How often do you change your website theme?

[Shortie]

Whether you run a forum, blog or website we will all have a theme that we use for that site. Sometimes we can tire of the same theme and may want to make changes to the theme to freshen up the site and give it a new look.

I tend to change my theme if I find a new one that I feel would suit the site at the time but that is not too often at all.

How often would you say you change your website theme?

 

[Dismal_Bliss]

Almost never anymore on my big board. I used to really be into theming. But these days I just use what comes out of the box with some color palette changes and some 3rd party add-ons. My users don't seem to care what it looks like, and so I don't have to keep complicating it any more.

I do use a 3rd party theme on my second forum because I wanted a specific background image. But as we move forward towards IPS v5 this might change. I will be eager to play around with v5's native customization tools as well as will be eager to see what 3rd party devs come up with.

 

[Arantor]

I'll tweak it as I learn of any issues, but in general I don't change the theme until it's been at least a couple of years and it's time for a refresh depending on what vibe I'm trying to position the site as having.

 

[Jason]

A new theme might be a refreshing vacation for awhile and then go back the classic one.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I don't often change my forum themes, every once in a while I'll install a new one but it's rare.

 

[Cory]

I've had my theme(s) the same for 5+ years. A light and a dark version. I like the consistency and branding having the same theme gives the board. I wouldn't mind having the current themes as "legacy" themes and having a whole new branding, but I don't mind keeping it the way it is now.

 

[Cedric]

I need to watch myself, I'd have a new theme every few months...

 

[NeoMetallix]

I'm constantly tweaking my theme and improving it, for years actually, but I have never changed it.

I will add a new theme now and then though so any tiring of the theme can be remedied by switching it.

 

[ladyquack]

Not often. My site's had its current theme for almost a year. Before that our last theme change was back in (I want to say) 2015 or 2016.

 

[Tracy]

Honestly.. for any "stable" site.... a theme rebranding is a major issue...
In a nutshell... yes, you may offer a "new/fancy" offering... but you really need to still offer the old "base" offering.
Many users are not "friendly" to changes like this... and I've seen in the past it forces users away.
So in my personal opinion (which is worth about as much as crap in a wheelbarrow) I'd suggest keeping a default theme/style and offering a new one as an OPTION.
This is something that is not done here.. and I have to regularly go back to something that is not has as much "touchy/feely" as the current default style.

 

[Arantor]

So in my personal opinion (which is worth about as much as crap in a wheelbarrow)

If you stopped for a minute, you might realise that amongst the bad smell is something useful. Not to everyone, not in every possible case, but it certainly has use and is definitely not without value.

 

[Tracy]

If you stopped for a minute, you might realise that amongst the bad smell is something useful. Not to everyone, not in every possible case, but it certainly has use and is definitely not without value.

But you see... i acknowledge that my opinion may not be worth a crap for others... and in your case - do you acknowledge that or do you pre-suppose that you statements have factual world ending/shaking basis?

 

[Arantor]

you statements have factual world ending/shaking basis

I'm well aware that my statements have a context and that inside the context they are at least reasonably accurate as to the *facts* of them, but the *impact* and *scale* can be a different beast entirely, based on context, position and observations.

The metaphor I was going for - which, admittedly, was a backhanded compliment to you, don't worry, won't bother making that mistake again - is that even in a pile of crap, it has actual provable benefits, as part of the nitrogen cycle returning nutrients to the soil, even if they're nutrients that aren't immediately in a directly usable form. But that you also have to sometimes deal with the side effects of things like the methane and/or ammonia type compounds.

 

[Smokey]

Not often. I try to change it once every few years if I can afford to do so. I would really like to invest in a custom theme, or rather to bring 2 custom themes from a previous forum software over to our current but I don't know if I'll be able to pull that off just yet.

 

[Alex]

Very rarely. The problem with changing the website style or theme regularly is that not only does it cost money each time you purchase a license for the style, you are also losing how your members or customers recognize your brand.