New Design?

[Seth]

I've been thinking that this place looks a bit drab. I tweaked out a possible new design. Does anyone like it?

At the bottom of this scren you will see a drop down where you can choose a new skin. Select "Tech" and let me know what you think.

Thanks!

[nisomer]

i do think something new would be nice...the tech one just seems too..."techy" if that makes sense lol. and i like the current banner that we have

[Jamie]

hmmm a little sprucing up here and there would be good. But for some reason I don't like the new design Seth just seems tooo technical.

[Seth]

There are some more here:
http://www.extremepixels.com/vb/skins_vb.php
and here:
http://www.vbstyles.com/index.php?do=vbulletin-skins
and finally:
http://www.xeonext.com/discussion-boards-portfolio.html

I'm not opposed to buying one if everyone can kind of decide on one that stands out. I'm not sure what you kids are into these days, ha ha. Seriously, I would love to find something that is fun and makes people want to hang out here.

[tired_of_lying411]

Whoa... too tech. I like the lightness of the old one. Bright is key. But I am certainly not opposed to a re-design. I'm actually design-oriented myself :)

So... Back to the design. Brightness is key, once again. I would say that "element" of the second link is nice...(link (http://www.vbstyles.com/demo/?styleid=4)) but not so purple maybe? It's just nice and clean, easy to navigate, and not too overpoweringly "web2.0" if you get my drift.

So yeah...

[Micah]

I quite like this one:
http://www.extremepixels.com/forum/index.php?styleid=71

Its simple, light yet quite groovy ;)

[TriBi]

OMG - the links to the various options seem to be completely screwed up for me.

I started scrolling thru them - and halfway it all went haywire - and now I seem to be stuck in one that I don't really like anyway...

I'll keep playing and see what happens...

[step49x]

Meh, I'm not a huge fan of the new skin. Mainly because I love the door in the current banner. I agree that with this forum, lighter is definitely better. I think I'm a fan of light blue with this site. It's a nice cool color. I think the skin Dave posted looks good.

[Paul_UK]

I like iSkin (http://www.extremepixels.com/forum/index.php?styleid=71) (same one as Dave chose), cobalt skin (http://www.extremepixels.com/forum/index.php?styleid=81) and Aria (http://www.vbstyles.com/demo/?styleid=16).

All light blue styles. I think the lighter colours feel more welcoming than black backgrounds etc. I also find black text on a light background easier to read than the other way around.

I also think it shouldn't shout "gay" at you (so no bright Barbie pinks, rainbows etc) as this could put some people off and could be more embarrassing if someone sees the screen from a distance when you are here.

One thing I would like is a full width option. On my new laptop with its 1920x1200 screen, this forum takes up only one third of the width. JUB has narrow and wide versions of the same style (selected from the thingie at the bottom left) which lets people use what they prefer. If we do agree on a new style (which would be the default I guess) I think this standard vBulletin one should also be an option.

[step49x]

I agree with Paul. It's definitely nice to be able to go here and, once you scroll past the logo, it's kind of hard for people looking at your screen to see what this site is about, without reading anything.

[Paul_UK]

That's a good reason for having the default vBulletin skin as a user selectable option - then as Step says once you have scrolled past the logo it looks just like any other forum.

Obviously the idea for getting a new default skin is so that it doesn't look like every other forum when potential new members arrive here.

[nisomer]

i still think we should keep the old banner though! unless someone makes a newer, cooler one ;)

[Micah]

i still think we should keep the old banner though! unless someone makes a newer, cooler one ;)

ahhh we'll see, we'll see ;)

[Micah]

I like iSkin (http://www.extremepixels.com/forum/index.php?styleid=71) (same one as Dave chose), cobalt skin (http://www.extremepixels.com/forum/index.php?styleid=81) and Aria (http://www.vbstyles.com/demo/?styleid=16).

I like the first two (obviously) - I dont like the "last post" part on 'aria' though.


I also think it shouldn't shout "gay" at you (so no bright Barbie pinks, rainbows etc) as this could put some people off and could be more embarrassing if someone sees the screen from a distance when you are here.

But I had my heart set on barbie pink and rainbows :(

[Proud1p4]

I like the ones that both Paul and Dave suggested, but this new one "tech"....(i've always been brutally honest and i won't stop now)....i really don't like it, it reminds me of the library prefects in my school (A clever way to say A.V geeks). Defintely a no for me.

i still think we should keep the old banner though! unless someone makes a newer, cooler one ;)

Ditto, if we do change it (which i dont really think needs to happen, i havent gotten sick of this one yet and ive been here more than a year.

I like the first two (obviously) - I dont like the "last post" part on 'aria' though.

Agreed. Aria is cool up until it show the last post underneath as opposed to the side. But the first two are wicked. I wouldn't mind them if others voted for a change.

But I had my heart set on barbie pink and rainbows :(

OMG, me too, we should go on strike!!:tantrum:

(obviously joking, love pink, just not on my EC:lol: )

[tired_of_lying411]

Like iSkin, but maybe it needs a little more contrast between the different parts? I enjoy the clear distinction we have between each part in this layout. It's mostly on the main page that iSkin is too monochromatic for me.

And, overall, I think we have a slightly bland, but STURDY design with the with the current design. I don't think we've found a fair replacement yet, IMO.

[Micah]

So here's what I've been thinking,

Since we've mostly come to the conclusion that simple is good, but too simple is bad. What if we were to go with the iSkin, yet offer different variations of the (seemingly bland) colour? We could have blue, green, pink, purple, silver colour schemes that people are able to choose from.

I'm quite sure you can recolour the skins manually in photoshop (Image > Adjustment > Variations | Blue, 50%, x2)

It would end up looking something like these (excuse my hasty banner and recolouring :tongue:)

[click to enlarge]
http://img454.imageshack.us/img454/8136/greycopyxp6.th.jpg (http://img454.imageshack.us/my.php?image=greycopyxp6.jpg)

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/6223/bluetj4.th.jpg (http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bluetj4.jpg)

http://img454.imageshack.us/img454/166/greenfu9.th.jpg (http://img454.imageshack.us/my.php?image=greenfu9.jpg)

[Micah]

I'm reviving this thread for further discussion: What are your thoughts?

[Steam Giant]

Tech is very cool! I like it a lot! (even if it does seem to be unpopular, heh) Those iSkin things seem pretty good too, though.

[Miaplacidus]

Tech is cool, but it's too dark IMHO. I'll do some research on themes.

[Proud1p4]

Well seeing the new, i guess what one would call a greeting or an enter page...i think that all EC needs is it's color scheme switched around to work in sync with it.

For example the greeting page has a dark background instead of a white. Brava to whoever designed it. But IMHO, all this place needs is a subtle change rather than a drastic makeover.

Instead of the whites, light blues and greys i'd tweak it to look similar to (i feel like i'm being over repetitive now) the greeting page.

As i've said i sound like a broken record so i'll leave now that i've given my two cents.

[Kenko]

I'm kind of indifferent to the skin style, however I wouldn't mind it if the forum colour scheme was inverted to reflect the intro page. Working on a computer all day, and having spent many a long night finishing school reports, I find light text on a dark background much easier on the eyes. As far as the colours, I agree it shouldn't be something "gay" like pink, as that might scare people off, but I'm not adverse to blue, like it is now.

[Micah]

Well seeing the new, i guess what one would call a greeting or an enter page...i think that all EC needs is it's color scheme switched around to work in sync with it.

For example the greeting page has a dark background instead of a white. Brava to whoever designed it. But IMHO, all this place needs is a subtle change rather than a drastic makeover.

Funnily enough, that 'splash screen' was part of Empty Closets 2 years ago, and mysteriously disappeared. But it's back now ;)



So which of the premade layouts do you think suits that 'splash screen' best?

[joeyconnick]

Splash screens are so 1995 and redundant. The URL should just go to the forums.

And I have always hated the art on that opening image. *shudder* It's just too... I dunno... blech. Plus it's guys-only; I'd prefer something more abstract.

[Micah]

Splash screens are so 1995 and redundant. The URL should just go to the forums.

And I have always hated the art on that opening image. *shudder* It's just too... I dunno... blech. Plus it's guys-only; I'd prefer something more abstract.

I like it :icon_sad:

That being said - I don't think it will be there for much longer.

[suburbs_of_sodom]

I like the splash screen, it makes me happy. Although I do agree with joey; something more abstract would be nice...kinda like what mogenic has (which is down currently :icon_sad:), but instead of pinks dominating the color scheme, blues, whites, and greys should make up the palette.

[Miaplacidus]

I like some of the themes at vbstyles.com - say, Aria Carbon, Bluesaint#, and Juice.

[tinkerbell]

I like the site how it is now.

[who am I]

i would like to see multicoloured stripes and spots on here