Legacy LD5

Since I was recently nosed at the forum looking not so cool by someone who thought it looks like something we didnt think about at all, and I found most other forums look spiffy and people seem to like that, I wondered if we need a new forum / site look somehow?

Well the current look was indeed thrown together from what the forum software had and what I once did as a test for a new background image, not choosing the spiffy round borders that were the newest hype back then for speed reasons (and I found it stupid that a simple table border has to load a dozen images and make the content jump around as they load), and then given the LD5 colors, thrown the content and needed info in, and gradually tweaked in details to make it fit better / suit the LD5 color scheme / be less ghay.
It ended up customized a lot, with all the buttons, treating custom profile fields no different than the default ones, showing gallery links and such under the posts and in the member list, calculating poll percentages right, and most recently picking out the newest attachment additions to show them on the front page, with the focus on all features that make sense, clear and easy access to those, fast loading, and something that is easy on the eye instead of the fashiony "black is cool" that everyone else has. But there never was a master plan for the look. It just sort of, well, happened, and then got optimized at what it was.

So do you think something should be changed? And if yes, then what should be changed, and how?

I like the neat, minimalist look of the current site - if anything gets changed, I hope it isn't made too bloated with pointless graphics!

Personally I like the current look of the forums, though. Maybe the header is a bit large and aliased, but it seems perfectly fine to me. The colour scheme is pretty mental, but then if the LD5 colours are to remain matching the logo then there's not much that can be changed about that...

We tried "spiffy." It didn't work. We had a tag cloud, a more dynamic color scheme, and a weird, slow pop-up window just for replying to a thread. We have custom icons, I have a dynamic avatar... content is the real key. We, the community, are what keeps this forum worth visiting again and again.

I like LD5 just for its simple style! When I get here, and I find something that I like, I am presented the content right away. Everything is easy to browse, to read, to understand, and to work with. I also have zero beef with the colours. They are very laid back, and thus put the focus on any piece of art or the actual text.

Maybe it is the journalist in me, but I would pick a simple HTML page with black text on white background over flashy flash and style and picture floods and features and videos any day. I am interested in the content and mutual communication. If I wanted to see a living piece of art in motion, I would thumbtack a print of the Mona Lisa on some random bystander.

I agree with what everyone else has said. The current colors/style keep it easy on the eyes and it loads fast while making everything easily accessible. Perhaps it will need to be changed at some point, but for now it's fine.

I remember the first time I came across LD5. It was on my mobile phone of all places!

I always remember how the site stood out from others I had visited, and that pleased me. Everything is easy for me to navigate and use, and I like the colour scheme a lot; it makes the text easier to read. I have yet to find another site that is as unique as LD5.

I've always liked it, myself. The only thing I would ever change myself is the background of the very top bar. The blue with the weird...sunlight bits of white. I don't know why I don't like it, but I never have.

Otherwise, you'll only make it shitty if you change much.

I am glad to see that I am not the only one who appreciates clean and unobstructed functionality, and values easy access higher than spiffy graphics and flashy effects. And I must say I smiled with glee that someone actually DID profit from all my efforts to have the page work on not-so-high-end systems like mobile devices or small monitors in old university libraries too. I really thought I only did that to feel more proud of our greatness for it THEORETICALLY would look OK even on 800*600 still, not that someone ever actually DID that.

Rest assured, we wont switch to flash or put in senseless network burdens if I can help it. And as I take it wont change the color scheme to something complete unlike LD5 (blue / yellow) either.
But are there any little changes you'd like then? Layouts and colors of tables, buttons, text, links?

*goes to talk with Dino about the "steely" background of the banner... *

Huh? What? But I just got DONE working...

I like the Nice blue scheme of things it keeps it simple even on my stupid comptuer and shitty internet, Anything else and it will be a pain to load up.