Hey everyone. It's been a long time since I've been here, and I'm unlikely to ever be an active part of this community again. However, it seems the general concensus is that this place needs a makeover, and Linda seems to be forever struggling with broken images and such. So I'd like to repay my debt to this place by sorting out a new look. I've only just got myself a copy of Paint Shop Pro so I'll be having fun at the same time.

Anyway, I've made a rough draft of a new skin, which is actually quite similar to the original one (if any of you remember that!), and have applied it to one of my long dead forums as a preview for you guys. Only the main page is done so far; the threads look a mess. For now, I've matched it with the old logo, and am undecided on whether or not I will make a new one. It depends on how good I get with the software.

Preview

So essentially, I'm looking for some feedback. Would you guys like me to go ahead and finish what I've started? Also, I'm curious as to what resolutions everyone is using. The preview is about 1100 pixels wide, so too wide if anyone is still using 1024 x 768, but I can't imagine any of you are that far behind the times!

It looks nice, but the banner is a wee bit too plain. Perhaps you could use some of the images ripped from Plus to fix things up a bit?

Right, I've made a new banner and uploaded it to the preview. It's no graphical masterpiece, and possibly a little cluttered, but I think it captures SBK better than any we've had before. What do you reckon?

Right, I just need to get the button set done now. I've done all the forum markers and the "Add Reply", "New Topic" etc. buttons. I've added sprites to the latter to make them a bit more interesting. You can click on a random thread to see what they look like. I reckon I can get it up in the next day or two, and then we can iron out any creases from there, as long as everyone's happy.

Yeah, you were right to make them solid. I didn't with the text I made and it was a little hard to read. I've put yours on now, and saved it as a .jpg this time cause I found it was taking a long time to load if you have a rubbish Internet connection like me.

Also, I'd like an opinion on some of the buttons I've made.

I made these first:



Then I thought the images and text didn't look that good at such a reduced size, so I made these:



What do you reckon?

Yeah, the new set looks more refined; love the new banner, too! By the way, do you plan to add a background to the board? Perhaps something in a light blue?

Yeah, I knew the text font didn't look very good. I'll try out some other ones for sure.

As for a background, I will experiment with that. The central section is staying light grey, but I could put a border round it and make the rest of the page a light blue (similar to what we have now I guess).

Anyway, I need to do some work for a few hours but then I should have enough free time to make some good progress. One slight issue with the buttons is the folder icons on the forum view. I was hoping to create an entire button set, but I'd have no idea how to make these, so I may have to reuse them and keep the credit to the guy who made them.

Edit: Paintshop Pro does have an envelope as one of the preset shapes, so I might try and make some out of that.