Help need for a site that sucks

[akchuck]

I had a forum awhile back and it went down before I got a chance to do anything with it.

I am starting a new one and I was looking for some input, I have my own ideas but it can?t hurt to get some input

Its at
http://forum.americusfama.com

It is really not online officially. But I have a graphic that I am hoping to use. Right now the thing looks really really sucky, I have looked at templates but I can?t seem to find the right one. I am a little hesitant to go completely Black or extremely dark mainly because I had hear its better to have light on Dark, and considering the effect it would have on Smilies and icons

I am looking for input on what template would look best
I am also looking for someone who could integrate Bloghoster with this so there would be one login. I bought it so I am going to use it at least for awhile. I have three other applications I am planning on adding

Also I am looking to add smilies

I am not looking for people selling things (But if you have something that is perfect let me know too) but more people who have been around and can make recommendations.

HEY I heard that that wasn?t nice, oh wait that was my mother.

[vbplusme]

You might want to explain what the goals of the site are so that people can get a sense of what the theme for the site is, for example, a gaming site has a very different look and feel than a site that focuses on exotic recipes and culinary arts. Get my drift? You logo looks political, that would dictate a much different choice of styles than the average gamer site would.

My other comment or response to your query is "you get what you pay for" ... you want totally free then you need to be pretty good with the code to do a lot of stuff yourself unless you can find an angel somewhere who shares your persuasion and passion.

HTH,

[akchuck]

The main goal is this site is general comments on current events, and this will be linked to another site that has information on current events.

I understand you get what you pay for, and I agree with the concept. But sometimes you don’t get what you pay for. The past two days I spent 90 percent of my time cleaning up a mistake by someone I had hired.

I bought scripts such as vbulletin, blog hoster etc to install. They instead installed community builder and spent an insane amount of time doing it. Joomla et al is a great product, but still it wasn’t what I asked for. The person explained very little, something I always ask for I think a decent person would explain things, and help me get my feet on the ground

I am more than willing to pay a reasonable amount, still I am a bit wary of just posting this the paid help section