XenForo beauty Contest

[Peggy]

In my opinion none of the skins ive seen so far on xenforo sites qualifies as a decent skin in my books. When i mention decent i mean the whole design concept not being exactly the same as the xenforos default skin that you see. Postbar display, forum displays are same. Theres no radical changes that ive seen so far. The only concept that intrigues me is what forsaken has posted who said his friend might consider making this skin for xenforo
http://cl.ly/68e130dc88666b1e1cc7

Why do there have to be "radical changes" to make it a decent skin? I want something that loads fast, runs fast, and is easy on the eyes. I would dare to say that most
people want the same things. A skin doesn't have to be all willy-wonkered, coded, and moved around, to be decent, in my eyes.

 

[John]

my vote would go for http://www.gamingmasters.co.uk/, in my opinion the only XenForo site so far that hasn't just modified the header logo and background. Kept it clean and good use of colors.

there are a few more that I like, but I'll just limit my vote to one for now for easier count.

I think the owner of that site should have the decency to at least link to the proper owner of that design...that is if they have even been given permission to use the graphics in the first place.

 

[maidos]

again this is only my opinion, the less changes the less quality of the actual skin i see since a custom skin is supposed to be different towards the default style. It is not intended to have too much simalarity with the default one.
Radical changes doesnt mean it will handicap the quality of the forum service. Radical changes can just mean reorganize the display and change the perception how we see forum

 

[Sean S]

I think the owner of that site should have the decency to at least link to the proper owner of that design...that is if they have even been given permission to use the graphics in the first place.

interesting point there John, I was not aware of that.

 

[Forsaken]

again this is only my opinion, the less changes the less quality of the actual skin i see since a custom skin is supposed to be different towards the default style. It is not intended to have too much simalarity with the default one.
Radical changes doesnt mean it will handicap the quality of the forum service. Radical changes can just mean reorganize the display and change the perception how we see forum

The thing is, the example you used just moved a few sections to the top. For the most part, the site would still be the same layout as XenForo is.

 

[Peggy]

again this is only my opinion, the less changes the less quality of the actual skin i see since a custom skin is supposed to be different towards the default style. It is not intended to have too much simalarity with the default one.
Radical changes doesnt mean it will handicap the quality of the forum service. Radical changes can just mean reorganize the display and change the perception how we see forum

Then we will have to agree to disagree.

 

[Shelley]

The thing is, the example you used just moved a few sections to the top. For the most part, the site would still be the same layout as XenForo is.

The best styles I've seen have been accomplished doing colour changes and minute changes to the layout. Simplicity, good colour usage and a creative mind can and often do surpass radical changes. I'm not saying a total overhaul on the default layout is a bad thing, it's not. But bare in mind and never underestimate "simplicity" and good colour usage.

 

[AnthonyCea]

We do need some innovation, most of the designs so far are not earth shaking.

 

[Forsaken]

The best styles I've seen have been accomplished doing colour changes and minute changes to the layout. Simplicity, good colour usage and a creative mind can and often do surpass radical changes. I'm not saying a total overhaul on the default layout is a bad thing, it's not. But bare in mind and never underestimate "simplicity" and good colour usage.

Yeah, my point was that there isn't much difference between the style my friend did in the mockup, and that of many of the more custom styles posted around this site.

We do need some innovation, most of the designs so far are not earth shaking.

I wouldn't want an 'earth shaking' design; it would detract from the content for the most part.

Other then the footer and the header/navigation on my site, I'm keeping most things minimal with slight embellishments to bring out the style. If I went for a more heavy site, it would detract from the content and from the media being posted, and either be ignored, or be complained about.

 

[Ryan]

I think the owner of that site should have the decency to at least link to the proper owner of that design...that is if they have even been given permission to use the graphics in the first place.

*sigh*

No permission granted. Email en-route.

 

[AnthonyCea]

I want to see "earth shaking designs" Forsaken, maybe you don't and that is fine.

 

[Forsaken]

I want to see "earth shaking designs" Forsaken, maybe you don't and that is fine.

My post was "I wouldn't want" meaning, I myself, wouldn't want an earth shaking design, for the reasons I gave.

If I ran a graphic community, I'd probably do something more graphic heavy, and much more modified. The problem is once you start doing 'earth shaking' design is you're going to be sacrificing usability and accessibility at some point.

If people feel like doing earth shaking designs, more power to them, however as someone who has done my own style, I gave my reasons for keeping it the way I've kept it to this point.

 

[Russ]

In fairness, I don't think anybody wants to dedicate lots of time to producing massively-customized skins at this point, given that we are only in the second public release, which is still a beta, and there is a warning out that the style properties and CSS systems are still very much in flux.

Give it time and you'll see some stunning stuff, I'm sure.

Exactly, I'm not diving too terribly deep into skinning for the sole reason the software is still beta. GRANTED this beta software exceeds my needs already and I have no problems so far but I'll wait until the first version is out. Currently I'm just toying around with the styling system(and loving it) but I look forward to getting my hands dirty when the times right.

As for the original topic I've seen some really nice skins, Flexile is a wonderful new style release, simple but more than just some color palette changes

 

[Jethro]

In fairness, I don't think anybody wants to dedicate lots of time to producing massively-customized skins at this point, given that we are only in the second public release, which is still a beta, and there is a warning out that the style properties and CSS systems are still very much in flux.

Give it time and you'll see some stunning stuff, I'm sure.

Yes I've thus far hung off till beta 2 ... oh wait you said stunning stuff ... opps!

 

[Kim]

I think it is unlikely you will see radical changes, certainly not whilst the software is still beta anyway.

Given how incredibly well designed the UI is on xenforo, perhaps only ever as a "can we do this" but in terms of functionality and usability .. they got it right, so you don't need to pull it apart and stick it back together unlike other forum software you might have used

 

[Floris]

Since I haven't created a style and made only minor changes, and we're not going to improve on any of this while it's in beta, while I appreciate the feedback, I do not feel it's worth considering mine as an option.

 

[Jethro]

I want to see "earth shaking designs" Forsaken, maybe you don't and that is fine.

I believe you may get your wish after the final release of 1.0, there's some top notch designers working away on some pretty cool looking stuff

On a sort of related subjected, anyone else grooving to the Xen skinning engine? Finding it a real niece piece of software to use after labouring away with IPS's equiv.

 

[Peggy]

I'm having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around it all, but only because I have so much else going on probably.

 

[Shelley]

I believe you may get your wish after the final release of 1.0, there's some top notch designers working away on some pretty cool looking stuff

On a sort of related subjected, anyone else grooving to the Xen skinning engine? Finding it a real niece piece of software to use after labouring away with IPS's equiv.

I'm enjoying the style system. Without a shadow of a doubt it's easily the best styling engine and beats vb3, ipb (vb4 but then anything beats that).

 

[Kim]

again this is only my opinion, the less changes the less quality of the actual skin i see since a custom skin is supposed to be different towards the default style. It is not intended to have too much simalarity with the default one.
Radical changes doesnt mean it will handicap the quality of the forum service. Radical changes can just mean reorganize the display and change the perception how we see forum

Yes it is your opinion and you are of course welcome to it "Change" has absolutely nothing to do with Quality, to equate the two is just nonsense, the very best skins I have seen change very little of the layout, perhaps they might move this or tweak that, Add this or that, but certainly not in the "Radical Change" mode.

I can assure you with 8 years of professional Custom Skinning behind me it is not what most Admins want Radical Change is the last thing they usually want, yes they want it to look different to the default skin, yes they want it High Quality, professional and beautiful, but in my experience functionality is almost always paramount, and I have only had perhaps 3 Radical Change requests in that time, so it is a minority view.

This could be because I mainly work with Adults who run serious hobby, or business sites however, I am sure Radical Change has it's market like anything else.