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[Mad Penguin]

Hi,

I'm looking to re-vamp the current website, or at the very least add a newer easier to update / better looking alternative to take over .. don't want to scrap what's there because what's there holds a pretty good ranking on Google and messing with the content (historically) will degrade the ranking.

So, it'll be a worpress based site, looking for ideas re; skins and naming .. currently thinking along the lines of;
http://articles.linux.co.uk (this link is *not* live!)

With a 'nice' skin ... what do we think of;

http://www.pagelines.com/themes/
http://dev.primothemes.com/corner-stone/
http://www.studiopress.com/themes

Anyone got any other suggestions .. I must admit I can't seem to find the 'ideal' template ..

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

May I ask why?... I understood the point in moving this site to SMF (requiring a URL change), the added features, but unless you can somehow move the old database to Wordpress and then keep the old 'linux.co.uk' URL, aren't you just going to be competing with yourself for google rankings, or do you have a plan... Something like when the new site ranks high enough or has enough content, is there any way to 'move' it to 'linux.co.uk'... you know I don't understand this stuff.
Just seems to me that whatever you name it, if it's linux based, it's never going to compete with 'linux.co.uk'

Or as I said do you have a plan? ... am I missing something?... is there no way to give the old site a makeover without moving away from that URL?... is there added functionality in Wordpress?

[goldendragonuk]

i would leave the URL as linux.co.uk unless ofc the forums will be ported over to that address but i personally think it should be wordpress at linux.co.uk and leave forums as is ( although i never actually look on linux.co.uk go straight to forums) there are a few really nice ones over at Template Monster (http://www.templatemonster.com/category/wordpress-themes) but its hard to pick any without knowing the basic colours you want to go with also if you do go wordpress route may i suggest This Plugin (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/post-to-smf-forum/)

just a few i like (bare in mind im slightly biased towards light colours)

Template Monster -  (http://www.templatemonster.com/category/wordpress-themes)
Template Number: 22680
Template Number: 22609
Template Number: 22523
Template Number: 22170
Template Number: 22147 ( a dark theme i actually like )
Template Number: 21143

theres over 40 pages worth so not going to name them all

pagelines.com (http://pagelines.com)

iBlogPro

Only really liked this one from here

primothemes.com (http://primothemes.com)

tuxedo

again thats about all from that one

studiopress.com (http://studiopress.com)

Chrome Theme
Streamline Theme
Tubular Theme

couple of nice ones there

[Mad Penguin]

>May I ask why?.

(a) I'm trying to get away from Plone
(b) Performance on Plone stinks compared to wordpress
(c) Wordpress is better for adding regular new content / generally easier to work with
(d) I can buy a cheap but good WP template whereas the current template is broken on a number of new browsers such as Chrome
(e) I've pretty much worn out my sunglasses ...



Ultimately a the old site will be replaced by the new one, just need to populate it first ...

[Mad Penguin]

>i never actually look on linux.co.uk go straight to forums

You've sort of answered Mark's question too ..

Not too worried about colours .. just interested in a template which will present plenty of information in an attractive format.

[goldendragonuk]

>i never actually look on linux.co.uk go straight to forums

You've sort of answered Mark's question too ..

Not too worried about colours .. just interested in a template which will present plenty of information in an attractive format.

take a look at the ones i suggested and let me know how you feel about those

[kirrus]

  You're getting away from plone! I thought the day would never happen!

http://linux.uk.com/

[Mad Penguin]

Erm, happened many days ago and I'm gradually moving all customers 'off' it.

Public health warning ::

I strongly recommend anyone and everyone avoid Plone where possible. (like the plague)

If you do something "they" don't like, even if it involves promoting Plone, in my experience you will get paper contact from their lawyers long before you get any sort of communication from them indicating that you are doing anything 'wrong'. As their lawyers seem to act independently, have their own idea of 'wrong' and seem far more inclined to fire off letters rather than actually pay attention to and understand what's going on, as soon as you do anything with Plone you're risking unwanted legal aggravation.

It's just not worth it.

Anyone wants any consultancy to help them move off Plone, I can offer a massive discount .. 

Plone® and the Plone logo are registered trademarks of the Plone Foundation.

[kirrus]

Erm, happened many days ago and I'm gradually moving all customers 'off' it.

Public health warning ::

I strongly recommend anyone and everyone avoid Plone where possible. (like the plague)

If you do something "they" don't like, even if it involves promoting Plone, in my experience you will get paper contact from their lawyers long before you get any sort of communication from them indicating that you are doing anything 'wrong'. As their lawyers seem to act independently, have their own idea of 'wrong' and seem far more inclined to fire off letters rather than actually pay attention to and understand what's going on, as soon as you do anything with Plone you're risking unwanted legal aggravation.

It's just not worth it.

Anyone wants any consultancy to help them move off Plone, I can offer a massive discount .. 

Plone® and the Plone logo are registered trademarks of the Plone Foundation.

They didn't send you nasty letters? They're mad!

[Mad Penguin]

It was worse than that, I ended up having to do > a week's worth of work to comply with what they wanted .. (!)

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

If the new sites are to be brought together later on wouldn't it be a good idea to keep the colour schemes similar, and like this one suggestive of Tux (penguin) Colours.

I've never been a big fan of overly coloured sites that try to impress with unnecessary pics and animations... some at the very top are OK, then I want uncluttered content... no distractions... But that's just me.

With this in mind, take a look at this:
http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/23667.html (http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/23667.html)

I think that would look nice with Tux at the top... obviously with some kind of relief from the background.

and yes, I think articles.linux.co.uk is fine... covers everything... news, docs, articles  etc.

[Mad Penguin]

Yup, like that one ...

[Mad Penguin]

Ok, looking forward to the content on the new site .. obviously there is 'stuff' on the old site, anyone got any ideas re; the sorts of things they'd 'like' to see on a new site?

[goldendragonuk]

Ok, looking forward to the content on the new site .. obviously there is 'stuff' on the old site, anyone got any ideas re; the sorts of things they'd 'like' to see on a new site?

that's a hard one because alot of the stuff you would generally see is on the forums (news tutorials) actually thinking about it don't see many reviews so maybe that's a possibility to add those would love to see community events etc and maybe even as far as a Linux-con for UK users but that's not really site content. Also you could stop the posting of Linux news in the forum and allow users to create articles on the main site also allow people to comment (maybe have a rating system like you see on some sites where not so helpful comments can get rated down and if rated down enough cant see them until some one clicks the link) can always add a link to the news forums linking to said articles if i think of anything else ill pop back on and type some more

[Mad Penguin]

Ok, set up a new WP instance at http://new.linux.co.uk/

No content and just a crappy free theme for now .. but I've plugged in a bunch of Plugins and set up a twitter account so it's ready for a theme choice and some content. If anyone wants to post some content just to see what it looks like / how it works, let me know and I'll set you up with an account ...

Been scanning templates .. not been completely convinced by any of them yet .. like lots of 'parts' of different templates ..