A minimalist Theme?

[Naiwen]

I personally prefer a minimalist theme over a loaded one.

 

[Cory]

Are you referring to using too many graphics in a theme design?

 

[Naiwen]

Are you referring to using too many graphics in a theme design?

Yep.

 

[Cory]

Using minimal graphics can always be a good thing to help with load times and not make the skin so clustered. A lot of people always think JavaScript is the culprit of slow load times, but graphics generally take up more space than JavaScript does. You can always use CSS gradients, CSS icons like FontAwesome, and more to deter you from using too many graphics in your design.

 

[guyyanthony]

AGREEED!

I personally prefer a minimalist theme over a loaded one.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Sometimes a minimalist approach is the best one. If there's a bit too much going on, it can get overwhelming for some people. Not to mention, if you don't have the best speeds when it comes to your hosting, it can really slow down your website.

 

[Jason]

Both can be fun, but I use a minimalist one at the moment for my drumming site. Anyway, minimalist can be self-customized to be bigger.

 

[Arantor]

Interestingly, I'm a user on a NodeBB forum, and before that it was a Discourse forum. Those platforms take minimalism to a whole new level. Can't say I'm entirely fond.

 

[prophet]

I think depending how well a minimalist design looks it can be appealing. I think it also depends on your forum genre. I've seen some wonderful themes that are minimalistic and i've seen some that are extremely subpar. To each their own, but I prefer something that has a little more depth to it.

 

[veloman]

I think it's a balancing act. I went for a minimalist look as it looks clean and load quickly. Likely my design skills aren't great so there was a risk of making it look hideous.

Cluttered forms often have a bit of a nostalgic feel these days, but that's not always a bad thing!

 

[Tracy]

Sometimes a minimalist approach is the best one.

Depends... if your site is strictly targeted at text (specifically posts).. then yes.
But if your site is somewhat graphic heavy.. there is only so much you can do.
I give you a simple example.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I try to keep a minimalist theme for my blogs.

I do try to keep them unique from free themes but less design and more content, the better.

But for a forum, I'm not so sure I feel the same way. Forum designs have always been fun traditionally. Sure, there is such thing as too much but there is cool too like the design here. It's pretty rad.