vBulletin Hacks & Questions Discuss Simple Design vs. Complex Design in the vBulletinSetup Information forums; In the past years I've learned the hard way that a simple design is much more user friendly in the end than a complex full out custom design. And believe ...

In the past years I've learned the hard way that a simple design is much more user friendly in the end than a complex full out custom design. And believe me I have spent Thousands of dollars and really custom stuff.

But I've found out nobody really cares except admins. Users want ease of use and easy to read.

So my advice, keep the design simple.

I agree which is why all my sites use the default vBulletin layout minus color changes and a logo

Originally Posted by Brent

I agree which is why all my sites use the default vBulletin layout minus color changes and a logo

x2, that, and i am very non-creative, ill-skilled at design, poor, and most of all, pretty lazy

[mike]

I get blasted about this everywhere I have a forum reviewed. "it looks too default".

I laugh, say thanks for the comments.

Now, there is a happy medium here. A nice design can help a forum develop quicker. What you have to do thouth is remember to keep it very userfriendly. You can do both.

One thing to add, when you are planning a new design, factor advertising into the picture. Think about where you will be placing your advertising and have that buit into the design if possible.

I am a huge fan of simplicity. It doesn't necessarily have to be vBulletin standard but all of the elements (new thread button, thread reply button, look of forumdisplay and showthread pages, etc) do have to be consistant with where someone would expect to find them on a forum.

What exactly is a complex design? as in what is it that makes it complex for end users, surely every style has same elements.

So light colour styles are simple and dark ones complex?

To me a complex forum design is something that moves away from the traditional forum layout. It doesn't have to do with colors alone.

An example of a more complex design would be NotebookForums.com - Notebookforums.com Notebook reviews - laptops reviews

You take the user out of the default forum layout which they are familiar with and make them adjust to something different.

Originally Posted by Brent

To me a complex forum design is something that moves away from the traditional forum layout. It doesn't have to do with colors alone.

An example of a more complex design would be NotebookForums.com - Notebookforums.com Notebook reviews - laptops reviews

You take the user out of the default forum layout which they are familiar with and make them adjust to something different.

Isnt that good? People look for something extra or is that just the webmaster in me that is talking?

Originally Posted by Scribbller

Isnt that good? People look for something extra or is that just the webmaster in me that is talking?

Personally I think that the majority of people prefer simplicity and respond better to something they recognize instantly. IMO I prefer the simplicity of a default vBulletin layout. However... that is just me.

Originally Posted by Brent

Personally I think that the majority of people prefer simplicity and respond better to something they recognize instantly. IMO I prefer the simplicity of a default vBulletin layout. However... that is just me.

I have to agree with Brent on this one. I am more prone to leave a site if I don't instantly recognize and feel comfortable with the design. I can handle simple skins and such, although I do prefer the default style. However, when you get into a complicated style and almost complete re-design of the forum layout, forget it, I can't get into it. I don't want to have to re-learn something I already know.

[mike]

One thing that will make me exit a forum within seconds is if the text is white and the background is dark. For that matter, almost any forum where the text is lighter than the background is going to make me exit quickly.

Originally Posted by Mike

One thing that will make me exit a forum within seconds is if the text is white and the background is dark. For that matter, almost any forum where the text is lighter than the background is going to make me exit quickly.

I agree with that. Black backgrounds annoy me

[eJM]

That notebook site had me spinning in confusion, but I can't stand default layouts either. I do like the familiarity of the basic forum design, but using the vB default style is just too unimaginative and boring. There are too many sites using it, especially in the vBulletin genre of support forums for vB.

My own vB forum has a custom style, but it is not a one-of-a-kind. I've added some custom touches and added some of my own graphics that blend with the style though, for a more unique look. It's also the only style available to my members because I believe in a branded look. I'm not about to spend the enormous time and effort required to customize more styles for people who spend precious few moments on the site.

So c'mon, Brent, live a little on the edge. Even if you don't change the style, at least change the color scheme to something a bit more unique and design a logo that really "zones in" on your theme as the vBulletin Zone for Webmaster Resources. The most well known zone is the Green Zone -- noted for friendly and secure. Capitalize on that and brand yourself with a logo and icons that reinforce it -- and don't forget the favicon. You can keep it simple and brand it at the same time.

The vB Zone -- the spot every vBulletin Webmaster will want to be.

Jim

[Lizard King]

Design adds tons of different things to sites. However sites like that notebook site even confuses me so that shall not be an option. But regular vb style is the worst style a person can use. A webmaster shall spend on the design or at least spend money for that if he doesn't know how to do byhimself. If you let your forum with only oclors changed forums and small content there will be no way for you to get new visitors since the competition out there is though as hell.

Originally Posted by Lizard King

Design adds tons of different things to sites. However sites like that notebook site even confuses me so that shall not be an option. But regular vb style is the worst style a person can use. A webmaster shall spend on the design or at least spend money for that if he doesn't know how to do byhimself. If you let your forum with only oclors changed forums and small content there will be no way for you to get new visitors since the competition out there is though as hell.

I disagree. I have used nothing but the default layout (with color changes and a few template tweaks to my likings) and I think it works well. I try to take the defaul vBulletin though and liven it up just a bit with my touches. Like the Footer on all my sites, removing useless information from forumdisplay and showthread like the posting rules and such.

I think if you have a good atmosphere and good content the people really won't care what it looks like as long as it is not horrid.

This site, 3.8 Mustang Message Board - Powered by vBulletin uses the default layout AND colors and is very successful.

[Lizard King]

Originally Posted by Brent

I disagree. I have used nothing but the default layout (with color changes and a few template tweaks to my likings) and I think it works well. I try to take the defaul vBulletin though and liven it up just a bit with my touches. Like the Footer on all my sites, removing useless information from forumdisplay and showthread like the posting rules and such.

I think if you have a good atmosphere and good content the people really won't care what it looks like as long as it is not horrid.

This site, 3.8 Mustang Message Board - Powered by vBulletin uses the default layout AND colors and is very successful.

Not only you but even vBulletin developers cannot defend that ugly vbulletin table lover templates to me. I both dislike the regular colors and layout with vbulletin.

Of course a good atmosphere is a key factor in a boards success but if a newly build forum wants to achive success they must have a attractive and clean style. Otherwise the webmaster will live his boards success chance to luck because he will have tons of more competitors who have better designs. And people always want to see something different then the regular vb styles...

Originally Posted by Lizard King

Not only you but even vBulletin developers cannot defend that ugly vbulletin table lover templates to me. I both dislike the regular colors and layout with vbulletin.

Of course a good atmosphere is a key factor in a boards success but if a newly build forum wants to achive success they must have a attractive and clean style. Otherwise the webmaster will live his boards success chance to luck because he will have tons of more competitors who have better designs. And people always want to see something different then the regular vb styles...

What kind of design changes are you discussing? Give me a few examples of forum designs that you like.

I can understand you not liking them but the majority of people seem to not care. Which is the point I was trying to make

[Lizard King]

Originally Posted by Brent

What kind of design changes are you discussing? Give me a few examples of forum designs that you like.

I can understand you not liking them but the majority of people seem to not care. Which is the point I was trying to make

Ayyas

Clean , easy to customize , attractive :p

lol that is a good design. However I still stick by my thought that you can change the colors around and get a good logo and still do just as good with a forum

Originally Posted by Brent

lol that is a good design. However I still stick by my thought that you can change the colors around and get a good logo and still do just as good with a forum

I agree completely here, and honestly, I am more likely to join a vB forum that isn't heavily skinned and leans more towards the default style. Thats just personal preference. I think it helps because the majority of vB forums out there resemble the default style, so folks know it. When they come to my site, they instanly see that it is "like that other forum I am on that I like" so they instantly know they are familiar with the forum software and won't be turned away thinking they might have to learn another type. I am not sure if all of this makes sense to you, but it does make sense in my head, so I'm good with it.

Over the past few months I've been starting to use premade skins purchased from various vb skinning sites. Most members generally appreciate the more "custom" look as opposed to the vB default.

For me, the base vB functionality is VERY important. Some skins that I consider using actually break some vB functionality. Usually simple stuff such as the search drop down menu not dropping down, missing the forum leaders link on the index page or even not having the admin/mod links on all pages for admins & mods...

After dealing with a number of these issues, I'm starting to have a preference towards vB designs that use custom CSS & images to give a custom look without needing any (or very few) template changes. When customized in this way, upgrading vB rarely ever requires corrections to the skin for new vB versions.

Many skins also break 800x600 compatibility which is also an issue. Approx 14% of web users still have resolution set to 800x600... seems to be a lot of people that may be annoyed with horizontal scrolling...

vB obviously puts a lot of time and effort into making their default design universally compatible... skin designers must make many unique designs in order to have high enough sales volume... that's a lot of skins to maintain giving rise to possibility of various issues/problems in the skins..

Originally Posted by Brent

An example of a more complex design would be NotebookForums.com - Notebookforums.com Notebook reviews - laptops reviews

I don't understand anything from this site. There is something called

"Featured Laptop Discussions"

on their web site but this text is not "clickable". I am looking for a list of forums but I don't find it.

My first impression is that this web site's design is not a good idea. If you have no respect for the KISS principle then sooner or later you will pay for it.

Hm... I get it now. I was pressing the yellow circle that says "GO" (from under "Our community") but you should click on the text "Our community" instead. It just upsets me when things are not intuitive.