Unconventional vBulletin Inspiration

[Gio~Logist]

I've been lurking around recently and I've noticed more and more people are working particularly hard on going for the whole Web 2.0 look, or trying to make their website look like a magazine. I also see more people going for the clean/simple look but missing several elements on their mission. Hopefully we can all gather and exchange ideas here and spread the motivation.

First off, I am a strong believer in less designing and more tweaking. Unless you own some kind of candy lollipop forum or a graphics website or even a gaming website, I see no need to spend your time on intense, high-quality, large graphics. After the new millennium, i believe it's out with graphics and in with icons and royalty free images!

My favorite icon / royalty free image website:
www.istockphoto.com

Contrasting colors
Many people are extremely mislead when it comes to contrasting colors. Just because colors look good together doesn't mean they deserve to go against one-another. What do I mean? If you have a website with nothing more than every kind of brown known to mankind (light brown, dark brown, tan, wood, oakwood, morning-wood), yes - they will look decent, it's only logical. But is it the right move? Does it really contrast?

Contrast compare or appraise in respect to differences.

The keyword here is differences. Take vbulletin.org for example. Dark blue headings, light gray/white content backgrounds. It keeps things in perspective, makes you continue to read since the text contrasts perfectly (sticks out) against the backgrounds, and it keeps people browsing as oppose to simply glancing around.

Less designing, more tweaking
By tweaking, I don't mean changing your forumbit from 4 columns to 3. I mean truly taking the time to let your content design itself.

Letting your content design itself
www.fatboymag.com
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/
http://www.mascotas.cl/
http://www.trade2win.com/

All of these websites operate off of vBulletin. All of these websites have little actual design work done. Yet, all of these websites are amazingly designed and unconventionally unique. And although operating on the 3.8 series, all of them look far better than 4.0

FatBoyMag - Ran by a member on here I believe. The webmaster is aware that their members are highly concerned with images and eye candy. The first thing you see on that website is eye candy, not made on photoshop - but provided within content. The cleanliness of this module (an image with a light border, description, title, etc. separated by a few light lines) allows the content to design itself. They also make sure to include a list of categories and recent topics to give a user an exact idea of what this website is about. If someone has to ask what your website is about, you've done something wrong!

SitePoint - Aside from their amazing actual frontpage (separate from forums) they also have a rather decent forum front page. The forum list itself shouldn't always have to take up all the space, sp figures "lets give them some content, let them know what's going on". But their front page isn't even their most unconventional section. This website is actually known for it's marketplace. Most websites have a section where members can buy/trade/sell. But a simple thread doesn't always cut it. Don't be afraid to go above and beyond, raise the bar! The same goes for your articles.

Mascotas - I'm sorry, had to include one of my personal favorite pieces of work. I've programmed a series of websites for a network in chile, and all of their websites have the same thing in common let the content design itself. With these websites we think about what we want to show, before how we want it to look. We observe a series of large news websites and such and see how they let their content play out. We recognize that large fronts and strong/contrasting text is important. We recognize that incorporating pictures where possible makes for a great understanding of the content and website itself. We recognize that the better the homepage represents the website, the better the website will manage itself. Members love seeing their names on your homepage

Trade2Win - Content, Resources, Cleanliness. Everything from the # of registered users to recent forum discussion is properly placed on this homepage. Most people simply have these elements placed in a box and then place their focus on how pretty their header is. This website has a simple header, and focuses on how their content is presented. Each front-page module is given contrasting colors, different layouts (title, usernames, a few images, etc.), and unique icons.

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I originally made this for ProvB's article section but decided to share it here as well. I posted this in the lounge in hopes to get some more chat and other websites/ideas flowing. Sorry if ya feel it's misplaced ;p

[JacquiiDesigns]

Awesome tips Gio - One point of contention though....
I do not believe FatBoyMag is running vBulletin any longer.
Anyway - thanks for sharing this innovative write

Jacquii.

[GSeybold]

great thread geo. on the contrast issue however.. several of the most active vbulletin forums use the same shades of one colour.

[Gio~Logist]

Originally Posted by JacquiiCooke

Awesome tips Gio - One point of contention though....
I do not believe FatBoyMag is running vBulletin any longer.
Anyway - thanks for sharing this innovative write

Jacquii.

Ah, great catch. I could have sworn they are. Nonetheless, I'll leave it there simply because we're thinking outside the box and believe it or not, that frontpage is 100% possible with vBulletin, and would take no more than a few days to code

Thanks for the feed Jacquii, always appreciate your input!

Originally Posted by GSeybold

great thread geo. on the contrast issue however.. several of the most active vbulletin forums use the same shades of one colour.

Thanks : ) And you're right! But the question is, do they contrast well enough to be able to distinguish text and links or do the links and text just fade in the midst? That's the only time I think there should be a concern.

[Adrian Schneider]

I don't think SitePoint deserves it... they are running WordPress / custom code. Their actual vBulletin stuff looks mostly stock to me.

[Gio~Logist]

Originally Posted by SirAdrian

I don't think SitePoint deserves it... they are running WordPress / custom code. Their actual vBulletin stuff looks mostly stock to me.

Yea, agreed. Hence why I really only placed emphasis on articles and marketplace. The ability to take the usual forum system and transform it into something that much more dedicated and catered to specific needs.

Any other websites you think should be included? You know what website (non-vb) I think is really well-designed even in terms of graphics (for those who like those kind of designs)?

www.rockettheme.com

Insane :up:

[kevcj]

Originally Posted by SirAdrian

I don't think SitePoint deserves it... .

I have to agree with that point. There are a lot better examples out there then sitepoint.

[Gio~Logist]

I agreed as well. How about you guys share some input? I just gave a few off the top of my head.

[Caddyman]

im inspired, thank you Gio

[Gio~Logist]

Originally Posted by Caddyman

im inspired, thank you Gio

My pleasure Caddy As always, I'm sure you'll take this article into perspective and surprise us all soon enough