Why did the Skins Change? The reasons are many and varied but they are aimed at one thing - improving the site for you.

Please understand these kinds of changes are always performed with the greatest care and consideration for everyone. We are committed to making this the best place to be a Transformers fan and we hope you will work with us to make that happen.

That said, we have nothing to hide and want you to know what are the reasons for the changes made:

+ Old skins were no longer compatible with the new IPB forums code

With so many skins, it got to be too much work to keep them up. Finally, with the last board upgrade when all new skins were needed. It was decided the new skins would be designed to work in a more ergonomic manner as you see now.

+ People were confused by TFormers / TFans relationship

We are using this opportunity to unite them as one site under the "TFormers Community" name. FYI. The TFans.com domain is not going anywhere. It continues to work as it did before and always will.

+ New Navigation means easy access to ALL of TFormers

With all the news, reviews and databases we have to offer. You can join in as a member and be part of the Transformers fun and games.

+ The Nav-bar will keep you better informed

Not only can you access TFormers news quickly, now we have a spot to promote site updates, new events, features, and services that are aimed at serving all of our TFormers Community members.

+ We are dedicated to keeping the sites 100% FREE

The space to grow and try new things with special features, services and yes sponsors allows us to discover ways that cover operational costs without expense to our members as we strive to give you MORE.

None of these decisions were easy to make. Your understanding and patience is greatly appreciated as we grow. We are learning how to deal with so many people too. We really do want to know what is the best for everyone. Your constructive input and feedback posted below is welcomed could be used if it makes sense for everyone.

These kinds of posts are very much appreciated. With obvious changes, like skins and such, perhaps a warning in forehand would be a good idea?

Would it be possible to implement new skins? One, if possible, actual being "Dark", instead of "Lightly tanned", as the current one is. In other words: White letters on a black background.

Thanks for the input. Yes, a black background skin is doable.

what exactly is the difference in pda and lofi? i dont use either on my pda, i just go with the default but i was curious.

1) The lefthand info bar is here to stay... but that doesn't mean it has to stay on screen, how about making it colapseable? It can still be there when you need it, but like the Shoutbox can disapear when you don't.

2) Color schemes: Right now we have 2 of em Dark and Light, Might I suggest some more transformers related ones such as, Devestator (Green and Purple), Jetfire (Red and White), Piranacon (Pink and Aqua)

3) Also on schemes, the Dark one should totally have a goatee.

*Smacks NLTAG*

Keep it serious, will you?

Thanks! That's a an idea we would love to consider in more detail. Any professional Web / UI designers on board who would like to help out please PM me.

The PDA Skin is meant for phones and such devices. Lo-Fi does not offer access to PMs and posting on forums IIRC.

I would like my old orange skin back and more warning next time, not a logout...

Thanks for saying the reason though...

I don't suppose it is at all possible to move the info bar to the right hand side is it?

Failing that, orange skin would make me happy. Less mopey, at any rate.



Thankyou, for the answers though.

This is what we needed though, pre-empted discussion. I personally think that a darker skin with larger buttons may be better, like the forum jump box is TINY..

I think the Classic/Sputnik skins really spoke to the originality of the TFans look. If those colors could come back manifested in a new skin in some way, that would be great.

I'm going to restate one of my questions from the other thread, which was deleted for reasons known to me.

Are guests counted towards TFans users? If they are, that biases the user sample MH posted in the other topic to such an extreme degree that it renders it 100% useless.

Edit: Here's another question. Why in the hell didn't you warn people about this in the first place? "Oh, hey, I know. Let's make a huge change to the site and not let anyone know it's going to happen!"

I don't think this is anything worth getting upset about. Like the big update at the start of 2005, I'm guessing this wasn't announced because they wanted it to be a surprise. Everything is still here, it just looks different. Wheeljack has been pretty nice in this thread about answering questions and asking for comments.

The change in 2005 was hinted at for quite some time, however. This is just out of the blue.

Plus, the changes last time were beneficial and whatnot to the end user. These changes really aren't. I can understand why they were done(Code issues are always a batch. Always.), but I don't have to like it.

Thanks for the feedback. Sorry, the other topic was removed to allow people re-post their comments with the above information being posted for people to read. The distribution of Skins selection you're referring to was but one factor in many. It was not even noted above.

We're not looking to upset anyone, just the contrary. Trust me. We kept those skins up at long as we could (years) to delay this kind of response. Sorry, we're stuck between you guys and the people who make the forums.

So... You're not going to answer my first question.

BTW, I apologize for acting like an ass about the suddenness of the change, but my point still stands. If you're going to make a change that will effect the entire forum, you should give at least a hint or something.

cant you just have left one old skin now its much harder to read

Go back and read the first post. you'll see that was impossible.

Change the skin to TFormers Dark. It will make it readable. I had to do that.

I don't know if it's availble for this board, but I was wondering about adding a feature.

At some boards (like the forums at comicbookresources.com ), moving your mouse over a thread title opens a small text box that displays the first sentence or two of the first post. It's very helpful when threads aren't titled very clearly.

Could this be availble here?

How much do you pay to be a member here?

Guests can't change board skins. Yes, less than 3% of our users had a different skin. This is significant because as BaCon said, every time there is a board software upgrade, we have to upgrade all of the skins. But of course that doesn't mean that we can never add any more skins. It just takes time and resources, like anything else. (Which is why you don't see multiple skin options on a lot of sites similar to this one.)

I'm surprised. Then again, the change skin button was/is only on one screen and at the bottom of said screen.

Thank you for the information.

just out of curiosity, I'm curious as to how many members that have been active in say the past 6 months have different skins. There's a lot of people who have joined TFans and since then have stopped coming. I'm not bringing this up for arguments sake, I'm genuinely curious.

I smell a poll....

meh now TFans seems more boring and lame to me



huh i was 3%... wow

As said before, a lot of people are upset because of the sudden change. To those people: By now, the Staff knows to give a warning beforehand. So, let's not bother them with rehashing the same old complaint again and again.

As for Skins: The old skins were incompatible with the new format. They couldn't be used. The change doesn't mean we can't get any more skins than the ones we have right now. It simply means that it will take time to create new skins (for those of you who don't know: every color in a new skin needs to be set manually. So, every title, every button, every line needs to be coded. That's not an easy task, and certainly not quick. Do take that into consideration)

That being said, I hope we can trust to find ourselves with some new Skins as soon as possible? Perhaps it is possible, if you truly wish to tighten the bonds between TFormers and what used to be TFans, to create skins for both the Forum AND the Main Site, so that we may enjoy TFormers as a whole.

I did answer your question:



Like was stated above, we've made choices with everyone in mind. That includes non-members.

Based on everyones feedback, we are looking at making some adjustments to the skins we have up now. The dark skin is being made darker. However, it is unlikely there will be more skins.



Seriously, not to sound insensitive. But do you see yourselves? You are laying the drama on thick here just to be annoying. It is utterly stupid to think we buy the idea that you come to the site just for the skins. Grow up already.

Yeah I'm not seeing the huge issue here. And while I realize that my member title reads "Staff" most of you know that I'm just as vocal about issues I disagree with as any of your are or ever dream to be . Seriously this is a non issue. The changes were made for the betterment of the board and it's surrounding community. If the staff of Tformers/Tfans made a post about every change they made major or minor or opened it up for debate, nothing would ever be done.

Are background colors really that big of an issue as to why you post here? I'm here to talk about giant transforming robots, post silly naruto/heman comics in INH, and hang out with the friends I've made here since 2004.

*has the power*

Minor changes, no. Major, yes.

And, really, if you come home and your wife has decorated all the wall with flaming red wallpaper, because "it's better"...well, you would've given in anyhow, but a warning beforehand would've been appreciated.

Oh for god's sake...

though your choice of analogy is illuminating. TFormers isn't anyone's house; it's a public place and there's only one person who "owns" it (it isn't me).

Just be thankful I didn't make the skins pink.

Oh, really. If a public space, like for example a library or a bar, redecorates, everybody is notified well beforehand. Often, we even get a warning in our mailbox. Not as often, but often enough, the visiting public gets to vote on what design is best. Now, obviously, this was not an issue where we would need to vote over. However, still a notification would be proper.

And, let's face it: TFans is like a bar, in that respect. Instead of alcohol, it deals with Transformers, but beyond that, it's virtually (pun intended) the same.

Hey -- we changed the skins. FYI

uh do we have to make the dark skin darker, it works well in my work/goof-off environment. how about inverting the light skin or something

Whoa... didn't know web skins affected everyone's life this drastically. Perhaps it can be used on your 2008 tax returns next year as a deduction for a major life event [/sarcasm]

Just out of curiosity: Isn't it possible to implement a piece of script that allows each user to set his or her own parameters when it comes to lay-out? In other words, that you may have a default skin, but you can tweak it so that you can have your own nice and neat personal forum skin?

Can we still be called TFans

I'd like to hear more about this, too.

*will ask*

Will removing the TFormers side bar ever be possible? It disrupts the look of the forum.

It's a value adder and stuff. You can get info straight from there instead of having to search around on TFormers or whatever.

I don't go to TFormers except through news forum links. >.> the side bar just gets in the way.

if that's a no, well it's no big deal.

Like the new slogan:

The most awesomer Transformers forums

Can I interest you in a remedial English class online?

Hey...


... were a lot more awesomer than those other Transformer forums!

here is where I think your confusion is coming from. Everytime you have ever come to Tfans, you have come to Tformers. Tfans has always been Tformers forums, just like TFW's forums, and the Allsparks. Only they have always been interlinked the way we are now interlinking Tformers/Tfans/Eni. Which is really only "on the surface" since underneath, it has always been the same site.

QFT