Best Way To SMF + Other Content?

[joeyjojoshabadoo]

Maybe i'll darken up the wordpress site and see how that goes - at least make it orange or something with some gray.

i'll keep you posted! Thanks again

[Kindred]

joeyjojoshabadoo,

http://www.40konline.com

[joeyjojoshabadoo]

thanks Kindred - that's a good looking site. Is it possible to make that menu on the left appear on any SMF installation?

Arantor - can you recommend the best Dxzinerstudio theme in your opinion for my purposes? I was looking at that 'atelier' one but not sure. Any opinions?
http://demo.dzinerstudio.com/

[Kindred]

do you mean the left menu from the homepage or the menu on the forum pages?

The menu on the homepage (and the mid-screen menu) are just straight HTML with CSS.
The menu on the other forum pages is just the main menu using SSI main menu but could be styled similarly if I wanted to do it.

I am using a portal, so the columns and blocks are just part of that and can be done on any of the portal mods.

[joeyjojoshabadoo]

Thanks Kindred.

just looking at the dzinerstudios site- some of their themes are nice, but I really don't like that you don't get access to updates once you membership ends - that's taking the piss a bit

[Arantor]

How is it 'taking the piss', exactly?

You pay 30 EUR for a bunch of themes, and have access for 3 months or whatever it is. Their themes don't generally need much in the way of updates anyway because they do it right the first time where possible.

Most places will charge you far more for a single theme and then not give you much support anyway, so you're getting far more than that, really.

[joeyjojoshabadoo]

but if an update comes that's crucial, you have to pay more if it's outside the time youve payed for. Seems a little unfair to me.

What other places sell premium themes that you know of by the way?

[Arantor]

but if an update comes that's crucial, you have to pay more if it's outside the time youve payed for. Seems a little unfair to me.

And is exactly how the rest of the world *actually* works. When you pay for Windows XP, do you expect to get Windows Vista and Windows 7 for free? No, you don't. You get the upgrades that are set out, and that's that.

Or the same with XenForo, IPB, vBulletin and so on. Or indeed pretty much any paid package you care to name.

You can't expect to pay once and get it forever after, especially given that over time, you get extra themes made available.

What other places sell premium themes that you know of by the way?

For SMF? Pretty much no-one on the basis that pretty much everywhere has concluded that there are  a lot of SMF free-loaders.

[joeyjojoshabadoo]

If i buy windows 7 i get updates for it's entire lifecycle Arantor. Im still getting free updates for XP and they came out with that ten years ago.

I want to buy a theme, and get access to any updates that come out - im not interested in lots of other themes - i suppose thats the crucial difference here.

And I don't see why SMF freeloaders are stopping anyone else coming out with paid themes. If something is good enough people will pay for it I think.

[Arantor]

Yes, you get updates until MS decide not to give you any more.

I want to buy a theme, and get access to any updates that come out - im not interested in lots of other themes - i suppose thats the crucial difference here.

OK, so Windows was a bad example. But all the other products I mentioned, that still stands. You have to continue paying for vB updates, for IPB updates, for XenForo updates.

And I don't see why SMF freeloaders are stopping anyone else coming out with paid themes. If something is good enough people will pay for it I think.

Actually, it does. Because no-one with the skill can be bothered to make something that's paid when it's going to be ripped off. The number of times we've had people here asking about support for DS themes when they haven't bought them legitimately is actually kind of frightening.

And pretty much every paid creator here has at one time or another had appeals like 'the software is free so things for it should be'.

This is how it is, whether you agree or not.

[tumbleweed]

Here is a list of other providers:
http://www.smfdesign.net/
http://www.smfpersonal.net/pages/portfolio.html
http://www.blocweb.net/
http://www.jpr62.com/demos/
http://www.skinmod.eu

Not sure if every single one is up to date