One of my resolutions for this month is to give the place a new coat of paint. What I mean is get us a new skin and get rid of the boring old stock vbulletin skin.

The look of a website really means a lot so I'm not taking this initiative lightly, in fact I've been seriously window shopping for skins for about 8 months.

I uploaded one called Easy Action (it's viewable to all members but has bugs) and I like most things about it; but it doesn't play well with the portal page.

So, here are my questions:
1. How much do you rely on the portal page? Does it serve any real value to you or could you happily live without it?

2. Do you know of any other skins that you like? No I'm not looking for answers like "Yeah man! Salma Hayak has some skin I like!!"

3. What's the first link you click when you come to the website? Is it "New Posts"?

First link, new posts or pms...

Same here. As a matter of fact, I think the only links I ever use are on the top toolbar.

The one thing I like about the current skin, in spite of how dull it may be, is that it is also pretty much completely inoffensive. Nothing about it strains or hurts the eyes. If a new skin could be attractive and also possess these traits, I'm up for just about anything.

Down on the bottom left you should be able to see the dropdown to get you to "Easy Action". Give it a click and let me know what you think.

I always work in the "Simple" skin but I use firefox so none of the broken images appear on my screen.

For what it's worth (and I don't know if this falls into the category if responses you are not interested in but..) this site has a cool layout and they are using vbulletin :

http://www.cycleforums.com

Check out their "Apocalypse" skin

1. I like the front/portal page and go there first, normally.

2. My vote would be to purchase/contract a skin from someone who's in the business of developing and supporting vBulletin skins. It all depends on what level of detail you want to get into ... if it's just a new banner image, that's easy, but with vb skins/styles, you can completely rewrite the way the site displays. The problem then is ... what happens when vBulletin releases the next security release and there's a slight change in the styles? What happens when it's time to move from vb 3.6.3 to 3.7.0 and the styles don't easily port/upgrade?

3. I usually click New Posts after I've scanned the front page for new stuff.

New posts is first for me too. I will also pop into the Forums page to look at who's online, newest members, etc. at the bottom.

I also agree with Bock...this is a simple and effective look already. Everything is easy to find with nice pleasant colors. I will look at the Easy Action and let you know, though.

Shawn

that skin looks pretty good. i too really only use the new posts and pm links

Yep. The more hacks the more incongruiety with new releases. Usually the styles carryover no problem but sometimes the updates don't play well with hacks/mods. Eliminating the portal goes a long way toward just working with style concerns.
3.6.3 has already been superceded with .4 and 3.7 can't be far behind.


Good feedback. Using that mod versus the portal is something else I wanted to hear about. That's a nice little box of data huh.

ohhhh, i like the red. and i usually hit the new posts button first. but i did notice that the font in the red skin is smaller...if that matters

OK, the Easy Action red color seems a bit bright with the white background. Either mellowing out the background with a beige/creme color or a less vivid red might be good.

Also, the Forums link at the top is gone and replaced with the WT logo bringing you to the forums page. The home page is not displayed when clicking the logo anymore with that style (at least not on my machine).

Also the font size seems smaller (maybe 10 instead of 12 point?). I'm not old yet, but I know that there are some people out here that might have some difficulty reading the smaller print. (Good thing I got my glasses on, but I am NOT old)

Just my $.02 from a rough overview glance, please take it with a grain of salt.

Shawn

the font size is adjustable per user preference. The beauty of a fluid skin. Hold down control key and spin your mouse wheel. No mouse wheel? Hold control and hit the + or - key.

Kev,

That only worked on the first post on this page and the quote of the first post in async's reply. Do you need to be in the fluid skin when posting to have the resize feature work? (I'm testingt that theory with this post BTW)

Shawn

Nope, that wasn't it. Let me try remove text formatting button. Still didn't work...dunno

ahhh, you're right Shawn. I've been using mozilla firefox for so long that I didn't think about IE. It works fine with FF.

hmmmmm, stand by - I'm going behind the curtain for a minute.

When I launch IE my homepage is set to https://www.wristtwisters.com/index.php

For skin I would also go with Selma Hayak
I read my PM's first then click on New Posts.



Might want to see what the R6 board looks like. It is also vBulletin.
http://www.r6messagenet.com/forums/f...=20&styleid=11

ooooo, can i watch?

I kind of dig the red. Just please promise me you won't change to black.
I usually hit the forums page for my first look, then I go to new posts. I try to get an overall view of the site, then concentrate on individual needs. My bookmark takes me straight to the forums. I will bounce back to the portal page to keep up with announcements.

The font on the easy is really small huh?

feedback on this?
http://vbskinworks.com/forum/index.php?styleid=243

remember, every skin needs tweaking but this isn't a bad platform to begin from.

I sort of like this one too - the image at the top would change.
http://vbskinworks.com/forum/?styleid=247

I like this one better than the first. Easier on the eyes.

I like the 243 style! The colors do not have the same contrast as the one you had earlier did, so it is easier on the eyes, yet still darker with the red in it. It also has the table lines that seperate the posts, which the one you posted earlier I don't think had that. 243 is certainly the best yet. You would be able to change the kink bar to have the new posts and stuff, wouldn't you? I am assuming that is what was meant by "Every skin needs tweaking".

Shawn

yes, the navbar can be easily altered. anything can be altered with enough time & talent (or money)

can we have a site that has yellow pinstripes?!

I agree that the red is a bit harsh on the new version. Other than that, I like it! For the geriatrics here, though, the font does probably need a bump in size.

Isnt this what started the demise of Motorush?

I say Dont Change a THING!

Yeah, me too.

Though the 'Easy Action' one is nice.

Interesting reading on how color affects mood:

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html

http://iit.bloomu.edu/vthc/Design/psychology.htm

Office, straight to the forums and hitting New posts unless I have PM which I open on a separate window... don't have a need for the main portal (I never did in MR either) not to geeky, savvy or interested on it I guess.

Home, main portal screen (I have been to lazy to link directly to the forum), new posts first. I was in the habit (since MR) to look on every forum out there but someone at the shin-dig mentioned the fact that I should just hit new posts and I started doing that ever since... we're not going to mention any names here but they both rhyme with WIM and XX ([size=1]No one, and I mean no one will be able to suspect who those 2 are!!! )

As far as skins go, well, at 43, my sight is constantly failling me so I like whatever skin I can get as long as it doesn't hurt my eyes and has big letters , hate red so I wouldn't care for that one but I did like the one you posted on thread #18 (243 I think it was), hate #19 (247) because of the contrast with the white background (again, to heavy on me eyes).

Midwest, that was NOT the demise of MR but if Kevin starts to work for Microsoft... erm, we will need to look for yet another guy for a new community

I like it the way it is, but whatever you change to I'll adapt.