Half-Blood
Posts: 1770 - Karma: 385
Wow making those two simple changes have sped up everything. I think I found the reason to why my internet has been running so slow lately haha.

I vote for the changes.
Oct 19 2009 2:20PM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22671 - Karma: 75,830
With how much response we got for this... why don't we just try it?

When we launch the new site we'll launch it with the photo background disabled by default. If people hate it we'll re-enable it.

Oct 19 2009 3:49PM
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Jwenz
Posts: 8893 - Karma: 7,633
I think the background image is pointless. as long as there is a splash page picture I will be content
Oct 19 2009 3:58PM
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Holte
Posts: 10730 - Karma: 7,744
I don't really care one way or the other about the background. If there isn't a gigantic skiing photo as the background, I'm sure you guys will come up with an equally legit alternative. But in terms of site development, NS should consider where computer/networking speed will be six months into the future, not where it was for a year ago. I've browsed NS on over 150 computer of varying speeds, and I've never had any issues with slow loading times due to the background.
Oct 19 2009 7:32PM
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B-runge
Posts: 16558 - Karma: 360
id say just make it an option.
because there will probably be hate on it.
Oct 19 2009 7:44PM
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spqr
Posts: 182 - Karma: 141
I would vote to have the background turned off by default, with an option to turn it on. Being a Chrome user, things load lighting fast anyway. Having a large monitor, I do appreciate the background image.
Oct 19 2009 11:06PM
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Funnel
Posts: 7808 - Karma: 1,414
I switched to dial up and didn't notice anything different about the page and the speed was the same. Do I need to log out and back in or something?
Oct 20 2009 1:56AM
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Funnel
Posts: 7808 - Karma: 1,414
Never mind, I see the difference and it definitely goes faster. I would run the new site without the background.
Oct 20 2009 2:07AM
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ReedSkis~
Posts: 2122 - Karma: 98
damn, that is fast without the background

I say, do away with it
Oct 20 2009 10:36PM
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