Are we wasting our advantage?

[akulion]

Hi

Yesterday I was browsing a joomla templates site (I like to browse these sites since they give you ideas) and I came across some pretty unique themes. Some of them had features which set them apart from all other themes. Whether it was the usage of cool integrated menus, flash headers or other scripts, but they were very unique.

If we lok at the SMF and TP themes in general we will notice that majority of them are pretty much the same. The exception ofcourse is in Bloc's theme and also one of Stormlord's theme which used a drop down menu system (cant remember its name).

With newer technologies being made available, both in Java, php and otherwise, are we really wasting our advantage over other forum systems in being able to create unique themes?

After all if we think about it, is that not one of the strongest points in SMF? Its template system, which is easily changable and most importantly easily adaptable to different layouts and features. And example would be comic bubbles theme for smf1.0.7.

If we visit websites like monstertemplate.com or the joomla templates or other template sites, we come across some truly amazing designs. But if you notice the themes for vB, PHP Nuke and other systems are prety much the same style. But in SMF we can have so much more!

So arent we really wasting our advantage of having a unique and customizable themeing system?

Its something for all theme creators to think about and I truly hope that in the future we get to see some absolutely unique and ground breaking themes and styles.

(ps: this article is not meant to criticize, but rather raise a simple point)

[Greenbug]

I agree.
The only reason why I have never posted that rant is I dont know what I am talking about. Do you? cause I dont....

not to criticize you just asking a simple question?

If it is possible I think its an awesome idea, but there are some very talented people that use the bloc zone web site. I would think this has been thought of before.

If it can be done someone better get busy making them!

hahaha

GB

[Techdomain]

The thing to keep in mind here is that Joomla is a cms, whereas smf is a forum. I am not saying that smf cannot have nice themes... but joomla is a lot more complex and supported then TP is (which is just a mod for smf). It is the simplicity of smf/tp combo that has me here though. Previously I was using joomla/mambo for all my site setups - but found that the extra power really wasnt needed, and the integration wasnt always seemless.

so to sum up my reply:
yes, smf themes could be better (they are getting there, as pointed out) but SMF is aimed at being a forum, not a cms. (so like comparing apples and oranges)

[JPDeni]

To me, the beauty of themes is that you can get what you want. I'm not the sort of person that will go looking at a bunch of themes to find one that suits me. I might go looking to find which is the closest to what I want that I can use as a basis for my own custom design or to get ideas. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, with some extra stuff thrown in. I can't imagine that anyone else would want to use the themes that I am planning for my site, so I can't see me packaging what I'm going to do for others to download and apply to their sites.

I may be the only one that thinks this way, though.

[akulion]

Greenbug yes I do have a very good idea of what I am speaking about, the themes are mainly based on tabular layouts which can be used in different manners along with design elements (graphics). However I do lack the knowledge to go into depth in designing a theme of my own since I really suck at graphic design lol.

Yes true Joomla is supported more and is a cms, but I used that as an example of creativity since I was browsing their site.

But its not just the design element I am talking about here. Not just more fancy graphics and table layouts.

But rather newer features, like I mentioned:
- in stormlords theme, the drop down menu
- in blocs themes the sidebars
- in blocs themes, multiple headers and css (like in helios and enterprise)
- comic bubbles, unique layout, uncomparable!
- pnpn different posting layout

so what I am suggesting to theme creators is to experiment with scripts to incorporate new features within their themes which make them stand out form the rest.

If we just browse through dynamic drive for instance, we find so many scripts which could easily be integrated into themes - and thats not just menu systems,
- there are content lay out scripts using tabs,
- there are link tool tip scripts (placing mouse over link produces tooltip)
- page load animations (in fact smf even used this in rc3)
and a lot more

I know it would be hard to implement many of the things. But like I said this thread is not meant for criticism, but to bring up some points and make suggestions.

[Greenbug]

just checkin. Akulion

I have always liked the comic bubbles theme, at one time it was converted to fit Tp not sure if it is anymore I looked but did not see it for the current SMF or TP.

Great thread btw