Help me redesign the site, please

[Neil]

I'm really sick of the current colours and stuff, and want to change them.  Ideally I also want to round off the edges, but that may be a bit of a ballacks and require a lot of dicking about with the template files. In the meantime, though, could any of you artistic types perhaps help me out?  

Perhaps the best way is to take a screenshot, fiddle with it, and then post the result.  Yes, I still want a blue one as I love the blue, but I'm bored of the white and blue gradients now, and of the rather ugly shades of blue.  

I'm going to continue fiddling here, but actually, my monitor is knackered and doesn't display colours the same way you see them.  Thought I'd best warn you :-)

I'd really really appreciate some help with this if poss.

EDIT: I would also really like to update the icons and buttons etc, but first off I think it's got to be the general colour scheme and that.

[Borboski]

Can you make this look like the Footie Manager skin please?

[Uncle TechTip]

What you're saying effectively is, you want another phpBB skin? There must be some helper apps around. *ferret*

[Neil]

I thought we could just change this one manually really, which is what I did originally.  Although looking for another skin and then doing some customisation is another option.

[Beck]

What are you changing, the Classic theme or Letssplit*? I've always used Letssplit, but I get the impression from posted screenshots and the like that everybody else prefers Classic.

*which I've only just worked out is probably named after the Syd Barrett song

[Neil]

It is yeah :-)  And I'm changing the classic one, which is the default view people see if they're not signed in.  Want to update the whole site now I've got my lovely new puter.  

EDIT:  I've found one that may do the job lovely after a rename and a bit of fiddling!

[Mr. Analytical]

I've always used Letssplit

 Let's what?

 *goes and looks*

 Wooooh!  I'm totally freaking out... the poster names are on the other side!

[Beck]

Heh, it's been about four years since I've used VW Classic - I just stuck it on and I'm finding it equally bizarre. Everything's HUGE!

[Beagle 2]

Ooh blimey, look what happens when you log out, that's a bit disconcerting!

[Neil]

I've just realised that I probably can't change it so that it fills more of the browser screen, which is a bit of a pisser.  I really like it though, but it'll need quite a few adjustments, particularly for the main site.  Don't think I like the yellow.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

Could you leave the current classic theme as an option, so that if I find changing to a new theme all confusing and scary I can continue to use the old one? Gosh, how embarassing to say that. I mean it though!

[samadriel]

Good ol' letssplit; still the most legible!

What I'd really like is some way of fixing the site cookies so that, after I've clicked the 'Latest Post' buttons for twelve threads, it doesn't suddenly reveal that -- TADA! -- I was apparently spontaeneously logged out as soon as I started clicking, so my browser tabs are now full of nothing but twelve requests for me to login; and then, after I do so, all I get are twelve tabs now reading "There are no new topics in this post!" and I have to start all fucking over again and try and remember what threads I was trying to read, because now they're all marked as fucking unread!..

Oy.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Heh, it's been about four years since I've used VW Classic - I just stuck it on and I'm finding it equally bizarre. Everything's HUGE!

I use VWClassic and just tried the other skins.  Apart from being terrible basic, and very default skin looking, the sizes didn't seem any different.

What I'd really like is some way of fixing the site cookies so that, after I've clicked the 'Latest Post' buttons for twelve threads, it doesn't suddenly reveal that -- TADA! -- I was apparently spontaeneously logged out as soon as I started clicking, so my browser tabs are now full of nothing but twelve requests for me to login; and then, after I do so, all I get are twelve tabs now reading "There are no new topics in this post!" and I have to start all fucking over again and try and remember what threads I was trying to read, because now they're all marked as fucking unread!.

It doesn't do that for me.

I've just realised that I probably can't change it so that it fills more of the browser screen

What do you mean?  It fills the whole screen anyway.

[Neil]

Yes I'll probably do that, Suttonpubcrawl.

I've just realised that I probably can't change it so that it fills more of the browser screen

What do you mean?  It fills the whole screen anyway.

The new one?!  Nah it's stuck at 800 across, whereas I like to make it resize to fill the screen.  Looks like it might be a right bitch to do though, and perhaps isn't possible at all.  I'll see what I can do.

[JesusAndYourBush]

The new one?

Oh, "bluelineswinger".  That wasn't there when I looked at the other skins a coupla hours ago, thought you were talking about VWClassic which resizes nicely to any screen.

[Beck]

Heh, it's been about four years since I've used VW Classic - I just stuck it on and I'm finding it equally bizarre. Everything's HUGE!

I use VWClassic and just tried the other skins.  Apart from being terrible basic, and very default skin looking, the sizes didn't seem any different.

Eh? The font size, toolbars, buttons and banner are all bigger on Classic. On Letssplit you can see all five sub-forums on the screen at once, whereas on Classic you can't see past Comedy Chat. Not that I'm saying it's shit or anything, just that I'm used to the smaller one. Which is blatantly smaller.

[ccab]

I'd love to see a design with less oppressive, intrusive colours & graphics, something in the vein of the typophile forums (www.typophile.com/forums).

I use letssplit, and I agree it's always been the most legible of the VW suite, but its still cluttered. These graphic packed post borders belong to kids & gamers forums.

It'd be nice to see a style where the text is more prominent than the trimmings.

[Mr. Analytical]

I easily prefer Classic to any of the others.

...and that Ruby one that's a WIP looks terrible.  Why would you model your website on the colour of teased labia?  it's horrible.

[JesusAndYourBush]

On Letssplit you can see all five sub-forums on the screen at once, whereas on Classic you can't see past Comedy Chat. Not that I'm saying it's shit or anything, just that I'm used to the smaller one. Which is blatantly smaller.

Ah, I had another look, it's the "who is online" box that's in a different place that seems to cause most of that.

[Marvin]

Hmm, just had a look and the other skins aren't bad, but they just seem too much like most other forums, wheras VW Classic looks very different to other sites and it just feels 'right' for me. It's one of my favourite-looking forum schemes anywhere, and it's as seen on TV.

[Neil]

I'd love to see a design with less oppressive, intrusive colours & graphics, something in the vein of the typophile forums (www.typophile.com/forums).

I use letssplit, and I agree it's always been the most legible of the VW suite, but its still cluttered. These graphic packed post borders belong to kids & gamers forums.

It'd be nice to see a style where the text is more prominent than the trimmings.

The problem is that I've built the entire site on top of the forums, so the design that's used on the forum is the same design that's used for the rest of it.  And I want the site itself to look decent.  And I think it does, currently, although there's still a lot of fiddling to be done with bluelineswinger if I'm actually going to keep it as the default.

...and that Ruby one that's a WIP looks terrible. Why would you model your website on the colour of teased labia? it's horrible.

Heh.  Well that was going to be the same as VW Classic, but in reds rather than blues, but then posters started completely slagging the shit out of it when I'd only just started working on it.  And as even that had taken a brave few hours, I thought "well fuck this" and gave up.

[Analrapist]

I'm skeptical that Classic can really be improved upon, to be honest. Maybe change the buttons and stuff like that, but removing the blueness would be a mistake. It feels very individual because there's no other forum that looks like Verbwhores.

Obviously I'm interested in seeing what you can cook up though!

[Cardinal Tit Storm]

What I'd really like is some way of fixing the site cookies so that, after I've clicked the 'Latest Post' buttons for twelve threads, it doesn't suddenly reveal that -- TADA! -- I was apparently spontaeneously logged out as soon as I started clicking, so my browser tabs are now full of nothing but twelve requests for me to login; and then, after I do so, all I get are twelve tabs now reading "There are no new topics in this post!" and I have to start all fucking over again and try and remember what threads I was trying to read, because now they're all marked as fucking unread!..

Oy.

This happens to me too. Not sure why, but it certainly can be annoying. I only started noticing it around Christmas time and wondered if it was connected to all the crashes the server was having (I don't know anything about the technicalities of it).

Anyway, I agree with Analrapist about the blueness. I could see changing the white gradient bits, the dark blue background, and the buttons and such, but the two shades of blue used for the actual posts make for readable text and a nice background to pictures, I think. And it's distinctive. This new skin is quite smart but it's lacking in character in its current state. Perhaps a combination of the two?

[Mr. Analytical]

Heh.  Well that was going to be the same as VW Classic, but in reds rather than blues, but then posters started completely slagging the shit out of it when I'd only just started working on it.  And as even that had taken a brave few hours, I thought "well fuck this" and gave up.

 Wise moves on all sides then *winky*

 I think the site's really good as it is.  The banner could do with an update but aside from that Classic is really distinctive and pleasant to read.

[Slaaaaabs]

I think changing the buttons and the gradients would be enough to be honest. I can't stand round and shiny forums which is probably why I spent most of my time here or at Something Awful.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Oh that log-in page freaked me out for a minute, I don't mean to pick but it makes the place look like every other board on the web, is that the final design?

[Neil]

Well ok.  I'll leave Classic and should probably just delete Ruby.  If anyone can help updating VW Classic, that'd be great.   For the meantime though, I'm continuing to work on bluelineswinger to see how I can get it.  I'm also finishing templating all of the site menus, which is going to make my life much easier.  There's a lot to do, but I really want to bring the entire site up to date, and then get it fixed so that I can make changes a lot easier in future.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

Neil, could you move General Discussion so it's above General Bullshit in the list of forums again, please? It's causing me no end of confusion, them being the opposite way round since the recent forum reorganisation.

[EFB]

What happened to Up Your Arts?

[Janek's Little Black Box]

What happened to Up Your Arts?

It got deleted. Neil explains in the 8th post in this thread

Incidentally, I've sometimes seen people link to posts and when you click the link the specific post appears at the top of your browser page, how do you do that?