[RichieBoy67]

Originally Posted by Digital Jedi

I'll put it this way. Every site is lacking something, and it can be any combination of ignorance, negligence or necessity. It's not right or wrong. It's going to reflect the administrator's strengths and preferences. (And finances. Don't forget finances.) So it will be lacking in areas of design, performance, popularity, consistency or conformance. The only things that are essential are the things that particular admin is trying to accomplish. And it might be different from what another admin wants.

But, again, it's not right or wrong. It's just the way it is. So while you can have a functional, popular board. You could have horrid graphic design. Or you may have solid, innovative styling and minimal activity. I don't think either, or any of the other possible combinations thereof, are wrong. I just think achieving a balance of all it is something to aspire to. I sort of look at it like Walter Disney looked at Disneyland. Every minor detail mattered as much as every major detail, which ultimately contributed to the overall experience.

Well said. I agree 100%.

Some forums fit better with a flashy theme and others can just use plain Jane. There is no right and wrong as you said. It is just about what appeals to your users. On a game site then something flashier may be suitable and on a web dev site simple and plain works. The bottom line though is that a theme alone is not going to make the site no matter how nice it looks.