Hi everyone,

I wanted to take this opportunity while I have some time to get feedback from you about upcoming changes here at The Host Helpers.  So, without further ado, let's jump right in to it.

Forum Themes

Right now there are 5 different themes available for you guys to choose from.  They are, SMF Default (Core), Dilber Multicolor, Black Rain (forum default), Orangeline, and Aqua.  Simply put, any time we want to make a major change to the look or layout of the forums, we find ourselves spending extra time modifying all of the different themes.  While this isn't difficult, it is time consuming in the sense that we have to find where to modify the code for each theme (some times line numbers are different based on what theme authors are doing) and then actually make the modification.  Once the modification is made I then upload it to my "test" version of the site to make sure everything is still working OK.  I test it for a couple hours (normally what free time I have that day) and then if everything looks OK I push it out live.  I'm sure at this point some of you are saying that I should just push updates out as I make them because we are a relatively small community but that goes against my instinct and habits and simply will not happen.  I'm sure others of you who are familiar with SMF are thinking that theme modifications should be simple because of how SMF themes inherit from the default theme and you are correct.  However, some aspects are not inherited such as the menu you see above.  Any time we want to add a utility or link to the menu above requires modification of every theme.

So, what does all this mean.  We are going to begin looking to consolidate the number of themes we have.  I would like to get us down to 2 themes with one of them most likely being the SMF default (simply because we can't get rid of it without causing major head aches).  The ideal other theme would be one that is bright and inviting to potential members.  I'm interested in hearing from all members which theme(s) they would like to have here.  If you list more then 1 theme please rank them so we know what your top choice is.  I'm also open to converting to a theme not currently installed here if there is enough people backing it.

Boards & Categories

I did a count last night and there are currently 28 different boards available for our different members (not all of you can see all of them, don't worry about that).  This is just ridiculous and is something that I intend to fix in the next couple of days.  Ideally I'd like to get this number of boards down to like 8.  I have an idea in my head as to how to accomplish this but I am interested in hearing from all of you which boards you would like and how you would like the forum laid out.

Advertising

The reality is over the next year some form of advertising will show up on the site.  I haven't fully decided in what form yet or exactly how I am going to do it but I am fairly positive it will happen.  Because of this, I want to put some things in to place now to make this as smooth as possible.  First, the consolidation of themes is going to enable us to integrate ads better because we don't have to try and match all the different background colors.  Second, I want to reward members who help the forum.  My thoughts on this are giving free advertising to members with the most posts (outside of management), members who refer the most new members, and paid advertising.  Currently in the works is a custom modification that will put all the different advertisements in to a hat and pull one at random.  This one is then displayed to the user and it will change upon every page load (I think).  To me this seems more then fair but I am open to hearing your opinions on the matter.  Once this really starts moving we will come up with the official "rules and regulations" for ads but if you want to start posting graphical banners below, feel free.  Just realize that they aren't going to get implemented over night, it will probably be a few weeks or a couple of months.

A Final Word

I'm sure this won't be all the changes coming but it is what I remembered from my list when I went to write this.  Other potential changes include the addition of basic HTML tutorials, a blog with tutorials, more utilities, email reply to topics upon receiving notification, HTML editor on the fly, PHP editor on the fly, possible integration of net2ftp for forum members and more.  If there is something you want to see here to make your time online easier, please don't hesitate to ask.

As always, on behalf of all of the management here at The Host Helpers we thank you for your continued support and look forward to a great year.  If we can ever be of any assistance to you please don't hesitate to contact us.

RVTraveller
THH Admin

I don't really care which themes are available as long as at least one is usable, and I don't have problems with the currently installed themes. And I'm receptive to ads.

As far as advertising goes, since we're all brainstorming together - what if we simply had an ad next to the THH logo somehow, since there's just blank space there? It wouldn't interfere with posts at all, and it would still get attention there. Anyone object to that? If so, I'd love to hear why, so we can hopefully reach a compromise.

Problem is, not everyone would see that as there are anchors with the posts, like 'New' or 'Last Post' etc, meaning the browser will scroll down the page

I'm fond of the Black Rain theme myself (as you probably know).

As am I, I prefer dark themes to bright ones personally

Im gonna have to stick my neck out and say we need a brighter theme for the sake of a wider audience. I know of at least 2 people I have recommended to this forum have rejected it because it looks too "underground". Ive actually had a theme in the works where I have tried to implement your guys likes and dislikes into it to make a generally acceptable theme.

(...)  However, some aspects are not inherited such as the menu you see above.  Any time we want to add a utility or link to the menu above requires modification of every theme.  (...)

I would do this with ie. something like:
$before = '<td align="center" class="menubg">'; $after = '</td>'; include('additionalmenu.php');
$before = '<li>'; $after = '</li>'; include('additionalmenu.php');
or similar once in every theme, and then with new menu items only changes in one file additionalmenu.php would be needed.
But of course, still it always takes more time to do such or any other changes into multiple themes, so having one is much more comfortable.



I am for bright themes. Dark themes are not these that I like at all, especially (not the case here for current main one) when the contrast between text and background is simply too small for comfortably read it in a bright day, which is unfortunatelly quite often the case while I'm browsing the net. Why all official documments and majority of newspapers are still printed black on white paper, while with current technology we could easily make it different?...

You can also take into consideration how many people did set which theme in their profile (of course main one will be the top because of number of bots registered). 1 for default, 2 for aqua, 2 for orange, 13 for dilber.



I don't mind at all the ads as long as these are not in the form of universally recognized as "annoying" (pop-ups, pop-unders, in the middle of the text so being easily confused with a normal text etc.). I instantly leave the websites with such ads, unless I really need something from the website.

I've been using the Aqua theme, but Orangeline looks OK... Our current default is FUGLY though. I like Aqua since it flows together well, orangline has too much contrast.

As for ads, I block em one way or another so I could care less