Forum M42 style

Poll

Should the forum design be changed?

es!
5 (33.3%)
o, I like it the way it is.
8 (53.3%)
 don\'t care…
2 (13.3%)

Total Members Voted: 13

Voting closed: August 25, 2007, 05:14:34 PM

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Master

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« on: June 26, 2007, 05:12:07 PM »
It's summer, lots of free time, so I though, how about making this forum more user friendly and fun to read / visit.
I have enough php / html /css experience, and have done similar modification to other forums, so I think it would be nice to make this forum M42 style, I could post images of the updated designs for everyone to judge before making any permanent changes

So, what do you think?
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16v of Fury

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« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2007, 05:23:19 PM »
I think this is a great forum - easy to use, clean, easy to read.  I'm happy w/ it.  What functions are you able to improve on?
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Master

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« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2007, 06:02:09 PM »
Well, I won't touch the functions, as you said It's great as it is, just the looks, and a slight layout change maybe.
Maybe add new smilies, think of some funny ranks based on post count, some background pictures M42 style, color scheme maybe. The first two don't require php coding, but I guess the admins are a bit busy, so I'm willing to take the challenge ;)
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ak96ss

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« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2007, 06:29:01 PM »
I would love it if it would email me when threads I have subscribed to have had new submissions...  like I have told it to. As it is, it just sends emails for private messages, but not thread updates.

Other than that, I am satisfied with the appearance of the pages.
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uh, it's a '91 318is, like everyone else...

16v of Fury

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« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2007, 07:03:17 PM »
Quote from: Master;28590
Well, I won't touch the functions, as you said It's great as it is, just the looks, and a slight layout change maybe.
Maybe add new smilies, think of some funny ranks based on post count, some background pictures M42 style, color scheme maybe. The first two don't require php coding, but I guess the admins are a bit busy, so I'm willing to take the challenge ;)


It all sounds good :D

More smilies is a great idea - especially if you can do animated ones - smilies are awesome!

And I like the funny ranks idea!
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ak96ss

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« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2007, 07:13:24 PM »
But I like my title!  :)
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uh, it's a '91 318is, like everyone else...

jetteman

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« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2007, 07:54:35 PM »
I think It would be a good idea maybe different members cars every so often. I like the idea of more smilies. On another note i would like a button for my posts.
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denious

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« Reply #7 on: June 27, 2007, 01:38:34 AM »
Yeah the email sending, posts link and a banner with randomly changing members' cars would be awesome! Changing the color theme will probably be welcome by everyone too.
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gearheadE30

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« Reply #8 on: June 27, 2007, 03:06:17 PM »
I do like the easy-to-use factor of this foum, plus it is very easy to read even though it is kind of style-less ;). More functions are always good though...
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Master

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« Reply #9 on: June 27, 2007, 04:24:14 PM »
What do you think about this?

I think it looks GREAT (at least I didn't think it would turn out to look so good)
Yes I know there is a problem going with such big pictures as these: TRAFFIC
So If most of us agree on going with something similar, we should help out and donate a few bucks to cover for the traffic…
P.S. This design is not complete, as I am thinking on where to put the ads, title, etc. So stay tuned for Updates!
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Master

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« Reply #10 on: June 27, 2007, 05:50:20 PM »
Here's how it may look with the google banner, donate button, etc:
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gearheadE30

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« Reply #11 on: June 28, 2007, 02:15:34 PM »
Looks better than expected I must admit, but I think that the theme would look better if it was a consistemt color instead of red and blue. Otherwise, good work. :)
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Master

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« Reply #12 on: June 28, 2007, 03:45:50 PM »
Quote from: gearheadE30;28713
Looks better than expected I must admit, but I think that the theme would look better if it was a consistemt color instead of red and blue. Otherwise, good work. :)


Thanks! I'm not too handy with photoshop, I can make the color consistent, btw here's how a finished product may look ;) :
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sheepdog

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« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2007, 08:11:54 PM »
Looks good Master, not trying to be a party-pooper here but I do have some concerns.

One the big/color Google banner needs to be on top. The ads barely cover hosting expenses as it is, but they are covering it. We can drop the donations button though, no one uses it anyhow unless poked and prodded.

Second, I agree the red and blue do not work well together, problem is, red text often is more difficult to see. Lastly the top banner is awfully tall. That means on every page you will be scrolling that much more. Yes many sites do have huge logos and such, but if you ask me and some other old school web guys, it is wrong. Reason being is that the most common resolution on the internet is 1024x768 with 800x600 coming in second (yes, people still use that!).

Who owns the rights to those pictures? I have been down that road before as well.

Also, how are you doing this? Playing with a graphics editor? Vbulletin works in weird ways when trying to alter one color, it can effect many others. Trying to lay this out in there, will be far different than just changing the color on a screenshot.


I have not had time to tweak on things due to work, but I just hired a web guy, so maybe things can start happening again.
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Master

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« Reply #14 on: June 29, 2007, 05:17:03 AM »
Quote from: sheepdog;28749
Looks good Master, not trying to be a party-pooper here but I do have some concerns.

One the big/color Google banner needs to be on top. The ads barely cover hosting expenses as it is, but they are covering it. We can drop the donations button though, no one uses it anyhow unless poked and prodded.

Second, I agree the red and blue do not work well together, problem is, red text often is more difficult to see. Lastly the top banner is awfully tall. That means on every page you will be scrolling that much more. Yes many sites do have huge logos and such, but if you ask me and some other old school web guys, it is wrong. Reason being is that the most common resolution on the internet is 1024x768 with 800x600 coming in second (yes, people still use that!).

Who owns the rights to those pictures? I have been down that road before as well.

Also, how are you doing this? Playing with a graphics editor? Vbulletin works in weird ways when trying to alter one color, it can effect many others. Trying to lay this out in there, will be far different than just changing the color on a screenshot.


I have not had time to tweak on things due to work, but I just hired a web guy, so maybe things can start happening again.

Yes, I see what you mean. I did this with a graphics editor (I didn't want to set up my own vbulletin for practical testing as it is time consuming), but we don't have to change the color scheme, It's just something I suggested. We can use one of the free available vbulletin themes like these:
http://www.themesbase.com/?category=vBulletin

and add my header and footer on top;

Also what concerns the image copyright, I can imagine that being a problem, but we are a non profit organization, so the rightfull owners of these images, can't file a lawsuit on us anyway, as we make no profit based on this. And we can remove them on first notice, even if someone finds out we're using them.
 
Copyright can be a stupid thing sometimes, I imagine that the right holder of the pictures is the one who took them, but how about what's actually in the picture? It's like I take a picture of your car, and then hold the copyright for it, I think it's stupid.

Anyway, why not do a poll, and ask our users what minimum resolution they are surfing this forum with? I think thats what I'll do…

Also changing the header size is a no big deal:
« Last Edit: June 29, 2007, 05:30:29 AM by Master »
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