What's new in theme design?

[Scrubmeister]

Are there any new standards  or changes in the near future that theme designers should be aware of?

Are these changes something that can be implemented on older themes?

[Maxx]

Scrubby, that's a very good question, and to be honest if SMF moves on to the 2.1 and all is Good?

the themes from 2.0+ can not be used, they will need many changes, I have already done a few, and tried to convert a few, but we will never know for certain, until they move on it. and there will be too many changes, to update themes, it would best to create new themes IMHO. I worked with them from the day they released the first 2.1 alpha distro. there are to many uncertainties in the 2.1 alpha to say! that being said I di like the direction the 2.1 themes are going, possible Mobile friendly, and that's a big plus, and responsive in nature!
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I would recommend the users to stick with the 2.0.8 until they know for certain the 2.1 will work out, again just my opinion, and then you'll also the mod and portals to be considered!

Now I do know that at TP they are working on updating stuff and maybe considering all of this, not sure, they are very capable of taking this on!

No matter what, if the 2.1 alpha comes to light things will change!

regards,
Maxx

[Scrubmeister]

How far out do you think that is?

Wondering how long 2.0.8 will be around?

I have not been following the current SMF developments. Been kind of busy with life and running a forum I guess.

Hopefully SMF addresses a few short comings of the current versions. Better SEO would be nice as well as mobile functions since so many seem to be headed that way. Still thinking the theme will have a part to play in all that?

[Maxx]

I think that, even if the 2.1 does not come out for a while the 2.0+ SMF is still hard to beat, and as far as SEO goes the Content to me is Key in this unless you have money through away.. First this: audience, what are the people looking for, But if you want a target group, what do they look for?

Like for example if, you have a vertical blind cleaning business, you would have all things of interest dealing with the home/cleaning and possibly even family related topics, not just the blind cleaning, of course this will be your main topic/s or category, another way, is to have a few plain HTML pages, to intro your site and from there go to the forums or community! home/contact/location/about us ( stuff like this)!

I'm not sure, but I feel that some forums may get punished, because they so many and the page code are not so clear as HTML.

Now if you do the HTML thing, you need to study up on proper use meta tags, and well page content related stuff to your target group. H1 tru H6 tads usages and content. little or no images in the top half of the page. I don't like banners, never did, except test banners and now day you can create even CSS3 banner and logos as well.

Getting ranked in the search engines can be come a full time job for one person. but to pay for it, with no guaranty is another story.

keeping your site up if, you ever get rated High, is a job in its self.

I did these for many manufacturing equipment dealers from California to Singapore along with my own Business sites, before I got in the bad shape I'm in att. and some of them are still at the top 10, but again this does not mean success, because in our case the machines Business, they move everything manufacturing over seas!

Here I go make a story out of a what seems to a simple question lol, that's me. hope it helps someone understand! and forget about software doing the job for you,   if you want to through money away, then through my way, and I donate it to someone who needs it!

regards,
Maxx

[Scrubmeister]

I've noticed that Vbulletin seems to be better out of the box for SEO. There must be something about the code or add ons or themes that make that possible?

Was just curious.........Themes have tags, etc  in them. Seems that relates to SEO as well.

[Maxx]

I used that board in the past and it was nice but, at that time you need to pay a lic. free yearly to use it. and noe that they have upgraded it I've heard that the whole system is screwed up and this was mentioned to me by 2 or more coders and some user are very disappoint in it. ( just what I heard)

If you what try something new/Free, I'm test out the MYBB and it's looking real good so far, has a built in Portal that has no clutter and very nice editor and you can post Videos from several sites, and You tube is one of them, build in theme template styles changer, user theme changer and user cp AND Admin theme change, I could on and on, but I still check it out and I'm like it very much, but if you used it you need to upgrade to the latest ver #. the plug and theme install are not hard but need to be done in manual way but that's the way I like to work anyway, to get to know the systems better!

They have auto install, how it need some work. but over all CMS is very nice indeed!

Lots of help topics at their site and community!
any questions please feel free to let know, your gonna love this one!

regards,
Maxx

[Skhilled]

I'm not sure what the future holds for coding themes but you'll still have to design themes for a user's personal taste. Some like them dark, some light. Some minimalistic while others like them full-featured. And you will always run into those who are just "different". LOL

I agree with Maxx about where SMF is headed. No one is sure about it and most have grave reservations. Mods are dwindling and so are good themes...not a good sign.

I've always like myBB and phpBB but thought they were not matured enough...until now. Many who are leaving SMF are migrating towards one of the 2. I've personally changed my recipe forum over to phpBB. I still keep my tutorial forum with SMF mostly cause that's what it's about and it still helps a lot of new users.

The best thing I can tell you is to make a few test sites and see what you like if you are considering a change from SMF.

[Maxx]

+1, and why pay when you get some good stuff and free, I'm thinking doing some How tos on the MYBB and I think possible Doc will be considering the same for phpBB.

But we'll still be around for SMF stuff. Just test the stuff that's seems to be moving along lol!

regards,
maxx

[Skhilled]

LOL, yes, I was considering some tutorials for phpBB but actually their Knowledge Base is done very well. There are a few things that could be added some I may consider doing some of those. But, overall, support and documentation for phpBB is very good!

I plan to create a myBB test site today to see how far they've come along as well as a E107 test site, which I've always liked! It takes a bit to get used to but has some very powerful features and many things preinstalled like a gallery, blog, etc.

[Maxx]

Yes I tried E107 a few years back and found it had too many hoops to jump through to get stuff done, this may however Be better now and for large companies or Corps. and as things go we always back up and check them out again.
I found the MyBB is way better than when I first tried years ago.

I can see it's potincial now though!

[Skhilled]

Well, once you set it up it works well but it does have pretty much all of the things you'd want for a site and is highly customizable.

I just installed myBB earlier but was too tired to play with it. I was falling asleep. LOL I'm going to check it out now...

[Skhilled]

LMAO! I installed the 1.6.x version of myBB by mistake and went into the admin and saw it was out of date. LOL Had to do it all over again. Anyhoo, The admin is easy to use but pretty extensive! I think it could be made more user-friendly but overall the admin setup isn't bad. I think phpBB is more powerful but myBB does have options to edit styles right in the admin. I'm sure Maxx loves that!

[Maxx]

OK i just installed the phpBB, on test site will check it out and report back!

regards,
Maxx

[Maxx]

Doc, did you say they had something new they are working for phpBB, I like it but some features and mods are way out of date 2011 or so, ( ones that I want anyway ) the MyBB has them built right in and a Portal as well... man if they get together some these guys and make one that does it all and user friendly!

regards,
Maxx

[Scrubmeister]

Glad to see other forum software is getting better.

I'm going to stick to SMF for now. Been using it for years and I'm used to how everything works.

Sounds like some new theme skills might be needed if SMF progresses to the next level.

[Skhilled]

Doc, did you say they had something new they are working for phpBB, I like it but some features and mods are way out of date 2011 or so, ( ones that I want anyway ) the MyBB has them built right in and a Portal as well... man if they get together some these guys and make one that does it all and user friendly!

regards,
Maxx

Yes, the current version is 3.0.12. But they are working up to 3.1 Final. They are at 3.1 RC3 atm for that one. Not sure how many more RC's they will have until final but they are moving pretty quickly through the RC versions. Some of the mods are outdated but there are a lot that are up to date. As long as they are only 1-2 versions behind they will work.

I do have a concern with mods being built in. What if they need to be updated? How does that work? Can only the mod be updated or do you have to wait for the entire forum to be updated?

Glad to see other forum software is getting better.

I'm going to stick to SMF for now. Been using it for years and I'm used to how everything works.

Sounds like some new theme skills might be needed if SMF progresses to the next level.

I have no plans to leave SMF...not now anyways. I've been with SMF for over 9 years. I'll at least stick around till 2.1 and see how that turns out. And people still need my help.

Yeah, coding will change for themes and mods so learning will be needed for both.

[Maxx]

I'll be sticky around with SMF and it's support, but just, want to keep busy testing other stuff, I'm mean even the SMF. As you know I'm still very much involved with other Portal system as well. Not gonna do too much with theme s fro now. Busy doing other stuff, I'm playing with the MyBB themes as we speak! and learn how it works and what is needed there!

Got s to keep up you know!

regards,
Maxx