May seem like a dumb suggestions, but..
 

Rich,

You have asked for suggestions to help get more participation. I stop by once in awhile but rarely spend much time. Corvette Florida.com is a place I would like to spend more time but why don't I? I spend a lot of time on the other forum. Seems to me it comes down to simple things that may be over looked that make the site more user friendly.
Here is my two cents.
1) This may seem like a dumb idea but I find the dark back ground with light text extremely painful to the eye. I can't spend much time reading it. There has been a lot of research by the advertising folks regarding font types and colors. Light back ground and dark letters are far more effective. Next time you're out on the road, check out advertising and see what catches your eye.
2) The menu bar at the top and side of the other forum is very user friendly. intuitive, and grouped by model. Example; if I want to search tech questions for a C5 hit the C5 tab and I'm there. If I want to shop for used parts I don't have to search for stuff I'm not interested in.
3) Move the forum jump to the top of the page. Most web sites have tab controls at the top of the page. Once again it's an intuitive thing. If a new user has to search around to figure a site out, they're not going to come back

Respectfully submitted.
Keep up the great effort.

Steve Z

:welcome:
How about posting an intro
Looks like you've got a nice driveway..... Details please

Steve,

Thanks for the suggestions. Some have been addressed before, and others are subject to some debate, I think.

I'll bet you a donut that if I changed the layout, color, or positioning of some tools, I would get just as many complaining about it as I would those who would applaud the change.

Now, that being said, one of the benefits of vBulletin is that it can actually be set up to utilize "skins" which can be user selectable. In other words, the user him or her self could select the color scheme, layout, and tool positioning depending on the skin that they selected. Sounds reasonable? Well there is a significant drawback. All modifications to this site would require the same mod done separately for each skin. Which could become pretty tedious for the programmer, which would equate to $$expensive$$ for me to have to pay him.

So with that all being said, let's just throw this all out onto the floor for discussion.

What do you all think about the color scheme here? White text on black background not a good idea? If you have a site you like the color scheme of, provide a link so we can take a look at it. Bear in mind that often familiarity will be commonly mistaken for "better". You may just be USED to a color scheme and your mind wants the rest of the world to comply. So please bear that in mind.....

So no, I really don't want this to become the "other site extended" at all..

Thanks.

Agree/Disagree
 

I think the black background/white lettering is fine. I think it sets it apart from "others". But, I agree that it's a pain to scroll down to jump forums. Why can't it be at the top? All in all, I likie.....:thumbsup:

All,

Thanks for the polite responses. I just thought I'd throw a few things out there.
I understand how hard it would be to make major changes to the software at this point and you're right, for every change you would get an equal number of complaints to the change. :)


Steve Z

First, to Stevezfl :welcome: to the site! You might want to go to the Welcome Room and introduce yourself. I think you will find at our Florida Corvette Forum a bunch of people that are just interested in talking, gathering and generally just communing with other Florida Corvette owners. You will not experience the confrontation, name calling, and just generally assininity that you sometimes see on the other site. This is one of the reasons that I freqently that site very little anymore. Just my opinion.

As far as your recommendations to the format is concerned, as you can see RichZ is always open to suggestions. I personally don't have a problem with the current setup. Maybe after looking at this site practically everyday (damn does that sound like I don't have a life? :thinkin: Don't answer that Helen! :NoNo:) for the last 15 - 16 months, I have become used to it. My eyes are just a little shy of 60 years old and the colors work for me.

Scrolling verses jumping to the various forums doesn't really bother me. :shrug01: I have a scroll wheel on my mouse and it does the work to get me around.

Anyway Steve, :welcome: jump in and post some pics of your cars!

Rich427

:welcome: :dancer01: .

I myself have become used to the color scheme here and when I visit other sites, it takes some getting used to.
I belong to another site that allows one to pick their color scheme. When you first join it's a white background with dark lettering, but I changed it to match this forums color scheme. I guess it's kind of like the "chat room"...at least the same program/software.:shrug01: ???

:welcome: to the forum. I'm a member of both forums, too and have no problem with the different formats. But, I don't see the "jump" option on the other forum...(here goes Helen again). I've been a member there since '99 and I've always scrolled. You know, I've never paid any attention to the difference in the white on black or black on white. I had to open the other forum to see what we were talking about. :shrug01: I'd go with the majority on this one...I have no preference Rich Z, either way...

Colors
 

Rich, I have looked at some of the other sites over the past few months, and it is in my non-expert opinion, that the differentiated lightwaves travelling from the computer screen to the Iris of the eye breaks down into several groups of colors, these colors, which are generally grouped or combined by average denisity, coalese into colors we often refer to as .....oh what the hell...keep it as it is. I will ask this one modification, can we switch the default post menu to "the most recent post" then back from there? I must say that going through a bunch of posts that no longer are relivant can be tedious.

Joe B.

I'm not sure what you mean by the default post menu..... Can you explain this better so I know what you are referring to?