Okay, a few things. I'm recoding the template/theme files completely from the ground up. Reason? Too messy due to the insane amount of alterations made. As such, too many file leftovers from the old theme are still floating out there that are a cause for concern. Fortunately, this redo won't be too labor intensive (it's already 50% done after about 3 hours of work) due to me knowing exactly what's needed/not needed as well as using a pre-made template already validated by phpbb. The site will also not have to be down nearly as long this time since I'm simply installing the new template and then clicking a few buttons to enable it when done.
Here's the new proposed design (with tweaks still being made--most of the sidebar is also still missing):
As you can see, the background scroll has changed. It's MUCH snappier and faster with loading since it's (perhaps surprisingly) much less memory intensive. It's also (hopefully) more pleasing to the eye. The buttons at the top of the site have also been removed and replaced with a more streamlined navigation menu. This will also reduce loading stress and be less distracting to the eye. It also enables more room (and a submenu feature) for adding more links if we ever want to.
Two things I need feedback on (along with whatever other feedback may be out there):
1. Look closely at the difference between the Links sidebar (and/or the Information Center section at the bottom) and the forum section lists. You'll notice the forum list has the green surrounding the entire thing. The sidebar/Info Center only has it at the top. I'm only going with one, so which is preferred? It's purely cosmetic and has no bearing on loading or anything of the sort.
2. Does a different color other than green seem more suitable to you? I've prepared a red version to compare, though I can pretty quickly put together other colors as well if that's preferred as long as we can settle on one quickly.
If I do not receive any feedback, I'm simply going to go with whatever I like best and ignore complaining that comes after the fact. So speak now or forever hold your peace. Note that other changes will be made within the forums (such as to the borders around posts) to accompany the new template. All present features (gallery, classifieds, etc) will remain largely in tact.
Here's the new proposed design (with tweaks still being made--most of the sidebar is also still missing):
Spoiler: show
![[Image: forum_green.png]](http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j110/Zarik_Sylvora/Misc/forum_green.png)
As you can see, the background scroll has changed. It's MUCH snappier and faster with loading since it's (perhaps surprisingly) much less memory intensive. It's also (hopefully) more pleasing to the eye. The buttons at the top of the site have also been removed and replaced with a more streamlined navigation menu. This will also reduce loading stress and be less distracting to the eye. It also enables more room (and a submenu feature) for adding more links if we ever want to.
Two things I need feedback on (along with whatever other feedback may be out there):
1. Look closely at the difference between the Links sidebar (and/or the Information Center section at the bottom) and the forum section lists. You'll notice the forum list has the green surrounding the entire thing. The sidebar/Info Center only has it at the top. I'm only going with one, so which is preferred? It's purely cosmetic and has no bearing on loading or anything of the sort.
2. Does a different color other than green seem more suitable to you? I've prepared a red version to compare, though I can pretty quickly put together other colors as well if that's preferred as long as we can settle on one quickly.
Spoiler: show
![[Image: forum_red.png]](http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j110/Zarik_Sylvora/Misc/forum_red.png)
If I do not receive any feedback, I'm simply going to go with whatever I like best and ignore complaining that comes after the fact. So speak now or forever hold your peace. Note that other changes will be made within the forums (such as to the borders around posts) to accompany the new template. All present features (gallery, classifieds, etc) will remain largely in tact.
