The Arcive of Official vBulletin Modifications Site.

VFTB · #1 08-09-2009, 10:12 AM

Hi everyone,

View from the Bench Sports is a sports column and discussion site, with the main page being located at http://viewfromthebench.com and the forum located at http://forum.viewfromthebench.com. It's a very young site, having started up back in April of this year, and we recently moved over from Drupal (and the integrated forums) to using vBulletin for forums and love it so far. So, feel free to let me know what you think, *** Advertising removed ***

Xtrato · #2 08-09-2009, 05:39 PM

Hi there , I was quite pleased when i saw the front page , though i thought the top section was an "Ad banner" but looks like its actually your Logo/banner ? .. you have a good front page , but that banner has to go/be replaced or something , it does not go with the flow of the rest of the page.... and then i clicked on Forums , and i was disappointed again .. i was expecting something similar to the front page , customized , well organized ...

its a good start , but you need to customize your forums a bit more , the Icons , perhaps look for some sports icons ,or something in that nature..

Also , is the front page (joomla) Linked to your forums? in terms of users and such , or is it like two different sites?

Regards

VFTB · #3 08-09-2009, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xtrato

Hi there , I was quite pleased when i saw the front page , though i thought the top section was an "Ad banner" but looks like its actually your Logo/banner ? .. you have a good front page , but that banner has to go/be replaced or something , it does not go with the flow of the rest of the page.... and then i clicked on Forums , and i was disappointed again .. i was expecting something similar to the front page , customized , well organized ...

its a good start , but you need to customize your forums a bit more , the Icons , perhaps look for some sports icons ,or something in that nature..

Also , is the front page (joomla) Linked to your forums? in terms of users and such , or is it like two different sites?

Regards

Hi, yes that is currently my logo/banner. What would you recommend to replace it with (as it is on both the main page and forums)? As far as the forums, when you say "customized" and "well organized", what would you be referring to? I definitely agree I need to find some sports post icons, as they would make the site seem more authentic.

I did have Joomla linked to the forums at first, but have decided not to have a userbase within Joomla. I have turned off registration within Joomla (since the only reason to have users there on this site was for commenting purposes, but that can be done without being logged in). So there is only one userbase necessary, which is within the forums.

Thank you so much for your time and review as it's refreshing to finally have someone tell the truth about what they think instead of just saying it looks great to make me "feel good" or whatever. If it isn't too much bother, I would love to have your responses to my quick questions in this post. Thanks!

Xtrato · #4 08-10-2009, 02:45 AM

well , there are lots of recommendations , it comes down to what you want in terms of the logo , and yes its a good idea to change forums and front page..

As far as Well organized , well it looks out of order , the navigation looks out of place , buttons on top of each other , ( firefox ) , header is smaller than actual site , i would make everything same width , ( front page and forums ) .. as customization , as i mentioned , try to get the forums as close as the front page , so it all looks very uniform.. but thats that... you still have some way, here are two pics i came up with! , hope these help...

Regards!

VFTB · #5 08-10-2009, 04:48 AM

I must say, what you did with the banner is very impressive. I do like that look, as it seems as if it gives a sort of lasting identity to the page.

Gio~Logist · #6 08-11-2009, 05:03 PM

Great front page. Really, really digging it. Now as or the forum - you definitely can use a developer with even half he talent that it took to make that homepage

Compliment it, keep the customization and cleanliness consistent. The forums are "cramping your style".

VFTB · #7 08-11-2009, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gio~Logist

Great front page. Really, really digging it. Now as or the forum - you definitely can use a developer with even half he talent that it took to make that homepage

Compliment it, keep the customization and cleanliness consistent. The forums are "cramping your style".

Thank you Gio. Actually, the forums look somewhat bare right now as I have hired Xtrato to customize them, and he is working on it as I type this. I'll post an update in this thread when he is done for everyone to look at. He's done some great work so far, I'm very impressed.

Gio~Logist · #8 08-11-2009, 07:24 PM

Well lets hope that it matches the homepage. I'd definitely adapt most of the structure, css navigation, make major changes to vBulletin templates to keep usability consistent, and make the transition seamless. That's just my view and take on it.

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