Invision Community 4: SEO, prepare for v5 and dormant account notifications By Matt November 11, 2024
marklcfc Posted January 21, 2010 Posted January 21, 2010 Have you noticed almost every board that upgrades to 3.0 is suffering from a downturn in visits, lack of activity on the forums compared to previous, forum members not understanding why they made such a change. Well I have, well I can't say every one for sure but I've kept an eye on more than 30 forums that have upgraded and not a single upgrade has been successful. This has only been a problem since the move to 3.0, and the totally unspiring skin all forum owners have had to try and work with. It was my concern well over a year ago and I tried to this through to you in beta stages but nothing happened. You MUST make a better more accessible skin, that is fast loading, easy on the eye and skinable for those without tons of knowledge. I have stuck with 2.3.6 and it looks like I will for the foreseeable future until something gets sorted out. May we have to wait till 4.0 now until something is done??? Sorry for the outburst but it needs to be said (again). <_<
Management Charles Posted January 21, 2010 Management Posted January 21, 2010 I have not noticed that. Most clients report an increase in visitors. A skin is a skin is a skin. It is designed to be modified to your own needs. We don't expect anyone to use the default skin - that would seem a bit unoriginal :)
Camoo Posted January 21, 2010 Posted January 21, 2010 The skin was one major point for me, why i bought my IPB. And i have seen many other great skins out there. With Clean Cut there is also a second official one thats very different from the Master Skin. :)
marklcfc Posted January 21, 2010 Author Posted January 21, 2010 I have not noticed that. Most clients report an increase in visitors. A skin is a skin is a skin. It is designed to be modified to your own needs. We don't expect anyone to use the default skin - that would seem a bit unoriginal :) Large boards that get 1000's of visitors a day. I don't know if TomF is on here, but he runs 3 football forums and I've noticed their members were not that happy about the change, and have had alot less activity on the forums since upgrading.
Management Charles Posted January 21, 2010 Management Posted January 21, 2010 He should design a skin his members like then... Not trying to be funny but as you see even in this topic some people love it and others may not. It's a personal preference and that is why there are hundreds of pre-made skins available for download plus you can always make your own.
Olivier Turbis Posted January 21, 2010 Posted January 21, 2010 Skin has to be changed. You can find plenty of free and paid skins.
marklcfc Posted January 21, 2010 Author Posted January 21, 2010 I would if I had the know how. I think you should have at least provided a skin based on 2.3, the classic blue on here has never worked right (see what happens when you try to edit 3.0) ;) I know its not an official Invision skin, but it should have been worked on around the time of release IMO. Edit, I see the classic blue is actually working now, is that available to download?
Olivier Turbis Posted January 21, 2010 Posted January 21, 2010 I think it's still in beta but don't quote me on this.
bfarber Posted January 21, 2010 Posted January 21, 2010 It does not matter what default skin we provide, there are going to be some that dislike it. Making a new default skin resolves no issues in this regard - it only causes to shift who dislikes the skin to someone else. :) Yes, the classic blue skin can be downloaded from the resources area (labeled beta still).
optrexnz Posted January 21, 2010 Posted January 21, 2010 Have you noticed almost every board that upgrades to 3.0 is suffering from a downturn in visits, lack of activity on the forums compared to previous, forum members not understanding why they made such a change. Well I have, well I can't say every one for sure but I've kept an eye on more than 30 forums that have upgraded and not a single upgrade has been successful. Rubbish. Both of my CONVERSIONS (so not just an upgrade) have been hugely successful. I would not have moved to 2.3 because it looks awful.... See what's happening here? Skins are subjective, which is why you go to a skinning site and download one that suits your needs. Its also why sites allow members to select differing versions. Some like a light background, other a dark one. There are 7 to choose from on here. IPB supply 3 skins, its upto you to customise the look of your site. Perhaps a nice blue and white one would suit you? I mean who in their right mind would use any software as it is out of the box anyway? You need to customise it to make your forum categories, why are you not extending that to change how it looks? Adding a new skin is easy and instructions usually come from the person who has created it.
AndyF Posted January 21, 2010 Posted January 21, 2010 The Classic skins (Blue, Pro and Beyond) are a community project worked on by members of the Community Developers, as such they are not official skins, but the members of the community developers have worked hard to put them together for everyone. They are still in beta. You can find more information at these links http://community.invisionpower.com/forum/430-community-skin-projects/ http://community.invisionpower.com/files/file/2749-classic-skins-100-beta-2/ :)
3DKiwi Posted January 21, 2010 Posted January 21, 2010 Have you noticed almost every board that upgrades to 3.0 is suffering from a downturn in visits No. Re skins. Just a matter of installing a few new ones which is dead easy to do. I think any forum using the default skin is incredibly boring. 3DKiwi
Amy T Posted January 21, 2010 Posted January 21, 2010 I personally like the skin. On 2.3.6 I hated the primitive looking pro skin so to me this looks more modern and less out of date.
kissybissy Posted January 22, 2010 Posted January 22, 2010 I've always been a fan of the classic blue skin and I think it's one of the best skins ever released by IPB, but I understand it's a matter of taste only.
Strike X Posted January 22, 2010 Posted January 22, 2010 Default skin needed to be redesigned to make it look like social community forum. Right now default skin look like business style. My forum dont get many users any more when I upgraded to IPB 3
Energizer Posted January 22, 2010 Posted January 22, 2010 It is difficult to satisfy everyone. When someone says that because of the skin, fewer visitors come, then something is wrong. I think they have not already been visited previously. this has nothing to do with the skin. Perhaps the skin is only an excuse to divert attention from other causes. I will not go into a forum for the skin. I am also not from the forum because of the bad skin.
Amy T Posted January 22, 2010 Posted January 22, 2010 I have joined sites that have awful themes before. Mainly do to the site having friends on it and it had a fun game on it too. There was another site I joined and stayed a member of for a long time even though the theme upset my stomach as it was very bad. The only reason I stayed was for friends. Those are only 2 examples of sites I have been to and stayed members of dispute bad themes. They were the worst too. I still go to a few others that have bad themes but I stay do to the content and members. So skin has very little to do with it, more likely then not the issue is some thing else. For me as long as the site has some thing I am looking for or friends on it I will more likely then not be active. It does help if things are not hard to find though.
Tilted Posted January 23, 2010 Posted January 23, 2010 I like the 3.0 skin more than the 2.x series, by a long shot. Any decent forum admin should know his community well enough to make his own skin imo, or at least buy one that fits the theme of your site. Blaming a default skin for losing members is a bit tacky. Invision is selling a tool that you're responsible for customizing and utilizing. You're essentially saying you want Invision to design your site for you.
SPARTdAN Posted January 23, 2010 Posted January 23, 2010 The older 2.x series skin was more "pro" I think, the new 3.x skin is very modern and easy to customise, just takes a little time and dedication. If your members dont like what you have, then change it.
Guest Posted January 23, 2010 Posted January 23, 2010 No. Re skins. Just a matter of installing a few new ones which is dead easy to do. I think any forum using the default skin is incredibly boring. 3DKiwi Your forum uses the default skin :whistle:
Tanax Posted January 24, 2010 Posted January 24, 2010 Personally I love the skin for IPB3 series. Would you rather have the skin of vB4 series?? Didn't think so. In my opinion Invision did a great job at providing a widely accepted and easy to use skin that allows for easy modification and skinning.
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