WebMaster Forum Revamp Update

[marky_mark]

Hello Folks.

I just wanted to pop in and keep everyone posted on the status of the revamp going on. Lately we've been terribly busy with the upcoming launch of a new (but old) site. Everyone has been chipping in to help get this thing ready for the web.

This includes me. I am still puttering away at the webmaster revamp but I can only do it on the side. After this new product is launched I can go back to working on the revamp full time.

As far as developing the site, I've had a couple hurdles to leap over. A big one was colour scheme. I am looking to stray away from the generic grey, white and blue scheme that a lot of tech sites seem to go with. I am looking at more fun colours, more inviting colours, and more trendy colours.

It's not hard to spot a "web 2.0" site. They're chalk full of text, are light on graphics, involve blogging/comments/open information sharing, and also use some interesting colour schemes. It seems to be a rapidly growing trend to be very simple yet so grabbing when it comes to site design.

Our current colours seem very neutral to me and don't make the site stand out at all.

So, a scheme I'm trying out in a mockup uses the colours orange, blue, light green and white.

Here's a sample:



Now the main front page of this site will not be structered as it is now and will look less like a traditional forum but still have it's functionality. So keep that in mind when looking at that scheme. I'll post more about the front page next update !

If you have trouble with matching colours, here is a great link I saw on Digg.com for a Colour Wheel to help you choose a colour scheme for your site.

Aaaand finally, another link to help out designers:
Smashing Magazine - A blog that is updated often and has a lot of great links to look at for your own ideas for site design. It seems they like very simple and trendy looking sites (which I also love and is very web 2.0'ish!). Have a look!

That is all for now. Let me know what you think of those colours I posted and I'll try to give you guys an update sooner rather then later!

-Mark