The future of the forum

[Wildcat]

Yes, you see the stuff I have to wade through here?

[Wildcat]

OK, so how about something like this?

[Faceman]

That's pretty good if you are going for the male homosexual crowd...

[sunnyks]

I think the font is too hard to read.  What about some western old fashion looking blocky letters?  And since everyone seems to refer to horse forum by their initials maybe make the first letter of each word prominent?  Of course dearie, keep in mind its just my opinion and its really all in what you like best. 

[Wildcat]

Oh, so then Old English style of lettering would be out, as would calligraphy?  No Celtic scripts?   Your opinions matter...you guys do have a say. 

I'll be back with more options...

[GodofThunder]

This would clash with the theme but how about something like this?

[sunnyks]

Okay lets back up a bit.  I was thinking of ad type print. For ad type things you always use a very clear easy to read font.  But if your talking about themes then that might change things a bit.  Where exactly are you putting it?

[GodofThunder]

I was talking to wildcat about doing a new theme for the forum, Something like a barn theme with wood grain and a background picture of some kind of horse related scene.

[Wildcat]

Well, up at the top of the forum, where it says "simple machine forums" is where I'm trying to put a logo.  Let's change that terminology to "banner", instead of "logo".  So, I'm looking to create a banner for that area and it won't be any bigger than the current banner.  Since we've already got "GetYourHorseForum" on top the left hand side, making something with just the initials would work just fine.

Matt has changed the game.  He's talking about a complete overhaul of the theme, using an opaque background picture that the forum would be in front of.  Anyone care to weigh in on that?

[sunnyks]

I've never seen that kind of background so I have no frame of reference.  That wood grain makes me think of the old station wagons.    I do like it but would that mean Wildcat would have to give up her "dreamy" theme?   See I think what we have now is a girls vs guys idea of what looks good.

[Wildcat]

I'm not worried so much about this theme.  If it stays, it stays, if we replace it something else, that's fine too. 

Here's an example of a background image.  The forum basically sits on top of the image... http://custom.simplemachines.org/themes/index.php?action=download;lemma=140;id=724;image  The image can be bold, like in this example, or it can be "softened".

But another option we have is creating a theme however we want.  Now that's I've been in the code and have seen what I'd need to do to make modifications, it's not a big deal, really.  I wanted this color scheme to match the classified side, but since I'm not finished building that yet, I can't say that it will be this color scheme.  Really, there's no reason they have to match...

[Faceman]

That one is way too busy...

It's a hard call because you have two camps of people - English and Western. It will be hard to find something that fits both, but I know you can do it...

[Wildcat]

I know it is too busy, but it was just an example of how the forum would sit on top of a background image.  The background image, of course, could be just about anything.  It doesn't have to be an old west style town, it could be a simple picture of a horse.  Though I'll let my preference be known...I don't care for background imagines.  I've seen them done like the example I posted where the forum is on top, and I've seen them done where the forum has a slight transparency to it so the background imagine comes through.  It's distracting from the content, and it can make the forum take longer to load, especially for people on dial-up.

But we can do any style theme.  Changing colors is simple.  I can create a simple banner with the forum's initial to replace the existing one, or we can scrap that area and start over with a banner that goes across the top and has a bunch of horses on it.  Our choices are limitless.  What's more, my dad will be coming to stay with us for the weekend and he's an awesome graphic artist.  He's been teaching me the ins and outs of various Adobe products, like Illustrator and Photoshop, but he is, by far, the master.  So, if we want graphics of any kind, now would be a good time to speak up.   (BTW, I passed along the old west style font idea to him, he came back with the font we'd need, and said we'll work on creating something with that this weekend.)

[EquineLaw78]

GoT's example made me think of a brass halter/saddle nameplate.  What if you did something like that?  Maybe you could even have part of a halter cheekpiece on a horse and sort of blur the edges and let it fade out?

Do both English and western folk put brass nameplates on fancy halters?

Otherwise, what about a collage of stock photos showing several different disciplines with "Get Your Horse" superimposed?  You could focus on the horses legs - that's the easiest way to determine a discipline at first glance.  Have a cutting horse, barrel horse, halter horse, jumping, racing, saddleseat...

Or you could have a silhouette of a horse and a person touching foreheads together, person holding a leadrope in hand.  That's a little mushier though.

Anyway, I'm actually supposed to focusing all my energy on updating a resume...

Sorry that I haven't chimed in before.  I have browser issues with Safari on my iPhone with the forum.  When I get to a real computer, I check in!

[sunnyks]

Brass name plate thing is cool.