Front page real estate & organisation

[BJ Bignell]

Jorge,

I know that it's hard to organise all the different aspects of this site, but I feel that the front page does not give enough space to the recent posts. There are 15 recent posts, but this is overshadowed by the space for the news, random photos, the classifieds, the site statistics, and all of the sponsor links, etc. My opinion is that the front page is just too busy.

I have a couple of questions/requests:
1) Yesterday, I noticed that for a short time the front page was re-organised to have the classifieds on the right, and a higher number of recent posts were listed. I thought that was a really nice improvement. Where did it go?

2) Is it possible for each user to define the layout of the front page? For example, I don't find the news section very 'newsy', and would like to put it at the bottom (or not on the page). Can each user have an option for their view, or is it beyond the features of the site software?

3) Is it possible to have the state of collapsible sections saved in our cookies? I like the random photos, but generally don't need/want to see the classifieds. If I collapse this section, this state is not saved when I return to the page, even within the same session.

4) Not particularly related to organisation, but: Is it possible to have a different scheme, something user-selectable? I find that the current black/gray is low contrast and I would sometimes prefer something that's a little easier to read. I don't want to have 25 color schemes to pick from (but if you add something pink, I'll use it), just an alternative.

Just a little food for thought.

Thanks,
BJ

[RML]

I agree with the news section. I hardly ever use it. Besides, most of the time, first thing I do is click "more" at the bottom of the threads to go to the threads anyway.
The random gallery photos is nice but I hardly pay attention to the classifieds, going there myself if I'm looking for something.

Just my way of surfing this forum.

[chenick]

I quite like the way it is now, it is a nice balance between competing areas. (change for change's sake is unnecessary)

Not sure about Classifieds or News, maybe the 2 news stories could be made a sticky thread in the Threads area, this would free up some space. Also I'm not sure how long ads stay up, they don't seeem to vary much.

Cheers,
Nick

[Pherdinand]

The News section is a little bit pointless. Two thrteads on the same subject, one is old and the other one is ancient!
I also click on "More" every time.

The rest is fine, in my oppinion, but i'm open for any changes.

[Benjamin Marks]

If we're putting in two cents, for my part I look first at the users' threads. That's what keeps me coming back, is the give and take and the community which is thereby created. Everything else is a bonus, IMHO.

[jano]

Originally Posted by BJ Bignell

4) Not particularly related to organisation, but: Is it possible to have a different scheme, something user-selectable? I find that the current black/gray is low contrast and I would sometimes prefer something that's a little easier to read. I don't want to have 25 color schemes to pick from (but if you add something pink, I'll use it), just an alternative.

Most of these website php forum things allow for user override through CSS. It's one of the first things they teach html coders how to do on many online web tutorials -- however, I have no idea how to do this on a user level I think some browsers such as firefox and opera may have plugins or extensions or menus to help out.