Board redesign - provide your input

Blackshirt

Blackshirt

Team HuskerBoard
Hey guys,

I'd like everyone's input on this. I found a company who offers IB design services I'm going to hire for a board re-design. Below are some of the requirements I've given, and would like to get all of your input so we can make sure everything is just right after this is done. Your ideas can be anything from design to mods to allow improved board functionality. If you can think of it there's probably a mod for it this company can implement or develop.

My list:

-More prominent display of sponsors - with easy ad rotation functionality

-Easier navigation to other areas of the board, i.e. Schedule, Contests, Rules

-Integrate the following on all pages in easier to find location: schedule/results, ticket info, contest

-Integrate an RSS feed with news

-Add an RSS feed with a live scoreboard from around the NCAA

-Integrate a type of basic CMS to allow our staff to post quick comments about site updates & breaking news

Their response:

-The placement of advertisements through out the forum is quite simple. We could add an ad rotation in the header of your new skin. If you have more ads we can also display them on the sidebar, and or footer of the skin. Would you like the ad in the header to stand out or blend in a bit so it won't be too obtrusive.

-I'll focus on usability when working with the navigation, so it's a breeze from page to page.

-I'm sure we can find a good spot possibly in the header for the schedule / results, ticket info, etc.

-You can automatically set up an RSS feed through IPB that creates topics on your forum.

-IPS currently offers IP.Content which is a CMS that can be used within IPB and outside of IPB. This would be your best option for the most flexibility in the future if you wanted more than just site updates, etc.

What you are asking for doesn't seem too complicated. I am picturing a smooth clean design, keeping with the color scheme of the "Huskers". I would also like to add some players to the header giving it a nice touch.

 
One thing I'd change is the RSS feed for NCAA scores. I think that we need a feed that pulls both Big 12 and Big 10 feeds. I think that would be of more interest to members than a NCAA feed, per se. Having said that, it would be nice to pull specific teams as well. We could pull in teams we are about to play out-of-conference, as well as those in the running for the National Championship.

The next thing I'd like is something mentioned - a kind of "announcement" feed to something similar. Something that is quite noticeable and catches members' attention. There are times we'd like to make something known to members, and we've learned that posting a sticky doesn't work for everyone. Some folks just blow by them.

Also, Chad, if you haven't, take a look at THIS THREAD. It's more about reorganization, but some of the thoughts might help as well.

 
Are we changing the board theme again? Isn't it rather soon from the last change?...

What you are asking for doesn't seem too complicated. I am picturing a smooth clean design, keeping with the color scheme of the "Huskers". I would also like to add some players to the header giving it a nice touch.
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This sounds like it could be in conflict with the banner contest we've always had to determine the site logo.

I don't know, I'm not too excited with too many changes too soon, especially if we are going to simultaneously reorganize the forum structure. Granted, that isn't a big change or anything.

 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understood this to be in conjunction with the forum redesign we've been discussing.

I've been hoping for an RSS feed ever since we upgraded to this version of IP.Board. :thumbs

Sidebar ads are a good idea. We could scrunch down the Last Post Info column and use the space we save for the sidebar. The contests, schedule/results & ticket info could also be incorporated into the sidebar.

I really like the scoreboard idea. Frank's suggestion of focusing on specific teams is great. If there's a way to scroll through the Big 12 & Big 10 scores twice for every one time the rest of the NCAA plays, that would be ideal.

 
I like the idea of some new board features, but am reluctant on a whole redesign. I am just getting used to the new board software! Here are things that I am for:

-RSS news feed

-New graphics and banner using the banner contest

-New consolidated forum structure

Here are things that I wouldn't mind:

-More Advertisements

-A whole new look but a similar structure

-Eliminating the status updates/last post info in order to create space

Just a humble opinion from a new moderator.

 
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:yeah don't have anything constructive, insightful or anything resembling a knowledge of a website construct so GO TEAM GO TEAM GO

I be the oogly cheerleader.

GBR

 
I See Red People said:
I like the idea of some new board features, but am reluctant on a whole redesign. I am just getting used to the new board software! Here are things that I am for:

-RSS news feed

-New graphics and banner using the banner contest

-New consolidated forum structure

Here are things that I wouldn't mind:

-More Advertisements

-A whole new look but a similar structure

-Eliminating the status updates/last post info in order to create space

Just a humble opinion from a new moderator.
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I disagree with the more advertisements statement. I understand that people pay to put their advertisements up on the board, but the last thing I want to come to is a giant cluster of advertisements wanting me to buy this and that. I do agree with getting rid of the status updates and last post info for more space. The status updates just seems to be creating problems from what I've seen. I would like to see the helmets for the Big 10 be in some other format. They seem to be cluttered at the top of the board and it's kind of driving me nuts.

 
BIGREDIOWAN said:
I See Red People said:
I like the idea of some new board features, but am reluctant on a whole redesign. I am just getting used to the new board software! Here are things that I am for:

-RSS news feed

-New graphics and banner using the banner contest

-New consolidated forum structure

Here are things that I wouldn't mind:

-More Advertisements

-A whole new look but a similar structure

-Eliminating the status updates/last post info in order to create space

Just a humble opinion from a new moderator.
Click to expand...
I disagree with the more advertisements statement. I understand that people pay to put their advertisements up on the board, but the last thing I want to come to is a giant cluster of advertisements wanting me to buy this and that. I do agree with getting rid of the status updates and last post info for more space. The status updates just seems to be creating problems from what I've seen. I would like to see the helmets for the Big 10 be in some other format. They seem to be cluttered at the top of the board and it's kind of driving me nuts.
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I think Chad mentioned Ad rotation, so that would mean one location (ie current HuskerNation banner) but with different ads as you surf the board. That wouldn't clutter the board any more than it is now.

@AR:

As for announcements, we could just put up a ESPN like ticker immediately under the navbar. When there is no major announcements we just leave it blank, yet when we do post something it will grab attention without taking up too much space.

Example

Also, to increase board traffic, we could include social bookmarking links into each thread. IPB may have this feature built in, but if it doesn't we could use a plugin like THIS.

lDRrc.png


 
I think we want to be careful with too many drastic look changes in a short time. A site can lose its identity that way and that could negatively impact membership. Well - maybe not, but it's a thought. We already just had one drastic theme change, which at least for me took a long time to get used to. It was like a whole new site. When Facebook rolls out their theme changes, it is never drastic; even with a completely different look, it is still distinctly 'Facebook.' Right now what we have is distinctly 'Huskerboard' (in a new and sort of fragile way), and I really feel it should be kept this way for a long time. A year at least, with only minor changes made in the meantime. So whatever other changes we make with this firm, I think the forum theme should be kept the same, and as said before, the banner should be untouched as we're having a members' contest for that.

As far as additional features go, such as RSS, I wonder how much of it we can't do on our own or with a couple of plugins - so I wonder if it's the wrong time to hire an IPB design firm, or if it would be a worthwhile expenditure. Forgive me if this has been long in the works and I'm just out of the loop; just my 2 cents.

 
The RSS plugin is available as part of IP Board, so we wouldn't have to pay someone to implement it.

The question I have is, are we looking to rebrand ourselves or just tweak a few things? If we're just tweaking, we could do a lot of it in-house. If we're doing a major overhaul, we should probably have professionals do it.

Need some clarification on the intent here.

 
Thanks for the feedback guys.

I completely understand the concern about a drastic change, and am all for maintaining a consistent brand/image. The core functionality/layout of the board will not change. This is mainly for aesthetics, usability, and hopefully command higher sponsor rates.

The banner also will not change, and I've advised the firm not to worry about that.

Here's an example of a board I think has a much cleaner/pro looking layout than us, which we can easily achieve with a few minor adjustments: http://www.orangepower.com

I think HB can be even better than OP, but it's good to have something to emulate. If you guys have other boards you're aware of we can grab ideas from please share.

I appreciate the offer to help implement some things to keep the cost down, and we'll probably need to take you guys up on that.

The design company said they would have a mock-up ready this week, so I'll share with you guys along the way so we can all be involved in this process. You guys operate this ship on a daily basis, so I want to get your buy-in on everything so it can be something we're all proud of.

 
Hey Blackshirt, could you point out what you like specifically in that OrangePower site? I can't speak for the forum setup, but I think HB's look wins in a landslide against it. The large, clashing and vivid vertical ads, the awful contrast in the (ugly) banner, the odd choice of red in the forum theme, the black main background...at least to me, it's not real easy on the eyes...

Appreciate you getting back to us on this for feedback.

 
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zoogies said:
I can't speak for the forum setup, but I think HB's look wins in a landslide against it. The large, clashing and vivid vertical ads, the awful contrast in the (ugly) banner, the odd choice of red in the forum theme, the black main background...at least to me, it's not real easy on the eyes...
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Oh my goodness, yes! Please do not change our site to look like that!

HuskerBoard as is is FAR better than that. Yikes!

 
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