RailRoadFan.com

Please look at both the greenglass and the dark eq types and tell us what you think with this poll. I will also add the old style into this poll. This poll is for Zack and I to get an idea of what you like about the site changes. Please remember, though these new colors look different, they don't work any differently then the basic silver one did. nothing changed except the colors. Personally I use and we proabally will keep for sure the greenglass.

k people We have more then 4 members...lets vote people........ASAP please

I have been using the dark EQ
Scooterb Vote has been cast

I'm not a fan of dark backgrounds. The bright text is harder to read. Pictures posted seem to be enveloped by the dark background, whereas they would stand out more on a light background. It looks bleak here.

I feel that the dark background makes the forums look much less professional. This now reminds me of an ameturely designed webpage. It hurts my eyes to read anything here for any length of time.

The popularity of the forum won't hinge on having a fancier format than the rest. I find that people appreciate things that look familiar to them. If anything, constantly changing the format around will do nothing to help others start to take this forum more seriously. People want to "come home" to something they've seen before. Credibility is lost when things get changed too often. I think they key here is simplicity.

Two thumbs down for this scheme from me. It wasn't ever broken, there was no need to fix it.

markvz wrote:I'm not a fan of dark backgrounds. The bright text is harder to read. Pictures posted seem to be enveloped by the dark background, whereas they would stand out more on a light background. It looks bleak here.

I feel that the dark background makes the forums look much less professional. This now reminds me of an ameturely designed webpage. It hurts my eyes to read anything here for any length of time.

Two thumbs down for this scheme from me. It wasn't ever broken, there was no need to fix it.

Even though you may feel that the dark background makes the forum look unprofessional, this is not the intent. The basic color scheme that was in place was the default for phpbb. The basic theme is still in tact, and i even switched your scheme back to the original for you. The theme was not broken, and it was not fixed, but other themes were added and i changed the default. I felt the board needed updating, and this was the first for an update. New features will include easier ways of seeing new postings, possible file uploads, and more user information, possibly a chat room as well. Hopefully all in the near future as time permits. Hope you all enjoy the updates to make this site more user friendly.

railroadfan,

Thanks for changing my style back. I wasn't aware that phpBB allowed the user to select the style. I run a similar board for an aerospace engineering project team I used to manage but I didn't catch that option. I know the Ultimate Bulletin Board software allows this, and I'm glad to see that phpBB has picked it up as well. Then again, I was never concerned with the style of the BB that I manage. Because it's a password-protected private forum, it's purely a matter of content. Thanks for pointing out to me that this software is capable of user-defined themes.

I would recommend that SubSilver be set as the default for new visitors.

I'm not sure if it violates the terms of php, but you can replace that huge "phpbb" button at the top of the page with your own image (railroadfan logo or such). I think that would make it seem less like a cookie-cutter phpbb here.

Thanks for your concern.

railroadfan wrote:possibly a chat room as well.

I do not support Chat Rooms, and I would advise against it.

markvz wrote:railroadfan,

Thanks for changing my style back. I wasn't aware that phpBB allowed the user to select the style. I run a similar board for an aerospace engineering project team I used to manage but I didn't catch that option. I know the Ultimate Bulletin Board software allows this, and I'm glad to see that phpBB has picked it up as well. Then again, I was never concerned with the style of the BB that I manage. Because it's a password-protected private forum, it's purely a matter of content. Thanks for pointing out to me that this software is capable of user-defined themes.

I would recommend that SubSilver be set as the default for new visitors.

I'm not sure if it violates the terms of php, but you can replace that huge "phpbb" button at the top of the page with your own image (railroadfan logo or such). I think that would make it seem less like a cookie-cutter phpbb here.

Thanks for your concern.

Thanks for the input Mark. I'll have to see how this new DarkEQ works for a default, but i do like the changed look myself. I had done quite a bit of research before getting phpbb2. Enjoyed the features and the easy mods that are made for it. Took care of the phpbb button at the top of the page for subsilver..i'll replace it with a railroadfan as soon as i can get a decent logo made.(trying to see if a friend of mine will make a quick one up)

GP40 wrote:I do not support Chat Rooms, and I would advise against it.

I haven't found a good chat room mod for phpbb yet, but if i do, you can always just not participate, and if you are tempted, i can just remove your ability to access them if you don't want to join.

I think a Railroadfan.com chat room is a great idea. Of course it would be well monitored and you would be required to be a member here too. Dave Cenci has a chat room on his site and because the site is much slower the chat room is not used. I also cannot view chat rooms right now untill i get my puter fixed