Layout&&Design Crit

[Boy_Wonder]

Well I've been working on a second skin for a forum

mortalitasdesign.proboards.com/index.cgi

Would love some crits on. Its going to be a headache implementing it I can tell xD

[Zen]

0.0 WOW. That is pretty amazing... I really don't really have much of a critique, per say, as everything is nice and flowey and easy on the eyes, which is the main thing I look for in a site. Very, very nice!

[Boy_Wonder]

Thanks Zen!

[alterheld]

good site, but doesnt this belong in Get Opinions About Your Board?

honest mistake... but you also would get more people willing to do reviews over there.
I would just move this thread, if I were a Moderator - but since I'm not i cant. ;D

[Boy_Wonder]

Actually as I'm asking for design crits last I checked it was perfectly allowed. (This is my test board not my main board)

[alterheld]

oh i didnt say it wasnt allowed, i just figured... well..
nevermind

anyways ill give a look at your site and put in my feedback when i get back from work ^.^

Well, other then what's been said by the poster above and below me I just wanted to point out two things.

For anyone who uses chrome, the actual forum table is a bit offset from the paper in the background. Not sure if anyone even notices, I just happen to see it. And I dont have it installed, but it may or may not be there in FF. Checked it in IE and its not there. Its nothing to stress about, just had to mention it.

The other thing that I wanted to suggest is to get rid of the forum name bar (as i believe Anselm suggested too) and put in a custom header/footer for each category. The header would have the name in it - and you could leave the footer blank if you wanted. For the name, in the header, It would be cool to stylize it like ink on paper.

I love the banner and menu buttons - and the small border around the buttons even look ok. Makes it look like they're drapes or something.
I look forward to seeing the final result!

[Anselm]

@alterheld, please leaving the modding to me - for future reference, Nats is correct that skin critiques are fine for here.

I like the general idea you've got, just a few nitpicks from me really. Liking the wooden background, but how about fixing it in one place (just a bit of CSS to do that)? In the header I think the PM box could be more of a scrap of old paper, atm it half is and half isn't. Additionally some of the menu buttons have thin borders on them, might be worth sorting out (possibly something to do with changing the hue of the buttons)

I'm also not sure about the board table - borderless but with a category bg isn't quite working. For starters I'd get rid of the "Forum Name" bar (code in the database) but a bit short on ideas on what else to do (maybe try separate categories each with their own scroll?) The head/base width discrepancy needs fixing too (+ the discontinuity at the top).

Good job though, just a few things to tweak

[Boy_Wonder]

Thanks for the rate Anselm ^^ I'm glad my knowledge of the graphics board isn't that wrong xD. I know about the discrepancy, I'm trying to work out what it is that's caused that when both images originally were same sized and still causing that issue.

The pm box I'm constantly trying to fix xD It keeps getting wider. As for the Forum name bar... I forgot to copy my main headers and footers to that design ^.^;;; I'll go put that in from my main board now xD.

Thanks for the rate also alterheld - I just fixed it in chrome I'm hoping the fix doesn't mess up firefox and IE. It was bugging me

The menu items are meant to look like bits of paper stuck out of say for example a diary etc. I'm thinking of making an image to sit at the veeery top of the boards that just reads 'caution confidential documentation' or 'Watchers Council Approved'.

The skin itself is known officially as 'Watchers Desk' hinting at the type of desk and what you might find on such a desk belonging to a Watcher.