Finally got around to changing board icons into images

[Study Force]

Notice how each board has its own special icon. Boards that don't have an icon default to the light bulb. When logged in, the icons light up when there are new posts made in that board.

Biology Forums | Q & A Board

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biology-forums.com

What are your thoughts?

Pros:

Makes the forum more interesting, less generic.

Cons:

Each vector icon is around 7 kb, therefore, slightly longer loading time.

 

[Deathstarr]

Nice looking forum, didnt even notice it was SMF until the bottom footer gave it away. Great job on the icons they look great also.

 

[Pete]

Thing is, they're apparently PNGs rather than actual vectors; SVG images would likely load a lot quicker because they should be smaller.

In fact if you get them small enough you could probably inline them directly into the code of the template, and save the network request entirely for very little extra pain (especially since on/off/on2 can probably be basically handled by CSS at that point)

 

[zappaDPJ]

What are your thoughts?

I think they look great, professionally designed and just as importantly, consistent in style. Certainly worth the overhead and as Pete says above there are steps that can be taken to reduce that if it presents an issue down the line.

On a more personal note I've always admired what you've done with your forum. It's a showcase for SMF that proves the software still has merit regardless of the slow development pace.

 

[Obdojony]

I think SMF is kinda out of date in style yet you made it look decent , great work!

 

[Bionic Rooster]

Makes the forum more interesting, less generic.

The adds are distracting so this isn't a plus for being more interesting.