Premade forum styles; a good idea?

Yes, I know. I got inspired by a topic on Proboards to post this, because I wanted to see what more experienced forum admins would think about a topic people have posted many times before elsewhere.

As for my opinion, it depends on the site and style. A small hobbyist site or such like can do fine with them if they have no graphics expertise or experience with designing forum styles, and an average pre made style may be better than a poor custom made one in some cases.

However, I do think a custom style shows more originality on behalf of the forum's management and that I sometimes personally hesitate to join a forum where they've just added resources from elsewhere to make it look sort of professional.

I do also think that in some cases, the use of a premade style can be alarming, such as when the forum is meant to be the showcase site for a forum skin designer, where using a premade they haven't made themselves can leave serious doubts to their ability. Similarly, it rings alarm bells when a service provider or software company uses competitor software for their support forums/wiki/helpdesk or a style they've borrowed from elsewhere. Not inspiring in the case of the free forum host that was using a premade style for vBulletin and offering early versions of Invision Power Board and phpBB to their customers! Why should they use something you feel to be not good enough for yourself?

Opinions?

 

My biggest pet peeve similar to this is when a hosting company uses software that they DO NOT allow you to use for their own support system (live chat, etc), especially if that software is available on their Fantastico.

Anyway, I don't really care for most pre-made skins for professional forums, but for smaller, general chat-type forums, I don't have a problem with it.

Then again, most sites that I've seen that use vB for their support forums just use the basic default vB skin.

 

Wait, some hosts ban software on their services? Even Lunarpages don't do that any more, any examples? But yes, it's incredibly stupid.

Or did you mean host in an Invisionfree/Proboards sense?

 

I don't know if they still do, but Site5 used to do this to me.

 

I would then say quite honestly that any host which stops you installing specific software isn't worth your time.

 

That's why I'm not with them anymore.

I still have one shared hosting account with Dreamhost, but I'm moving toward all VPS and perhaps a Dedi soon.

 

Getting back on topic, I think that a pre-made skin/style is absolutely perfect for most folks. First of all, many of the pre-made styles are actually free and lots are very affordable (SultanThemes is like $4 or $5 and it's great work while others like Transverse Styles you end up with 2 for $20 or so and they are great as well) and give your site an instant identity.

Plus, you shouldn't simply upload the skin/style and then proceed without customizing it a little. You can add your own touches and move things around just a little. Makes for a nice personal feel to your site. I'm doing that right now with a skin/style from Transverse Styles.

I took advantage of their buy one get one free offer and started with the "Redemption Style" and have added a side column, added rotating pictures at the top and will be installing new logos and customized buttons this week. Here's an example of what I've done so far: Forum Dedicated to the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort

So, you can definitely get going a lot faster by purchasing a pre-made skin. Then, once your community is established and you're willing to spend some money, you can have a customized style done to completely differentiate yourself from your competition or those who have the same style/skin on their sites.

 

I agree with Arny, theyre good if you customise them to your own taste, buying a skin, sticking it up and leaving it isnt exactly much of an effort, but then again thats why theyre sold, for ease for the admin as not every vbulletin/forum software owner knows how to code as well as create graphics. I always add a personal touch to any pre-made style, I would never leave one as it came. I think having your own identity online is crucial and without it you wont get very far, being able to add your own juice to your site is needed.

 

However, is there anyone who wouldn't agree that certain sites shouldn't use them? Such as the obvious, people who distribute/make/sell forum styles?

 

cheat-master30, I would tend to agree with you. But, that's almost a given.

I mean, that's like someone selling Volkswagen vehicles putting out an ad with a picture of them driving a BMW...just doesn't make business sense.

 

If you have a business and youre branding it with something some another company made then I think youre wasting your time, you need to present your professionalism as well as an identity, if you aint got one people wont take so much interest in your services.

 

It doesn't make sense spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on a site's look until it has some financial backing either through income or investment. Until that point you should look at premade themes and general website templates to customize your site. Time is money and if you spend a lot of time on your site at the beginning you're wasting money. Even if your site is a labor of love, it costs you money. Every hour you spend on it, is an hour you lose from being able to make an income elsewhere.