vBulletin 4 - New theme?

[MRGTB]

The IPB3 preview is now public. It's not THAT bad. Does quite improvements but nothing an admin cannot change him/herself. I like some of the things implemented in it but there are some things that need improving definitely. This is why they are showing what they have so far at alpha stage rather than beta stage, so they can make necessary changes without too much hassle.

I think the problem with major changes (ie IPB3 and vB 4) is people hate change. They like things to stay the way they are. All it takes is a few hours of getting used to it and you will forget what the old thing looked like. There will be disappointed users when vB 4 comes out same with vB 4.1, 5, 6, 100. It's impossible to please everyone. Everyone has their own needs and desires. Keep that in mind .

Thanks for the heads-up on the preview going public, just been over for a peep.

Where shall I start!

Post Icons: I'm used to seeing IPB using "very professional" looking post icons (much better than vbulletins it has to be said). Now though, they look very bad indeed, in fact worse than vBulletins

Right Tab (on forum categories): Is it just me, or do they look "out of place" stuck right-up in the air like that. They would look better if they had rounded tops also. Being square makes them look stupid.

Menu Tabs: They've gone and created rounded menu tabs (top left), but kept the log-in box (top right) square. Creating a design clash, because there trying to mix old, with new web2 style. The log-in box should be rounded to match the menu tabs. And I would also say the same for the Right Tabs (on forum categories).

I still say the same as I said before. They have tried to mix old square corners with Web2 rounded corners. And it's doing nothing for me. It's one or the other - not a mix of the two together.

[whitetigergrowl]

Something for many of you to remember.

1. IPB 3 is in alpha. So quite a bit in terms of looks and how things are done can still change or be adjusted before beta...let alone before going gold. VB 4 will be the same way.

2. Technically IPB 3 uses virtually NO BUTTONS. See that quote button in one of the posts above here on vb.com? If you want to change it's name or colors you have to edit it in a program like photoshop for each button. IPB 3 DOES NOT do that. It's all done in CSS. Meaning if you wanted the quote button to say something else, you can. Without editing any files or editing any actual buttons.

Guaranteed some of you thinking VB 4 will be the end all be all, could very easily be let down by it. Be it how it looks or whatever.

As for social features. I see many forums where social groups just are not active and do not take off. IMO For a good majority of forums they aren't useless, but are darn close to it. IMO that is better left as a mod rather than just adding unneeded bloat.

[---MAD---]

Something for many of you to remember.

1. IPB 3 is in alpha. So quite a bit in terms of looks and how things are done can still change or be adjusted before beta...let alone before going gold. VB 4 will be the same way.

2. Technically IPB 3 uses virtually NO BUTTONS. See that quote button in one of the posts above here on vb.com? If you want to change it's name or colors you have to edit it in a program like photoshop for each button. IPB 3 DOES NOT do that. It's all done in CSS. Meaning if you wanted the quote button to say something else, you can. Without editing any files or editing any actual buttons.

Guaranteed some of you thinking VB 4 will be the end all be all, could very easily be let down by it. Be it how it looks or whatever.

As for social features. I see many forums where social groups just are not active and do not take off. IMO For a good majority of forums they aren't useless, but are darn close to it. IMO that is better left as a mod rather than just adding unneeded bloat.

I think everyone is aware IPB is in alpha stage and changes will be made to it where necessary.

[Dream]

2. Technically IPB 3 uses virtually NO BUTTONS. See that quote button in one of the posts above here on vb.com? If you want to change it's name or colors you have to edit it in a program like photoshop for each button. IPB 3 DOES NOT do that. It's all done in CSS. Meaning if you wanted the quote button to say something else, you can. Without editing any files or editing any actual buttons.

thats an awfully great idea. IPB gets points in my book every day.

[MRGTB]

While thats a good point to mention. And it is good that it can all be done via css.

How easy would it be to change the button style, and not just the text title. I work with css on my website, and it would be much harder to change the button style, rather than just the text title in it.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing, just pointing out that changing some text title in css one one thing, creating a new button style in css is another. But I guess this is all part of the new learning curve in IPB3.

Your also going to have to brush-up on your css "short-hand" code, because adding css the incorrect way, not using short-hand. Can slow your site down as your css style sheet grows in size.

[Quillz]

thats an awfully great idea. IPB gets points in my book every day.

I agree. That's one of the best things about IPB 3. Not only are they committed to making the CSS much easier to edit, but many of the board elements will be purely CSS, as well.

This is why I feel that even if you dislike the IPB 3 theme (and I can certainly understand why some would), it won't be nearly as big of an issue as it might have been before, assuming it's really as easy to alter as they claim it is. (We'll have to wait for a true public beta before we know for sure.)

I really do think vBulletin 4 should adopt a similar CSS-type layout. At the very least, please don't make large icon sets and shrink them down, as was done with vBulletin 3. It makes the quality suffer.

[TomJames]

I like the new IPB theme overall, seems very nice and stylish in a reserved manner, especially the memberlist. Some of the features like PMs etc also looks great. Look forward to seeing how VB 4 compares

[Dream]

Can anyone link me to the public new IPB forum?

[Ryan Ashbrook]

http://ipb3preview.ipslink.com/

I'm not fond of it, TBH. Granted yeah it's Web 2.0-ish but the more enhanced they make a skin, the less likely people are going to make drastic changes to it. Therefor, more forums are just going to start looking like each other, just with different colors.

[l SKN l CHRIS]

I personally like the new IPB theme. Does it have flaws? Yes. Is it still visually appealing and easy on the eyes with a nice interface? Well I think so. I ABSOLUTELY HATE the way the vBulletin profile pages are setup. They're AWFUL.

Well now that I'm done ranting I really hope that Jelsoft hires a professional design company(A really good one) to make the new theme.

[pank]

I know the new IPB design is not completed but it does not validate

http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fipb3preview.ipslink.com%2F

Their current skin does validate so hopefully the new design will when it's finalized....

[Dean C]

I agree. That's one of the best things about IPB 3. Not only are they committed to making the CSS much easier to edit, but many of the board elements will be purely CSS, as well.

This is why I feel that even if you dislike the IPB 3 theme (and I can certainly understand why some would), it won't be nearly as big of an issue as it might have been before, assuming it's really as easy to alter as they claim it is. (We'll have to wait for a true public beta before we know for sure.)

I really do think vBulletin 4 should adopt a similar CSS-type layout. At the very least, please don't make large icon sets and shrink them down, as was done with vBulletin 3. It makes the quality suffer.

It's 4923 lines of CSS as it stands today. You call that easy to edit?

[MRGTB]

I know the new IPB design is not completed but it does not validate

http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%2Fipb3preview.ipslink.com%2F

Their current skin does validate so hopefully the new design will when it's finalized....

Mmmmm, this can be an issue sometimes with URL address posted on a page by a person. Sometimes I post a URL address when creating an article to link to a site. But some dynamic URL addresses have certain characters in them that break the W3C Strict allowed usage. Meaning your whole page can be W3C strict, and by just posting a Dynamic URL link in a post on that page that contains characters not allowed. The whole page then doesn't validate to strict anymore, when in fact it does really - and the link you just posted in a thread is the issue causing it.

Another problem I see here (maybe) is this like in the result.

…iew.ipslink.com/index.php?app=forums&module=ajax&section=markasread&forumid

& as to be replaced with &

you cannot use "&" in strict like that.

Should be like this I would have thought.

iew.ipslink.com/index.php?app=forums&module=ajax&section=markasread&forumid

Also in this code that failed.

…f_cat_read.png' alt='Read category' />",

I'd say thats there problem I highlighted in red, could be wrong though as I don't exactly known why they used quote marks there for

[Dream]

http://ipb3preview.ipslink.com/


I'm not fond of it, TBH. Granted yeah it's Web 2.0-ish but the more enhanced they make a skin, the less likely people are going to make drastic changes to it. Therefor, more forums are just going to start looking like each other, just with different colors.

Thanks that's looking good. I may get a license to play around when its released.

The latest threads and top posters on the front page is very nice.

I don't see places to put ads though. I'm also wondering about resource usage.

[Dismounted]

I'd say thats there problem I highlighted in red, could be wrong though as I don't exactly known why they used quote marks there for

A " has to be replaced with ".