MyBB Community Forums

What do you think of this theme http://www.ivgeo.net/2008/08/enhanced-default-theme/ but maybe replace the blue with a glossy gray and get rid of the slightly darker gray background behind the content?

That's a great link Tim, I'd not noticed that before. When you mentioned ivgeo earlier in the thread I'd taken it to be a theme author included in the Download Themes section here.

I've experimentally blanked the redirect screen and removed the 2-second delay so search results come back immediately. Other than increasing the server load can you think of any drawback?

Probably no drawbacks of having it return the results instantly but having it so guests can search and removing the time between searches is probably not the best thing to do. Mainly because people could flood your system with searches and overload your server, like a DDoS attack.

Having the 2 second delay implemented at the client end just increases the number of "clients" the DDoS attack needs for it to succeed and (from what little I understand of the subject) if anyone's going to have a go at the site with a botnet the site's going off the air anyway. To protect against server overload the delay between searches would need to be site-wide, not per-user. That way, however many "clients" the attack came from, the server would still placidly chug out thirty responses a minute and have spare capacity to deliver page views and accept posts.

Well I am not saying put a delay on the results being returned, I am saying put a time limit between searches, so they can only make one search every 10 seconds. Or you could just disable searching to guests then put a google site search box somewhere for your guests, thats just another way people do it sometimes.

Tim, may I keep going here briefly since I have your attention or would you prefer me to start a new thread in a more specific area?

If you look at the page you're on now, http://community.mybboard.net/thread-56215.html you'll see several places where html buttons appear. The forum jump, language selector, search thread, for example, even the Post Reply and Preview Post. Only some of the buttons are .gif theme-specific ones.

I've changed my forum view and thread view to remove all the .gif theme-tailored buttons and put them as html buttons instead. My philosophy is perhaps old-fashioned but it's based on separating function from content, leaving the browser under user control to dictate appearance.

I note that (as you might expect) I've consequently screwed up the multiquote_on bit. If I take what I've done into the rest of the site I'll fix that.

It's not what MyBB's designers have chosen as an approach, I'm just tinkering with how I'd have done things. I know that my way of thinking as far as appearance is concerned is completely against the ethos of site-dictated rendering. Anyway. My question: am I headed down a cul-de-sac or do other sites make changes like this?

Scoof's been in place as a fallback site and might now be needed, I thought I'd poll around for criticism of the look and feel before it's examined by my prospective clients.

The only MyCode addition I've made is an Indent function.

There's nothing left of viewing other users' buddy lists, no thread rating, no reputations, no thread or post delete options for members or moderators, the web field in user profiles is removed, Guests can post but not start new threads. I think everything else still works.

The discussion I had here last September helped me realize what some of the functionality was for, I'd welcome further comment at this stage on whether the appearance is adequate.

I'm surprised at the lack of response. Really, something here for me to bounce off would help. This is the only place on the Internet I can think of that's focused on the detail I need.

Hmm.. where should I start?
1) Logo. Not attractive. Try using Scoof as the main text, and then a tagline (in smaller font) reading "get away with it".
2) Being minimalist doesn't mean being plain. And definitely not removing as much padding as possible. Try adding padding to the thead and tcat.
3) Borders? Not something that would be quite so modern.

You may like the theme but I think the chances of it being attractive to anyone else are slim, I think you're lessening the sites chance of success by basing it on your own preferences.