Yc Layout

Hey to the admins :)

I was just wondering, is the layout of YC going to change any time soon (because I've seen that many changes are going to take place towards the end of the year, but I can't remember if any changes regarding layout are included)? Because, in my opinion, it looks pretty much like a 90's website and doesn't reflect current "trends" (if you want it this way) of web design.

And to be honest, it doesn't look very friendly the first time you look at it. I can only guess that people may be just driven away from the website on the basis that it doesn't look "professional" enough (that's what drove me away in the first place, until I came back here later on), and it's a pity because there aren't many places like that on the net =P

If you want to retain the flat feeling, you could go for something like this: Linux Forums - Where People Come For Linux Help ! , or something like this: PC Magazine Fora (Powered by Invision Power Board) (it's in Greek, but you can get the feeling - this is actually one of the forums that I like the most; the profile pages are also awesome).

Here are some also very nice templates which could be modified (in terms of colour etc) to fit YC (if you use ipb - I don't know if the skins are transferable to vbulletin):

My personal favourites: http://www.ipbforumskins.com/portfolio/TutorialFx.jpg and http://www.ipbforumskins.com/portfolio/v3iMedia.jpg

but you might as well like these: http://www.ipbforumskins.com/portfolio/ASUS.jpg or http://www.ipbforumskins.com/portfolio/IPBFSv2.jpg

(all the templates in jpg format were taken from IPB Forum Skins - Custom skins for Invision Power Board )

Also, another suggestion would be to switch to ipb instead of vbulletin, as ipb offers more customizability in terms of skins and organisation of content than vbulletin. However, I haven't had any experience in forum administration before (serverwise), so I don't know how possible this transfer is, although it shouldn't be too difficult, if the same php and mysql versions are used.

For the rest of the website (apart from the forum) you could use a free CMS, such as Joomla, Mambo CMS or, if you want a less bloated environment, e107 (also very customizable).

I will totally understand it if you don't want to undergo such a huge change on the website, because a) it may pose some risks in terms of stability and it may time a long time until all bugs and problems are sorted, b) maybe you don't want to invest the time or energy to go over such a big change, and c) maybe you just don't like the ideas I proposed :P

In any case, if you decide to apply any of the above changes and you think you'll need any help in changing the site, then feel free to ask me :) I'll happily offer any help I can, and a friend of mine has a lot of experience with forums and such, so I can ask for his help as well (but only for really important stuff, because he's generally busy).

Take care! :D

P.S. Maybe we could have a poll and see whether the general public wants a change of layout? And then have a vote and see what kind of layout the prefer or something? Dunno... I remember there was a question in the survey somewhere, I'll try and find it in the survey results you released =)

I would just like to point out that all the links, except the first and second one, do not work.

The links work for me, and I don't like any of them.

It seems they add no functionality, so I don't see the point. I don't really think this looks like a 90s forum.

I understand the want for a change though; I just don't like those particular ones.

Heh, I didn't start this thread to talk about functionality. I started it to talk about appearance. Once functionality is established (which I believe it mostly is, in this community), there are other things to look at in order to improve a website, and one of them is appearance.

And in my opinion, it does look quite 90's; I think the colour is pretty dull, there is not a large array of colours or fadings, no round corners, everything is too sharp and "clumsy". The very frontpage of the website looks as if something's wrong with the code, as the boxes are almsot randomly put here and there, and there are boxes within boxes that look like failed attempts to line-up the boxes. The chat bears absolutely no resemblance to the rest of the website (in terms of appearance, including colour), and the same is true for the Store as well. The profile pages look very unorganised as well, and the quasi-embossed boxes look like an early attempt of a programmer at creating tables with outset borders in html. Moreover, the emoticons are nothing compared to what other websites have (you may check deviantART: where ART meets application! if you want to see some REALLY good emoticons - also, deviantART has an incredible interface and very integrated forum and chat as well). Lastly, the YC interface doesn't offer much customizability, and there is little to almost no CSS scripting around the site (which is much more preferred to javascript, as it is more universal and can run with firewalls/active x disabled - also faster).

The design itself may not actually be 90's (although it is pretty close - the copyright [bottom of the screen] says it started in 2000, which is 8 years ago)

And I understand if you don't like the particular ones, it's all about personal taste (which is why we should have a larger array of skins for people to choose from).

BTW (absolutely irrelevant), I'd love to go to Ireland some time :P I've met quite a few Irish people here and they've told me it's a fun place to be (although I don't like beer :S )

We were talking about the forum, I thought, not the 101 add-ons, which of course do need attention, but which aren't covered by reskinning the forum.

I still don't think the forum looks 90s, but updating couldn't hurt. Certainly a lot of people seem to dislike the colour scheme.

Compared to other forums, I think our emoticons are fine... there's no need for this forum to be too dependent upon novelties -- too many weird smilies gets annoying and ugly.

Just seeing as we're discussing these type of things in here, what do people feel about adding a karma function? Would this just be detrimental to the community?

I've seen it used fairly well on other forums, but perhaps it's not even necessary here.

Ireland is nice (the countryside is anyway). You should definitely go sometime.

Maybe it's de-sensitisation stemming from staring at the current design for so long, but I honestly can't point to any aspects which would be considered "90s-style" or "Web 1.0", aside from the right-angled corners.

I have a feeling you may be referencing the man in brown pants in alleging that the layout is unprofessional. Aside from that one aspect, I think the site comes across as quite competently laid out.

We are powered by vBulletin, by the way, and this has been the case since the conversion from IPB in August 2006. The conversion process was enough of an upheaval back then - doing so again (thereby returning us to our original starting place) would be infeasible given the amount of vB-specific custom code we run. Also, I think you'd be hard pressed to argue that IPB offers more in terms of layout customisation when the only real deciding factor in that is the HTML itself (unless IPB has moved on in a very significant way since I last used it).

The upcoming social networking and music management software will take the form of a CMS, so there is no need to get involved with Joomla, Mambo etc. MediaWiki is doing an OK job at the moment propping up content outside of the forum.

Our chat software is just a generic package, but I'll look into changing the default colour scheme.

The homepage merely follows a two-column layout with various boxes placed in each. Kind of newspaper-like, but I think it's OK, even though alignment isn't taken into consideration.

If you could expand on your point about the interface not offering customisability then that would help pin down specifics. Not sure what you mean by "CSS scripting" since CSS is not a scripting language, and JavaScript doesn't require ActiveX to be enabled since they are different things. And the copyright originating in 2000 refers to vBulletin, not the site. ;)

What he YC layout needs is... less Jujimufu.

:whistling:

If there comes a time when the forum is to change skin; will there be a public poll, in order for us to participate in the decision?

If there comes a time when the forum is to change skin; will there be a public poll, in order for us to participate in the decision?

I assume so, although we have absolutely no plans for a major overhaul at the moment.

Good :happy:

I do not want a skin or any other aesthetical change since this is YC. Although it would be wise to actually have a YC logo...

We DO have a YC logo, but I WOULD like to see a more professional looking one. But it will HAVE to include the man in brown pants in some form or another. And we HAVE to keep the old (current) layout/skin, it is just too familiar to us that like it, I don't think some people could do without it.

Talking about skin appearances and layout, I'd just like to note that I highly dislike three of the four Juji provided previews of, the first one I actually somewhat liked (but I think it would need a more YC-oriented colour scheme). I kinda like DeviantArt's layout and scheme, but that's DeviantArt's. We are not them, we are YC. Same with the emoticons, PLUS, I REALLY like the emoticons here. I think the ones on DA are ugly and somewhat inconsistent, not as friendly as our own.

90's look? *laughs* I thought I made a modern looking website for myself, and somebody told me it was very 90's and needed to look more Web 2.0. Personally, I don't see the difference. I think everything looks fine here. Many of the uber new stuff I see as far as Web 2.0 design I find very ugly, especially in the rounded corners, fading and things. Yes, I think some of our borders and bars could have more noticeable and appealing shading and fades, but these things need to be treated with utmost care and moderation.

Okay, homepage..... I agree with Juji. The home page looks pretty awful. I think the homepage should NOT be a Wiki page, especially since that comes with all the Wiki-related functionality bars on the left-hand side. The homepage should be a separate page from the Wiki in my opinion. This way there would be greater control and flexibility over layout and more ways to make it look top notch. Especially needed when a website's homepage should be THE most outgoing and friendly, and overall, presentable and impressive. It should make a real impact. Ours currently does not. :(

Don't change the layout! You're entitled to your opinions...

But they're WRONG!

*kicks and screams*

Have a nice day :)

I don't plan on changing the color scheme, or logo, at least until our social network is launched. Once this is launched, I can get a better feel for what the logo/color scheme should be. I may hire a professional designer to redo our forum skin and create nice icons, etc if our network is doing well. As far as the homepage is concerned, that will also change once our network is launched, but until then, the homepage will remain as it is, because what else could we possibly do with it? We only have 2 functions right now, vbulletin, and mediawiki. And I will not forward the forum to the homepage.

Just for example... this homepage for vB's mods site is a good representation of homepageness as far as layout goes:

vBulletin.org Forum - The Official vBulletin Resource!

Your intentions are noted, chopin, thank you. I'm glad to hear the news. :happy:

What he YC layout needs is... less Jujimufu.

:whistling:

Well, the YC layout has managed to go on without some Anders for a while in the past...

Just for example... this homepage for vB's mods site is a good representation of homepageness as far as layout goes:

vBulletin.org Forum - The Official vBulletin Resource!

Your intentions are noted, chopin, thank you. I'm glad to hear the news. :happy:

I was going to suggest that too. The current homepage just won't cut it.

But it is sooooo ugly! :horrified:

(the one above mentioned... not that ours is a work of beauty)

The vbulletin homepage theme is not much different than this one, and I don't see why it's so nice anyway :/

The vbulletin homepage theme is not much different than this one, and I don't see why it's so nice anyway :/

*Saiming overkills Jujimufu*

You seriously have not patriotic feel for this beloved forum! :angry:

Wow, patriotism for a website? That's one step too far :P

If there was one site I could say I really loved and admired, that would be deviantart, but I left because the administration sucked and they treated me like scraggy, despite being a really good member there. And also most of the members there are 13-year olds who draw some random lines on a piece of paper resembling sonic, take it a photograph, and name it a great piece of art and are happy because 3 people commented on their work like "wow coolz!". Oh, and the administrations has turned very, VERY greedy lately, and they care more about their money than they do about their members, which sucks.

But there you go :P No patriotism for me.