[webdev] Re: New Aclug Theme

[Tom Hull <thull2@xxxxxxx>]

Dale W Hodge wrote:
> I've selected 12 possible themes for the Aclug.org website. You can view them 
> at
> http://www.aclug.org/newtheme.php and vote for your choice in our poll.
> 
> --dwh

BEST: medium gray on black, illegible.

BlackMagic: white/yellow on gray; minimal lines for boxing; might be better
with colors flipped, but not very attractive in any case.

Easino: ignoring the banner which would have to be replaced, the left-column
fade into light center column is fairly handsome, and the darker right column
is clearly differentiated w/o a lot of ornamentation. the fixed width is
presumably an artifact of the banner.

ffx69 phpbb2: simple/attractive boxing, lightblue-on-lightgray doesn't
provide much contrast; blue-on-blue would have to be changed, probably
to lightgray-on-blue; same for orange-on-blue; not bad

LocalFoo: best thing about look is that it gives a wider middle column,
but this is only achieved by using illegibly small type; needs bigger
fonts; better contrast in right column; can kill the orange trim on
the right column. i like the center column with larger type, but
everything else needs work.

MTmodular: raised white slabs on gray background; looks stereotypically
postnuke.

myphpnuke: like, who would want to read from a website anyway?

nardoniki-coma: why does this have a fixed width?

nucleus: another light pastel scheme, with simple boxing; wonder why
the middle column sinks down; not terrible.

Somora-Agua: another panel-look thing; i find the inability to fit the
text into the trim to be distracting and a bit alarming.

Somara-Platinum-780: another wide one; the shading on the trim bars makes
them look unaligned; pretty ugly, really.

Sowelu Blue: too wide, needs work on top, but simple colors and block
breaks are reasonable; don't really think that the background and attendant
margin loss are worthwhile.

Sowelu Red: same thing in red; i'd go for a darker red, this really
bright orangish shade is hard on eyes.

None of these do much for me; maybe Easino and ffx69 phpbb2 seem the
most promising, although they differ in one important design concept,
which is that Easino doesn't demarcate between blocks, whereas ffx69
and most of the other samples do. Anything we pick needs work on top,
and probably some tuning on colors. If the thing's so themable, why
doesn't someone else take a shot at it?

-- 
/*
  *  Tom Hull * thull2 at cox.net * http://www.tomhull.com/
  */