2011-09-01, 07:57 PM
Welcome guys!
I'm back to mybb development for a while to create theme that fit my latest needs acording to my research.
Throughout months of using mybb I was switching themes and trying them out. I have even come with my own one. Unfortunatelly I bumped into serious points:
1) High server usage
2) Short-term engaging users
First of all, themes I created as well as most of the ones I know are containing far too much (and too big) images, sprites and headers. All that to create appealing and eye-catching theme. Unfortunatelly it works like that only for the first time, for the targeted visitors. Soon it becomes pain in the lime.
What we really need is light and useful theme that loads as fast as possible. How fast your site loads is one of the most important things. Many studies shown that it affects visitors. That's why most of the biggest websites optimized their performance last years. Usually from 7-9 seconds load time to 2-4 seconds.
The next thing is clearly visible menu, plain background (white,grey or black works the best). This is due to visitors habbits. The most common sites drive trends (both Google and Facebook push white background and tiny icons). What's more the interface should be easy to use and easy to spot.
Here comes minimalistic mybb theme. The aim of the theme is to fill the above needs. Simple yet effective.
Theme is currently under development. Screens just illustrate the main idea.
Features:
1) Index Page Top - Chrome
![[Image: alphachromeindex1.png]](https://camo.mybb.com/af6c4828d0c0282271454075ae7749b728271359/687474703a2f2f696d673536302e696d616765736861636b2e75732f696d673536302f313432332f616c7068616368726f6d65696e646578312e706e67)
2) Index Page Bottom - Chrome
![[Image: alphachromeindex2.png]](https://camo.mybb.com/9b8640d963874dbd7f931b53ad41e4dcdfba78cb/687474703a2f2f696d673630372e696d616765736861636b2e75732f696d673630372f343733392f616c7068616368726f6d65696e646578322e706e67)
3) Index Page - Firefox
![[Image: alphafirefoxindex1.png]](https://camo.mybb.com/0cc43bcc14a6aed515641185423cf63b2cac03f6/687474703a2f2f696d6735392e696d616765736861636b2e75732f696d6735392f3238352f616c70686166697265666f78696e646578312e706e67)
4) Index Page - Internet Explorer
![[Image: alphainternetexplorerin.png]](https://camo.mybb.com/40e0c6dca6a4af16ac6d673d53dc64127661c121/687474703a2f2f696d673635312e696d616765736861636b2e75732f696d673635312f393439322f616c706861696e7465726e65746578706c6f726572696e2e706e67)
5) Quick Login - Index Page - Firefox
![[Image: alphafirefoxindexquickl.png]](https://camo.mybb.com/b194e1ee3e064aecb18edea23445877f3f92e6c9/687474703a2f2f696d6732302e696d616765736861636b2e75732f696d6732302f363235312f616c70686166697265666f78696e646578717569636b6c2e706e67)
6) Explandable Mini User CP + hover top menu buttons - Chrome
![[Image: alphachromeindexusercpc.png]](https://camo.mybb.com/f5bd519c7aa63a39b2e0aac9c4b03c755c06cba3/687474703a2f2f696d673139372e696d616765736861636b2e75732f696d673139372f353030362f616c7068616368726f6d65696e646578757365726370632e706e67)
Please share your suggestions, write what you think or what would you change?
I'm back to mybb development for a while to create theme that fit my latest needs acording to my research.
Throughout months of using mybb I was switching themes and trying them out. I have even come with my own one. Unfortunatelly I bumped into serious points:
1) High server usage
2) Short-term engaging users
First of all, themes I created as well as most of the ones I know are containing far too much (and too big) images, sprites and headers. All that to create appealing and eye-catching theme. Unfortunatelly it works like that only for the first time, for the targeted visitors. Soon it becomes pain in the lime.
What we really need is light and useful theme that loads as fast as possible. How fast your site loads is one of the most important things. Many studies shown that it affects visitors. That's why most of the biggest websites optimized their performance last years. Usually from 7-9 seconds load time to 2-4 seconds.
The next thing is clearly visible menu, plain background (white,grey or black works the best). This is due to visitors habbits. The most common sites drive trends (both Google and Facebook push white background and tiny icons). What's more the interface should be easy to use and easy to spot.
Here comes minimalistic mybb theme. The aim of the theme is to fill the above needs. Simple yet effective.
Theme is currently under development. Screens just illustrate the main idea.
Features:
- 1.41 seconds load time on low budget virtual-hosting http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/default.asp...id=5575066
- White background
- Theme comes with no additional images, just css
- Less images than in default mybb theme
- Expandable mini user panel, easy access to private messages
- CSS buttons and 'tcat' background based on Google's css
- Tested on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer and Iphone browser.
1) Index Page Top - Chrome
2) Index Page Bottom - Chrome
3) Index Page - Firefox
4) Index Page - Internet Explorer
5) Quick Login - Index Page - Firefox
6) Explandable Mini User CP + hover top menu buttons - Chrome
Please share your suggestions, write what you think or what would you change?