Experimental Theme

[Tbone]

You'll notice the site's theme is slightly different at the moment.

I started experimenting with the banner and then the entire theme. Don't worry, the original theme is just a click away. I just thought I would get feedback on this direction.

I'm trying to create a bit more "pop" to the website - more contrast and maybe a bit more color, while still maintaining the integrity of the color scheme so that we don't have to do an entire overhaul.

Instead of the white/light gray we had going, it's a more white/dark gray/black scheme. The borders are sharper and darker. The banner has more white and black and almost no gray. I added blue to the SW font to give it a touch of color.

This color palette seems to still blend fine with the forums and everything else. This is my initial draft, though, so I'm just looking to see what reactions are. Obviously it is different and I'm sure a little jarring. Please put that aside and try to look at it objectively.

Do you like the sharper look? The brighter whites and darker blacks/gray? If so, why? If not, why not?

To be honest, our original theme makes the site easy to read, but it's always been a little bland. Also, we need to start moving a bit more towards Star Wars and away from Zion. I'd like to draw from this inspiration.

[Ragnarok]

Well I have to say that I really like the borders. I also like the blue that was added to the Aurebesh.

[ExternalError]

It makes the site even easier to read and it looks more defined. I like it.

[Saint]

I like it, gives it more definition and less white out... although I LOL because seems like we just did this a while back and a few of the old geisers cried fowl.. hehe

[ArchNemesis]

I'm liking the new theme.

I like the minimalism and this just seems nice on the eyes to me.

[Da6onet]

Don't like the box around the banner, would like to see what it would look like just floating up there.

[Ash]

Okay I guess I'll be the first one....

1) Dag's right the box around the banner isn't necessary
2) The new banner should have the following updates:
   

a. more depth to the words all around (I do like that color blue but it looks closer to purple than blue on some of the monitors I looked at it through)
     b. the Angel icons on either side need to be sharpened (proper resizing in PS should fix that) and possibly a different copy of the angel should be used (I see that there is a portion of the angel ring on the right that looks clipped)
     c. Try a gradient background to the banner itself or better yet leave the banner background as is and put a gradient behind the whole banner and see what that looks like.
     d. I'm also not liking the rocky appearance of the furious angel text but that is just one man's opinion.

3) I like how the rest of the frames stand out more, is there any way to get them to look like they're floating a few millimeters off the page?  I'd love to see if that's possible.

All in all I'm loving the darker grey look.

[Manic Velocity]

I preferred the rounded edges of the borders.  And the borders as a whole seem too dark .  They definitely stand out more, but it's as if someone took a black sharpie and drew boxes around everything.  There's a line (no pun intended) between defining an edge and drawing attention to the edge.

It doesn't feel very "angelic".

I'm not entirely sure how our CMS handles this, but if it's possible to use a background image inside the content boxes, that could go a long way towards giving them more definition.

I like the idea of adding some color.  Just keep in mind that with so much white, it would be best to use colors that aren't too saturated.  A saturated blue as opposed to a lighter blue might draw too much attention.

[NoCry]

I love it; normally I use chrome on my main computer but I loaded up IE 9 beta and came here - thought that it was just a different browser which made it look this cool. Really like it.

[Tbone]

1. I'll have to look into getting rid of the header border - it might be attached to the other borders.

2.b. I tried to create the white "glow" effect, but I got feedback that it didn't look good on the text as it lightened it. Taking it off the text, now I think the glow doesn't read and instead just doesn't look sharp. I'll see if I can go a different direction...

2.c. I like the white, but I can look into putting something either in the center portion of the banner or the outer portion (divided by the top and bottom lines) to create more depth. I don't believe a gradient on the header would work, as I think that is part of the theme design, and as such, would make a gradient on everything.

Manic - I'll have to look closer at the CSS to see what I can manipulate there. Right now I'm trying to keep it simple. I'll take a look at the borders and see what sort of balance I can come up with.

3. I'll experiment a bit with that.

[likwidtek]

While you're at it, the footer's border images need to be omitted as well.  

The box at the header and footer are both removable.  The theme php needs to be edited I believe.  It's the decoration for the TD backgrounds.

[Tbone]

This is the result of some of your feedback:

With grey:


Without grey:


I've lightened up the border a bit and, in doing so, I think made it pop out a bit more. I also strengthened the angel logos and created depth to the aurobesh with a shadow, though I'm not sure it's needed.

I don't really like the grey. I think I'll need to keep looking for some sort of effect to go there, but that was the general SHAPE I had in mind with adding a bit of variety to it.

I've looked in all the theme files, the header files, and the AutoTheme admin settings, and I've yet to find a way to get rid of the header and footer borders. I would just change the image, but the same images are in fact used for the rest of the borders on the site.

[Ash]

Can we lose the box around the banner all together and extend the gray out to both sides of the page?

[Tbone]

I can get rid of the box, but I don't think I can extend the grey. I can try extending the image to like 2000 width, but I think that might cause sizing issues...

By the way, I've been working on this page a bit.

[Tbone]

Yeah, it stretches the page to 2000 pixels, so I can't do that. I lessened up the grey a bit and threw it up there to see what it looks like. Take a look at the border and let me know if I should try applying that border to the rest of the site.