Design Update?

[crazyrog17]

Apple sticker on your car kinda gave it away, bahaha.

[rakfint]

Haha, the colour options I assume was a feature built in to the forum software previously used.

I'm not proposing a colour option... just maybe a new header graphic, colour scheme for links etc.

The header could even feature a photo of Festiva of the month... in Addition we could include a wallpaper for each winner etc.

Just ideas - up to the members if they like them of course :p

Below is an example of a simple tidy up used by a forum i regular.

[GenevaDirt]

Haha, the colour options I assume was a feature built in to the forum software previously used.

I'm not proposing a colour option... just maybe a new header graphic, colour scheme for links etc.

The header could even feature a photo of Festiva of the month... in Addition we could include a wallpaper for each winner etc.

Just ideas - up to the members if they like them of course :p

Below is an example of a simple tidy up used by a forum i regular.

welllll...The header is not going anywhere soon....it is the official font of the sight and MY design....lol.

[Charlie1717]

I like the idea of the FOTM going in the header that would be neat and offer another incentive to enter.

[thered56]

welllll...The header is not going anywhere soon....it is the official font of the sight and MY design....lol.

Props! It's a great design!

[SimonTuffGuy]

When we were on the phpBB software, DJ spent time customizing it to have 3 different color options that you could pick from... This took a lot of time and effort on his part (as the owner of the site).

When we converted to the VB software, it came with the default theme. We've touched several different pages to customize the looks and features, but have left the majority of it untouched.

Why? Well, there are several reasons. First, while you and I may have a lightning fast computer and internet connection, not everyone who visits this site does. That's why some of the rules are enforced, picture resolutions, etc. The number of dialup users out there are staggering (amazing, right?) If you add a lot of "extra, then you add a lot of overhead to what else needs to load in addition to the posts, pictures, etc.

Second is that we've been lucky to have a host allow us to run the site/forum that we have with our current hosting plan. The majority of forums our size are on their own server, running "dedicated" hardware, costing way more than we pay per month. I'm not in charge of the site finances and I don't know what donations come into FF.com on any given month... But I doubt that what does come in does not cover the costs of the site as it is run today, let alone 3+ or more times the cost of the site. (Although at the same time, we are not requesting users to constantly donate either). This covers disk space that we have too. Bumping to a better hosting plan would provide us more space, allowing us to get more creative with the website (the actual FF.com side of things) as well as customizations to the forum and allowing us to expand with other new features of the VB software; the newer version of VB offers a blog, a better portal, and other cool features. Again - a VB subscription isn't free, so that goes back to my point about donations.

Third would probably touch again on donations... The staff here (including Brian) are running this site as a hobby. We are not making a living off running the site, we all have jobs that require us 40+ hours a week that we are committed too outside of FF.com. I would love to be able to spend 10+ hours a week on keeping up on the site, upgrading to the newest version of VB software, finding and implementing new modifications to the site, new themes, etc... But - that all requires money, it all requires time (which, in the end is money). And let's face it... We all love the Festiva, which is not known to be owned by rich people with money to spare. This is not a cry for donations, it's not a pity party about being busy, etc... It's just what we deal with. So, it costs $500 a year to run, host, and keep FF.com registered... We see maybe $200 a year in donations, which means $300 is coming from someone to keep the site running... And running for what? So people can complain that it's plain and boring?

Anyways... Thanks for your suggestion. We certainly want to keep our members happy and we can look into the options for adding different themes to the site. I think the first thing that we need to accomplish is upgrading to the newest version of VB though. I'll bring up these options to the other admins and Brian and we'll see what we can do to accomplish some of it.

[Charlie1717]

How many active users do we have on here? We have to have a couple hundred?
We ought to start a thread to inform people of the cost of the site and giving donations.

I feel many would be willing to donate anywhere from $1-$5 without blinking an eye (and some even more) but for 100 people to donate $5 a year! We should be able to swing that. Maybe if we make the need known that would generate more donations. And you can always reinvest/donate the extras to various needs.

Just an idea! I've thought about starting a thread regarding this being that I haven't donated but will be soon!

[SimonTuffGuy]

"Active" has pretty many faces to it... People that hit the site on a regular basis? Sure, we have a couple hundred... Lurkers who register and use the site without posting, more than that.

Again - I've never seen Brian complain at the cost of the site vs. the donations that come in... Maybe I'm wrong and that we are getting more than what I'm thinking, but I would bet that isn't the case.

We have some very generous members who have donated a lot in the past... And maybe we need to make THOSE members to have better features. Like the ability to change themes, etc. Currently they have access to another Arena like sub-forum, more PM space, etc... But, it could be expanded more if that's the route we end up going with.

[thered56]

I work 18 hours/week, and I wouldn't have any problem donating much more than that. If there is a need for more donations, I feel responsible for that. I've benefited so much from this site, I owe it to you guys. You spend your time keeping it going, there shouldn't be any money coming out of your pockets for it.

Another point of relevance. When I visit other forums I see ads which annoy me, and I can't help but think of how much I enjoy the absence of them here.

[getnpsi]

This site is like the actual car. Just as fast as what is out now but with a lot less. A color change and a pic of the this month winner's car wouldn't be too intrusive I agree.

[rakfint]

I'm new to the site, and pretty excited about my new car as well as the friendly community that seems to surround it.

For that reason alone - i'd like to see the site exciting & looking active. Anything I can do to help, i'd be happy.

[91_festy_Gl]

I work 18 hours/week, and I wouldn't have any problem donating much more than that. If there is a need for more donations, I feel responsible for that. I've benefited so much from this site, I owe it to you guys. You spend your time keeping it going, there shouldn't be any money coming out of your pockets for it.

Another point of relevance. When I visit other forums I see ads which annoy me, and I can't help but think of how much I enjoy the absence of them here.

Ads a are a money maker. Just like building websites, if you advertise something and the company knows your advertising their product or whatever it is, when people click on that ad the person advertising someone else's product or whatever pays that person for directing traffic to the products site. My friend makes alittle over 20 bucks a month on his site just for advertising google. When people come to his site and click the link to google chrome, that turns into cents or dollars from google depending on how much traffic comes from his site.

Ads are annoying but it helps fund or pay for the monthly fee in order to keep the site up and running. The only real thing I would like to see from FF.com is a chat option. Another thing that sucks about upgrading is the down time and bugs.

[drddan]

NO ADDS!

[rakfint]

Agreed ads can get annoying, i've been part of forums that have grown from nothing to have thousands of members, when this happens, the price to run the site increases and ads are almost a neccesity to help support the costs involved.

I'm not sure if FF is to that point so I wouldn't think ads are necessary just yet, particularly with the number of people here who are willing to help donate to the cause.

Basic design changes that I had originally mentioned don't necessarily require any downtime, however functionality changes like chat etc may do.

[neanderpaul]

Information, clarity, and speed trump all. This site leaves nothing to be desired for me. But my opinion or the opinion of anybody else does not matter. The only opinion that matters is the owner's. This is a private site. It is his.