27May2009

Forum Design Showcase

Compared with the current state of design across many areas of the web (look at all the great themes being developed for WordPress, for instance), the state of forum design leaves much to be desired.

Although forums are a critical part of many web sites from the perspective of driving traffic and retaining visitors, from a design standpoint they often feel like a tacked on afterthought.

Design element from Looking For Group forum

Looking For Group forum shows a high level of design

The vast majority of forum designs are generic and ugly. I mean really ugly. And blue — if you want to make a forum design look in any way original, do yourself a favor and don't use blue as the main color. Or green.

That being said, if you look really really hard there are some bright spots out there. I have gathered these together in a forum design gallery over at my Elements of Design site.

I'm sure these can't be the only forum designs worth celebrating and sharing. Please let me know of any others in the comments.

Posted on: May 27, 2009 | 23 Comments

23 Comments Posted

Good collection of web forum designs! I agree with you on blue and green.

There was an article in an issue of Practical Web Design (a UK magazine) about forum design last year. If I come across it I'll post for you- it had some other good forum design examples.

1. Posted by Patrick on May 27, 2009

I too have thought many time why the forum designs are so ugly. I have thought are the people not interested in making good designs for the forum. Now I am happy that you people have come up with good forum designs.

2. Posted by Shapia web services on May 28, 2009

Thanks dear for gathering forum designing gallery,I have seen it and it is nice,I'll use it whenever i make forums.

3. Posted by Aliester on May 29, 2009

Oh its by mistake that i have send two same comments actually my internet connection was fluctuating thats why click the comment box two times.

4. Posted by Aliester on May 29, 2009

I was wondering how I could hide/unhide a form using php. I saw a website where the user can click "Add Comment" and a form is shown to him. After he submits it, it disappears and the website comments are updated. Thank you.

5. Posted by John Smith on June 03, 2009

Здравствуйте! Так приятно оказаться на стоящем сайте. Всем кто его создал огромное спасибо за ваши труды!

6. Posted by VievevatDek on June 09, 2009

Just ran across your site and found more interesting and great topic on your blog...thanks for the good information about designing.

7. Posted by Oxzen Media on June 22, 2009

this is a very unique post.. very nice examples thanks!

8. Posted by web design company on June 23, 2009

Hi,

I tried to add an image but I don't know how to do it
Can someone please explain me how?

Thanks for your help in advance :)

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See my latest Blogs

9. Posted by paulwilliams on June 24, 2009

Thanks for sharing the good information and ideas about designs. Nice post!

10. Posted by Oxzen Media on July 07, 2009

There are a number of great themes developed for phpbb available on their site. Even more impressive is that the designs have been built and shared for free.

http://www.phpbb.com/styles/db/index.php?i=browse&mode=popular

11. Posted by vancouver web design on July 07, 2009

Весёленький сайт!

12. Posted by Каб on July 08, 2009

thnx buddy for such great hlp

13. Posted by ntiremedia on July 09, 2009

i was wondering how I could hide/unhide a form using php. I saw a website where the user can click "Add Comment" and a form is shown to him.

14. Posted by Affodable web services on July 10, 2009

I agree. thanks for the help!
creativekiwie.com

15. Posted by creative kiwie on July 12, 2009

you should look at @

http://www.turbofsi.net/forum

16. Posted by Ant Eksiler on August 13, 2009

Ничего себе блог, просто слов нет, как я доволен, что его нашёл=))

17. Posted by Спортсмен on October 08, 2009

Ваши записи произвели на меня огромное впечатление, заставили думать по-другому. Продолжайте свои творческие поиски, а я буду следовать за Вами!

18. Posted by FrurryJousa on October 09, 2009

Reply to ntiremedia:

You must use javascript to hide a form table. PHP only runs on server side to build the html pages.
The events should be:
to hide:
document.getElementById('tablename').style.display='none';

to display:
document.getElementById('tablename').style.display='block';

I hope that helps,

IT-Design

19. Posted by IT-Design on October 15, 2009

great designs.
good use of colors even though the main motif of most game site is black and dark.
i also like the simple designs such as the student room. very clear and not straining on the eye.

i have one that i came across a while ago. its an article site have a look see if it fits the list.
free articles site
it also has a design section
web design articles

20. Posted by barnacle on October 20, 2009

thanx for good and valuable information posted

21. Posted by daisy7386 on November 02, 2009

,[...] www.smileycat.com is one must read source on this subject,[...]

22. Posted by Trackback - Free Internation Call >> How to make free international call on November 19, 2009

Agreed. I'm incorporating elements of wordpress theme layouts into my forum theme because the current standard of forum themes is fairly poor.

23. Posted by rexusdiablos on February 08, 2010