🎨 Theme Design How important is a forum design?

[Cedric]

How significant do you believe the design of a forum is in attracting and retaining users? Has anyone experienced an uptick in new signups after updating the forum's theme? Additionally, have you ever avoided using or visiting a forum because of its appearance?

 

[Niko]

Sadly yes @Aerodynamic
if I see the design of a forum is too old-fashioned or poorly designed I don't even browse it further than the home page

 

[Cory]

I think it is pretty significant to the overall viewpoint of the forum. If the theme of a forum is terrible looking then it would be hard to engage in such a community since it's what you're always viewing. When you cannot read the text due to the contrast between it and the background, that can be a problem for using the board.

 

[Ken]

The themes I requested are never terrible looking at all.

 

[Arantor]

You can definitely drive people *away* with a design change, and you can definitely drive people away with a theme that doesn't suit.

In the roleplay world, interestingly, having a bland theme that's *usable* is less important than having something awful but *aesthetic*.

What I will say though is that there is a surprising number of forums out there on default skins with a new logo, or nothing more than recolours of default skins, and are quite happy about this being the case. Most of the time people will prefer 'bland and not getting in the way of reading/writing' over something 'aesthetically pleasing' as long as the bland isn't awful.

There is a reason why, after all, forums gravitated towards blues for their default theme

 

[Strawberry]

Theme and layout are huge for me as it's the first thing you see when you visit the forum. I don't like when I go to a forum and they still have the default theme...where is the personality?! Also poorly designed themes with ugly colours that look like they were made on MS Paint really turn me off too. It's something all users will be seeing every day when they're using the forum, why would you not want to make your forum look presentable?

 

[GeorgioGalben]

No, I don't care the design.
"beautiful" design but no members, no content, no traffic. I will not return.
I like that a forum community loads fast. It's also important a "preety" design but i think it's not the first reason to be successfull.

 

[MisterBobbyPin]

Design is how your users will get around and view the site. If you have good design then you will have a good website. Which will make users more interested in it.

 

[Shortie]

I feel like with any forum the look and layout of the forum tell a lot about the person that owns it and how much dedication they have to that forum. Forums that have a clean layout are ones I genuinely love to join as I feel they are laid out, well-presented, and easy to navigate. I have in the past avoided forums because there was too much going on and everything was just all over the place and it was difficult to navigate so I just never bothered.

 

[Debashis]

The design of a forum is crucial in attracting and retaining users. Updating the forum's theme can indeed lead to an uptick in new signups. Personally, I have avoided using or visiting a lot of forums due to their unappealing appearance.

 

[kolakube]

The design is not so important as long as the colors don't hurt and the fonts are readable. The detail that gets me is how easy it is to see new content, and if there is a static hero section at the top I am less inclined to visit the site as often.

 

[Husk]

I just like it to be intuitive (menus and buttons where they should be) and clean. I like clean lines and colors. Coming from the roleplay world, I have to say their designs are exhausting, cluttered, and messy so I'm not sorry to leave that behind.

So yeah, design does matter, to a point. I think when you sacrifice function for aesthetics, that's when we have a problem.

 

[TwitchisMental]

Sadly yes @Aerodynamic
if I see the design of a forum is too old-fashioned.

This made me chuckle seeing as forums themselves are considered "old fashioned" these days haha.

I do feel like the overall theme and layout matter to an extent. However the #1 thing that matters is content. I have been on a few forums that I consider ugly but the content keeps me coming back.

With that said the look of a site or forum can certainly turn people away. If text is illegible, the colors clash to much, it is to dark, and/or it is to light.. I will not stay on the site too long.

 

[NeoMetallix]

How significant do you believe the design of a forum is in attracting and retaining users? Has anyone experienced an uptick in new signups after updating the forum's theme? Additionally, have you ever avoided using or visiting a forum because of its appearance?

Idk about other people but for me its important. A well designed custom theme shows that the administrator cares and put effort into their forum.

If its a default theme I don't tend to join unless other parts are highly unique. It is the first impression you get so it needs to be a good one!

 

[Cedric]

Idk about other people but for me its important. A well designed custom theme shows that the administrator cares and put effort into their forum.

If its a default theme I don't tend to join unless other parts are highly unique. It is the first impression you get so it needs to be a good one!

Yep I agree.

It's clear that a custom theme is no guarantee for success, only great content is. But I love custom themes and I think for many of us that is due how simple it was to obtain / design one on InvisionFree/ZetaBoards.

 

[Gemma]

As someone who has over 35000 additional lines of customised css in my theme I, maybe strangely, don't think that a forum design is overly important. I've seen many massively popular and active forums that still use the core software default theme with only a few additional widgets usually listing latest posts/threads and some advertising.

I think it all depends on the forum niche. For example, a website about cars is less likely to need a custom design than a general discussion board, role-playing or sports fan board.

At the end of the day, content is always going to be king and determine the success of any discussion board.

Me, I just like pushing my own limits, making something unique and hopefully more practical for my members to post their content on.

 

[NeoMetallix]

As someone who has over 35000 additional lines of customised css in my theme I, maybe strangely, don't think that a forum design is overly important. I've seen many massively popular and active forums that still use the core software default theme with only a few additional widgets usually listing latest posts/threads and some advertising.

I think it all depends on the forum niche. For example, a website about cars is less likely to need a custom design than a general discussion board, role-playing or sports fan board.

At the end of the day, content is always going to be king and determine the success of any discussion board.

Me, I just like pushing my own limits, making something unique and hopefully more practical for my members to post their content on.

I agree with this too. I've seen MANY forums using the default theme and they're super active.

That said if it's super active already, I don't think it matters much but if it's smaller I think it becomes more of a factor.