Does Petopia need a new theme?

[Mania]

Petopia has been green and boxy for quite some time now. I'm still pretty happy with the theme, but I was wondering what the people who didn't design it think.

Note that I'm not asking about the content here, just the theme -- color, layout, etc.

[Teigan]

But, I thought it was blue...??

[Mania]

Petopia is green -- mostly light green.

Warcraft Mounts is blue, though. Dark blue. With a grey content area. Gloomy. And so incredibly ugly it hurts my eyes. I am definitely re-theming Warcraft Mounts.

Speaking of which, I should have added a disclaimer: I am very curious about this, but whether or not I'd actually get a new theme done in the next year is an open question.

[Teigan]

Yeah...um, the actual site part of the site is definitely green. Unequivocally green. This part is blue. Kindly ignore me. I'm up too late!

[Mania]

Oh! Gotcha. Yeah, the forums are still a very bland generic theme that comes with the software. I need to spend time on theming the forums as well, but ... I don't know the code very well, and from what I've seen it's a lot less fun to work with than, say, Wordpress. So I've been putting that off.

[Helio]

Might be nice to have some sorta leaf theme or somesuch... make it more -nature like-

[Saturo]

[Mania]

Now that's sexy! ... But utterly unworkable.

[Karathyriel]

All your sites have been designed with one thing on your mind, that is pretty obvious.
They all try to be fast-loading.

But in these days, I guess, you can just skip this old-days-rule. Look at all the new and modern websites that are used by so many people. Grphics, flash animations and what not.

Having dipped in web design myself (and yeah, even sold two design, but that was looooong ago), I think you should redesign. Make it look a little bit more flashy and sexy. I've said it more than once but I repeat here again: If you need help, just ask for it.

One thing comes to my mind: Why don't you set a forum and a petopia-copy up, where only a few trusted people have access and let that be the design playground? A try-and-error sandbox, so to speak. With combined efforts, I'm pretty sure we will come up with something sexy. And maybe, we even can spread this design to the mounts and tabards site, so you finally get something like a "corporate identity" sort of thingy...

But first of all, these are your sites. You should have a general idea of where you wanna go. No need to have something flashy that you yourself don't like, right?

I'm here, I got plenty of time right now, as I still am looking for a job. There are others out there who not only showed graphic and design skills but devotion to petopia, WoW, the hunter class and pets. You've done so many things for us, why not use our skills for your needs, just for a change?

[Saturo]

Aye, what Kara said.

I'm good at drawing runeswords, if you want some...

[Helio]

*drops to his knees and worships the Arthas picture*

[Vephriel]

I think it could be fun to see a bit of a new theme for the site.

I like the idea of having a certain pet as the theme 'mascot', so perhaps you could keep that idea but just have a new pet and colour association? Or on the other hand choose a new colour and then pick a few pets that match the colour.

As for what those might be....well, that's difficult to decide. xD So many awesome pets out there, and everyone will have their own personal favourites. I'd say pick one of your favourites....perhaps a red crab? ^.^

[Helio]

Or P. Dawg.. Have P. Dawg leaving comments on the different pets and whatnot?

[Sarayana]

I think Veph's suggestion makes a lot of sense. I'd definitely go with a unifying colour that works well in browsers and then work from there.

You could also pick a pet for each family - browsing ferocity pets will then have the theme of the pet you chose for that, with the colour association. The design of the site overall would obviously have to be very cohesive, so that the changing colours wouldn't feel too disruptive.

My husband is working on his company site, and what he's done is a graphic theme that works with six different colours. The default is random loading, but the option is there (in the bottom corner) to set a preferred colour. *shrug* it's an option.

[Ryno]

Or P. Dawg.. Have P. Dawg leaving comments on the different pets and whatnot?

Also, I had to pick the yes option because it had sexy in it.
But a P. Dawg theme would be most amusing. You could have P. Dawg a word bubble with a pet of the week at the top of the page! People would like that me thinks.

[Lupis]

Because I like brown and goldish colors, I suggest them. As in, dried grass and a blue sky, that sort of thing. Besides, P. Dawg would fit right in.
It'd be cool if the background was a simple horizon picture of animated dried grass and sky. ^.^

[Sarayana]

As in... a screen cap of Mulgore?

[Vephriel]

Hmm, if we're thinking about zones as a theme then Sholazar Basin might be a good one. It's a lush environment filled with beasts of all sorts (among a few favourites), and just the tropical sort of jungle atmosphere lends itself well to a pet site in my opinion.

[Karathyriel]

If you decide on another mascot, I beg you:
No spirit beast!

They get so much attention anyway.
And I just don't loek 'em!

[Vephriel]

Yes, I agree the mascot shouldn't be a Spirit Beast. I even love them, but I think the charm for Petopia is its focus on the lesser known creatures along with the top faves.