Export thread

can we get the default vB theme back please?

No.

^ this

There has been quite a discussion about what themes to keep and such. The moves that are made are taken to make things easier on Dave (and Ame now) and to benefit us all in the long run.

i'll donate via paypal if we can have the default forum theme as an option

I say keep Serenity as the default theme

Bellygrub said:

No.

Click to expand...

So fitting.

I'd rather see 1 good custom built theme that fits the halforums style. Then all the other themes could be ditched.

While I don't like the default theme, myself, I can sort of see where he's coming from. Ignoring all else, having at least one skin that looks hugely work safe has its advantages.

Brown.

It's Not Safe For Work.

Fuck brown. I want my fucking default back. Of all the fucking things to get rid of, that should be last on the god damned motherfucking cum-slurping list. Fuck you cumdumpster. Go soak up your ****rag in sulphuric acid.


huh, see you next tuesday, of all that, shows edited.

Fugly brown. And even if you decide to use the "not-so-great, but still better than the default" Evo True Blue you are penalized by not having an arcade button.
We just can't have nice things.

Shannow said:

Fuck brown. I want my fucking default back. Of all the fucking things to get rid of, that should be last on the god damned motherfucking cum-slurping list. Fuck you cumdumpster. Go soak up your ****rag in sulphuric acid.


huh, see you next tuesday, of all that, shows edited.

Click to expand...

:Whhmm:

Oh, its you. great.

Shannow said:

Oh, its you. great.

Click to expand...

gee I am shocked SHOCKED that your mature diplomatic tact is completely ignored.

Yeah, you are way up there, bitch. Enjoy that.





































Sorry about the bitch thing. I'll be in my office.

I think I see what Mav is saying as he's more worried about how it looks in his office. Basically he's saying that Serenity just LOOKS like a different site than a business site and that the default theme looks normal and he could talk his way out of it.

Mav, does the Evo light blue or perfect blue work for you? They are similar.

I think mav has never ever complained about any other change in the history of the forums. Ever.

Frankly, I found the default the best, most pleasing, easiest to read, nicest to use here in the office, etc. Why get rid of it, when its the base template....it is good, and not diarrea shit brown.

Shannow said:

Yeah, you are way up there, bitch. Enjoy that.
Sorry about the bitch thing. I'll be in my office.

Click to expand...

Dear Shannow. Please grow a pair. Fuckhead.

Wow, trying to do a spin on a ghostbuster line, and I get attacked. Classy.

for someone who doesn't get the reference, its pretty much an attack. And given the fact that you're still an asshole, I think it stands.

I am sorry, I dont understand raving bitch. Can someone translate that?

Shannow said:

I am sorry, I dont understand raving bitch. Can someone translate that?

Click to expand...

Good for you.

This is a classic case where internet eliteism clouds sound judgement. I'm sorry if this may sound harsh to some but as a forum administrator of over 40,000 members, I'll offer some free advice.

Stop listening to your board veterans, they don't know any better. Bring back the default theme. Use the default theme as the actual "the default theme". You do WANT new people to join these forums, right? It's more likely than not the default theme will appeal to a greater mass audience and if you want your forum population to expand, you should use it. The veterans of this forum can just as easily scroll down and choose their theme and let it be done. Or use a default theme that closely resembles it. Not everyone will like a custom theme.

Yes, dear god, let's chuck those forum veterans off the boat, while you're at it, please bring back the theme I want, because my opinion is more valid, since I administer a forum much bigger than yours. This is not elitist.

In all seriousness, it's beige. There was a vote. People lost, people won. But this whole "I don't like the outcome" from approximately 10 people has ranged from "meh," to "omfg you ruined my home and killed my parents I HAAAAAATTTTEEE you!"

I understand it if an asshole like me or <insert your name here> is driving people away from the forums by acting like an ass, but the forum angst over the layout and colors? What are you all, art school graduate students? damn.

No, its not that. jay made a good point. Default is jsut that...default. A lot of folks coming to new boards are used to it, and accept it. And with a small period of time you have to get someone to join, a simple color fix can have an effect.

He is not being unreasonable with what he says there. frankly, I am more surprised that one would get rid of the default style that is so widely used and known. most boards do not do that.

Crone said:

Yes, dear god, let's chuck those forum veterans off the boat, while you're at it, please bring back the theme I want, because my opinion is more valid, since I administer a forum much bigger than yours. This is not elitist.

Click to expand...

This is why people who have silvered tongues shouldn't be able to vote on these sorts of things, the result will always be shades of grey. The concept of voting on these sort of things are counter-productive, since a new user will find a forum with a flashy design sort of intimidating and an old user will think of their preferences.

I didn't know there was even a vote for this nor was I inclined to vote for it. Why should I fight for something that is so stupidly flawed and will impede the goals of this very forum? I gave out free advice to Dave without a tone to demean his work compared to my experiences as I have done in the past. He can take it or ignore it, it’s up to him. I know his goals however; I just want to kindly remind him that to listen to the veteran poster base is a sword that cuts on both sides.

I simply don’t see a reason why a default theme cannot be used and have extra themes for those who crave it. The argument is petty and retarded.

The Jay and Shannow have good points. The trouble is, that logic only holds up so far. When you go to any of the bigger/better boards, they ALL have their own custom themes and nobody seems to mind. Something Awful uses a template that is close but is custom, Forumopolis has a custom, Penny Arcade has a custom, etc.

The point is that all the big boards have custom, not the default that everyone else has. I see where you are coming from - I really do - I just think that we need to look forward at growing. I know we're nothing like those other boards, but I'd like to become viable as they are. And we simply won't get there by using nothing but the default and having a shit-ton of styles becomes difficult to administer.

Honestly, my only objection is the amount of work is causes the admins. If we were a paying board I'd probably be bitch about my lack of a Hello Kitty theme.

Dave said:

The Jay and Shannow have good points. The trouble is, that logic only holds up so far. When you go to any of the bigger/better boards, they ALL have their own custom themes and nobody seems to mind. Something Awful uses a template that is close but is custom, Forumopolis has a custom, Penny Arcade has a custom, etc.

The point is that all the big boards have custom, not the default that everyone else has. I see where you are coming from - I really do - I just think that we need to look forward at growing. I know we're nothing like those other boards, but I'd like to become viable as they are. And we simply won't get there by using nothing but the default and having a shit-ton of styles becomes difficult to administer.

Click to expand...

I understand that it is a little more work..but then again, creating this shit brown one was also more work too. I am more surprised at getting rid of the default style as an option altogether.


And, I know its opinion and meaningless here, but yes, this board looks like complete shit to me. Sorry Dave, but thats how I feel.

---------- Post added at 11:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:33 AM ----------

And where is my eleventy billion postcount!?

I almost always use the "default" style on the forums I visit. The one I'm using right now is Evo Blue, which is pretty damn close to the default style.

Though, admittedly, I also like the Evo Blue style better than the default style (better icons), but I've always felt that the default style should be in place on 99% of the boards out there... the other 1% being a board that has the reputation and population to "bring themselves up to that level." Not saying that we won't ever get there, but I think the self-pride is a little over-the-top in the here and now.

As always I'm stuck trying to please as many people as possible, which really isn't. Amy is right in that Mav is not a complainer and you ALL have good points, whether pro or con for the default. So what should I do? Better yet, if you had the choice what would YOU do? And that question goes to everyone and not just Shannow/Jay/Crone.

At some point I've got to stop bending and twisting in the wind and stand firm, but I'm not entirely sure this is the time to do that. I'm not entirely happy with the look either, but it's difficult considering HF really has no definable style of its own. As always I'm open to new things and styles. If you were to look for vBulletin skins and find one you like I'd be willing to take a look at it, but again I'd like to stick with 1 - at most 2 - for the sake of making any changes modification wise.

I'm all for the open dialogue in any case.

Ill take a look a bit later and give ya some input. I switched to evo blue for now. Ill stop bitching.

Honestly, if AmE can code it, and doesn't mind it, whatever, right?

Shannow said:

Ill take a look a bit later and give ya some input. I switched to evo blue for now. Ill stop bitching.

Click to expand...

What you are doing isn't bitching. At least I'm not seeing it as such. In fact, aside from a few of you sniping at each other the complaints have been constructive in nature and include reasons why they feel the way they do, which goes a long way to helping me empathize and see your point of view.

Crone said:

In all seriousness, it's beige. There was a vote. People lost, people won. But this whole "I don't like the outcome" from approximately 10 people has ranged from "meh," to "omfg you ruined my home and killed my parents I HAAAAAATTTTEEE you!"

Click to expand...

Let's see..

51 people voted. A whoooooole 51.

"approximately 10 people" is already approximately 20% of the people who voted.

Now let's just assume that the people who voted and didn't get what they wanted aren't happy with it, or are at least "meh," as you say. That makes 30 out of 51 voters unhappy. So roughly 60% of the forum isn't happy with the design.

Anyway, Dave, here's what I say regarding our forum's "look" - The old forum was our "look." I know we're not going back, blah blah, but it felt "right." This place feels like, well, styles that were chosen but not necessarily loved. I mean heck, I voted for gScale, but even then I thouht there were a decent number of problems with the way it looked.

Another thing was the ease of smilie selection. I know it sounds small and insignificant, but to use our custom smilies does take more effort than just clicking the smilie from the left of the quick-reply. That has, I think, decreased the number of smilies in posts. And again, sounds dumb, but that was part of our feel too.

I feel like Halforum had a style that it doesn't have anymore.

But, then again, all I've been doing is bitching. I haven't actually thanked you, Dave, for putting so much effort into things like this for us.

*le sigh*

---------- Post added at 11:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:24 AM ----------

And this is why I disabled but didn't delete them. Sorry, Ame. Looks like you might have some work ahead.

:chew:

Cat said:

:chew:

Click to expand...

:clap:

Cat said:

:chew:

Click to expand...

Alright, I loled.

Speaking of..where the fuck are the smileys?

Go into your user CP edit options and set your posting mode to anything besides basic

Dave said:

...but it's difficult considering HF really has no definable style of its own.

Click to expand...

I think this is the main problem here. It might be good to just take some time and create a specific Halforums style. (logo, color scheme, font, images) Something that's recognizable, looks good and screams Halforums. Not just a forum theme, but something for the whole site and any other possible items (merchandise) that creates a solid identity.

Olorin;246482][quote=Dave said:

...but it's difficult considering HF really has no definable style of its own.

Click to expand...

I think this is the main problem here. It might be good to just take some time and create a specific Halforums style. (logo, color scheme, font, images) Something that's recognizable, looks good and screams Halforums. Not just a forum theme, but something for the whole site and any other possible items (merchandise) that creates a solid identity.[/QUOTE]

That's great and all...but what?!? I'm so open to anything people throw at me as I'm not artistic at all and I'm coming up blank.

But here's kind of what I'm looking for.

Front Page:

Artist of the Month
Last topic from a random sampling of the Hub forum.
Rotating and random ads for hub sites.
Site stats for the forum.

Forum:

Pretty much what we've had, but with our own look & feel.


Seriously I'm more worried about the look than the modifications for a number of reasons.

I'll try to whip up some designs as soon as I have time

To that same end, if anyone finds a site that makes them think, "Yeah, I could see Halforums looking like that!" and they want to forward that my way I'd be grateful.

I tried using Serenity yesterday when it became the default. Just don't like the brown. That said instead of complaining about it (work issues are legit though) I simply switched to Evo - Gray. Aside from the fixed width i really like it so far.

Reguarding smilies everyone should have :durr: memorized. what more do you need other than ?

I've been speaking with two web developers - Aaron Sailors and Drew Turner. Aaron works with me and has never done a full web site before while Drew has done several but may be a tad pricey.

If you know of anyone else who could do it I'm on the prowl.

how expensive is a tad pricey?

Crone said:

how expensive is a tad pricey?

Click to expand...

Haven't gotten a quote yet. That's the next step. I'll either choke on my own tongue or do a spit take. He's referred from an old buddy of mine, Don Synstelien, who was one of the co-founders of FIMLabs, an R&D arm of Fox Interactive Media. So I know Don sent me to someone good, but until I know how much it doesn't matter.

Dave said:

I think I see what Mav is saying as he's more worried about how it looks in his office. Basically he's saying that Serenity just LOOKS like a different site than a business site and that the default theme looks normal and he could talk his way out of it.

Mav, does the Evo light blue or perfect blue work for you? They are similar.

Click to expand...

Yea Evo Light Blue works.

I just like something a little inconspiculous for the work crowd who lurk the forums at the office, like me. I keep like 10 different applications open on my desktop for various tools I'm using and they are all roughly the same color scheme, so the brown Serenity (while awesome looking) does stick out some lol

Thanks Dave.