Happier Abroad Forum Community

Winston wrote:Also Eurobrat,
AFA's site is very compacted with a lot of stuff close together too. Yet they get half a million visitors per month and are ranked very well. Have a look:

http://www.loveme.com

You see what I mean?

He has a better balance of pictures and text. His content looks newer also, you haven't switched things around in years.

Winston wrote:I'm leaning toward SubAndreas. What do you all think? It looks like a vbulletin theme.

It's a tough decision but I like SubAndreas too. It looks clean and it's easy to read.

Ok well I think it's down to two choices: SubAndreas and Artodia Ultra Blue. I tested them both out on my other forum, which is phpbb3.

Here's the thing. SubAndreas only looks great on the forum index page. But when you get into the topics, the font is too small, and the avatars are placed above the posts, which is kind of weird, and are a small size. So that theme would be hard to read. And it's not easy to try to change the default font in a forum.

Artodia Ultra Blue looks the nicest. But I'm not sure how customizable it is. And I don't know how to remove the top blue background. But it's the nicest and easiest to read with nice easy to read fonts.

What do you all think of just going with the default theme of Prosilver though?

https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/styl ... lver/demo/

That one is ok too. Maybe we should just start with that, then see if I can customize Artodia Ultra Blue. If not, we will just stick with Prosilver. Sound like a plan?

Winston, will our avatars still be 200 by 300 pixels in size with the new forum design your interested in? We need to make sure the avatar sizes will remain the same size (200 x 300 pixels) in the new forum.

jamesbond wrote:Winston, will our avatars still be 200 by 300 pixels in size with the new forum design your interested in? We need to make sure the avatar sizes will remain the same size (200 x 300 pixels) in the new forum.

Most likely yeah. But it depends on the layout and theme and what size fits into it best. The phpbb3 themes automatically resize your avatars.

Which theme do you like best?

Winston wrote:Which theme do you like best?

The only ones I didn't like were Proglass and Artodia Elegance. All the other ones looked better I thought. I don't want anyone that will make our avatars smaller than 200 x 300 pixels.

jamesbond wrote:

Winston wrote:Which theme do you like best?

The only ones I didn't like were Proglass and Artodia Elegance. All the other ones looked better I thought. I don't want anyone that will make our avatars smaller than 200 x 300 pixels.

Well the avatars are already bigger than they should be. They don't need to be very big. Why do you want them to remain large?

Btw, some of the forum themes will place your avatar and user info on the RIGHT side of the posts, rather than the left side like we have now. Will that be ok with you?

Winston wrote:

jamesbond wrote:

Winston wrote:Which theme do you like best?

The only ones I didn't like were Proglass and Artodia Elegance. All the other ones looked better I thought. I don't want anyone that will make our avatars smaller than 200 x 300 pixels.

Well the avatars are already bigger than they should be. They don't need to be very big. Why do you want them to remain large?

Btw, some of the forum themes will place your avatar and user info on the RIGHT side of the posts, rather than the left side like we have now. Will that be ok with you?

I would like the avatars on the left side like they are now. You need to keep the avatars at least the same size they are now, they are too small now as it is, they used to be bigger.

Small avatars look crappy and you can't make out the picture very well. Whatever you do, don't take a new theme that makes the avatars smaller. That is one of the reasons why this forum is unique, people can actually clearly see a persons avatar which is an expression of their personality.

You can always just keep the forum the way it is now, who knows the new forum might have problems with it.

JamesBond,
Yeah I agree. Avatars on the left look better.

I would like to keep the forum the way it is now too. We can just add a chat script here as well.

The only problem is that webhosting companies are improving their MySQL database systems. This forum was designed for MySQL4. Now all the hosting companies, including mine, have raised it to MySQL5. The forum still works under that. But if they keep upgrading the MySQL systems higher to newer versions, who knows if this forum will still work at some point.

Do you understand my point?

I don't think most posters here care either way. They'd rather vote on topics such as "Should Cornfed be banned?" Apparently, that's more important to them than the forum theme. Strange. lol

Btw, I tested the themes on my other forum, which is phpbb3. Even though most people voted for Subandreas, I'm afraid we can't use that. The text in the posts is too small, and I had trouble changing it. Not only that, but the avatars in that theme are placed ABOVE each post, which means they can't be too big, and will look weird too. So although that theme looks the best on its index page, it looks horrible on its post page.

There is no way I know of to move the avatars to the left side in that theme. So I'm afraid we can't use it. Otherwise, I would have loved to use that one.

So it looks like the only decent theme left is Artodia Ultra Blue. What do you think of that one? I tested it out and it looks great and I was able to customize it too.

Winston wrote:JamesBond,

I would like to keep the forum the way it is now too. We can just add a chat script here as well.

So it looks like the only decent theme left is Artodia Ultra Blue. What do you think of that one? I tested it out and it looks great and I was able to customize it too.

I checked it out and it looks pretty good but I would only use it if you can keep the avatars the same size that they are now, 200 x 300 pixels.

It would be nice just to leave the forum the way it is now. I like the forum we have now a lot more than any of the other ones you asked us to vote on.

Jamesbond,
Do you like the current theme of the forum because you're too used to it, or because it looks better than the other ones?

Winston wrote:Jamesbond,
Do you like the current theme of the forum because you're too used to it, or because it looks better than the other ones?

I like the one we have now because honestly it looks better than all of the other ones.

I think the ppl want Sub Andreas.

eurobrat wrote:I think the ppl want Sub Andreas.

I already explained why we can't use that one. Scroll up. Jamesbond would be pissed too because his avatars would be very small and above each post, not to the side like it is now.

It's either Artodia Ultra Blue, or the current one.

Winston wrote:

eurobrat wrote:I think the ppl want Sub Andreas.

I already explained why we can't use that one. Scroll up. Jamesbond would be pissed too because his avatars would be very small and above each post, not to the side like it is now.

It's either Artodia Ultra Blue, or the current one.

I found one you might like: https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/styl ... tion/demo/