Personally, I don't think that LTS needs a fancy design. It's true that the standard SMF theme probably gets a bit boring over the time (well, it's not really the standard theme, since it has a green tint, rather than the usual blue I see everywhere), but after all, it's the postings that count. Whenever I encounter a forum that uses uber-fancy and resource-intensive graphics, I switch to the standard forum theme, if possible.

Usually, the forum developers do a good job in making the standard theme readable, not distracting from the content, and overall pleasant to the eye. I also like the usage of text links for most items, so even if the server is a bit overloaded, I can browse pretty fast. This isn't only about slow internet connections, but also about my free time that I can invest into the forum - and nothing looks more ugly than a website where half of the pictures are missing due to a bad internet connection or a webserver that is too busy.

That said, let me assure that I wouldn't object to some nice Lisa graphics. I think one of the nicest Simpsons forum designs was the old Maggied.de design back in 2001/2002 (see attachment below), and the current New Springfield design is still among my favorites. Both have a carefully selected color pallet, and one or two graphic items that mark them clearly. If someone would like to create something similar, I'm all for it.

As others mentioned before, this forum lives from the vivid discussions - and for a small forum, I'm surprised about the activity, which is held up by some 25 members or so. And this is a good thing. It's a cozy little place where fans who are truly devoted to Lisa Simpson can share their thoughts, their art and stories. If someone wants a wide variety of Simpsons-related topics, he can join No Homers or another general Simpsons forum, but this is a place about Lisa. And if a true Lisa fan stops by, he (or she) does that because of the content, and not because of the design, regardless what any so-called "professional consultants" say.

I also like the small, but carefully selected division into a few subforums, rather than creating dozens of those, where each one is holding only a handful of topics. I've seen lots of other forums that have literally hundreds of categories and subforums, and the only way to keep up with new postings is by actually using the "Show new postings since last visit" link. This way, you override the forum categories anyway, rendering them somewhat useless. The only advantage of those is that occasional visitors might find a specific thread easier.

This posting is going to overlap with the original topic (my expectations about LTS), but when it comes to the overall appearance, I don't see any problems with the current state. It might be different being a participant in the community since several years, compared to someone who just dropped by for the very first time, i. e. after clicking a link in Google or on another website, but when I got myself involved in the Simpsons community back in late 2000, early 2001, the forum I got settled didn't have a great design, but it convinced me because of the rich discussions as well.

What I clearly don't want is an invasion of "kiddies" who flood the board with mindless postings, smiley orgies and stuff like this (so much for "OMFG!! This am forum about teh Lisa!" ). Also, comparing a forum to a website like Simpsons Realities is like comparing apples and oranges - SR is all about Simpsons fanart, so a fancy design with pieces of fanart is the way to go. A place for serious discussions should look accordingly. I mean, we're not MySpace or YouTube or another of those "Web 2.0" sites after all.

I think LTS looks fine.   If admins want to make different templates for the members, that would be extra nice, but not necessary.  There is always room to tweak with graphics, and such.
  I'd think most people would be more interested in the discussion/art here, if they came upon the site.

I've found it pretty easy actually, and have since coded TCB vX (and X-2) and LTBQ 2.0 in the exact same way. But each person has their own preferences.

Anyway, for the theme area, as a Customiser in the theme department, I'll help out where I can. I got moved to the Customise team from the Doc Team don't you know. But keep that to SM.org or MT2 as I dont do support via messengers or PMs.

Goddamnit, more than two months have passed since my previous post here, and I didn't do anything
I'm really sorry, guys! I remember that LTS still needs some handwork. Will try to think about it soon...

I think the upgrades to the software can wait... but what if we start from the color scheme? Yellow would be surely more appropriate, the tone and saturation of the present blues are ok,  very light and easy to the eye. Do you think it's possible to "convert" it to yellow/ light orange. It's an easy simple thing but will surely give the forum a more personalized feel.

Upgrades should always be a top priority to patch up any security issues. Currently, you're vulnerable to every exploit found since RC3.

Besides, it'll be MUCH easier to upgrade to 1.1.4 first, and then make a theme for 1.1.4.

Trust me on this.

You never know. Hackers dont target one site, they target as many as they can find, and this forum can probably be one of those sites. It's much better to be safe than sorry.

In case you havent noticed, I am one of those SMF people. I'm a Customiser, former Doc Writer. It's why I'm saying this stuff.

Like I said, hackers dont target one site, they target 200+, and being one of those 200 isnt a good thing.

Well, that and development of the software.

Well, I tend to specialise more with themes so you can pretty much ask away there. I'd prefer it on SM.org, but I'm not that fussed, so you can ask here if you want.

Like I said, I do recommend that you make the theme after the upgrade because there have been template changes between 1.1 RC3 and 1.1.4. So if you do it after the upgrade, you wont have to worry about it.

I do also recommend that you move all the custom smilies out of the $smileysdir/default folder as they will generally be overwritten in the upgrade process and create a copy of the default theme (which contains index.template.php, style.css, and index.php and all the images) and then just download any edited template files and upload them into the new theme's directory.

Sounds annoying, but since you overwrote the default files, it's your own damn fault.

And package up your custom stuff in the sources as a mod.

Well, after a little filling around in Photoshop, here's an example.
Any thoughts?

Warning: BIG IMAGE!

The logo's nice, but the rest could do with some work.

I was actually refering to the whole thing, it's still too "core". Bright too.

Here's a basic idea that I whipped up, its not spectacular, but it can be fleshed out properly and has decent shades then it can work.

I like the logo Empethree, great idea with the spikes.

I agree, except for the eye hurting part.

This screenshot was taken on a 15,4" monitor. And if I'd make the logo smaller, the buttons will still keep the header the same size. It's only 80px high anyway.