New LibriumArcana themes critique

[rhoenix]

As some of you may have noticed already, several new themes have been added for use by B4UTRUST - this is the product of he and I looking over the phpBBhacks Templates Demo and going "ooooo" at a couple of them.

From what I remember of phpBB, installing new themes is easy. Tinkering with them can sometimes be a pain in the ass. So, my contribution will be to attempt delineating each major and minor issue with all the new themes installed.

Chairs:
Summary: This theme grew on me after a bit, though its overwhelming tan-ness seemed daunting at first.
Plusses: Overall, with the tan-ness, it has a smooth, uniform feel.
Major Issues: This theme does not take sub-forums into account.
Minor Issues: The forum thread icons (for New Posts, Stickied thread, etc.) are less obvious than in other themes.

*Glass series (Blue, Cyan, Green, Orange, Red, Yellow):
Summary: All of these themes hurt my eyes. Honestly, they're my least favorite of the new themes.
Plusses: No matter what else I might say about these themes, they do show sub-forums, which none of the others do.
Major Issues: They're causing scarring in my retinas.

Icicle:
Summary: This one is a lightweight, clean-looking theme. One of my favorites of the new ones installed; probably ranking in at third place.
Plusses: Lightweight, clean-looking - would likely be best for those with slower connections.
Major Issues: Icicle does not display sub-forums.

Illusion:
Summary: My favorite of the new themes installed, just due to pure style of thread views, quoted text displays, and many other little touches. Another thing is that it has the "View Posts Since Last Visit," links in their own section at the bottom - quite sexy.
Major Issues: Illusion does not display sub-forums.
Minor Issues: The way it displays each forum group seems wasteful. Instead of taking two table rows to show "Forum...Topics...Posts...Last Post" and then have the title of the forum grouping on a whole other table row below that, it seems simpler to just show "(Forum Group Name)...Topics...Posts...Last Post."

Solaris:
Summary: A cool, space-ish orange and black theme, this is one of my favorites. Not in the top three, but still nice.
Major Issues: Solaris does not show sub-forums.
Minor Issues: Solaris is also fixed-width, which would annoy most people who have a resolution above 800x600. However, changing the fixed pixel widths of Solaris to be a percentage instead isn't too difficult, from what I remember. The only annoying thing was changing the transparent grey background behind all the forum tables.

Zerospace:
Summary: My second-favorite of the new forum themes, Zerospace is rather sexy. Not quite as sexy as Illusion, but sexy enough.
Major Issues: Zerospace does not display sub-forums.
Minor Issues: The forum icons are a bit difficult to differentiate.

[rhoenix]

And despite how none of the above newly-installed themes have the quick-reply function built in, or how all of them (all the ones that count anyway - observe my prejudice against the *glass themes above), I saw two more themes that look awesome.

Despite how I feel about Windows Vista as an OS (stifles derogatory snickering), the Vista and VistaX themes look clean and good.

[rhoenix]

Since B4UTRUST was kind enough to install both the Vista and VistaX themes, I'll give them a quick critique as well.

Vista
Summary: A clean, well-planned, and bright-ish theme.
Plusses: Very clean, the images are well designed, and all forum items are laid out well.
Major Issues: Once again, sub-forums don't work.

VistaX
Summary: A clean, well-planned theme, somewhat darker than Vista.
Plusses: Very clean, the images are well designed, and all forum items are laid out well. I like it a bit better than Vista
Major Issues: Dammit, once again, sub-forums don't work.

Alright, so that leaves the only new forum themes that do work with sub-forums are the detestable Glass themes. This is fail you can make weapons from, folks. Otherwise, it is the opinion of this user that the new forum themes work well with the site.

[RogueIce]

You know, the Glass ones could grow on me. And VistaX isn't too bad.

But I think I'll be sticking with subBlack. At least until/unless you guys bring milleniumFalcon over here.

Incidently, the LibriumArcana theme is all sorts of messed up on my screen.

[rhoenix]

You know, the Glass ones could grow on me.

Like a horrid cancer.

But I think I'll be sticking with subBlack. At least until/unless you guys bring milleniumFalcon over here.

Really? You're the first person I've spoken with that likes that theme.

Incidently, the LibriumArcana theme is all sorts of messed up on my screen.

Yeah...I think Dark Silver's still calling it a work in progress.

[Dartzap]

I quite like solaris for some reason,......

[RogueIce]

Like a horrid cancer.

It's not that bad, really. Granted my monitor displays a bit darker than most do, so that may be it. I might be singing a different tune looking at it on my laptop, for example.

Really? You're the first person I've spoken with that likes that theme.

Which, sB or mF?

I guess I like them because the black background/white-ish text thing seems easiest to me. And they're also (relatively) simplistic too, at least compared to the Vistas, Illusion, and Icicle. Part of it I guess is also that the forum tables themselve stretch out over my screen, rather than simply staying in a box with a bunch of deadspace around it.

EDIT: Hmmm, seems I had the "box" thing confused with some of the others. Whoops. I still don't find the "brighter" color schemes attractive, though.

[rhoenix]

It's not that bad, really. Granted my monitor displays a bit darker than most do, so that may be it. I might be singing a different tune looking at it on my laptop, for example.

Perhaps. I know that the *Glass themes look garish and awful on my laptop, but it displays things more brightly than most monitors do, but that's the only medium I've had to go by.

Which, sB or mF?

MilleniumFalcon.

I guess I like them because the black background/white-ish text thing seems easiest to me. And they're also (relatively) simplistic too, at least compared to the Vistas, Illusion, and Icicle. Part of it I guess is also that the forum tables themselve stretch out over my screen, rather than simply staying in a box with a bunch of deadspace around it.

That I'll grant you. The more concise and less flashy the theme, the more I like it. Though I might be momentarily in a "ooo, shiny!" mood with the flashier ones, it typically doesn't last very long.

EDIT: Hmmm, seems I had the "box" thing confused with some of the others. Whoops. I still don't find the "brighter" color schemes attractive, though.

My tastes appear to have been changing from the past, when I didn't like the brighter themes at all - now, I actually appreciate Icicle, for instance. Ah well - to each their own tastes, as it must be.

[Lindar]

See am rather happy still with Clanzdarkness.

so....u think I'll stay where i am. *though will give a scroll through and see if anything has potential to replace if the need comes up*