You may or may not have noticed a little blinking green dot in the corner of people's avatars. You probably don't know the purpose of this dot, as it is not labeled in any way whatsoever, and it's basically impossible to figure out what it means without having to ask the devs. This is, of course, a huge design flaw.
Apparently this dot is a "user is online" indicator. Unfortunately, due to not giving any clear indication of this, it winds up being basically useless for its intended purpose (as well as any possible unintended purposes... probably). There's no point in having an indicator unless there's some way of telling what, exactly, it's actually supposed to be indicating.
I suggest going with the most common, and therefore most widely recognized system, which is having the word "online" or "offline" appear somewhere in the text area beneath the avatar picture. Then again, a "user is online" indicator is not strictly necessary, so it would be perfectly acceptable to simply remove it entirely. Whichever is easier, I suppose.
Oooh, that's what that is. I would be fine with just being able to hover my mouse over it and have a tooltip saying "Online."
The flashing is kind of irritating, though.
I just now noticed it was flashing, now that's something I can't un-see.
Aside from that, the online indicator also overlaps your profile picture. That's also iffy, perhaps put the indicator next to your name? e.g. [o]JehZirO
I never even noticed it flashed until you pointed that out. Anyways, I'm in support of a better looking online indicator, which I imagine may change anyway when the design and topic icons are changed.
Apparently this dot is a "user is online" indicator. Unfortunately, due to not giving any clear indication of this, it winds up being basically useless for its intended purpose (as well as any possible unintended purposes... probably). There's no point in having an indicator unless there's some way of telling what, exactly, it's actually supposed to be indicating.
I suggest going with the most common, and therefore most widely recognized system, which is having the word "online" or "offline" appear somewhere in the text area beneath the avatar picture. Then again, a "user is online" indicator is not strictly necessary, so it would be perfectly acceptable to simply remove it entirely. Whichever is easier, I suppose.
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The flashing is kind of irritating, though.
Also check me out on:
WordPress, Etsy, and Spore.
I just now noticed it was flashing, now that's something I can't un-see.
Aside from that, the online indicator also overlaps your profile picture. That's also iffy, perhaps put the indicator next to your name? e.g. [o]JehZirO
I like your idea where if instead of there being a dot obstructing your profile, there's a notification near your name. It makes more sense IMO.
I never even noticed it flashed until you pointed that out. Anyways, I'm in support of a better looking online indicator, which I imagine may change anyway when the design and topic icons are changed.