What to improve for forum?

Hybrid_Halogen · Post by **Hybrid_Halogen** » 31 Aug 2007, 17:38

Hey guys, what should I do to change the appearance of the forum so it'd be easier on the eyes and more attractive? I'm not very good at making skins, so if someone who is good with skinning IPB (2.3.1) really good forum in my opinion, please feel free to contact me.

Anyways, here is my forum, please check and give advice, if you can join and post a bit would be a total bonus. Thanks in advance for the trouble,

www.chao-lin.com

Post by **Ron2K** » 01 Sep 2007, 19:31

Did you make that theme yourself? If so, it looks a bit bland, but it's very well made. I'm probably not the best person to give out suggestions as I have non-existent colour co-ordination, but try a slightly different shade for the table cell backgrounds.

If you want to see a really well made theme, take a look at my board. (Note: I did NOT design it! I found it while randomly looking for a new theme for my board on the phpBB community forums.)

One more thing: your index page doesn't validate. I didn't check the other pages; that's something for you to do.

Hybrid_Halogen · Post by **Hybrid_Halogen** » 04 Sep 2007, 13:30

No I didn't make the theme lol ^_^ Not that good, a friend of mine from MSN did it for me, really nice of him.

Thanks for the validating part, but I didn't see any visible errors with the human eye, is that a big problem though?

Oh and your theme looks awsome! Love the background, its detailed yet doesn't distract the eyes from actual content ^_^ I'm more familiar with IPB though, although PHPBB is quite nice, used it before and a dear friend of mine uses it for Mangaka.co.za......he is planning on upgrading it to PHPbb 3.0 soon.

Slasher · Post by **Slasher** » 04 Sep 2007, 13:35

Hybrid - just a quick click on your forums, did not delve into sub looking menus...

It looks really nice, details works. Just think it might become a bit harsh on the eyes after a while of forum spamming. Gives a more professional theme than the type of theme Ron has.

Ron - no offense, the theme is very well made and easy on the eye, but a black background on most websites give a more relaxed and fun impression than it does professional... (In my opinion, I am no professional)...

Post by **Ron2K** » 04 Sep 2007, 13:38

Hybrid_Halogen wrote:Thanks for the validating part, but I didn't see any visible errors with the human eye, is that a big problem though?

It's more standards compliance than anything else.

What I'm about to say belongs more in HTML than Graphic Design, but it's going to be said anyway. A lot of people develop and test on Internet Explorer simply because it's still the most popular browser out there (why anyone would want to use it I have no idea, but let's save that discussion for another thread). Problem is, IE is very lenient in its interpretation of standards, so web designers get lazy. They develop for IE and get it working, then they wonder why it breaks when someone views their page in a browser that interprets things far stricter. That's why you get all those sites that support IE only. In my opinion, that's the wrong way to go about things.

That's why you get the W3 validator. It makes sure your site complies with the standards, which in theory should minimise cross-browser issues. It's a good thing to get in the habit of doing.

Oh, and by the way, I'm well aware that my own site doesn't validate. It's something that's bugging me (I'd like to get it valid XHTML 1.0 Strict) - I just don't have the time right now to do all the necessary changes.

Slasher wrote:Ron - no offense, the theme is very well made and easy on the eye, but a black background on most websites give a more relaxed and fun impression than it does professional... (In my opinion, I am no professional)...

Well, that's the type of impression that I was looking for in the first place, so thanks.

Hybrid_Halogen · Post by **Hybrid_Halogen** » 04 Sep 2007, 13:40

I myself prefer dark themed sites, lol and probably it isn't a professional site at all, it is all about chatting and having fun. We can't just go out all wild here on PC Format with spamming

Some almighty Mod will warn us if we did. But I do try to be unique and resourceful on my fourm, so one will find some stuff quite interesting to talk about. I am actually working on a theme myself, its gonna be all black with vista like gloss effects, hopefully that will be easier on the eyes though.

Hybrid_Halogen · Post by **Hybrid_Halogen** » 04 Sep 2007, 13:44

Btw has any of you actually tried out the new IPB (Invision Power Board) It is really nice with a lot of real-time features and awesome Admin Panel!

@ Ron, yeah I know what you mean, you seem a lot like Lee-san, the developer for Mangaka.co.za, he is such a perfectionist when it comes to coding and he totally hates MS, so IE included. lol, he only keeps IE on is to validate his codings just in case, otherwise its firefox all the way for him. We recently had quite an interesting chat about Open-source stuff

Supposedly the new Ubantu 7.0 is gonna be big according to him....

hehe, we getting a bit off track here ^_^

Post by **KillerByte** » 04 Sep 2007, 14:16

i remember that Ron would not launch the FRAG website until the first RC of PHPbb 3.0 was released. lol.
he even sent me an email the moment he got wind of its release. Like a little boy in a candy store. lol

Hybrid_Halogen · Post by **Hybrid_Halogen** » 04 Sep 2007, 14:32

I had a preview myself of RC3.0 on Mangaka

Its just beautiful!!!

But IPB isn't that bad, 2.3.1 can surely live up to PHPBB3.0