I'd like to see a reduction in focus on 'social media', and more so on what originally made the site unique; Coding sharing, be it snippets, ideas, or just theories (so long as its programming related). There's a developer page that lists top devs over a period of time, why not a page that lists the top snippets/code-base over a period of time. 'Top' being a choice of most-viewed, most-liked, most-favorited. Something of the such adds a slight incentive for users to produce good, interesting code. While encouraging discussion on newly-posted projects.
I'd also like to see a renewed emphasis on sharing code/code-ideas instead of just arbitrary threads from the people I've followed. That isn't to say remove all user-networking. Just that shared code should take priority over someone's 'tech-talk'.
I mean there's literally 1000s of social media sites, and there's 1000s of programming sites. We have a nitch here as there aren't too many social media sites focused on developing. The trick being to strike a balance between the two. In the beginning it felt as 'just another programming site', but now it feels you've swung too far in the other direction: 'just another social media site'.
After thought(s): I'm not malicely criticizing what you've done here, but rather giving you user feedback on the latest changes to the site. This isn't an attempt to discourage you from making changes. After 17yrs of being live, I'm fairly certain you know how to evolve your site, but as a fellow dev, I know that feedback is always welcome, and thus gave my opinion on matters
I feel that apps and scripts add to the emphasis of coding. This site started out as a repo for mIRC's scripts, and I think more emphasis on that original essence would go a long way. (That isn't to say you should focus or give priority to mIRC). Apps and scripts ARE programming, and as a developer SM site, they should have a place among snippets.
Often times projects have more than a few 100 lines of code across multiple files and an imposed restriction of what can fit into a code-tag limits what can be shared.* If the subject being shared directly relates to programming/developing, there should be a way to share the concept even if it's just a gussied post(so long as it is set apart from 'tech-talk' as 'programming')
*: For projects in which a code-tag wouldn't be a viable option, possibly along with a snippet page have a 'github/external' page, where an author would give a description of the project, screenshots, etc, and a link to the project's source. The emphasis would stay on the coding as the source would be available while still allowing larger projects to be shared.
@BlueThen I can see the appeal, but I feel everyone under the sun doing a grey-scale theme ignores the darker side of the scale when it comes to background coloring. As it stands, I perfer the darkgrey header as it sets the theme (and the header) apart. WIth that said though, if its decided to keep the current theme, I'd like to see text made a little more darker.
@Hawkee I knew you redid the snippets page but have only taken a quick look at it. (+1 for markdown btw.)
I think the feather pen idea is clever. It makes Hawkee feel more like a publishing platform.
Not only that, but I understand it's generally bad design when your title text is fancified and in an image. But as always, rules are meant be broken!
@SReject I think it's understandable that Hawkee wants to go through a rebirth of sorts. There's been a lot of inactive periods of time lately, and increasingly more so as mIRC scripting has almost completely lost its popularity. It would be in Hawkee's best interest to appeal to developers outside that community.
@BlueThen Yes, I'm hoping to get the point across that this is a publishing platform for developers. I'm considering a slogan along the lines of
A Writing Platform for Application Developers.
You mean the old logo is poorly designed? I feel its really starting to show it's age. One reviewer over at Criticue said the 1980's "H" needs to go, I agree. I found the font Bree Serif and I love the way the H looks plus the font as a whole compliments Open Sans quite well. I'm using it for the headings and page titles and it gives the site more of a modern feel.
I like what's being done to the core focus of the site, and the evolution of its core mechanics, but at this point in time I think it would be more pertinent to focus on the user account side of things.
The inner workings of account related actions still seem somewhat archaic from a user standpoint; detached if you will. I'm still unable to successfully change my screen name from SunnyD, despite trying to do so on multiple occasions. The account settings page has the same linear text box layout it's had for years now. It's still a lot of clicking to delete a submission I made, if I can even delete it. Bot accounts still seem to be a problem that are, last I heard, dealt with via temporary measures. Among other things.
Bringing together all the branches of managing an account would do wonders for usability.
As far as themes go; I rather like the dark and light bundled theme you've got currently. It helps to differentiate what I'm looking at without thinking too hard about it.
@Sorasyn Thank you for the feedback. I completely agree concerning the account management. I'd really just like to rebuild it from the ground up. I've even been considering using Node.js/Passport and AngularJS to handle it, but I'm unsure how well it'll play with all of our existing PHP code. In the mean time I can change your name for you if you just send me a private message with the new name.
As far as priorities go, rebuilding the account infrastructure isn't at the top of the list at the moment. I'd like to finish building out the value proposition to offer a complete product. What we're primarily missing now is a perk system to motivate and encourage more posting. Once I've completed this and added drafts to the page editor I'd like to start focusing on a new authentication system. I really can't wait to delete all of this old phpBB2 code we've been using for the past 11 years.
You didn't mention the logo and font, what do you think about those?
I really think the site needs a facelift. I don't like the contrast between the dark header and the white content. I just couldn't find a nice way to transition between the dark and white. I've already removed the dark code snippets and am considering offering a customizable page header for users with enough points. I may even offer an unlockable feature to change the theme of the code boxes themselves on a page-by-page basis. I'm currently considering removing the links from the header entirely and going the route Medium took with the offcanvas navbar. My goal is to give ownership to profiles and pages and hide the rest of the site as much as possible.
Don't change the Hawkee logo. I mean, the 'old' logo has been with us since the start AFAIK and as such it has 'market recognition'.
Semi-related: I understand your direction for the site is for 'developer social media', but I feel you are losing a piece of the site's identity that made it stand out by picking apart other social media sites and including elements for the sake of 'this is what others do, we'll do it to'. I know that's not what you are doing but as a user that's what it feels like. I understand the site needs to evolve, but don't make it seem cookie-cuttered. Round avatars, grey-scale, etc are all fine and dandy, but there's a point where your site is just 'another among others' instead of being unique.