[aydonmill]

I was just wondering if I could give a try at creating a really good looking forum that you guys could possibly use in place of this one. Like I will just make a rough example and I will show you my progress along the way.

I have some experience with web design and I assure you that nothing will be different like the layout will stay the same, etc. Just the overall look will change It will look sick.

http://i56.tinypic.com/s27azd.png

There it is, what do you think? Worthy of being the new forum?

 

[Guest]

That looks absolutely sick!

 

[awagg]

That does look really bad ass... +1, but I don't know how the mods would like transferring EVERYTHING over, if that is even possible. If you had a program or something to copy the old threads, then I could see it!

 

[fuzzywolly]

That does look really bad ass... +1, but I don't know how the mods would like transferring EVERYTHING over, if that is even possible. If you had a program or something to copy the old threads, then I could see it!

We talked about it via PM, that is the major issue. Copying the threads over. It is extremely risky and I feel that if we lost everything here...well... :'(

And this is something Livonia would have to approve anyways.

 

[lainthecity]

Well, you simply archive it to a hard drive, and re-upload to the new site.
Now all you need is a hard drive, and an archiving program.

 

[Cheese Man]

Okay, that does look awesome. Could you just make a skin and then we could all switch to it?

 

[awagg]

That does look really bad ass... +1, but I don't know how the mods would like transferring EVERYTHING over, if that is even possible. If you had a program or something to copy the old threads, then I could see it!

We talked about it via PM, that is the major issue. Copying the threads over. It is extremely risky and I feel that if we lost everything here...well... :'(

Didn't we loose a bunch of stuff a while ago? Not fun... I heard there were some pretty good guides there too. A skin could do the trick!

 

[fuzzywolly]

We did lose a bunch of stuff on accident. I am leaning towards siding on keeping things the way they are now. If it ain't broke don't fix it. We have more active members here now then ever before, with plenty of people coming here for help. Even though its basically a forum upgrade, I feel no need to change the look. I personally like the skin the way it is now.

Again, this is not our decision, but Livonia's. And for the record, I opt to stay the way the forum is now.

 

[dutton]

We can make more, and upload multiple skins to the forum, the allow the user the choice of which skin to use. One of the admins have to do it though, the global mods don't have the option in our admin panels.

 

[brickerenator]

Forum remasters are a good idea in theory.

Unfortunately there's always more bugs than planned for, it can cause the readership to drop off, because basic things like the search function no longer work.

Allowing users to change skins is always cool.

 

[2echo]

Nice!

 

[fuzzywolly]

One of the admins have to do it though, the global mods don't have the option in our admin panels.

Believe me everybody, this is a GREAT thing. I am possibly the worst at making skins. White font with a white background...took me awhile to fix that...

 

[hoggie]

Would changing the skin affect the website? We could just make a skin and swap it right?

 

[dutton]

Would changing the skin affect the website? We could just make a skin and swap it right?

Exactly, all a skin is is the forum background. It doesn't affect the functionality of the site, it just changes the background image that appears for you, or the color scheme you're currently using. Right now, we have 3 different skins. In order to get to these, go into your profile and scroll down to skins, the options we currently have are: current, default, and earth.

If we had more skins to choose from, it gives you the "custom" feel without affecting the function of the forums. Like I said though, I have no control over adding skins, it's an admin function.

 

[awagg]

because basic things like the search function no longer work.

If you've tried it, the search function is terrible! You can't even type in L96, or VSR, or TM without it bitching out.

" title="" border="0"/>

 

[dutton]

because basic things like the search function no longer work.

If you've tried it, the search function is terrible! You can't even type in L96, or VSR, or TM without it bitching out.

" title="" border="0"/>

That's not us, it's proboards. You have to have a 4 character search phrase.

 

[mroverkill]

That's standard on a lot of forums, it blocks out anything under X amount of characters (usually 3-4) because if someone searches "the" it's generally not useful.

 

[awagg]

If you've tried it, the search function is terrible! You can't even type in L96, or VSR, or TM without it bitching out.

" title="" border="0"/>

That's not us, it's proboards. You have to have a 4 character search phrase.

Yeah, I know. Most forums are like this too. Very rarely one isn't. Google works just perfect!

 

[aydonmill]

I thought you guys would like it Custom did the header using a Sniper: Ghost Warrior screenshot. Anyways, I don't know proboards as well as I know forumotion, so I'm not farmiliar with the skin setup, but I think I could make it into one if you guys would like.

Thanks for the feedback!