A Better, Brighter Forums

[Codek]

Yes but a new layout like that would be such a small variation on the current theme that we may as well just change the colors for the one we have now.

I'm not really against minimalist designs, in fact I love minimalism, but the fact is that Oddworld just isn't minimalist. It's complex.

So perhaps an antiquated, victorian-art-deco style theme is in order? Something similar to FeeCo? Except we wouldn't give it disgustingly overcompressed jpegs snatched from gameshots - we would render our own stylised graphics.

Also, we could do something similar for a native theme. Our own rendered temple like theme. Something similar to the title screen of Abes Oddysee. We would have matching graphics for table edges, postbit and so on. The text area could be left in a matching color or perhaps one that sets off nicely from the rest.

What do you think? I mean I know you like clean, simple and no frills, but come on guys we want something really worth changing the current theme for! So what do you say?

[oddguy]

I don't think we can come up with a design that makes everyone happy. There are designs being shown that are absolutely disgusting, but others like it...so what can I do? Not a thing.

I think I'll just wait for Abe Babe to bring back the Industrial theme.

-oddguy

[Codek]

This is all falling apart nicely isn't it.

Oddguy could you just read my post and tell me what you think? I'm gunna fall to bits if nobody makes the effort worth it. My fingers are so tired as well!

EDIT: Roar. Homer mad.

[Sekto Springs]

I think the OWF picture shouldn't be a giant button like it is now, I think it should be a large banner like on the old layout. Like discussed in the previous thread, we could all join up and share our art/ideas with each other and create one ultimate OWF banner!

[Alcar]

From what I've seen so far, the Industrial style is about half finished, but the Native style hasn't yet begun. I know Kristen's been quite busy lately, and the Native style is a lot easier to create than the Industrial, so I may email her and ask her for the Native style images. Might do that one for her in the mean time

As for more styles, well, I'm actually using a style I made very quickly for myself. It's got Oddworld Universe's colours and fonts, with a very simple header (just text on an image).

Although, if the members want to collectively design a style, I'm more than happy to import it, of course, the Moderators and I will firstly have to judge what features might have to be changed, etc. However, it would definately have to be Oddworld themed, and it would deffinately not include anything "Xbox". Simply, because it seems as if Oddworld is moving on from Microsoft (not the Xbox) and we don't want to advertise the Xbox for free

Alcar...

[Codek]

Alcar do you think you could make your skin available to the rest of us? The more the better!

[Mac the Janitor]

Alcar, are you talking about that honeybee one, or is this a different one?

[Codek]

Am I invisible now?

Did anyone notice what I'd said?

[Fez]

Who said that?

[Codek]

Who said that?

Hmm. :\

Well who's in favour of giving this shop hack thingy a trial run?

I am.

[Alcar]

Alcar do you think you could make your skin available to the rest of us? The more the better!

I don't know. As it is Oddworld Universe themed, in all competitive fairness it might not be a good decision, as Oddworld-Web doesn't have its own style either. It's nothing special, either, just the colours, text, and a very simple header.

Alcar, are you talking about that honeybee one, or is this a different one?

No, this is a completely different one. It's got the same theme as: http://www.oddworlduniverse.com

Alcar...

[Codek]

I don't know. As it is Oddworld Universe themed, in all competitive fairness it might not be a good decision, as Oddworld-Web doesn't have its own style either. It's nothing special, either, just the colours, text, and a very simple header.

Alcar...

Anything would be better than the theme I'm using. I actually quite like the Oddworld Universe colors, nice and bright.

[Mac the Janitor]

Me too...I'd definitely use it. Looks very cool.

[oddguy]

From what I've seen so far, the Industrial style is about half finished...

Total Awesome-ness right there. I can't wait!

[Cloverfield]

Interesting that this topic came up, because on the weekend I went back working on the industrial theme [I managed to install a copy of the forums on my local computer which makes things easier to work with]. I found that due to the template change from vB2 to vB3 I have needed to re-do the theme again. It's not as simple as just replacing the images. Also, Pilot must have taken down the old OWF server so I can't reference the old design directly. So instead I decided to alter the style a little and make it a more neater design, while still retaining the concepts of the previous design. Instead of using a few screenshots for the layout as the first one was, I have created original images from scratch for the table layouts. I'm still undecided as to if I'll be changing the header at all, or I might just tweak it slightly to match the new images.

I don't know how long it will take me to complete, but with Easter holidays next weekend, it might be as soon as a week away.

Although, it is a complex style ... so it's not going to be simple like a couple of people suggested. As for the links to the vBulletin templates that Death and someone else provided, I believe those are styles you can purchase. I don't have a problem with buying something like that, but really, we don't want OWF to have the same template as another 100 forums out there. It's best to have something original.

As for an Oddworld Universe theme ... I don't have a problem with that, but I think it's more suited to a alternate style that someone can choose. That way the forum doesn't appear like it belongs to one particular site. By the same account, I wouldn't expect an Oddworld-Web theme to be the main theme, but it is a possibility for an alternate theme further in the future. I can remember a discussion I had with Sydney once where I said it would be a good idea to have Oddworld-Web and Oddworldian themed styles for the forums, so this is something that has been possible for a long time.

Abe Babe...

[Codek]

Although, it is a complex style ... so it's not going to be simple like a couple of people suggested. As for the links to the vBulletin templates that Death and someone else provided, I believe those are styles you can purchase. I don't have a problem with buying something like that, but really, we don't want OWF to have the same template as another 100 forums out there. It's best to have something original.

This is true, and I beleive what we are trying to say is, "buy these skins and modify them, put oddworld graphics here and there". The skins come with all the original PSD files so you can modify them as much as you want.

I think it would be a good idea to help reduce your skinning workload a bit more. All you would have to do is add some extra graphics and voila! New and refreshing skin!

[Alcar]

I think this would once again relate to our stance on maintaining the Oddworld ecsence at the Oddworld Forums. The reason we create our own styles stems back from when Sydney was still an Administrator here. He would create the styles, because they were always Oddworld themed, and made from scratch by himself. I'm sure we'd like to continue that practice.

I do, however, see your point. It would take off the extra load on Abe Babe's shoulders, but I believe doing something good first time around, saves more effort in the long run. We aren't a generic forum, and we don't want to use styles that many generic forums use.

I doubt I'll make the Oddworld Universe style available, as I believe it would encourage unfair competition between Oddworld fansites.

Alcar...