Forum Theme Contest: Find a new theme!

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jason
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Forum Theme Contest: Find a new theme!

Post by jason »

Okay, here it is! I want to change the theme for this darn website. However, every person has their own likes and dislikes, and I can't design worth crap, so I am leaving it up to you guys!

Here is how this works. Everyone can submit their choice for the theme they want to see in use on this site. You don't actually have to design the theme (but bonus points if you do), but the theme does have to be available for us to use.

So, reply to this post with the theme name, and a screenshot or something showing what the forum looks like.

After a period of time, me and the other mods will pick the top 10, and I we will then let YOU pick the new theme for the site. Everyone gets a chance to vote. Yay!

And, for extra incentive, if you were the first person to suggest the winning theme, you will get your very own unique title under your username! Okay, it's not money, software, or hosting for a month on some server, but that's not the point.

The point is, you won't have to look at the default phpBB theme anymore, yay!

Also, as a note, I may also include the other themes that didn't win, maybe the 2nd and 3rd place themes as options you can set in your preferences, but this requires work, and they won't be the default theme.
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patrikG
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Post by patrikG »

[note: copied from my post on "Announcement: PHPDN Forum Changes"]

Personally, I like the phpBB subBlack theme (screenshot),
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phice
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Post by phice »

Remember: phpBB can handle more than one theme. Why not just use all? Set up a poll to see which should be default.


To view current themes, that are available from phpBB.com, click: http://www.phpbb.com/styles/styles_demo/index.php?s=1
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jason
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Post by jason »

/me smacks phice
jason wrote: Also, as a note, I may also include the other themes that didn't win, maybe the 2nd and 3rd place themes as options you can set in your preferences, but this requires work, and they won't be the default theme.
I would have to mod each theme with all the mod's we use, so that would take time. That's why I am not saying I will just add themes willy nilly.

Now, if we want to have someone handle that for me, that can be arranged, but I simply don't have the time to add 20 new themes.
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phice
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Post by phice »

:D
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jason
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Post by jason »

BTW, here's your quickreply. =p
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phice
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Post by phice »

Very nice. :)

I added this to a client's forum, but edited it slightly. Above the <textarea>, I put a Quick Reply (including the bold tags), and set the quick reply button to the right of the textarea. Should look a lot nicer. :D
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volka
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Post by volka »

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m3mn0n
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Post by m3mn0n »

The best ones besides default are DarkBlue, Mac, and SubBlack. I think we should get only two or three more popular ones, but SubBlack definately because i hate staring at white web pages for long periods of times, it fubars my vision. :wink:
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Post by lcidw »

Though i don't think a dark theme is a good choice, cause it might keep people away.. subBlack3d template by Wira_CG demo
[]InTeR[]
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Post by []InTeR[] »

What's wrong with the default/current one?

I like it.
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r337ard
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Post by r337ard »

i like this one as well, but after a while (as has been said before) it gets hard on the eyes. darker themes are much easier to handle.
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Sevengraff
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Post by Sevengraff »

FSDark Theme is enjoyable to me.
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Post by deathy »

how bout you change to the best forums on the net and have nice themes theres portals for you to use and plenty of mods if you want to add them to the forums.

no only that next version (v1.2) has xml skins :D - due anytime soon :)

if you dont no the best forums on the net its invision board, they have full converters for all if not most foums and you will not miss a single post, message or anything from converting :D

not only that it has many more features than phpbb and is more secure and stable.

so far i have managed to change around 30 diff sites to invision board and they all say it is 10x better no word of a lie. go ask at http://www.lanse.co.uk they will tell you :)

so if i was you go change to summit decent even fusionphp.net have changed

if you wanna see an example site running it with a portal using the forums as the backbone then check out thewavelength.net :)

it looks so sweet.

hope to see u go down the right path and choose invision board.

Deathy :)
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Post by jason »

deathy wrote:how bout you change to the best forums on the net and have nice themes theres portals for you to use and plenty of mods if you want to add them to the forums.

no only that next version (v1.2) has xml skins :D - due anytime soon :)
Having XML skins aren't a feature. Having themes/skins is a feature, but I don't care how they are implemented. It's whether they work or not. Are these XSL themes, or are they their own XML themes?
deathy wrote: if you dont no the best forums on the net its invision board, they have full converters for all if not most foums and you will not miss a single post, message or anything from converting :D
When the PHPDN forums were created, Invision Board wasn't released yet, so it wasn't anything at the time, not even the "best". And I won't lose any posts by not moving.
deathy wrote: not only that it has many more features than phpbb and is more secure and stable.
More features? What "more features" are you talking about? phpBB has more features than I know what to do with. Actually, for me, it's too bloated. I like simple forums. BBCode, smilies, etc, are all what I consider bloat. Phorum is really nice, as well as my own light forum. However, the majority of people like these few extra features, and I give in to my users.

As far as being stable or secure, not that I am asking fate to tempt me, but we are still running, and everything is fine here. The only problems I have had have been with MySQL.
deathy wrote: so far i have managed to change around 30 diff sites to invision board and they all say it is 10x better no word of a lie. go ask at http://www.lanse.co.uk they will tell you :)

so if i was you go change to summit decent even fusionphp.net have changed

if you wanna see an example site running it with a portal using the forums as the backbone then check out thewavelength.net :)

it looks so sweet.

hope to see u go down the right path and choose invision board.

Deathy :)
Really, I am impressed with Invision Board. It seems like an excellent forum program, and the people behind it obviously have experience.

However, the question is: Why should I change? I will have to be the one to make the switch, and it will require work. People will have to get used to the new forum. We will have to include all the mods back into the system (by making our own, or finding them). And theirs is the risk of things breaking down.

I am not against Invision Board. Rather, when we launched the PHPDN forums, we weren't even using phpBB. I forget the forum software we used (something more light, that I remember). I also remember waiting for Invision Board. But soon, I had too much pressure to include a forum that was more feature filled. IB wasn't out, so I went with phpBB, which has faithfully served me for more than a year.

So, with that understanding, why should I change? phpBB isn't missing any features I need, or want. It works.

It's a simple fact that it's harder to change the status quo. People like it when things work, so convince me in what ways Invision Board will improve the PHPDN forums. Your personal opinion, while appreciated, isn't something that I feel is credible. You've posted here all of once, and I don't know you. If someone here, who I know better, told me what you said, I would be more apt to listen. They have earned credibility.

However, if you really think the PHPDN would be better of by using Invision Board over phpBB (which currently works for the PHPDN, mind you), then let me know how. I am very much an open minded person, just not one to make quick choices based on incomplete facts.
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