If SMF wants to be successful

[goldenboy48]

In my opinion, if SMF wants to be successful and take place of PHPBB then it must have a more elegant and professional looking DEFAULT skin. People turn their face away from SMF by looking at the ugly [no hard feelings] default skin. What do you guys say?

[shadow82x]

In my opinion, if SMF wants to be successful and take place of PHPBB then it must have a more elegant and professional looking DEFAULT skin. People turn their face away from SMF by looking at the ugly [no hard feelings] default skin. What do you guys say?

I have to agree but to be honest people don't have to use the default theme. SMF is very customizable and there are many very nice themes for it.

It would be nice for SMF2.0 to have a good template but lots of people dont use the default theme if they dont like it.

[goldenboy48]

I agree with you about that. But look at the number of noobs using PHPBB and using its default theme. Not everyone is comfortable making all those edits. And then the mods that come out might also require theme edits.

Wouldn't it be great if the default skin was really good looking.

Now if someone reaches this Simple Machines site, what impression does the community forum look give? Not very good looking. At first I ignored SMF because of the defaul skin. But then one day my friend showed me his SMF with a nice skin and right away ditched the old forum software that I used. Personally I love SMF. For me, SMF+Mods = vBulletin.

Look at the nice looking skin of Joomla 1.5 [I know everyone hates Joomla now including me]. Look at Mybb's default skin.

As many of you guys know - First impression is the last impression.

[Fustrate]

About theme edits - SMF 2.0 will do mod changes automatically on any installed theme

[Thantos]

In my opinion, if SMF wants to be successful and take place of phpBB then it must have a more elegant and professional looking DEFAULT skin. People turn their face away from SMF by looking at the ugly [no hard feelings] default skin. What do you guys say?

While I'll admit that the PHPBB default theme uses better HTML I do have to say that if their default theme design is "nice looking" then please find me the uglist theme possible.  I've looked at a few phpBB boards using the latest theme and I honestly can't stay there for more then a few minutes before my eyes hurt.

[goldenboy48]

About theme edits - SMF 2.0 will do mod changes automatically on any installed theme

Is that true? That would be awesome.

But I would still call for a better default theme.

[goldenboy48]

In my opinion, if SMF wants to be successful and take place of phpBB then it must have a more elegant and professional looking DEFAULT skin. People turn their face away from SMF by looking at the ugly [no hard feelings] default skin. What do you guys say?

While I'll admit that the PHPBB default theme uses better HTML I do have to say that if their default theme design is "nice looking" then please find me the uglist theme possible.  I've looked at a few phpBB boards using the latest theme and I honestly can't stay there for more then a few minutes before my eyes hurt.

But the thing is that IF SMF wants to get above PHPBB it has to have a better default theme. I don't like PHPBB. But a lot of people are using PHPBB and its popular and doesn't need to do anything special to do good.

But if SMF shows all the noobs out there that anyone can have a good looking site without doing anything, a lot of people will start to choose Simple Machines.

[karlbenson]

About theme edits - SMF 2.0 will do mod changes automatically on any installed theme

Is that true? That would be awesome.

But I would still call for a better default theme.

2.0 *attempts to install mods on all themes.
But if the code section that is being altered by the mod differs from the default theme, then that edit might fail, and you would still have to do manual edits.

[babjusi]

In my opinion, if SMF wants to be successful and take place of PHPBB then it must have a more elegant and professional looking DEFAULT skin. People turn their face away from SMF by looking at the ugly [no hard feelings] default skin. What do you guys say?

SMF is already successful. And have you heard that expression ''Don''t judge a book by its cover''?
It isn''t the look that makes a forum software successful of popular but what it has to offer. And SMF offers plenty, more than phpbb, anytime in my personal opinion. Especially security wise and community wise. And it gets better with the new version, the 2.0

[goldenboy48]

I love SMF too and thats why I am using it too and is hell better than PHPBB but PHPBB is more popular than SMF, isn't it?

Anyways, it was just my two cents.

[babjusi]

but PHPBB is more popular than SMF, isn't it?

I guess this is a relative concept. For others it might be that, but for me, based in my observations, SMF is more popular than phpbb. More people turn away from phpbb and join smf than the other way around. And I have seen more and more websites each day that use Smf as their favorite forum software. But as I said in the begin, this is a relative concept

[Alan S]

I like the current theme on SM.org , Personally i'm hoping that it will become the default theme for 2.0

[shadow82x]

I like the current theme on SM.org , Personally i'm hoping that it will become the default theme for 2.0

It's nice layout wise but it needs a lot of improvements. (ie look at the header curves)

[ToxXxic]

In my opinion, if SMF wants to be successful and take place of PHPBB then it must have a more elegant and professional looking DEFAULT skin. People turn their face away from SMF by looking at the ugly [no hard feelings] default skin. What do you guys say?

If you can code a forum with .php it looks very professional already in my opinion . *says a .php-n00b*

[Nibogo]

i think of security is first , maybe of phpbb have a very good looking style but the securitiy of that system sucks and some themes are very pretty like bf or dilmerMC

[Oldiesmann]

A quick comment on popularity. Part of the reason phpBB seems to be more popular is because it's been around much longer than smf. I believe it was also the first php-based forum system. SMF is quickly becoming more popular.

[Jpg]

I have to agree. With all the talented theme creators around [like Bloc], I'm sure SMF could have a default theme way better than it currently is.
I for one believe the phpbb default theme is better than the SMF theme.
It's more smoother, and the text+mini icon menu is better.

And please remember, the nicer the default theme is, the nicer future themes will be since most themes are based off the SMF default.
It's a win/win situation.

One way to have a better theme is to put a default favicon code in the template, or fix the profile view[avatar under name plz].

[Gary]

There is a new default theme in the works but I cant say that it'd it'd be vital that if we had kept the current as default that most people would turn away because of it.

[Stüldt Håjt]

I think that if SMF had more seo friendly basic theme it would be no1. forum software already.

Check these:
http://www.vbseo.com/f55/1400-one-day-vbseo-18151/
http://www.vbseo.com/f55/how-did-vbseo-buy-young-entrepreneur-bmw-m3-luxury-car-11674/
http://www.vbseo.com/f55/fastest-way-20k-vbseo-fireblades-story-11660/
http://www.vbseo.com/

[青山 素子]

I think that if SMF had more seo friendly basic theme it would be no1. forum software already.

vbSEO loves to talk about itself. Did you think there would be negative posts on their site? They're trying to sell a product. Of course they wouldn't post anything neutral or negative. They'd only post skewed versions of the very best they could find to get people to buy their product.

Remember that disclaimer on put on ads about "making tons of money from home" and "I lost 50 pounds in three weeks"? No? Well, at the bottom of these ads, you'll see "results not typical".

I know many people who haven't seen a darn thing from a product like that, and others who claim it worked wonders.

In reality, SEO is much more than some code adjustments, tag changes, and URL edits (which aren't even proven to help at all). It's a much more holistic approach closely aligned with the direction you want to move in and very much a marketing thing.