Making a theme need suggestions

[Dr.CustUmz]

UPDATE CAN BE FOUND HERE

***and yes their is a live preview, http://vb3.dirtrif.com/ although theres not much to see that you cant see in the image so far; but you can watch the development =) ***
So a little over a year ago I made this mockup in PS of what (at the time) i invisioned as my ultimate "i wish" theme:


I got out of designing for a while; was doing construction, but now im back at it and I decided i wanted to make this theme a reality. So ive started to work on it over the past 2 days, and in my opinion it's looking great so far:

thats just ONE of the many layout variations there are; and this is all done with NO PLUGINS the only plugin is for the avatars (and boy was that a pain in the ass lol)

I know have the forumbits nearly complete; which in my opinion can be some of the hardest parts to do when creating a UNIQUE theme. Thats why i wanted to knock them out first.

So my problem, when i mocked this theme up I only made a forumhome image. So i want to ask the community what would YOU like to see in this theme, keeping in mind this is supposed to have that metroish feel (hence the name of it since i first released the mockup image)

I have some crazy ideas that i EVENTUALLY will let you guys in on, but for now i want the communities feedback. If its something possible with HTML and CSS i can and will make it happen if the ideas good.

if its something that would require a plugin, i cant promise anything but if the ideas good enough i will try my best.

also, i HAVE NOT decided if this will be a free or payed theme yet or i may even release it to only one user or one buyer, it really all depends what i put into it you know. cause time is money and thats something i dont have since i quit my job to try this designing thing out again.

so let me know your opinions on that part too... should i mass sell for cheap and hope a bunch of people buy it, unique sell and hope i make what its worth, or free release and PREY for donations?

[Max Taxable]

I think you have a good eye. You're taking the old 3.8.8 platform and making it look 21st century. The avatars turning into circles on hover is really sharp.

I don't have any suggestions for you though, except either you might want to lose this huge image that isn't visible on render anyway:

http://cartoondistrict.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Batman-HD-Wallpapers-for-Desktop-3.jpg

Or at least use this optimized one of that I'm providing, and host it locally:

http://dallascowboysuniverse.com/batmanwallpaper.jpg

You also have two 404 not found errors on images:

http://dirtrif.com/drc/v1/css/images/gradients/gradient_thead.gif

AND

http://dirtrif.com/drc/v1/css/images/gradients/gradient_tcat.gif

The style looks very promising.

[Dr.CustUmz]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

I think you have a good eye. You're taking the old 3.8.8 platform and making it look 21st century. The avatars turning into circles on hover is really sharp.

I don't have any suggestions for you though, except either you might want to lose this huge image that isn't visible on render anyway:

http://cartoondistrict.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Batman-HD-Wallpapers-for-Desktop-3.jpg

Or at least use this optimized one of that I'm providing, and host it locally:

http://dallascowboysuniverse.com/batmanwallpaper.jpg

You also have two 404 not found errors on images:

http://dirtrif.com/drc/v1/css/images/gradients/gradient_thead.gif

AND

http://dirtrif.com/drc/v1/css/images/gradients/gradient_tcat.gif

The style looks very promising.

thanks max, that first image is actually a secret lol. when you hit the log out button (login with test password: 123) youll see what it does lol, and yeah i planed on getting different images just used external ones while im working on things, it speeds up production then i can just go back and replace the images when its done =) (like all those icons that are the same in the background for instance)

and the other 2 are cause i took the default stylesheet put it an an external file and edit my css that way, still havent gotten to the goign back and changing default vb css part yet lol. but i have noticed those errors in chrome

btw feel free to post, add an avatar, or w/e with that account this isnt a real board its just so i can tinker with stuff (for now atleast)

[Max Taxable]

Well, that's a hell of a big secret you're loading on browsers, 400kb by itself - even if not rendering it is still loading even for the guests.

[Dr.CustUmz]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

Well, that's a hell of a big secret you're loading on browsers, 400kb by itself - even if not rendering it is still loading even for the guests.

havent got to the if logged in part of it yet, keep in mind this is still VERY EARLY. not really looking for optimization quite yet. just getting it built.

[darnoldy]

Your FORUMHOME page is fubar... I didn't chase it down, but it looks like you have an unclosed tag somewhere (probably in the forumbit).

Also, there are a number of places where you need to maintain the table structure (primarily because some of the AJAX scripts need it) but forum home is not one of them. I think you'd be better-off getting rid of the main layout table and using a list or divs— coupled with "display:inline-block;" in the css.

--don

[Dr.CustUmz]

fubar.. really? well that's a little extreme. How about instead you tell me what you dont like about it, and what i could do to improve it. but thanks for informing me about the unclosed ill chase that down.

[darnoldy]

It wasn't a comment on the design...There are bits and pieces floating in strange places (see attached).

[Dr.CustUmz]

Originally Posted by darnoldy

It wasn't a comment on the design...There are bits and pieces floating in strange places (see attached).

o crap fubar is correct lol. what browser is that? safari? and try in google chrome

[darnoldy]

Firefox... just tried in Safari, looks fine there.