EpiGuide - Web Entertainment Community

[kira]

Hi everyone. The EpiGuide is pretty much the first and only community devoted to online entertainment, in particular ongoing series / websoaps. We currently consist mostly of creative types who produce these small series, but my aim has always been to attract the audience that will appreciate this new form of entertainment. We create articles about the series to highlight interesting plotlines & characters, as well as writing behind-the-scenes production help (such as how to write more effectively, webhosting reviews, etc.)

After an endless period of procrastination, I've finally moved our small community from vb2 to vb3.5 this week. Woohoo! I also took advantage of the opportunity to revamp my site's design and create a unique style from the ground up.

Originally I was planning to use a customized skin from a commercial site, but as much as I liked the final result that the designer created, I realized that I'd only be truly satisfied with something unique. The end result is probably not as sleek or professional as the commercial skins, but I'm still pretty happy 'cause I know it came from my heart and affection for the community.

Anyway. Things to look at include:

- Layout of the forumbits on forumhome; very different from the ordinary. I wanted something much less traditional.

- Completely revamped navbar that uses a different dropdown script altogether;

- Custom statusicons for each forum;

- Sidebar that pulls content from our directory (the wonderful "Links & Downloads Manager" by the woefully underrecognized AndrewD), chat room stats, latest threads, etc.;

- User profiles using a tweaked version of the MySpace profile rewrite;

- Spiffy postbit;

- Tons of mods including vbJournal, FlashChat (thanks to Paul's awesome integration), quizzes (none created yet), the abovementioned directory (with a highly customized linkbit), vbPlaza, welcome headers, personalized stickies, and more! All of which have been tweaked a bit to maintain the theme throughout.

(Note: The articles section isn't currently using any special style, but it will be. I've purchased GARS but haven't been able to customize it to my liking yet, so currently the article area just looks like a regular forum.)

All in all, this was a MASSIVE undertaking, my first vb3 style attempt, and I know I'm not done fixing stuff. I'd love your opinions on this, and I'll be very grateful if anyone has any suggestions on improving things.

The link is: http://www.epiguide.com

Many thanks for any feedback and ideas you can provide!

[Roms]

Very nice style. They layout takes a bit to get used to but it still very functional.

I don't care for the icon legend ( ie: new posts, old posts) on top, but that's just a style preference...

[vBSkins]

Wow, very nice style indeed! Great job on the forum Kira!

[kira]

Thanks so much for the feedback, guys!

I know, Roms, I went back and forth on where to place the icon legend. Normally I'd have kept it at the bottom. With the statusicons being pretty unusual, however, it seemed best to get the info right up top, rather than having people scroll. (Especially since it's a fairly long forumhome page.)

Once our community gets used to things, maybe I'll move 'em back down?

vBskins, I really appreciate your kind words.

Thanks for taking the time to check the site out!

[Roms]

Originally Posted by kira

Once our community gets used to things, maybe I'll move 'em back down?

Just a thought... but how about keeping them on top but a smaller version for the legend (1/2 reduced image size)?

Either way it's still a great design and I'm sure you'll do well.

[smacklan]

beautiful work Kira!

[kira]

Wow, thanks, John! That means a great deal to me, as I really respect and admire your work at vbskinworks.

Originally Posted by Roms

Just a thought... but how about keeping them on top but a smaller version for the legend (1/2 reduced image size)?

Either way it's still a great design and I'm sure you'll do well.

That's a very good idea, Roms! I'll definitely work on that. And thanks again to you too for your flattering comments.

[bogie]

As I told you on EpiGuide, I love it Kira!

[peterska2]

I like it, although it didn't load quite quickly enough for me. It took around 25 seconds to be fully loaded.

I like your graphics for your category icons along with the last post section which is very unique. You have a good mix between standard forums and columnar forums.

I particularly like your mix of postbits for your different sections.

Overall, a great looking site and one that I would probably visit regular if I had more time to browse. top marks :banana: