Coming soon to an ODJT Near You

Our DJ Talk is finally getting it's own custom layout. As some of you may know this layout is available freely and I've even seen it on another DJ boards. In fact Johnny (TSV) is the one who first pointed it out to me. ODJT is unique so we need a unique look. :)

I hired Colleen of Kalina Web Designs (http://www.kalinawebdesigns.com/) who is a stellar designer, I've seen a lot of her work and it's simply awesome! I've also gotten to know her by working side by side with her as an advisor on her webmaster's forum (http://www.webtalkforums.com).

Tonight she snuck me a preview of the homepage and what it will look like when it's all done, I really really like it. I asked her to keep the red as I think it works well for us.

Without further a due here is a preview:

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I realize this isn't that much different than our current design but I think it works well for us but this one is all ours, completely custom, no one else will have the same look. Over the next couple of days, I'll have a preview of postbit (what threads will look like)

I'm hoping to have this up and running by the end of next week or being of the following.

The design isn't final yet so I can still make changes if there's something a lot of you don't like.

Also, we will be adding a 'groan' system. It works just like the thanks system accept it's the oppose almost like a "no thanks" button. I am also currently researching a front page portal so our homepage isn't just a forum listing.

Well there ya have let me know what you about the new look and ideas! :)

Looks good Dan...

Except, where's my picture...? :sqbiggrin:



Shoot, bet I can get Top Rep and Top Groan at the same time :sqlaugh:

DVD coming soon, on how you can do it too -- for only $29,995,95 (arcade series will be available too, as soon as Chuck and Steve log off long enough to write it)

Were so young to get a facelift!

Dan,

Are you bringing back the "Shout Box"? I would like to see it back.

Dan,

Are you bringing back the "Shout Box"? I would like to see it back.

Possibly, there are some security concerns with the shoutbox which is why I haven't re-enabled it. There is a new one out that operates in a different fashion, it maybe more secure, I have to research into it a bit more. :)

We're moving along quite nicely here is a preview of the postbit. This how all threads will look aside from this image, I asked for a couple of tweaks which will make it final! I'm stoked!! :)

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So, what do you all think?

Love the "groan" idea! Everything else looks sharp. Nice work Dan.

Looks great Dan - you deserve it.

Very nice Dan. Your way ahead of all of the others. Good stuff!

I see you used a screen shot of one of my posts... too bad the updated signature wasn't in yet.... Looks nice great job!!!

I saw what you have coming Dan - brilliant! This BB and everyones attitude here will be good to you.

I did a little surfing and saw one of the similar bb's WAY COOL

Some more great news, I contacted Hank asking for a price on a logo design, he graciously offered to do one for us at no charge as right now I'm on a limited budget. I don't have a time line on it as Hank's a busy man but man am I stoked. He's one of the best if not the best logo designers I've come across in my travels. I cannot wait to see what he comes up with!! :)

Got some great news for you all.

Our new theme has arrived, the designer mailed the files over to me last night! I'm so excited and pumped to get this thing live.

It will probably go live over the weekend as I plan on closing the board and adding some new features along with the new theme. I took some screen shots off of the designers development board. Here is the final look. First one is the forum home listing and the second is thread view.

Hope you all like. :) :)

*click for full size

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That's very sharp! Will you be making that the default skin? I think you should.

Of course it will be default. :) With the impending release of vBulletin 3.7, which adds lots of new features for users this skin is going to be to much of a mess to patch up for it. The new skin is fresh and should be fairly easy to upgrade.

Do you have alot of mods/packages installed? I have a major upgrade to do to my SMF board, but I'm waiting until more time passes by and all (most) of the bugs are fixed. The good thing is the upgrade comes standards with most of the mods I have installed, so that end of things shouldn't be bad.

I have lots of mods installed here. I'm always cautious about mods, I mostly choose stuff by developers that have been in the community a long time. In fact most of the mods we have installed have already been upgraded for 3.7. For smaller mods, I hard code them myself, I go with as little outside developer code as possible less headaches in the long run.

vBulletin 3.7 is still in the Release Candidate stages as a matter of fact RC 3 was just released. I'm not running what is essentially beta software on production board, I'll wait until it goes gold. It should be only another month or so.

Off topic but speaking of SMF, how is it mod wise? I've toyed with SMF some and didn't really care for the UI, I much prefer myBB for a free forum base.

I'm a bit bias but vBulletin is the cats pajamas of Bulletin Board systems, they do have a converter for SMF, if you ever decide to upgrade and need help just holler I've done many conversions. :)

I'm really enjoying SMF and with their recent upgrades it will be very powerful....especially for a free forum base. Alot of things are pretty similiar.

I have about 20 mods installed and I always do my homework prior to installing them to make sure they are stable and secure. Some of the things that I do want were available via a mod, but weren't stable, so I didn't use them. Those same things will be standard chooses in the new version, so that has me excited.

I'll keep you in mind if I ever decide to change, but I'm very happy with SMF right now.

Btw, I started out with proboards.....using snailmail was better than that generic forum. :)