Hi guys we are looking to get rid of zone365.com and move all the content to hardwareforums.com so it can become one big site. options one something like this http://www.unixboard.de/ it would use our current design, and would be changed to our needs. So the main hardware forums page would look like the above link (similar to zone365), but you could still have a forum index as your homepage. option two we keep the current forum index as the homepage, and add a right menu listing the latest reviews and articles. all the reviews would be stored on hardwareforums.com domain. zone365.com would redirect all traffic to hardware forums with access to reviews etc the reviews will not look like threads, they would have a different look. please leave feedback, thank you
Hm..I like the first idea, it would be more like the PHP Nuke style websites I've seen..which whilst some may disagree with, personally I find very attractive and efficient to use. I like the idea of a lot of information all over the place, much like that site shown.
I like the current design/layout, its got a nice "spaced out" feeling [when you spend hours staring @ it...... you need that!] Its inviting and friendly, I think changing to the unixboard style might put the "computer un-confident" people off asking for help here. *EDIT* just checked the unixboard site [again] the seem to be having some problems [its in german, heeeeeeeellllppp] anyway, good luck! *EDIT*
myself I would go for option two but the option one does look very good, I can make it look like the current zone365 design but would be harder.
I'm not too bothered on either option. both are decent. I like the first one but it shouldn't stray away from the forums too much, as this is the main part of the community. I would however like to see the forums have more of a direct and integrated look to the reviews. As finding reviews isn't so clear to new visitors. Maybe as you said latest reviews bar and a HWFs colour/style review page look. Not looking like threads of course.
option 2 definitely, option one is cluttered and confusing, i like the durrent HWF design because it is simple, un-cluttered and straight to the point, i do think merging z365 and HWF together would be a good thing though.
I like option 2. Like others said, option 1 seems to cluttered. The tabs seem more organized and not in the way.
I like option 1, as it's a more complete information store right in your face (out of site out of mind, right?). Plus, it'd make us look more organized and established. I think a straight-up VB forum as our index kinda makes us appear like a fly-by-night, but maybe that's just me.
I have this demo up for you guys, so please report back with opinions. www.hardwareforums.com/portal.php
Yes, I like the seamless look between the forums and that front-end. It's very nice. That being said, it would be nice to see larger, bolder headlines. Otherwise it might look too seamless, making it hard to tell the difference between the forums and the articles. Also, I don't know if it'd be too much work, but it'd be really cool to see topical icons for each news article (like Slashdot).
not sure about the larger headlines, but now attach image to the post and it should display on the main page. have a look at the page again http://www.hardwareforums.com/portal.php
