This website needs a facelift!

[Cobra]

Well, Baldrick is working on another face for VideoHelp. I'm looking forward to that... Although I do like the "VideoHelp" skin that we have now (the blue one).

I'm looking forward to seeing what the new one looks like!

[TooLFooL]

i'm sure baldrick will not sacrifice any functionality for looks, so i'm happy to hear he's working on something. if some of the menu items on the left were made to draw your attention better, ie. like one big "how to" button, i think more people could come here and discover thier own answers instead of immediately posting another old question.

(i'm not trying to start a war though!!)

[tgpo]

(i'm not trying to start a war though!!)

I am!

[BJ_M]

Personally, I think that VideoHelp.com is at the moment an example of EFFICIENCY. There are few forums that load as quickly especially considering how much content is often in each thread. I'm all for eye candy, but not if it reduces the usability of the forum.

Regards.

ditto

[MJPollard]

i'm sure baldrick will not sacrifice any functionality for looks, so i'm happy to hear he's working on something. if some of the menu items on the left were made to draw your attention better, ie. like one big "how to" button, i think more people could come here and discover thier own answers instead of immediately posting another old question.

(i'm not trying to start a war though!!)

Noted. I'd like to clarify by stating that I'm not against change when it will benefit everyone who uses the site; staying static and unchanging can be just as harmful as a radical remake, and Baldrick has made many useful changes over just the few years I've been a member here. But, putting VideoHelp.com through an "extreme makeover" just to add a lot of eye candy would IMHO be nothing but detrimental, especially if it hampers the speed, efficiency, and usability of the site. I'll definitely be checking out Baldrick's "dry run" new site design, though, and I'll be keeping an open mind.

[wwjd]

This is a great site and I personally like the web page the way it is. I prefer functionality over glitz.

[TooLFooL]

yeah we don't need 'extreme makeover'! but some things i can see helping (especially noobs). anyway, i'm sure if we all participate and offer input on an upcoming beta site, we will all be satisfied, right?! this site WILL NOT go to crap!

[dphirschler]

This website has everything I value in a good website. The content is there, easily accessible, and it loads fast (even over dialup). Furthermore, I don't think it is ugly at all.


Darryl

[ozymango]

I think the site's great as-is, but at the same time I'm not opposed to changes if it's both something Baldrick wants to do anyway and could possibly make things a bit easier for "noobs" as somebody mentioned earlier. Because sometimes I'm a noob when it comes to something or other here and -- no offense! -- perhaps if there is some way for people to say (politely!) things that they like most, things they wouldn't mind seeing changed, that sorta thing?

Again, it could stay as-is and I'm still happy, but I do find that sometimes I can find the sheer amount of text and guides and stuff overwhelming in that there's not always a "flow" to things ... there's so much here it can get a bit unweildy to navigate. Also as much as I do love text perhaps it's slightly ironic that for a "video" site we have such an extreme amount of text versus graphics, sometimes?

And though I pretty much agree with much of the "if it's not broken, don't fix it" mindset, note that this is a video site, wasn't it vcdhelp to start? Then people started doing DVDs? And VHS used to be such a dominant form of movie distribution? And capturing to video first meant a capture card ... then came the mpeg2 capture card ... camcorders got firewire outputs ... then DVD recorders ... and now media PCs ... and broadcast TV is now going digital and hi-def and how many of these things were "broken" before somebody else decided it might be worthwhile to update things?

[gadgetguy]

I am opposed to change just for the sake of change. But I'm not opposed to improvements. The site serves my needs quite well as-is, but if changes will make some part of it easier to use, I'm all for it.

[greymalkin]

"this town needs an enema!" - ...

NewEgg changed their format not too long ago and i absolutely hate it. this forum me likey.

[winifreid]

I like it the way it is. Imagine waking up in the morning and someone moved the alarm clock just to be different. Way re-learn where everything is just to make it proetty or something. The only tow features I would like to to se that some other forums have is a direct link to all my posts (I am vain) and the name of the person last posted so that I can tell if the thread has a new post. But I would prefer it just stay the way it is.

[tgpo]

Being Baldrick's pet I prefer what he thinks.

[thecoalman]

I think that would be a major undertaking to port all of the mods onto a new theme. I don't know if Baldrick or ANYONE has that kinda time.

The mods make no difference . :P

To change the theme is actually quite simple.... Most of the formatting is controlled by the CSS. Look in the top of your overall_header.tpl file for the subsilver theme. Between the head tags you'll find the CSS. That is what controls the formatting. Change one attribute there and it will affect everthing site wide. The biggest challenge is creating new images to fit the new theme since there are many to create.

[dvdguy4]

I say leave it but its also Baldricks pet so let him do what he wants to it.Ill still be here.

[caernavon]

I would say leave it alone. The site is clean and easy to read; I've never gotten any random errors (like scrolling errors); and it loads and reloads quickly. What more could you ask for? The content is why we're all here, and the interface is easy to use and doesn't get in the way of the information.

Besides, look at all the sites out there that have changed their looks to "improve" things. How many of them actually did? ESPN.com is a particularly egregious offender, for example.

[dvdguy4]

Besides, look at all the sites out there that have changed their looks to "improve" things. How many of them actually did? ESPN.com is a particularly egregious offender, for example.

I completely agree with you especially about espn.

[VegasBud]

In more than a decade (or two) of surfing the web, this site stands out for presenting a huge amount of knowledge with an intuitive, clean interface. All would-be web designers should be required to study this site.

If I want to be entertained, I'll watch a dvd. If I want to acquire knowledge, I'll read a book (just words printed on a page), or come here.

[GKar]

This has got to be one of the greatest websites ever, but it sure is sore on the eyes! The greatest video encyclopedia on the planet shouldn't have to look so craptastic. Can't someone out there polish it up?!

I find this to be one of the better looking, well designed and fastest websites out there. Leave it alone.

[SCDVD]

I think the site structure is great. It has a HUGE amount of useful information at your finger tips. If the objective is to give it some "flash", the rich, instantly available content links would suffer. The "links per square inch" is one of the primary things that makes the site so useful. "Links per square inch" may not be pretty but is sure is useful! The site traffic says this in the most obvious way possible. If the site wasn't so useful and full of helpful information, this would not be the case. For those who are more interested in "flash" than useful content. here is a link just for you.

http://disney.go.com/home/today/index.html

[ZAPPER]

Whoa! Tuff call. I am sure that there are a few tweeks that could help but where do you start? I am sure that the pretty factor could have an effect on newcomers, but what a tight rope act to keep the balance between looking good and being effective to use.

I ain't no expert, but that won't stop me from throwing in a few ideas.

Search window/bar or whatever it is called could be a little more prominate (it kind of blends in with the mix of everything else on the page it seems) Oh, I don't know how to improve it, maybe great big flashing neon arrows?

It is tuff for me to make suggestions when I don't even know the correct terms to use The list on the left (navigation bar/pane, whatever) could have fly out menus where helpful (thats just kind of an eye catcher to get it used more)

While I like to see the latest post window mainly, it and the newest guides list could be shortened to make things look a little less cluttered and give some more room to the page (maybe cut out about a third of what shows now and put in the little "MORE" bar at the bottom of the list to extend it when wanted before actually comitting to going to another page.

Polls are fun and I would bet, attract attention, but if space is at a preimium maybe just ask the question on the front page and link to another for the answers or options and more polls ( I realize that seeing the options to choose from is often more interesting than the question itself, but hey I am just kicking around some ideas)

I like the mouse over feature (I am sure that it eats into loading speed and such) But anything that could be highlighted or have a drop down menu or fly out window when the mouse is drug over it, could be nice)

Now for the butt kissing. Ain't nothing really wrong with the joint as it is. I like it. It is kind of utilitarian looking, but hey it is pretty much a utility site. There is always room for improvement and that doesn't mean that it was bad to start with. I am grateful for all of the work that has gone into the place to make it what it is and hope to see it get even better. (Now, if I can just keep out of trouble)

[MOVIEGEEK]

Baldrick et al,
I like it the way it is,plus you don't have annoying pop-ups like other websites.

[TheFamilyMan]

Too bad this isn't a poll.

IMHO this site is fine just as it is. Too often here in the USA, form seems to be more valued than substance. (Just look at what this has done to the music industry.) But hey, who am I to dictate anything about this site?

Don't you just love it when your local grocery store moves items around?

[fritzi93]

Once again I agree with Lordsmurf.....I really have to stop doing that.....

Me too.

It loads quickly.
I know where everything is.
I'm used to it.

But it's Baldrick's baby....

[edDV]

I think it works as is. I like the "brown" color choice.

[Shadowmistress]

The biggest challenge is creating new images to fit the new theme since there are many to create.

Not really. Yes, they are alot, but it's kind of easy if you have the right tools. I've created buttons from scratch to replace all existing buttons on a forum before and it only took me about a day and a half. You can make buttons look like anything.

Baldrick, if you ever need new buttons and images, I volunteer my time.