Proposed Change to Playing Page - Feedback Please

Silly idea, or could we live without that "Your opponent is online. Stay on this... etc." message?  It's only informative on a one-time basis - for those who don't know that the e-chess page auto-updates.  Once you know that, you can tell if your opponent is online by looking at their username over the board display.

The existing message could just be a tool-tip for those who hover over their opponent's antenna-dealie icon.

agreed

I third that :)

i have some GOOD ideas cooking!

hm it looks nice, i'd rather see all the captured peaces.
instead having a number in front of it, keep it as visual as possible.

Why not put the title above the board ??
the board doesnt need to be that big (or it could be lowered a bit).

And maybe some indication if he's looking at the game right now, because i can wiat forever while he just reads a chess article on this site (i had that a few times, i was reading while the other waited a long time for my move).

Looks great. I'm all for it

Aside from those people with a great number of games in play, most of us can probably remember what we were doing in most of our games.  It's only occasionally (or if an opponent has been on vacation for a time) that we need to consult the Moves tab.

I would much rather have the Messages tab as the default.  Otherwise many messages are going to be missed.

It's worth remembering that one of the things that makes chess.com unique is its friendliness.  If greetings and messages are missed because we forget to click the message tab, that level of friendliness is likely to erode.

I like the ECO identifier and the new look.

I like it alot. Some suggestions: when the draw button changes to claim draw, just chance the color of the flag. Maybe have the option on which tab to open first in settings?

agreed... something better coming in a few moments...

Ok. Here is a much simpler approach! The benefits of the move arrows without the cost of showing the move list...

http://files.chesscomfiles.com/images_users/tiny_mce/erik/screen1.png

http://files.chesscomfiles.com/images_users/tiny_mce/erik/screen2.png

Thoughts?

http://files.chesscomfiles.com/images_users/tiny_mce/erik/screen2.png

I like this one best so far mate! :)

Much cleaner, but I did like the possibility of having the messages and moves screens at the same time.

Have you considered putting the messages screen below the playing board, as in "live chess?"

 Skip is you skip that game to go to the next game i believe..

And i agree, i like this also , i also like the opening thing, it shows what opening your using :D

By the Way Erik i believe it is your turn in that game :)

Thanks for all your hard work for this site, Erik! I just subscribed.

Your various ideas for improvement all seem good. My favorite was the first version, with the moves list perpetually visible, but I'm OK with clicking on the tab instead. I often look at the moves list but rarely click arrows to play back through the moves. Sometimes I just want to see whether someone's king or rook has moved, or if en passant is allowed.

(Edit - although, I agree that if the first version is accepted, the block of buttons which includes the submit button should be on the bottom, not the top.)

I think that looks very nice indeed!    A couple of comments or questions about what may (or may not) be "mock-up-isms":

- Two "Analyze" links are better than one?

- VCR controls are still visible when you're off the Moves tab?

- I wonder if the FEN box would be more at home on the Details tab, space-wise.

- If the "Flip Board" dealie was another link-type control (rather than a check-box), it would "fit in" better with the controls above.  It would also make more sense as a link, imho - that is, I find it more natural to think of "flip board" as something you do, rather than a mode to be turned on or off.

Cheers, Erik!

i like it just as it is now, thanks for asking the players....i'm "old school"

I like it. All the game details like pieces captured, moves played etc are all there on the one screen. I'm not too fussed about messaging, I would like it there, but it doesn't need to be in your face.

Erik,

I really appreciate your hard work!  Keep it up, we know you always do your best to please everyone (which is never possible).  That being said, I definitely like your design #2 as opposed to the original one you posted - it isn't as busy, like others have said; the simplicity that the board presently has is one of it's best features in my opinion.  I don't like the idea of having two separate boxes for messaging and moves/details/etc -- it is too cluttered.

Where is the conditional moves button? (someone else mentioned this) ---- will this no longer be an option? 

I very much agree with having a "timestamp" on messages, for reference -- whether it be by time/date or by move number.  I don't know how difficult this would be to implement, but if it's not too hard I would enjoy it :)  

Defaulting to the "messages" or "moves" tab would be fine with me, either way (isn't this an option in settings anyway?)

Thanks again.

I prefer the current layout, for me it's good that we can switch which information board we want to see (moves, details, etc) rather than cramps so many info in 1 page.. It makes our eyes hurt I think...