MyBB Community Forums

This thread is the tutorial. This is meant to inspire designers, not be a copy-and-paste HTML project.

While I appreciate that people have enjoyed the project displayed here, I never intended it for it to be copied as it is. Nor can I design for other forums.

(2014-03-19, 03:47 AM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]This thread is the tutorial. This is meant to inspire designers, not be a copy-and-paste HTML project.

While I appreciate that people have enjoyed the project displayed here, I never intended it for it to be copied as it is. Nor can I design for other forums.

Just as it should be intended for, no need to copy and paste when creating unique boards now is there lol.

I use this thread as a daily reference.

(2014-03-19, 03:47 AM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]This thread is the tutorial. This is meant to inspire designers, not be a copy-and-paste HTML project.

While I appreciate that people have enjoyed the project displayed here, I never intended it for it to be copied as it is. Nor can I design for other forums.

Where can I go to find a copy and paste HTML project or theme that looks as good as yours? I am not a web developer or designer, but just want a good looking (contemporary graphic style, good use of typography etc) and easy to navigate forum. None of the other themes I have seen come close!

@ArchPrime - there are many modifications made to make the layout style shown by Brad in this thread. I would be very surprised to see one offered for free.

(2014-04-15, 01:03 AM)Leefish Wrote: [ -> ]@ArchPrime - there are many modifications made to make the layout style shown by Brad in this thread. I would be very surprised to see one offered for free.

For sure - and I don't mind paying for something that good.
I already have a paid theme, but this one is in a league of it's own in my opinion.

Perhaps contact a theme designer then; one of the major "issues" with a theme like Brad's being released is that huge chunks of functionality have been changed. That would put it in the unique custom theme bracket regarding cost as it would be a one-off.

(2014-04-15, 01:41 AM)Leefish Wrote: [ -> ]Perhaps contact a theme designer then; one of the major "issues" with a theme like Brad's being released is that huge chunks of functionality have been changed. That would put it in the unique custom theme bracket regarding cost as it would be a one-off.

Do you know of a myBB theme designer working at Brad's graphic design level (other than Brad himself) who takes on this sort of thing for other people?

I suspect if Brad cared to package his theme & mods in a friendly way for adaption/adoption by others less gifted, he would have no shortage of buyers!

Sadly, I'm not at the level of ability where I would be comfortable selling my work. My code is ugly, shoddily put together, and designed expressly for my own purposes. While I'm flattered people think it's nice, I also think it wouldn't be that useful for a lot of people.

Whatever might be lurking under the hood, it does have the singular advantage of looking like aesthetics have taken their rightful place at (or near) the top of the priority list

For a visual subject forum, the visual interlace is everything - so a terrible shame that this wont be shared with the world!

I am aware this thread is old, but there's no reason why this shouldn't be an active topic. I have a few ideas for the iteration of Asperger's Network that I am working on (not using MyBB, but some of this stuff is universal), so:

(2012-07-09, 08:39 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]Generally, message boards display the views and posts in each forum. I don't think you need either of these, but if you must, keep only the posts in order to give a sense of activity. However, for most forums just the last post time is enough to gauge activity. If you're a new forum, having very low numbers doesn't look really good.

To have a win/win, I would think that putting stats under an alt="" would be viable, so that when you hover over, say, MyBB.com community, it would show the stats of that forum. Hover, there's your stats - Don't want to see them, don't hover. Win win.

(2012-07-09, 08:39 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]Use the space freed up by removing these two columns to display something dynamic. What you do here depends on what kind of content you serve, but don't do something lazy like "latest threads" or whatever. Try to make it visual.

Or put more forums in the top fold as the guys on Whirlpool did (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au).

(2012-07-09, 08:39 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]As for forum stats, I don't have them here right now, but I will likely add the online list back soon -- but only to show users who have made at least one approved posts. You don't want an online list full of spammers. The section under "Board Statistics" is not useful to anyone except people judging your site. However, presenting that information makes it easier for a potential user to make an incorrect snap judgement. Let them read your content and form their opinion from there.

I agree, so I'm dropping the query(ies) that make that up.

(2012-07-09, 08:39 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]You need to have some call-out to unregistered members, but you need to make sure it's not obtrusive. If it hovers, or obscures content, or if you prevent me from viewing anything, I'm not coming back. Don't be hostile to your potential "customers." Would you enter a store that forces you to give them your e-mail address before you can get in the front door and see what's for sale?

Would you be against a login form at the top right of a bar in Bootstrap fashion? I mean, it kinda shouts "You're not logged in". At the same time, maybe leaving thread reply buttons there, and directing to (for me) /user/login when you click it so you can login. The downside being that I haven't yet worked out how to get back to the page I was on. It redirects me to /.

(2012-07-09, 08:39 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]Registration
Honestly, I hate signing up for MyBB forums. I find the process incredibly overwhelming. So I created a registration form I would be satisfied with. A few basic fields and no captcha, just a click. We get spam registrations, lots of them -- but with Spamalyser installed, they never get a post through. Having more users to prune is a decent cost for a frictionless user sign-up experience.

Unfortunately I had to zoom out a touch to get it all.

I implemented failsafes for Email and Password, at least in the event that they forget their password they will have the right email address to reset their password.

And with little disclaimers and one-liners under the field



I think it gives a good touch.

(2012-07-09, 08:39 PM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]I also used the extra space to re-enforce the fact that signing up for my site is a good idea.

As did I. See right hand side. I do want to fix that at some point though.

I'll go through more later. I'm typing this as I commute to somewhere so I've limited time.