All credit goes to Shock Theta. I just recolored it, made new images, and did a new banner. Thoughts?
That's pretty much how everything has to stay, I can only change the color of everything else. --- Oh, and I can redo the buttons.
I think you should have put brobox to annoy people Meanwhile, im fond of the white and orange because its so unique, i think possibly adding the ability to choose your color scheme might be worth thinking about instead of twelve different skins honestly. I love black and blue, but black is too dark for a background.
I didn't know FH had a mobile skin... whenever I browse FH on my phone it is the same as when I browse FH from my computer... CnC: I think that the buttons should be much larger, because when using a mobile phone to browse the internet, small buttons and links are problematic. Also, I think that each item being a solid color makes everything look a bit plain... is it possible to have gradients instead of solid colors? Having 1px wide gradients would allow for very fast load times (especially if they are compressed) while still giving a more finished look to the site.
Switch to the dark skin; even it only has a medium grey because too much black is disorienting, and visually distracting. Neutral colors sooth our eyes, bright colors awaken our eyes, and very dark colors attract our eyes. Too much black causes a lot of strain on the eyes, as does too much white. Choose any color that isnt extreme, and it should be fine.
I put forward a similar point when Shock was making the original mobile skin. If I remember correctly, he put forward the valid counterpoint that larger buttons etc. take up more space (vertical space being particularly important when, say, browsing in landscape on an iPhone/iPod) on screen. Having to scroll down to see pretty much anything other than the top banner/top buttons is a downside of having bigger buttons. Notice that the buttons are spread out though, as on the current mobile skin. Shock originally had them tight up against one another in the middle, but spaced them outward since a smaller isolated button is pretty much as good as a bigger button, as long as there is nothing clickable around it then it's easy enough to hit on a touchscreen. Personally I like the simplicity of block colours. On the small screens of mobile devices (bar iPads obviously), I prefer really simple layouts so it looks less busy. I only say this because looking at this mock up, or an image of the current mobile skin, on my Mac monitor, I'd probably agree with you. But when using the mobile skin on my iPhone I prefer it with the current simple, block colours style. However, this is obviously a point of opinion and valid CnC, and tbh you could argue that, as this is (unless I'm mistaken) being put forward as a possible alternative alongside the current mobile skin, it'd be worth including some more variation in line with differing aesthetic preference compared to Shock's skin. OP: I like the colour scheme and the general look of it, I'd definitely consider using it. As for CnC, I personally think the text on the top buttons could do with being a tad smaller, the way the 'Forum' text comes really close to the left and right edges of that button looks a little odd imo. Also the 'CP' button should probably say either UCP or UserCP like the current skin, just for clarity's sake. Alternatively, you could just make the buttons a couple of px wider on each side, as I said above extending them vertically is what you should avoid, making them a bit wider probably wouldn't hurt (apologies @ Kratos if this is what you meant when you said bigger buttons). I like the banner, simple and attractive, though the point where the E of Forge and H of Hub meet looks a little awkward imo, they overlap slightly and the H seems offset slightly upwards. But overall it looks good, imo you've definitely got the right idea of how to approach a mobile skin.
Yeah, I'll work on the button sizes and try one or two different color schemes before I push for it to be an actual skin. And i didn't notice all the little mistakes (like the letters not lining up like I thought I put them ) before I posted it, but tbh, that's what posting beta things is for lol.
I completely agree with your opinion that many sites can appear too cluttered on small devices, but I think that very subtle gradients could really add visual appeal without being too distracting. When I was mentioning the buttons being larger, I was sort of thinking that it would be helpful if they were both wider and slightly taller. I understand that the vertical space is a concern, but on my phone I have to scroll a lot anyway (I am sure that the iPhone is simmilar), so I would almost prefer easier to use buttons (my phone can be very tricky to use when trying to click links) and have to scroll a few more pixels down. @OP: How much customization can be done with regards to the layout of the site? I have recently been playing around with a mobile version of a website (using YouTube - Dreamweaver CS5 HTML 5 Pack as inspiration), and it would be cool if a similar technique could work here... In the video, the Adobe engineer uses the CSS to hide elements of the page and organize the information specifically for phones... Os that a possibility for this project?