Is Anyone Still Using....?

[Chris]

I was wondering if any members are still using the red or grey coloured board themes?

I'm working on some upgrades which are quite a bit of work. And I don't want to work on updating the other coloured themes if they aren't being used.

If you use the red or grey, please let me know in this thread.



Thanks!


-Chris

[Chucker]

I use the red, but it's really not a big deal! I could use any color and enjoy the site just as much! Thanks again for all your hard work Chris!

[Adam L.]

I use grey but like Chucker I really dont care what color I use. Does not matter to me at all.

[Chris E]

red, which i like - i find it easier to read with my ever aging eyes!

[175checkmate]

Grey/light blue. Seems to load the pictures correctly. Switch to the red and all I get is the red X

[cooperider]

I think I have the grey.

[Chris]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I'm surprised there are that many members using the alternative colours.

Cool.

One of the challenges, or bugs I suppose, is that vBulletin will not allow us to have two graphics sets for some of the board images. So what happens is that some of the graphics on the grey and red look a little pixelated on the edges, you may have noticed it. That has to do with the background matting on those images. So when I set stuff up, I err on making things usable for the white set and then roll it out to the grey and red hoping it looks ok.

Originally when I set up the board, the red was what I was going to go with. But a number of people don't like the dark backgrounds as they find it hard to read, JW is one for example. So I decided to set up the white and it seems like most people like it best.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll do my best to keep the other themes working as I update things.

[jgreen]

I like the red also. It's easier for me to read. I suppose if I would use my glasses it wouldn't matter.
Keep up the great work!!!!

[Chris]

I like the red also. It's easier for me to read. I suppose if I would use my glasses it wouldn't matter.
Keep up the great work!!!!Thanks J.

Since it seems like there are still a number of members using the optional themes, we kept them going.

The reason I was asking before was that due to the fact that we have a number of hacks and tweaks that we've done to the stock board, and some of the hacks have to be manually done for each color. The software upgrades we did required the hacks to be removed and then redone. Since you fellas are still using the other colors I decided to do the extra work of doing the other colored themes. I was surprised (for some reason) that there is that many people still using the alternative templates.

It's nice to know you guys still like 'em. :thumb:

[boatn70]

im using grey, but willing to change if needed!

[black88]

I also like the red. but i can deal with any color. As long as im on checkmate-boats .com im happy. :cheers

[Chris]

Thanks black. :)

For everyone who likes the other colored themes, you can set them as your default in your control panel area if you like.

Here is the path.

Hit User CP

Then....

Edit Options

Scroll down towards the bottom and there is a interface area called "Miscellaneous Options"

In that area there is a option for the forum skin.

In that box you can set your default skin. :)

[Mark]

Chris
For some strange reason I cannot find the skin color option. The only thing I see under Misc options is Message Editor Interface. Am I missing something here? I too prefer the red.
Thanks

[ross]

mark- i just tried to do the same as i like the red also...... i found the same a as you did! chris-help us out man!!!!!!!

[c10seven]

Chris, I am with Mark and Ross here I went into my CP to switch to grey, but don't see what you're talking about.

And thank you for your commitment to the site.

[Chris]

Hi Guys,

We're only running the white theme for the time being.

There are two main reasons why.

1) I have to rewrite and recreate the other themes and it's a time-consuming project that I don't have time for right now.

2) Because I had to rewrite the default theme, that change causes log in issues when members return who have old pre-update cookies on their hard-drives.

I'll work away at the alternate themes over the next couple of weeks.

Eventually at some point though, I would suggest we need to work towards having less themes as it's three times the amount of work every time we have to do major software updates. Hence why I polled the group to see how many people were using the other colours.

[ross]

thanks for all the efforts chris- just thought i was missing something! thanks again.......ross

[Chris]

One of the problems with the alternate colours, is that a number of the graphics can't be matted properly. So that's why some of the smilies and buttons look all pixelated with white dots on their edges. And to me, it looks kinda cheesy.

Basically, all the graphics that you see on the site have been worked so that they appear seemless on the background. But for the coloured themes, some graphics sets couldn't have multiple sets with different coloured mattes so I set things up to work with the white as the main default theme. The smilies are one example of a graphics set that couldn't have multiple sets.

What I'd really like to do is create a brand new theme using an all new header with new graphics. And instead of using white and blue I'd throw another colour like red in with the blue and white. Maybe even some black or something. I've always like red, black and white. Or perhaps grey instead of black.

Personally, I really like the Endless Boating theme, I thought it came out really good. But I was able to work on that one for literally months.

For here I'd like to get something that looks fresh and clean like the EB one - but different as this is a different site - and create a new header with refreshed graphics on it.

But at this time it seems like that will just lead to a fourth theme, so I'm just leaving that one on the back-burner for now until you guys come more of a consensus on what you use and want.

[c10seven]

Its cool man, I like the grey but it certainly isn't a necessity, the information in the forum is the same regardless of background color. And I am certainly not going to leave because of something small like that.

[Chris]

Its cool man, I like the grey but it certainly isn't a necessity, the information in the forum is the same regardless of background color. And I am certainly not going to leave because of something small like that.Well we would hope people wouldn't leave over the skin and certainly we wouldn't take away a skin if people felt that strongly about it. The bottom line is that we want people to enjoy using the site and if a particular skin makes for a better experience for them than it's worth working on. :)

-Chris

[Chris]

Hi Gang,

I just wanted to give you a bit of an update on the alternate themes and where we're at with them.

There have been a number of vBulletin software updates that I have had to do, for one reason or another and hence I have been held up somewhat until this latest version is a bit more stable.

The new vBulletin version that we are running introduced a number of additional features and along with new features come bugs and security issues. And there have been a few over the past couple of weeks.

Once things settle down with the vBulletin updates, I'll get to working on bringing back the alternate themes.

I just wanted to let y'all know I didn't forget about cha. ;)

I've just been a bit held up is all. :)


-Chris

[Chris]

Hey Gang,

I've got the grey theme back up and running.

Sorry for the delay, but there were a number of small upgrades that had to be done that delayed things - and then there was the work of re-writing and recreating the old theme.

If you notice any odd-ball things wrong with the grey theme let me know and I'll do my best to fix them up if possible.

-Chris