Desiging Skins

[legionofangels]

Originally Posted by Princeton

too much eyecandy for me

you should be asking your visitors .. they are the ones using your site

keep in mind, a drastic change in any interface will cause havoc

I hope the eye candy thing wasn't directed towards me, I wouldn't take it as insulting, I'd just disagree. I mean, we're still using VB gradient designs for sub-headers and footers, the headers are getting a lil graphical, we changed the bulletin boards because I hate them, and so on. Aside from that all of the small folder icons and such are standard VB with the tables simply going through color changes. So there really isn't a lot of "custom" on my own forums. However that dudes is off the chart with eye candy, so I think you're referring to his.

I dunno it's a great look, I think what hurts him is his honesty on not marketing enough and possibly his topic of coverage. But the overall design work put into it is incredible. I don't think too flashy either, it just looks really nice.

I guess overall I was wondering what designers liked to do moreso from time to time, as well as what forum owners have noticed in regards to the skins' they've added. Do custom one's work better than variations of VB standard? Or do you keep it as simple as possible with just color changes?