5punk forum/site design

[Woo Elephant Yeah]

I want to keep the "blue on a white background" theme going, but the forum could do with a new skin, one with a lot less tables and high "top table" rows.

The 5cheduler can be amended to tie in with the forum/site, and I was wondering if all of you can make as many useful suggestions as you can think of.

Even down to scribbles of layouts and designs, so we can all comment on them, and come up with something we all think would not only look good, but provide more functionality as well.

So any suggestions?

Should the forum tie in with the site in a frame in order to have stuff like the teamspeak display viewable whilst browsing the forum and so on? (Without having to refresh each time of course)

Are side borders a good or a bad thing on a forum, as I quite like having a bit of space either side of the forum, or would this all depend on if it was framed or not?

Could we introduce another colour to the blue/white combination? (off white or slightly yellow for example)

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Should the forum tie in with the site in a frame in order to have stuff like the teamspeak display viewable whilst browsing the forum and so on? (Without having to refresh each time of course)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Fred Woogle]

Could we introduce another colour to the blue/white combination? (off white or slightly yellow for example)

black, and blood red, GOTH styleeeee!

[Lateralus]

Could we introduce another colour to the blue/white combination? (off white or slightly yellow for example)

pink, GOTH styleeeee!

Fix'd!

Also, I know virtually nothing about site/forum design so I'm afraid I can't offer much in the way of ideas there. I like the current colouration, but I have an aversion to 'pissy-yellow' since 90% of student houses seem to be painted that colour. First thing we did in my house is paint all the walls "proper" colours like green, blue and red. And non of the watered down ones either - they're all nice deep colours.

But back to the board. I always think things like the TS display, shoutboxes etc just clutter sites up unecessarily. The shoutbox was an example - I know we have the discussion board - but I think adding extra things like that isn't needed and would detract from the site.

I can't offer technical knowledge, but I'm happy to offer slightly informed opinions about whats nice to look at and what works or not.

[mrbobbins]

Should the forum tie in with the site in a frame in order to have stuff like the teamspeak display viewable whilst browsing the forum and so on? (Without having to refresh each time of course)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This. twice. hard.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

not to mention the TS display auto-refreshing thing will probably smell like a DDoS to poundhost's firewall.

[spoodie]

I know it's not very helpful but I like 5punk the way it is, but so long as you keep the design relatively simple it's all good. I thought the TS thing would be a good idea but perhaps not, it's easy enough to go to the front page if you want to check it.

As for an additional colour, my vote would be on some sort of green as it's my fav. I know "blue and green should never be seen" but I think that's bollocks.

[Lateralus]

not to mention the TS display auto-refreshing thing will probably smell like a DDoS to poundhost's firewall.

Whilst I won't even pretend to get this reference, would the "forum tie in with the site in a frame" idea mean that the forum would be a scrolly box within the page rather than a page of its own with a single scroll on the side like a normal page?

[Dog Pants]

I know it's not very helpful but I like 5punk the way it is, but so long as you keep the design relatively simple it's all good.

I'm sort of with Spoodie here. I can't think of anything major to improve the site. This is possibly because I'm so used to 5punk that it's very comfortable for me, so maybe some of our newer members have some suggestions as they're not quite as settled in.

[Lateralus]

not to mention the TS display auto-refreshing thing will probably smell like a DDoS to poundhost's firewall.

Whilst I won't even pretend to get this reference, would the "forum tie in with the site in a frame" idea mean that the forum would be a scrolly box within the page rather than a page of its own with a single scroll on the side like a normal page?

In fact, what I was trying and failing to say was:

Would this idea mean that the forum would be in the place of the news on the current front page?

If so, please may I refer you to this post.

[TezzRexx]

I know it's not very helpful but I like 5punk the way it is, but so long as you keep the design relatively simple it's all good.

I'm sort of with Spoodie here. I can't think of anything major to improve the site. This is possibly because I'm so used to 5punk that it's very comfortable for me, so maybe some of our newer members have some suggestions as they're not quite as settled in.

This, super hard.

[cashy]

I know it's not very helpful but I like 5punk the way it is, but so long as you keep the design relatively simple it's all good.

I'm sort of with Spoodie here. I can't think of anything major to improve the site. This is possibly because I'm so used to 5punk that it's very comfortable for me, so maybe some of our newer members have some suggestions as they're not quite as settled in.

This, super hard.

also this, it comforts me in a sort of baby-blanket way

[Dr. kitteny berk]

I know it's not very helpful but I like 5punk the way it is, but so long as you keep the design relatively simple it's all good.

I'm sort of with Spoodie here. I can't think of anything major to improve the site. This is possibly because I'm so used to 5punk that it's very comfortable for me, so maybe some of our newer members have some suggestions as they're not quite as settled in.

This, super hard.

also this, it comforts me in a sort of baby-blanket way

That!

[Lateralus]

I'm sort of with Spoodie here. I can't think of anything major to improve the site. This is possibly because I'm so used to 5punk that it's very comfortable for me, so maybe some of our newer members have some suggestions as they're not quite as settled in.

This, super hard.

also this, it comforts me in a sort of baby-blanket way

That!

This!

[mrbobbins]

Without wishing to invoke SNPG, I agree

I like it the way it is, but hadn't thought of it the way DPants put it, I'd probably see any change as change-for-changes-sake but I refer to DP's 'settled in' point.

[Woo Elephant Yeah]

Like I said, this is to throw ideas up into the air, and all the things I mentioned are literally "ideas" and they are there to be approved/disapproved.

I was more thinking along the lines of a "website" frame along the top, and everything aka news page, server page, and most importantly the forum appearing underneath it.

Basically I want to get the forum right, and then the site and it's few number of pages can all be changed to match and tie in better.

The forum is the priority, but I was throwing up the framed idea in the air for feedback. You won't hurt my feelings by saying you think it's a shit idea.

Also, as a sidenote, what does everybody have against frames?
Is it the fact that url's are then hidden? If so, we could do away with a frame, and have the same header on both the website and forum, so that the 2 appear seemless, but are infact 2 headers in 2 different areas, but they look exactly the same.

I just get the feeling that the forum doesn't tie in with the site very well, and I like the idea of integrating the 2 (especially navigation wise) where possible.

I think the whole "settled" point is a good one, as it comes back to the same ideaology as "why do we need more members when there's enough already" type attitude, which doesn't help 5punk progress, and help keep existing members, and attract new ones.

Fresh faces feel free to point out anythign you think is a bit shit with the site/forum, I really wont be offended, as everyone likes different things.

[deject]

string idea = "LOL, bad idea.";

[Dog Pants]

You've lost me with the frames thing Woo, I'm a complete biff when it comes to web design. You mean a bit of page that sits at the top wherever you go, with links to different areas? That sounds quite good, although I rarely go outside the forum area once I've come in through the news page.

I'm not saying I don't want to see change, I'm just saying that I personally can't think of any major benificial changes to make, but like I said I'm a web design biff. One thing I can observe is that I was put off 5punk a couple of times before I signed up because I'd never used a forum and it all looked a bit daunting with masses of text. B3ta was the closest I'd come to anything like here, and it all seemed quite comlicated. I don't know if that might just be me because at the time I was an internet biff, not just a design biff.

[pixie pie]

I love the forum as it is, It kind of needs the extra space, as the front page is at the moment it really wouldn't fit on it without being all squashed, and its great the way its all spaced out. And as for colours, they good. My one possible suggestion goes back to what was said in another thread that we could do with updating the image along the top (more specifically top right)?

[cashy]

That sounds quite good, although I rarely go outside the forum area once I've come in through the news page.

this, unless somebody can think of somthing swanky to put in there