XenForo 'Stepping stone' skin for VB 3.x?

[MGSteve]

Ok, before someone says 'why are you asking about a skin for VB on XenForo.com' - hear me out!

No one likes change. Its a fact. Least of all natives on an internet forum. Even a minor update will trigger howls of protests and demands to 'put that post button back to where it was' or alike.

So, it got me thinking. Has anyone created a skin for VB 3.8x that sort of acts as a half way house between VB and XF?

If we simply ditched vB and went straight into XF, we'd be lynched. The natives on the site would probably form into a lynch mob and hunt the admins responsible (i.e. me) down! Yes XF may (well, is) far superior to vB, but try telling that to Paul from Doncaster who is now ranting away saying how he loved the old layout and he's lost in the new forum!

So, my thoughts were, hit them with a new skin for vB that say, moves the vB main menu into a XenForo style menu, with the UserCP links in a menu over on the right - the main Interface points are key here. Not so much the look & feel of XF, more moving the key menus and buttons into the rough areas where they are in XF.

I suspect there would be a market for such a skin and it would make migrations for big sites a bit easier as the natives would get a chance to get used to the new locations before all hell breaks loose when they load up one day and find that the world has changed and XF is being used!

(btw, if there is a better forum category for this to go in, please feel free to move it.)

 

[dieketzer]

Ok, before someone says 'why are you asking about a skin for VB on XenForo.com' - hear me out!

No one likes change. Its a fact. Least of all natives on an internet forum. Even a minor update will trigger howls of protests and demands to 'put that post button back to where it was' or alike.

So, it got me thinking. Has anyone created a skin for VB 3.8x that sort of acts as a half way house between VB and XF?

If we simply ditched vB and went straight into XF, we'd be lynched. The natives on the site would probably form into a lynch mob and hunt the admins responsible (i.e. me) down! Yes XF may (well, is) far superior to vB, but try telling that to Paul from Doncaster who is now ranting away saying how he loved the old layout and he's lost in the new forum!

So, my thoughts were, hit them with a new skin for vB that say, moves the vB main menu into a XenForo style menu, with the UserCP links in a menu over on the right - the main Interface points are key here. Not so much the look & feel of XF, more moving the key menus and buttons into the rough areas where they are in XF.

I suspect there would be a market for such a skin and it would make migrations for big sites a bit easier as the natives would get a chance to get used to the new locations before all hell breaks loose when they load up one day and find that the world has changed and XF is being used!

i recall kier having one!

 

[Paul B]

(btw, if there is a better forum category for this to go in, please feel free to move it.)

As it relates to a style for vB, I've moved it to off topic.

 

[dieketzer]

i considered it for about 2 seconds.

 

[dieketzer]

oh, i mistunderstood. i thought it was a vb skin for xf.
mark b? made one (xf-esque skin for vb) for his forum, but i dont think he released it.

eta: yes, it was mark: http://www.bowlandcentral.com/forum/

 

[James]

I agree that this would be a great idea. Members on a forum that I frequent happen to hate, despite, detest change from the vB 3.8 because it's "the norm". A vB skin that helps transition the change would be good.

 

[Paul B]

If they hate change, how would you make a transition skin?

vB and XF are very different so which elements would you change as a single step?
Or would you have more than 1 step?

In my experience a small percentage of members complain but soon get over it.

 

[kkm323]

trust me i wanted to create a thread to demand such as thing
but i couldn't simply becuase i love xf the way it is now
my forum's mods and members refuse to agree that xf is better than vb and they wanted "at least the look for my old forum"
i would like to see something like this too
liked your thread is %100 true

 

[FredC]

Just for the record when we moved away from vB4 (2000 active member community) to XF Beta3 something very strange and unheard of happened.. Nobody (ZERO) complained.. Interesting since moving from 3.8 to 4.0 almost wiped me out member wise and i had to deal with complaints for weeks.. One of the things i did though was create a XF Demo forum for my community and encouraged them to register and push all the different buttons.. By the time we actually moved away from vB the members where begging for the switch.. It was very different from previous experiences when migrating to new or updated software. But im not joking even a little bit.. Members just love XF..

 

[MGSteve]

Yeah, that's a decent point about the demo server. You'll always get some who'll moan afterwards that they still don't like it, but that's life I guess.

But its probably enough to deal with the majority of situations. Probably either would work well to be honest, a transition skin or a demo site. The demo site, thinking about it, is probably the best option. Its then only 1 change and they get to play with it before it happens.

hmm, have I just 'unliked' my own suggestion! lol

 

[Rigel Kentaurus]

when we moved away from vB4 to XF Beta3 .. Nobody (ZERO) complained..

moving from 3.8 to 4.0 almost wiped me out member wise

So, you are pretty much saying that nobody complaint because the first move wiped you out member wise and there was nobody left to complain

 

[Digital Doctor]

So, you are pretty much saying that nobody complaint because the first move wiped you out member wise and there was nobody left to complain

/giggle.

 

[Panupat]

People are afraid of change, it's just natural. But once the change happened, it's another story. They might even like it.

 

[FredC]

So, you are pretty much saying that nobody complaint because the first move wiped you out member wise and there was nobody left to complain

lol i suppose "about wiped out" was a bit strong.. but i did lose a cpl hundred members the first couple weeks and it took forever to make that up.. Where XF Actually brought old members back.