New and moved banners

[Stuart Wright]

Couple of important things relating to taking the forums forward.
Firstly the flash banners we place at the top of specific forums 'interfered' with the drop-down navigation menu. This is an unsolvable technical issue which means the drop-downs are obscured by the flash banners. The only solution I have is to move the banners above the navigation menu. The upside is that everyone can see the drop-down menus now. The downside is that the banners are a bit too high for my liking and close to the very top banners. But life is about compromise.
The other issue is the addition of the skyscraper banners on the right.
They may be an issue for people with narrow displays, but believe me they are necessary. I'm hoping that an advertising executive will be joining us shortly to present the forums to new advertisers. They will expect us to be able to serve skyscrapers and doing so will ensure the continued future of the forums.
Hopefully we will have the support of forum members through these changes. And if you don't like them, before you complain, please look at the presentation of www.hometheaterforum.com.

[eviljohn2]

Originally Posted by Stuart Wright

The other issue is the addition of the skyscraper banners on the right.
They may be an issue for people with narrow displays, but believe me they are necessary.

I appreciate the requirement for them but they do indeed make the forums look fugly on my 14" 800x600 display. n:

[Steve.J.Davies]

firefox + adblock = no banners

[eviljohn2]

Originally Posted by Steve.J.Davies

firefox + adblock = no banners

I wouldn't say that if I were you.

[hornydragon]

hmm AD block = no ads = no server = no forum.................the ads arent obtrusive are not pop up and are pretty well targeted. Its your choice but you need consider the implications

[Stuart Wright]

Originally Posted by Steve.J.Davies

firefox + adblock = no banners

Right ho, let's revisit the adblocking = forum blocking with some anti-leech software...

[JohnG]

I run Firefox at 1024x768 and you do get used to them after a while, it's a far better solution than those sites where you get them coming up in the middle of pages.

[dolph]

Stuart - is there any way of only turning on the skyscraper ads once a thread has reached two or three posts?

Just looks a bit silly otherwise and you lose the quick reply box off the bottom of the screen when viewing the first post.

Petty I know but would just be aesthetically better.

Example:

[mattym]

i find the ads something that you get used too, though i think the sidebar add in the photography section coupled with the no img tags makes it feel like you dont really want a photo section at all!

Adverts are a necessary evil, both for the users of the forums and the managers of them, the trick is to make them fit in, i think Stuart has done a very reasonable job on this, just look at the link he put up, car-crash advertising! advertisers wont get seen/taken notice of on that kind of thing.

[Stuart Wright]

Sidebar ads now only appear in the post view screen when there is at least 1 reply, so it should now look better.
And images are now allowed in the digital photography forum.

[mattym]

Originally Posted by Stuart Wright

Sidebar ads now only appear in the post view screen when there is at least 1 reply, so it should now look better.
And images are now allowed in the digital photography forum.

excellent.

thanks Stuart!

now all you need is a beer chugging icon

[dolph]

Originally Posted by Stuart Wright

Sidebar ads now only appear in the post view screen when there is at least 1 reply, so it should now look better.
And images are now allowed in the digital photography forum.

WOW - that was quick....

Thanks.

[kelvin]

Originally Posted by mattym

now all you need is a beer chugging icon

We already have this one:

[Stuart Wright]

Originally Posted by eviljohn2

I appreciate the requirement for them but they do indeed make the forums look fugly on my 14" 800x600 display. n:

Can't you afford £100 for a 19" monitor?!

[eviljohn2]

Originally Posted by Stuart Wright

Can't you afford £100 for a 19" monitor?!

Not really, nor do I have the space for one. I'd rather spend the money on CDs to be honest since I only use my computer for browsing, word processing, programming and spreadsheets.