Thinkpads Forum

I'm sorry Bill... but the design is awful. Any plans for a redesign?

The layout is confusing for people who haven't ever visited the site before (going by the comments of those on AnandTech and other forums).

On the other hand, the quaintness and disorganized nature of the main site has a certain fame.

I burst out laughing when I read this thread over at AnandTech - this guy (who probably became a customer of yours) couldn't remember what your site was named. All he could remember was that the site had an "awful layout" or something like that. Everyone knew what he was talking about and directed him here.

>I'm sorry Bill... but the design is awful. Any plans for a redesign?
>

Are you volunteering to redesign and then maintain it? For free?

I think I'll have the time in about two weeks to redesign it. I'll do it for free since all you guys are a swell bunch. But in terms of maintaining it... I don't know if I'll be able to do that.

Of course I can just cheat and make it a Blogger of some sort so Bill can update it easily. My fraternity's news page is built around a blogger while everything else such as the rosters section is built with the traditional backend.

Bill how do you feel about that? And for the rest of you, anything specific you are looking for? Any websites out there you want emulated?

Two examples of nice-looking phpBB-based websites:

http://www.linksysinfo.org/
http://www.rpc1.org

There are plenty of others. Integrating the mainsite with the forums would be relatively quick and easy. Plus, it would allow Bill to update his Thinkpad offerings (and other moderators to post news) as easily as editing a forum post.

As a user of numerous fora (sp?) I see this type of layout quite often. What in particular is so bad about the design? I am not trying to play Devil's advocate, but I truly am interested to know what is so bad about this forum.

--Bob

Bob Collins wrote:As a user of numerous fora (sp?) I see this type of layout quite often. What in particular is so bad about the design? I am not trying to play Devil's advocate, but I truly am interested to know what is so bad about this forum.

--Bob

Actually I have no problems with the forums. The forums are great (except the parrot logo up on top... come on Bill, find a higher quality image I can see dithering on that thing). We are talking about the main site in general, not the forums...

dcdomain wrote:except the parrot logo up on top... come on Bill, find a higher quality image I can see dithering on that thing)

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&l ... tnG=Search

We are talking about the main site in general, not the forums...

I agree about the main site. Also, several pages that link from it don't render properly with some non MS IE browsers.

Oh, stoopid me. I missed the actual point of the question, sorry.

Yes, the actual site is errrr `different.'

i think there should be a forum for "help me buy a thinkpad" and perhaps sub forums (if there is such thing) for general video, ram, hd discussions...

i suppose that there is a certain infamy attached to thinkpads.com..
great name and OH SO disorganized..
i know its bad.. i know it needs a complete redesign..

and i suppose i will make such sometime..

i must say that some ideas presented earlier in this thread are good.. and i will try to incorporate one or two..

and further suggestions.. ?

OH!..
and it is NOT a parrott, it is a stylized toucan..
and it was handy..
i meant to use a thinkpad and i will, sooner or later..

Get a new stylized toucan then . Every time I see it I freak out because it looks like this notebook (my mom's) has tons of dead pixels covering the toucan.

OK, so ya don't like the bird, huh..!!!


heres a pic of my wife..!

WOW! You wish she was your wife. She is a real hotty. A good one Bill!

Edit: I hope your wife is not reading the forum...

Regards,
G-Man

Bill has excellent taste - aside from Thinkpads (obviously) as his wife is English (AND she's driven an UNO...) Who WOULDN'T buy a thinkpad from this man?

daaaaaaaamn that image is hot....but i bet you will hear some complaints from the ppl who dont like images (hell im on an OLD dell here at the lab and its slowing things down)

Hot picture Bill, but I preferred the toucan better. It was more of your signature sales mascot, sitting atop all those thinkpad boxes. On a more practical note, it will be harder for those of us at work to read and contribute to thinkpads.com forum since the image is not work-safe.

i put the bird back..

never thought of the blue laws and porn thing on business computers..

sorry guys..

i got/get so much complaining about the toucan i thought "THIS will make them stop"..
well, it did and didn't..

so the bird is back and i apologise to any who did NOT get a big laugh..

Sad you had to bow to pressure from what, I feel sure, is a minority. Sad too that people have so little sense of humour.

Well, I'm going to miss her. But the bird is nice too. It fits more to the style of this forum. Maybe we can find a nice bird anim too...

Regards,
G-Man

Glad to see that the Toucan is back I got a big laugh from the other picture, but it really doesn't fit with the character of ThinkPads.com.

The birds are notorious Bill. Some lunatic on AnandTech even claimed that his friends who purchased T30s from you a few years back found feathers in the open RAM slots...

It was fun while it lasted, but hey, that bird is unique. You can't beat it.

While I'm at it, it would be nice to somehow know (either by looking at the poster's signature, or clicking on his/her profile) what exact model they have....this would also help in diagnosing questions posted without having to first ask more about his/her system....

it was a joke..!
it was fun..
i'm still looking for a bird in a leather corset with stiletto heels..
i TRIED to get one to pose butt they don't like the hose..


and

they DO find a feather with many new thinkpads, but not inside the machine..
(unless these [censored] birds are getting out and into MORE trouble, when i'm not looking)..

so, there is now a new logo courtesy of erik..
thanks erik..

but beware of my rather off center (eccentric) sense of humor..

remember, bird feathers with a new thinkpad.. ?

so the logo might change from time to time, for a few hours at a time..

morrow wrote:so, there is now a new logo courtesy of erik..
thanks erik..

this should look a tad more professional, keep the office jobs of those with cubicles, and keep nonny's superfast 14.4 connection happy -- not to mention nonny herself.  

but, i will miss that animation though...  

-erik

This new logo is just perfect. Congratulations Bill and Erik. Is it a T40 or a R50? It looks a bit thick, so I think it's a R50. Probably Erik knows it.

Thanks guys,
G-Man

Great new logo - love the subtle screen!

By the way the screen must be a FlexView, since you can see the bird from this wide angle.

Regards,
G-Man

G-Man wrote:This new logo is just perfect. Congratulations Bill and Erik. Is it a T40 or a R50? It looks a bit thick, so I think it's a R50. Probably Erik knows it.

it's an R50, but only because it was the closest image to what i already had concocted in my head.   as soon as i get tired of looking at it then i'll send bill a new one to keep stuff fresh.   the next one may be an s30 since most don't know what one looks like.

G-Man wrote:By the way the screen must be a FlexView, since you can see the bird from this wide angle.

but if it's a 14" is it still flexview?   lol j/k

nonny wrote:Great new logo - love the subtle screen!

thanks!   i thought about you when i made it -- it's only 7k!!!  

-erik

>thanks!   i thought about you when i made it -- it's only 7k!!!   :P
>

LOL Thanks!

nonny is the resident house mother..