"The theme is overused!"

[David]

Yeah, so what?

-Look at vBulletin's default blue skin. I'm sure you've probably seen that skin, or a variation of it quite a few times, on large forums. Its a professional, clean skin, so why not use it? Achieving professionalism by using a common theme is no problem; no issue; nothing wrong with that.

-People only say its overused because they haven't seen at least 200 forums in their Internet life. The more forums you have, the lesser the amount of times the skin has been used. Once you see 5000 forums, you will probably find that 10-20 have the same skin. 10/5000 is 0.2%, which isn't a big number.

-"Overused" skins are "overused" since they are popular, look good and designed well. Wouldn't you want a great looking skin, rather than the default phpBB skin (which in turn for phpBB is the most used skin as its default)?

-Skin may not be a key factor in a site's success. When the site can generate enough organic traffic, the skin becomes not as relevant, so why not use a good looking skin, regardless of many forums, large or small, using it? It could attract a certain amount of members on top of the sites SEO success.

-If everyone receives the same comment: "the theme is overused", then everyone changes it, then no one would be using that skin anymore, making it "underused". What good would that achieve for the creator?

That's what I have to say about those who tend to repeat this statement. There's no constructive criticism there. Just misleading comments.

You can use that skin even if you find it overused, or someone else makes a comment about it.

Anyone agree?

🙂

 

[Joshua Farrell]

I agree! If it is default, and overused, then obviously the person hasnt been around enough to figure out that there are more skins that CAN be used, and that ARE being used.

 

[Nebulous]

The best thing to do with an overused skin is to tweak it.. Maybe use photoshop to change the colors of all the images and edit the CSS to change the rest.

I dont mind people using a highly used skin. The content is more important that the appearance anyways.

 

[Wrecks]

The content is more important that the appearance anyways.

Agreed.

 

[Antarctic]

The content is more important that the appearance anyways.

Not true. If you went to a forum, which had ugly bright red graphics which looked like they were made in paint, the board stretched the screen, you could barley read the text, you're eyes hurt after reading it for a few minutes, would you still want to visit even if the content was good?

First impressions are the key.

 

[Rich Edmonds]

The content is more important that the appearance anyways.

Not true. If you went to a forum, which had ugly bright red graphics which looked like they were made in paint, the board stretched the screen, you could barley read the text, you're eyes hurt after reading it for a few minutes, would you still want to visit even if the content was good?

First impressions are the key.

I agree, the design is important. True the content and discussions are what keep you coming back to a board, but the first impressions of a forum are what pulls you in.

 

[Acorn]

Common type skins are common for a reason. I agree.

One way to compromise on this that I have found works is to take an existing common skin type and do slight tweaks to it to make it look unique. Like using your own graphics but with a mix of the same or very similar colours. A lot can be done while changing the essential skin very little, and it can still give it a one-of-a-kind look.

 

[Cosmic]

Common type skins are common for a reason. I agree.

One way to compromise on this that I have found works is to take an existing common skin type and do slight tweaks to it to make it look unique. Like using your own graphics but with a mix of the same or very similar colours. A lot can be done while changing the essential skin very little, and it can still give it a one-of-a-kind look.

I agree.

Take my site for example.

the skin I use: http://mods.mybboard.net/uploads/previe ... 0Index.png
My Site: http://img532.imageshack.us/img532/898/runeknow.png

The first one is unmodified, and the second is my changes made. I think that any skin (like the extremely unoriginal afresh skins) can be modified.

 

[TechWiz18]

I completely agree with this, if it's a good skin then what to it? If you can afford a custom skin that will only be used by you that's good, but not everyone has the skill or the money to have something like that done, and there are thousands of forums on the net.

 

[Chaos]

I absolutely agree, if the theme is good use it. You can't please everyone, but you should definitely please yourself. I've been told many times "That theme is overused." I'm getting completely sick of it! The theme looks good, so I'm going to use it. 😉

 

[el canadiano]

I completely agree with this, if it's a good skin then what to it? If you can afford a custom skin that will only be used by you that's good, but not everyone has the skill or the money to have something like that done, and there are thousands of forums on the net.

It's mostly boring to see so many forums use an unmodified AFresh Theme (MyBB) or Absolution (phpBB). Respectively, Justin S. and Christian Bullock made phenomenal themes, but when it gets overused, there goes the "phenomenal" aspect of the theme, does it not?

 

[Watch Me Sink]

All but one of my sites use skins that were released, but were later taken down from the theme site. Makes them rare and more unique, though I did a good amount of tweeking myself.

 

[AnAccount]

I agree! If it is default, and overused, then obviously the person hasnt been around enough to figure out that there are more skins that CAN be used, and that ARE being used.

Took the words right out of my mouth, Dentist. I don't know how many times I've heard that refrain during my foruming years, and while it may be "overused", you'd be amazed at how many people like the skin! Me, I don't care if the skin is used on thousands of forums! A forum is really about content, and the overall connection with the community. Not entirely about the skin.

 

[Deleted member 1609]

While I don't personally stress appearance, it is always nice to see a little originality in appearance just to keep things fresh.

I have signed up on horrible-looking sites before because I liked the content.

 

[Justin]

I agree, no theme is overused, just used more than another theme.

 

[TechWiz18]

I completely agree with this, if it's a good skin then what to it? If you can afford a custom skin that will only be used by you that's good, but not everyone has the skill or the money to have something like that done, and there are thousands of forums on the net.

It's mostly boring to see so many forums use an unmodified AFresh Theme (MyBB) or Absolution (phpBB). Respectively, Justin S. and Christian Bullock made phenomenal themes, but when it gets overused, there goes the "phenomenal" aspect of the theme, does it not?

Yeah I suppose that's true.

 

[a.t]

I made a theme for a client the other week and all they said was it looks overused. It was grey for the content, blue for the sides, greenish for the background and black/white for the header. It had a border footer plus the whole site itself was inside a border. I've never seen a site like that but they seem to think they have.

What they says goes i suppose.

 

[Nebulous]

The content is more important that the appearance anyways.

Not true. If you went to a forum, which had ugly bright red graphics which looked like they were made in paint, the board stretched the screen, you could barley read the text, you're eyes hurt after reading it for a few minutes, would you still want to visit even if the content was good?

First impressions are the key.

Can you give me an example of what you described?
I think any forum owner will at least provide a readable forum.

 

[Watch Me Sink]

Hypothetically speaking:
http://smf.smfthemes.org/index.php?theme=1005

 

[Dasher]

Holy Jesus KG, wtf happened there?