New.... Budgie Boards

[DarkWarriorXII]

Hey whatcha all think of my board: Budgie Boards (http://budgieboards.com/community)? This is my first vB and my first time at skinning (I have experience hacking IPB's though :)), so the skin may not be the best. Comments, constructive criticism, and suggestions all welcome! Joining the site is encouraged as well :nervous:. Thanks.

EDIT: In case you don't know, budgie=parakeet ;).

[Dean C]

This looks pretty nice. I like the subtle color changes you've made. The only criticism I have is of your page background and the header. It needs a bit more graphical flair IMO :)

[DarkWarriorXII]

Thanks for the comments. I'll work on the background and header. I'm only fair at making graphics but I'll give it another try.

[Beermonster]

Got to agree with Dean the background needs some work, I got a bit paranoid with them keep looking at me :D

On another note we used to have 17 budgies, the have all gone to budgie heaven now, so now the wife has moved on to Chinchillas, bit of a difference, anyway my point is there are a lot of budgie keepers and breeders out there so with luck your site should become very popular, all the best :)

[DarkWarriorXII]

Wow 17 budgies. Well thanks for the inspiration :D! It seems the background will have to go. I'll work on a new one.

[Princeton]

Ouch, LOL..
I do agree the background image has to go. :D

[DarkWarriorXII]

Should there be any type of picture in the background, or just a solid color? Like I said I'm new at skinning and I'm not that creative ;).

[Beermonster]

Go for either a solid colour or gradient, it would look much better, and also what about a 100% width forum instead of 800px, I just feel it's better to fill your browser, but that is my own taste

[DarkWarriorXII]

I made it 100% width and I made the background a solid color (same as last time but without the birds :p). I wasn't sure how to make a gradient, so I just did solid color. :)

[Beermonster]

I made it 100% width and I made the background a solid color (same as last time but without the birds :p). I wasn't sure how to make a gradient, so I just did solid color. :)

Well I going to attach a gradient background for you but it seem vb.org are have a mysql error.

So go to AdminCP Main CSS and choose either Body or Page Background can't remember which without playing and use something like
#D1D1E1 url(images/yourstyle/gradient_back.gif) repeat-x top left

Get the gradient from here (http://www.scale-models.net/gradient_back.gif)

[filburt1]

Hey whatcha all think of my board: Budgie Boards (http://budgieboards.com/community)? This is my first vB and my first time at skinning (I have experience hacking IPB's though :)), so the skin may not be the best. Comments, constructive criticism, and suggestions all welcome! Joining the site is encouraged as well :nervous:. Thanks.

EDIT: In case you don't know, budgie=parakeet ;).
The fact that you have the registration notice directly stopped me from registering. Offer content, not badgering and nagging to guests (no offense).

[DarkWarriorXII]

You're talking about that popup hack right? I felt like adding that would turn down registration, but I thought I'd give it a try. Now I know not to have it so I removed it. Any other comments?

[Tony G]

Nice start. My only comments are the page background, which doesn't seem to match with the greys very well. Possibly try a lighter sky blue color, not as intense as the one you have now. :)

[DarkWarriorXII]

I changed the background and the header image. I just can't seem to get this right :p. How does it look now? Oh yeah, thanks for all the comments and suggestions so far! I hope they all help me attract more members...

[amykhar]

Would you mind if I tinker with your logo a bit? I think it needs one bird in it. That background you had was overkill, but I think the site does need a bird graphic or two.

Amy

[DarkWarriorXII]

Sure you can edit it. If you need the .PSD I'll PM it to you or something.

[amykhar]

I did this one without a PSD - something quick and dirty to just slip a bird in. But, with a bit more time, I can get you something much nicer to give you some choices. I'm in a photoshop mood lately :D

[DarkWarriorXII]

Thank you for that image. It's pretty nice. I'll attach the .PSD in case you want to use that instead.

[amykhar]

The zip has a shortcut to the psd, not the psd itself. ;)

[DarkWarriorXII]

Hmm weird. Lemme try again. See if it works now.

[amykhar]

I have two more for you to play with:

[amykhar]

Forgot to note, those two are on a transparent background, so you can use whatever background colors you choose.

[DarkWarriorXII]

Wow those are both very good! Thank you very much! I think I'll use the first one as the header image and maybe the second one as an avatar/sig image :p. Thanks again! :D

[amykhar]

glad you like them. I had fun making them.

[DarkWarriorXII]

They look nicer than anything I've made :p. It's the overlapping budgie that makes it look really good, in my opinion. The selection of colors and fonts is good also.

[Princeton]

it's good to see someone taking criticism well ... and using it to their advantage :up:

TIP: Remove the entire table which surrounds the header image and use this instead:
<div style="padding:0px 25px 0px 25px"><a href="index.php"><img src="http://budgieboards.com/community/images/misc/mainlogo.gif" border="0" alt="Budgie Boards - Your ultimate source to talk Budgies!" title="Budgie Boards - Your ultimate source to talk Budgies!" /></a></div> This will align the header with the layout.

PS. The site looks M U C H better with the changes you have made.

[DarkWarriorXII]

Thank you. And with the last site I tried to make I didn't really listen to people's advice and it failed miserably :p. I've learned from that to take people's advice.