RPF New Look Feedback Thread

We have a few other things on the plate before moving to vb 4, but as we get closer, if you are still interested, we can talk about it more, but I don't want to make any commitments at this point.

If you want to get an idea of what is involved, these links would be a good primer.

vBulletin Manual - StyleVars

StyleVar Visual Dictionary for Forum, Blog, and CMS (PDF Documents) - Blogs - vBulletin Community Forum

vB4: Skinning Your Forum in 10 Easy Steps - Blogs - vBulletin Community Forum

vBulletin 4.0.4 Style Generator - Blogs - vBulletin Community Forum


Absolutely fair. :) I'll be doing my research!
 
Is the word "Replica" eventually going to taken away from the names Replica Movie Props and Replica Movie Costumes? It doesn't seem quite right to say "showcase your original designs" under the heading that begins with "Replica"? These two boards are (have been) the most viewed on the forum. Isn't it going to be confusing to include original work in there without changing the name? And if the names are changed to drop the word "Replica".......well, that sure changes things a lot.

Replica Movie Props (284 Viewing)
Discuss replica props from movies, television shows and other media or showcase your original designs and collection. Please do not post want to buy, sales or trade related threads in this forum.
Sub-Forums: Paper Props


Replica Movie Costumes (224 Viewing)
Discuss replica costumes and other wearables from movies, television shows and other media or showcase your original designs and collection.

On a lighter note: Anyone remember when KFC used to be called Kentucky Fried Chicken!?!??! :lol:lol:lol I'm just saying............

Shylaah
 
My only issue maybe sorta kinda is that most forums label their sales space "the marketplace." I am a huge SW geek and never made the JY connection to Ep 1 AT ALL.

Not that I am going to lose sleep over it or anything, but it was kinda nice having a unique title for that section as has already been mentioned.

What about:

The Depot, the Scrapyard, the Junkmarket.

I dunno. Whatever I guess.
 
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Is the word "Replica" eventually going to taken away from the names Replica Movie Props and Replica Movie Costumes?

I can't imagine that happening. The fact that we are emphasizing 'replica' in the site name doesn't change what is on the site or even that replica is in fact a part of the site name.

It doesn't seem quite right to say "showcase your original designs" under the heading that begins with "Replica"? These two boards are (have been) the most viewed on the forum. Isn't it going to be confusing to include original work in there without changing the name? And if the names are changed to drop the word "Replica".......well, that sure changes things a lot.

The costume and prop forums are a loose collective at best. If someone wanted to show off an original prop in the replica prop forum, or a custom costume in the replica costume forum, we encourage them to do so. Why would we discourage such artistic endeavors?

It is much like fact that the forums are called the replica MOVIE prop forum and replica MOVIE costume forum... yet we allow tv show costumes and comic costumes and video games props...
 
Maybe this isn't the greatest parallel but think of it like KFC. It's easier to say and it still means the same thing. You don't go to KFC for sushi or pizzas... you go for fried chicken. They aren't gonna stop serving fried chicken, y'know?

Heck, I haven't been an active staff or admin now in YEARS and we were doing the "RPF" thing THEN. I'm the one that made the previous "RPF" 'logo' of sorts that was used on the previous default skin... I can go dig up the original files and check the date if you like. This is not that much of a radical change but definitely an improvement.

I also don't think some of you guys yet realize how complicated creating skins are these days. I'm a web designer by trade and these things give ME headaches. This ain't like runboard or ezboard used to be.
 
Really nice job folks. Thanks for all the hard work. Now who's gonna make the first "replica props icon" blaster? :lol

(Oh, and despite all your hard work and how great it looks, it will always be the JY to me!)
 
Ah, okay, I just changed to the new look.
It looks great!
Very clean and the icons are cute.

The fixed width though, is really distracting. I have been in the web space since around 1994. I understand designing for the masses and many sites I have built or overseen have had to be built for the screen sizes prevalent at the time. It allowed us to create immersive environments and insure that our graphics lined up properly as well as allowing us to fit in specific ad sizes. I get that you aren't looking additional ads at this time, but I also don't see overlapping graphics or other elements that would force the fixed width.

I also realize that creating a "skin" for the site is not as easy as creating a "skin" for an older, more crude site. I do bvelieve, though, that peole here would, if given the chance, create a theme for the site that appeals to them and, possibly others.
So, there might be one for Star Wars or Star Trek as well as one for the flavor of the month, be it Iron Man, or or MattMunsen©.

Also, are dsicussions of TV shows now to have their own area or go on in Off Topic?
It seems like there is enough room for the addition of "& TV" next to Movie in the text for that area, was it left off because a little TV and a film reel next to each other were too cluttered?:D

I agree the Sale tag looks like a baby bottle. Maybe it could just be a $ ?
Sorry about the Toydarian. I can certainly agree he was running a junkyard, but I still don't equate "Junkyard" with Star Wars, in any way.

Hey, do posts in this thread count? :p
 
I can go dig up the original files and check the date if you like. This is not that much of a radical change but definitely an improvement.

If you can find a date, that would be super cool just from a historical perspective! I know therpf.com domain name was registered around 2006.
 
I also don't see overlapping graphics or other elements that would force the fixed width.

We weren't forced to go to fixed width. Not sure what I said that gave you that impression but it was a conscious decision we made, not something that was out of our hands.

I also realize that creating a "skin" for the site is not as easy as creating a "skin" for an older, more crude site. I do bvelieve, though, that peole here would, if given the chance, create a theme for the site that appeals to them and, possibly others.
So, there might be one for Star Wars or Star Trek as well as one for the flavor of the month, be it Iron Man, or or MattMunsen©.

Oh... you guys are giving me so many ideas for April Fools... Matt Munson background... yeah, baby!!!


I agree the Sale tag looks like a baby bottle. Maybe it could just be a $ ?

You guys are welcome to post up ideas for any of the last three icons and if we like them, we just might swap them out.

Hey, do posts in this thread count? :p

They better because my post count would have doubled today!
 
Maybe this isn't the greatest parallel but think of it like KFC. >>>clip<<<

I already alluded to the KFC connection, leaving it implied that going with RPF isn't exactly earth shattering..........

As far as the look, contents, moderators and all other aspects of this forum--if you had just this month discovered your interest in props and costumes and were Googling and searching the Internet for a forum dedicated to those interests and you happened to find the RPF looking exactly as it does at this very moment (minus the SW theme skin that's still available, but not for long)--would you be whinging on and swearing you'd never join a forum with fixed width, generic looking logos, misleading titles and boring icons?

My guess would be no, that we'd be so happy to have found a place that has content relative to our interest that we'd not give a rat's back side what it looked like---but because we are members with our varying lengths of "time in grade', we sometimes start to care too much---or worse, we get to (fallaciously) thinking we have a certain amount of entitlement to have it our way. Just human nature, both sides will always have to deal with that delicate, symbiotic guest/host relationship.

Some will go shooting off with a Hell-Bent-on-Rebellion stance while others will slink around it with a I'm-Just-a-Poor-Wayfaring-Stranger attitude. But most will just quietly accept the changes and life will go on--as it should..................

Shylaah
 
Look, I wasn't complaining, just pointing out that it seemed you were a little dismissive of folks concerns. You've addressed that. I still don't really get your reasons for fixed width. Cohesive and consistent? Consistent with what? Buzzwords? Many sites are fixed width. So? Why follow what everyone else does, where's the creativity in that?
It's easier to design for? But you say this is the new look, so what other designs will there be? I don't care if it has a Star Wars theme, that's not my beef. What's wrong with having a widescreen version of this new look for those that want it, but setting the fixed-width as default?

BTW, sarcastic remarks such as "if you continue to simply complain, we will ignore you until you change your approach to something that is constructive." are exactly the attitude I was criticising. I'd also be careful about suggesting that the Star Wars fans are "a shrinking segment of the membership" Do you really want to alienate members?
 
If you can find a date, that would be super cool just from a historical perspective! I know therpf.com domain name was registered around 2006.

It looks like this particular version we started using at least by November 2009 though I know I had been working on it prior to that. The blue background was based on the default IPB theme at the time.

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And for those that are curious... this is a screenshot from 2005 - I believe right before the RPF moved to IPB and we rolled out what is now considered the "legacy" Star Wars theme.

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And that header graphic was my inspiration for creating this version... I just wanted something that was less blocky and more integrated into the page at the time:

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Looks sweeeet! Totally loving it, especially the forum section icons.
Can't wait for the official T-Shirts - count me in for two!!
 
While I think I would be tarred, feathered and run out of town on a rail, my dream would be a header like deviantART: where ART meets application!... 42 pixels... less than a third the height of ours. That means you get to content over 100pixels faster (did you know pixels were a measurement of time? kinda like a parsec in Star Wars). Oh... to dream...
Now that's a movement I could get behind.

(Oh, and it's not fixed width).
 
I just wanted to mention that regardless of the "Junkyard/Marketplace" name debate, some of the stuck announcements should be updated to reflect the name change. Like in the "What this forum is all about... " stickies in the different forum sections, they still refer to the Junkyard as the place to go for selling. So they should probably be changed to avoid confusion.
 
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