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Nice choices this month!
- The World of Politics: a bit foreboding and militaristic for me, although of course since it's a discussion site about politics and the military, I guess the latter part makes sense! Communitywise, I like the admin's fairness in a topic that is especially contentious these days. (Even so, I couldn't read some threads without wanting to smack a couple of the posters! Not that this is the site owner's fault, LOL!) In any event, the design isn't much different from default, so points off there.
- Vbulletin-Style: Wow! Vb-S is certainly moving towards being a wonderful resource for vB admins, as all the other Floris-run sites I've seen are already. Not sure it's there quite yet, but it's awfully new as far as I can tell, so I can't quite judge that yet. Stylewise, it seems to be a blue version of the Professional template as seen on vbulletin-fans, right? Makes sense to have a unifying look across related sites, and it is a very nice adaptation of the template. (Except for those darn penguins, which are cute but -- as a background image -- don't really work for me.)
- GreenHybrid: What I know about hybrids you could stuff in a thimble and still have room left over for a gas-guzzling SUV. That said? This site is as neat and clean as one of the cars it idolizes, and best of all, it's highly original & attractive to boot. The integrated features such as the articles, comparison database, front page, and photo gallery fit in smoothly and seamlessly. (That comparison database is particularly gorgeous -- is that vbGarage or an original program?) My only real negative is the dark tan background, which seems to come out of nowhere. I'd love to see an orange or green background to match the logo, or a soft blue to fit in with the faded background of that sleek, lovely menu. Otherwise, this is a winner.
- WarBoards: Quite a slick front page there, with a look that captures the ice-cold metal appearance of a sword and shield. The logo is very attractive -- regal, really -- and best of all, adds some needed color to what's otherwise a nearly monochrome style; in fact, I kinda wish some of the muted colors had been used sparingly in either the on/off icons or as some kind of accent on the category headings. As with hybrid cars, I'm not familiar with Warcraft or similar games (I'm a FPS gal, meself), but one glance at the incredibly active boards shows that the community is flourishing. Finally, a small note: on my dialup connection, that postbit took forever to download.
TalkWeed: Holy cow is that a great background or what? I know it's just a fade but it just smacks me in the face with its coolness. Anyway. At first glance the site impressed me with its gunmetal silver and sleek green color scheme, but the more I looked at it, I realized that I'd actually have expected a forum related to this topic to have a style that's a bit more ... oh, I dunno, fun maybe? This seems like such a Serious, No Funny-Business Allowed design for a community devoted to gettin' toasted.
Another downside -- as an editor I can't help but notice the spelling errors on all-too-prominent display. ("Add" instead of Ad and "Members's" instead of Members' are both on forumhome.) I know that's nitpicky but, well, bad editing does affect my impressions of a site. Just MHO though; I strongly suspect that the target audience for TW isn't as anal retentive as I am! 
On the plus side, I love the photos visible on the homepage courtesy of vBGarage! Nice touch.
So that's my take on this month's nominees, for what it's worth. My choice for winner: Green Hybrid, with VB-Style a close second. Well done, all!
- The World of Politics: a bit foreboding and militaristic for me, although of course since it's a discussion site about politics and the military, I guess the latter part makes sense! Communitywise, I like the admin's fairness in a topic that is especially contentious these days. (Even so, I couldn't read some threads without wanting to smack a couple of the posters! Not that this is the site owner's fault, LOL!) In any event, the design isn't much different from default, so points off there.
- Vbulletin-Style: Wow! Vb-S is certainly moving towards being a wonderful resource for vB admins, as all the other Floris-run sites I've seen are already. Not sure it's there quite yet, but it's awfully new as far as I can tell, so I can't quite judge that yet. Stylewise, it seems to be a blue version of the Professional template as seen on vbulletin-fans, right? Makes sense to have a unifying look across related sites, and it is a very nice adaptation of the template. (Except for those darn penguins, which are cute but -- as a background image -- don't really work for me.)
- GreenHybrid: What I know about hybrids you could stuff in a thimble and still have room left over for a gas-guzzling SUV. That said? This site is as neat and clean as one of the cars it idolizes, and best of all, it's highly original & attractive to boot. The integrated features such as the articles, comparison database, front page, and photo gallery fit in smoothly and seamlessly. (That comparison database is particularly gorgeous -- is that vbGarage or an original program?) My only real negative is the dark tan background, which seems to come out of nowhere. I'd love to see an orange or green background to match the logo, or a soft blue to fit in with the faded background of that sleek, lovely menu. Otherwise, this is a winner.
- WarBoards: Quite a slick front page there, with a look that captures the ice-cold metal appearance of a sword and shield. The logo is very attractive -- regal, really -- and best of all, adds some needed color to what's otherwise a nearly monochrome style; in fact, I kinda wish some of the muted colors had been used sparingly in either the on/off icons or as some kind of accent on the category headings. As with hybrid cars, I'm not familiar with Warcraft or similar games (I'm a FPS gal, meself), but one glance at the incredibly active boards shows that the community is flourishing. Finally, a small note: on my dialup connection, that postbit took forever to download.
TalkWeed: Holy cow is that a great background or what? I know it's just a fade but it just smacks me in the face with its coolness. Anyway. At first glance the site impressed me with its gunmetal silver and sleek green color scheme, but the more I looked at it, I realized that I'd actually have expected a forum related to this topic to have a style that's a bit more ... oh, I dunno, fun maybe? This seems like such a Serious, No Funny-Business Allowed design for a community devoted to gettin' toasted.
Another downside -- as an editor I can't help but notice the spelling errors on all-too-prominent display. ("Add" instead of Ad and "Members's" instead of Members' are both on forumhome.) I know that's nitpicky but, well, bad editing does affect my impressions of a site. Just MHO though; I strongly suspect that the target audience for TW isn't as anal retentive as I am! On the plus side, I love the photos visible on the homepage courtesy of vBGarage! Nice touch.So that's my take on this month's nominees, for what it's worth. My choice for winner: Green Hybrid, with VB-Style a close second. Well done, all!
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