Zetaboards

[Cedric]

Honestly.. to me, with today's abilities... that would be like going back to "MySpace".

Don't we all actually want to move forward to something more progressive? I'm honestly surprised we haven't seen a site that replicates the BBS's of my "teething" era into actual worldwide communications.
ASCII for everybody!
Now, to speak honestly.. I really wish we could go back to that period.. folks were a LOT more real and you didn't have to worry about the current BS you do online.

Thing is, ZetaBoards had the most amazing themes that still outrank today’s designs.

 

[Tracy]

Thing is, ZetaBoards had the most amazing themes that still outrank today’s designs.

Honestly... may of the ASCII BBS boards would put many of the current HTML capable boards to shame.. especially considering the "graphics" that were available with the limitations provided. The simple fact it it was MUCH harder to give "fancy" back then that it is now... and when you look at the actual underpinnings of the requirements, many sites were MUCH more impressive than even current sits using HTML.

Hell, my login/welcome screen was a patrol car with flashing (alternate) overheads, all done in ASCII. We did a LOT more with a LOT less back then.

And honestly.. I haven't personally come upon any ZETABoard theme that overly impressed me.. WAY to many of them appeared simply "childish" (think MySpace) to me.
But I admit, I did not hit a lot of ZETABoard sites as their topics usually did not interest me.
In fact, I haven't really showed any interest in ZETABoard in ages.. did they finally merge with "TapaCrap"?

 

[Reverie]

zetaboards truly had some of the most beautiful themes. People who didn’t even have zetaboards always would compliment them. That’s speaking volumes. The fact they were more custom and creative then todays is crazy. I also think we don’t have as many people on photoshop anymore and we just have people who code the themes. The creativity was truly an incredible thing and I think that’s why we look backwards. It would be amazing to bring it forwards though.

 

[Tracy]

zetaboards truly had some of the most beautiful themes. People who didn’t even have zetaboards always would compliment them. That’s speaking volumes. The fact they were more custom and creative then todays is crazy. I also think we don’t have as many people on photoshop anymore and we just have people who code the themes. The creativity was truly an incredible thing and I think that’s why we look backwards. It would be amazing to bring it forwards though.

I honestly didn't spend a lot of time on ZETABoards as I never found anything to really interest me. Honestly.. I REALLY don't care how the site looks.. I'm personally MORE concerned with the information it can relay to me. It can be in simple black and white with NO graphics and if it gives me pertinent information, I (as a consumer of data) am perfectly happy.
Sometimes we take the "prettification" of a site to an extreme. Perfect example is my site... MOST sites prefer a "bright" or "white" type base style... but when dealing with astronomy, one would trend to more subdued darker colors.
Ultimately the "design" of a site is more targeted towards it's audiences needs than how "pretty" it is. What might work for you as a consumer of "every day chit-chat" won't necessarily work for those that may access the site under "restrictions" (like keeping your night vision as intact as possible) to their niche.

 

[Cedric]

We didn’t care much about information and content when we were teens. All we wanted on ZetaBoards was having the coolest and most vibrant theme. that really resulted in many great themes that people designed and outdone themselves. Pushing it every time - which is seldom done in current time. Everything has gone simplistic and it’s honestly not for the better imo. Even our current theme was based on a design from ZB’s era.

 

[Tracy]

We didn’t care much about information and content when we were teens. All we wanted on ZetaBoards was having the coolest and most vibrant theme. that really resulted in many great themes that people designed and outdone themselves. Pushing it every time - which is seldom done in current time. Everything has gone simplistic and it’s honestly not for the better imo. Even our current theme was based on a design from ZB’s era.

Probably the difference... I was a teen when the "big" thing was going to the local arcade and playing PacMan.
When BBS's came about, I was already in my early twenties...and when the internet came around I was nearing my 30's (as for everyday use, back in my BBS days the "core" internet functions were around, but forums/websites were not). This is simply a societal shift.
On an unassociated topic, as I've explained to @Arantor, there IS an age difference in many aspects of what my generation may find "comfortable" when dealing with (usually with presentation on the internet). Some are are like "this stuff needs to be removed totally from the world".. and other are simply what certain generations find "acceptable when they take into consideration current factors". A simple fact is, for MY generation, I'm a LOT more accepting than most of "others" in their beliefs/positions. Of course, much of that has to do with the fact that my oldest brother lives an alternative life-style that I've fully supported since I really realized what it involved (near longer than what many here have been walking this earth). As a HUMAN, he has a right to live his life as he desires... my, or any other persons "personal" preference has NO legitimate right to intrude on it. Where should I get off on telling HIM how to live his life, even though it goes against the way I CHOSE to live mine?
The MAJOR problem is that some of the "younger set" can't acknowledge that some "older farts" may have different opinions. And the simple fact that they have a difference of opinion does NOT make them "wrong". It simply means that their beliefs are DIFFERENT. Different does NOT equate to wrong, except to one with a closed mind.

 

[Arantor]

There are absolutely people doing the BBS thing - especially in the retro scene where they bring out the old gear, I've seen C64 and ZX Spectrum BBS related things just in the last week on Twitter.

I'm a LOT more accepting than most of "others" in their beliefs/positions.

You don't seem it, but I'm willing to believe you. I mean, my parents are your age and I see exactly how they act with technology, but I suppose us not being American gives us a very different perspective on things.

The MAJOR problem is that some of the "younger set" can't acknowledge that some "older farts" may have different opinions.

And the older set can't acknowledge that some 'younger farts' have different opinions. Y'all keep trying to assert your opinion as if it's truth rather than opinion, and that's rather the problem.

Different does NOT equate to wrong, except to one with a closed mind.

Oh is that your excuse? The fact you're having this big old rant here on the nature of looking back at something and complaining that it's not what you think we should be doing is exactly evidence of you asserting an opinion as 'the correct one'.


Anyway, to re-rail this thread.

I keep a media gallery of SMF themes from back in the day - I don't have years on them but I could probably figure it out without too much brain power, but there's a definite 'these are mid 2000s themes', and 'these are 2010-2015 themes' vibes about a lot of them. I've often wondered about taking the look from some and applying it to a more modern way of life - for not unreasonable reasons I think themers have tended to avoid going too far off script because too many remember what it used to be like with themes breaking functionality.

Anyway for the curious, https://smfthemedemos.levertine.org/index.php?media/ - I've got more to post sometime, just haven't gotten around to it. I picked a crap name for it though, perhaps I should have a do-over and rename it to something about forum gallery, and them dump in screenshots of things that aren't just the front pages etc. but also admin panels and stuff like that.

I actually think there's a lot of zest in a lot of them because the last few years has pushed very heavily into a set of design trends (flat, material etc) that I not only don't like, but I find actively user hostile in some respects; we've increasingly reinvented UI paradigms, around 'what is clickable', 'what is actionable', 'what is a button that confirms an action' - there was a much clearer sense of style driven by 'form follows function' that recent design not only fails to reflect but chooses to go out of its way to avoid.

As for the age debate, that certainly explains how come SMF has a pronounced up-tick in 60+ users vs a sample size from XenForo.

 

[Cedric]

I keep a media gallery of SMF themes from back in the day - I don't have years on them but I could probably figure it out without too much brain power, but there's a definite 'these are mid 2000s themes', and 'these are 2010-2015 themes' vibes about a lot of them. I've often wondered about taking the look from some and applying it to a more modern way of life - for not unreasonable reasons I think themers have tended to avoid going too far off script because too many remember what it used to be like with themes breaking functionality.

Anyway for the curious, https://smfthemedemos.levertine.org/index.php?media/ - I've got more to post sometime, just haven't gotten around to it. I picked a crap name for it though, perhaps I should have a do-over and rename it to something about forum gallery, and them dump in screenshots of things that aren't just the front pages etc. but also admin panels and stuff like that.

I actually think there's a lot of zest in a lot of them because the last few years has pushed very heavily into a set of design trends (flat, material etc) that I not only don't like, but I find actively user hostile in some respects; we've increasingly reinvented UI paradigms, around 'what is clickable', 'what is actionable', 'what is a button that confirms an action' - there was a much clearer sense of style driven by 'form follows function' that recent design not only fails to reflect but chooses to go out of its way to avoid.

As for the age debate, that certainly explains how come SMF has a pronounced up-tick in 60+ users vs a sample size from XenForo.

There's some really cool themes on SMF, I wasn't aware of that.

 

[Tracy]

And the older set can't acknowledge that some 'younger farts' have different opinions. Y'all keep trying to assert your opinion as if it's truth rather than opinion, and that's rather the problem.

Ah... but "truth" varies by the person. So, in effect, "truth" IS opinion!
There is a reason that there is a saying of "One mans meat is another mans poison".

There are absolutely people doing the BBS thing

There are actually still some folks that are running a BBS like the "old days", and they are available over the internet (via SSH or Telnet).
I found 4 that are using the same software (Maximus on OS/2) that I was back in my Net 124 days.

Home Page - Telnet BBS Guide

The Telnet BBS Guide is your complete listing of over 900 Telnet BBS systems in the world.

www.telnetbbsguide.com

Think I'll have to grab my Linux laptop and try 'em out.

 

[Arantor]

"truth" IS opinion!

Yea-- no. Truth implies a belief held to a higher standard than 'just your opinion' and that's the problem, trying to wield an opinion as though it's objectively more correct an opinion to hold.

 

[Tracy]

Yea-- no. Truth implies a belief held to a higher standard than 'just your opinion' and that's the problem, trying to wield an opinion as though it's objectively more correct an opinion to hold.

And what is a belief.... other than an opinion.

 

[Arantor]

Sure, it's an opinion but it's one that gets held to a higher standard. People put more stock in 'truth' and 'belief' than opinion, and that's the point.

 

[TwitchisMental]

Thing is, ZetaBoards had the most amazing themes that still outrank today’s designs.

I blame modern day standards. More specifically the "flat" design craze.

 

[Cedric]

I blame modern day standards. More specifically the "flat" design craze.

Definitely. It hasn’t improved in my opinion.

 

[Arantor]

Flat design is a blight that has screwed up all the actual accessibility of designwork in favour of fad aesthetics

 

[Cedric]

Flat design is a blight that has screwed up all the actual accessibility of designwork in favour of fad aesthetics

You must really hate flat design to express it this way.

 

[Arantor]

There's so much implicit information in non-flat design about usability. There's a reason, for example, that buttons in most operating systems have a bevelled look by design - it implies a sense of height by which there is a subtle imparting of 'this is pressable'.

Or there used to be.

Consider this UI. This is a modal that you get when banning a user in Discord (this is a test account, the picture is from elsewhere on the internet, the name should be a clue to some as to where).

What is clickable on this UI? What do the clickable things do?

 

[Jason]

They at least have some of the old premade Invisionfree/Maybe Zetaboards ones that were cool made into Jcink themes! Looks pretty cool to see them revived.

@Arantor

I went searching and found the original CSS for the Zetaboards theme though... I can't post it because there is a 10,000 word limit though.... hmmm....

Edit: I can share the link with you though and see if that helps anyone...

Default Layout and Appearance (Zetaboards Original) (ZetaDoc)

ZetaBoards

web.archive.org

View attachment 910

Are people free to mess with that theme or is there some legal thing? Well, I do know they have Invision style forums for software that isn't Invison. Of course, with a lot of free themes, I think you could convert them to a ZB thing with no legal hassle.

 

[Reverie]

Are people free to mess with that theme or is there some legal thing? Well, I do know they have Invision style forums for software that isn't Invison. Of course, with a lot of free themes, I think you could convert them to a ZB thing with no legal hassle.

As long as you provide credit I would assume still would be okay. Some of these themes were made by semi findable people where you could also ask for permission.

 

[Cory]

As long as you provide credit I would assume still would be okay. Some of these themes were made by semi findable people where you could also ask for permission.

I'm pretty sure there could still be some copyright involvement if you were to blatantly copy the theme of another creator without their permission.

I created a topic on the ZetaBoards Support forum that is still there on Tapatalk now asking theme designers for permission to convert their work and a handful of people gave me permission to do so, which is the reason there are themes on my board that you used to see on ZetaBoards.