New design looks. - Page 4

I like the current design best as well, but am grateful for the site in ANY form and will learn to love whatever changes you make.  I tried to get used to the DYRIN version, but found myself back here when I needed info fast because it seemed much easier to find here. 

Regarding being more accomodating to the newbies, perhaps there could be a "welcome/introduction/how to" page where newcomers could learn the ropes without having to alter the entire site to make it easier for them.  Whenever I refer new people to this site, I send them an e-mail with the link and a very long message about how to navigate this site, register their dog, ask questions, etc.  It would be nice if there was a permanent page here to do all of that so ALL newbies would learn quickly and feel welcomed. 

I also love the picture of Carlos and it sure is nice to see him again.  Thanks for posting the picture, Oli, and once again thank you for all you do.

Diane Seaman

Very nice!!!

Neither, the current form is better.  I agree with broker that the two options presented are way to "fluffy" and not business like enough.  I think I will hold out for the other designers choices and see what they look like.  (Bob's right, a help/how to page would be nice)

C. Neubert

It would be nice if you could implement the ability for end-users to select the visual appearance of the forums. I know phpbb2 has this capability built in, and it is nice because everyone's eyes are more comfortable with different color schemes. People really enjoy that feature on forum communities.

This may be just a rough draft template, but here is a suggestion on the main menu:

I would suggest also looking for some stronger main menu headings than the Site Information, Newest Ads, Newest Gallery area of the site. Most web users are looking for primary site navigation in that area and I feel that it is using "prime real estate" for not-so-prime areas of the site. The site's primary goals should be clearly accessible from that menu, if you are going to have that menu at all. You could make it smaller to bring more focus to he left menu, but with both of those templates, the red-bar just screams "primary." The ones that seem out of place are Newest Ad and Newest Gallery. I think the titles are not clear enough to give the navigational idea to a user who is just breezing by- you want to make it really easy for someone to glance at and understand what information they will get by going to that section of the site. Some careful thought to the language would be a good idea.

I think the ad listing is good but you may want to say Classfied as opposed to Ad because I think that the term "Ad" puts people on the defensive because they are thinking they are going to be bombarded with a commercial or a pop up barrage. Classifieds make it much more passive and palatable to a passing web user.

I really enjoy and appreciate the work you do on the site. Thank you.

This site is extremely unique.  It is not built from an ordinary  matrix or common software available generated "theme" .  In that regard I believe it has character and stands out tremendously over and above all the other dog and breed sites on the net.   

I miss the waterfall photo as well, it added to the character of the layout.

I think that a tracker to block the crazies and those with multiple sign ins and personal agendas would boost usage by knowledgable GSD people on the board too.  Banning signins using hotmail, gmail, yahoo etc and only allowing legit addresses for messageboard members and inputting info could stop the porn and BS.

While the new format tools for the message board are lots of fun, storing all the photos and extra formatting is going to take alot more memory on your servers.   Will that be an issue for you?

Thank you Oli, for providing the most complete site on our breed.  

See, my problem with the "bells & whistles" (smileys, different fonts, etc.) is it takes up too much room for no good reason, & much of the time to too sickeningly cutsie.  Can't we just use our "words"?

I could do without the thumbs up and thumbs down and trade those for a middle finger. I think that would get some heavy usage here. LOL

Sorry about that i guess i hit the wrong button............

Hello Oli
I can't make out the difference on my screen. I am somewhat computor illiterate so I am probably doing something wrong. However I do not like the current setup. I liked the last one much better. I don't care for only seeing the last poster listed instead of all who posted.

Also, can you tell me what happened to the thread that I posted on the message board being hijacked. It is no big deal, I just went to add something today to clarify something and it was gone. I don't know what that means. Did someone screw up with a post or was it innapropriate? I would just like to know for future referance. Please email me if you can or other wise post if you like, either way thanks and I have thouroughly enjoyed this site. It has brought back some wonderful times for me. Olskoolgsds