crumblepie Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Suppose you've just launched a new forum with a cool, unique design that you spent lots of money and time on, and then members don't like it. What would you do in such a case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amdac Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 It would really depend if it were one or two members or a good chunk of the community. I'd run a quick poll and base my decision on the results. Clearly if everyone hated the design it would have negative effects on your growth. WisTex 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Nathan Posted April 5, 2012 Administrators Share Posted April 5, 2012 You can't ever please everyone, so I would say no. WisTex 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevilKid Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 I agree with what Nathan said, there can't ever be everyone who likes the theme of your website. You should try to make one which pleases most of the people. If you own a forum or blog, do a poll first about which colour theme they would like first. Then you should give some choices of the free designs and tell them to choose from it and then get someone to make a similar design to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkGizmo Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 I have a custom theme for my site but I also have a few others for members to choose from for those who don't like our default skin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Nathan Posted April 6, 2012 Administrators Share Posted April 6, 2012 I have a custom theme for my site but I also have a few others for members to choose from for those who don't like our default skin. Makes sense I can see having a light and dark option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrill Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Give them more options, a couple to choose from in a selector at the bottom. ChuckTesta 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEddy Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 If I were you, I would put multiple themes with multiple colors and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TehPhantom Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Usually if people don't like my theme, then I make small tweaks with it to try and keep the theme attractive to the users. Its very hard to explain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junglist0682 Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 I would just have other themes installed and give the member the option to select a different theme. IT'S your site so it's your decision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckTesta Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 I agree with Nathan in the fact that it's your site... you've spent money on it. You're members will always voice their opinion and get over it. If you've spent a lot of time, energy and money on it... I would def keep it up, But just give them another option to choose from. crumblepie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ford1001 Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 I am usually fairly stubborn when it comes to things like this. Unless there is a fairly large chunk of the community who don't like the theme I will then change it, but if it is only a small percentage, I will change their themes to another theme that they prefer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkGizmo Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Makes sense I can see having a light and dark option. Yep best way to go about it I've found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crumblepie Posted April 14, 2012 Author Share Posted April 14, 2012 Hahha lots of nice ideas.. I like ChuckTesta's answer the best. Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackHatClass Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 You ask them what they don't like. aka, survey time. If you are going to invest a lot of time and money into a website, it's better to run such survey campaigns before all planning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryce12 Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 It makes sense to provide a dropdown box allowing user to select their own theme. As others have already said, it is difficult to please everyone so don't lose your sleep over it. Give your users more choice and they are less likely to complain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zacko Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 It makes sense to provide a dropdown box allowing user to select their own theme. As others have already said, it is difficult to please everyone so don't lose your sleep over it. Give your users more choice and they are less likely to complain. This is what I'd do. Provide the users with one~two of the free theme options that can be easily found on the net, or through your forum software. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ford1001 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 It makes sense to provide a dropdown box allowing user to select their own theme. As others have already said, it is difficult to please everyone so don't lose your sleep over it. Give your users more choice and they are less likely to complain. Best way to deal with it, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ENO1986 Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Well if multiple people are telling you the same thing I would suggest making a poll on maybe what they would like to see changed, because as a human beings it’s hard to criticize our own work, and some of the best criticism I have received are from people I don’t know, but you can’t please everyone like people above me have all ready stated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deyvion Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 I agree with Nathan in the fact that it's your site... you've spent money on it. You're members will always voice their opinion and get over it. If you've spent a lot of time, energy and money on it... I would def keep it up, But just give them another option to choose from. I see what you mean, but still, if you want traffic, you can not only think about what YOU want. Sure, you put time, maybe money, and effort into making the site, but you are also asking your members to make an effort to be active on your site. If they are not comfortable with viewing the site that you made, and you are unwilling to change it because of what YOU did, then you cannot expect your members to grow in numbers. Like usually said, 'the customer is always right', and that applies for getting traffic also. I know sites that I have stopped visiting because the layout was too tiresome to watch, or too complicated to navigate, so you should think about that if you want to get successful with getting traffic. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy103 Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 I'd probably ask the forum what they would prefer to see with the design and layout before doing anything else about it and wasting any more money on it. Of course I would also probably be rather frustrated in paying for a unique design just to have people dislike it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhioTom76 Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Were the forum members asked for their input prior to the redesign? If you went forward with a redesign without any input or feedback from them, then that is likely part of the problem. You need to spend some time getting to know how others are using your site and use those learnings to guide you in your redesign. Things such as where to place the login box, heat maps of where people are interacting with the most, ad placement, etc... are all important. deyvion 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xbrix Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Well, it depends on how many people don't like it. If it's just a few people, then I'd say to just forget their opinions and carry on. But if it is almost all of your readers, then you should change it. Before changing it, I would make a post or something, and ask them to put some ideas into it, so you'd be sure that everyone would like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qaximor Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I'd give them the option for the default theme and the theme that I did. If they don't like both then they have to wait for the next theme update. I don't think that a theme would impact the users that much that they would just stop using the forum. Maybe they would not like it but it wont get to the part where they just stop visiting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhioTom76 Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 When you say you spent a lot of money on it, do you mean that you purchased a commercial theme? Or perhaps you hired someone to come up with the design for you and build it? To some extent, if I didn't have any expertise in design and hired someone who I thought did to design a new theme for me, I would be rather irritated with them as well if their design isn't well received by my users. Part of the reason I was paying them was for their design skills and if they are creating user interfaces that are unintuitive and annoying for the users then they didn't do their job. If I designed it entirely myself based on what I though the users wanted and got an overwhelmingly poor response, I wouldn't take it too personal. If you did a complete overhaul without any input from them, or without some testing of changes incrementally first, that's part of the problem right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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