Anybody notice the general look and feel of XOOPS have a reminiscent echo of an ancient era of oversized and safe plastic toys?

What I'm talking about is the big blocky menus. The entire page itself which with it's variable width comes off looking way too wide.

I've been designing web pages and while the core of XOOPS itself is very powerful many of the themes limit it's marketability.

Are there theme packs I could possibly buy which are meant to look professional and clean? While I can understand the reasoning behind XOOPS and their variable width aesthetically it is not the most pleasing.

FeraTechInc,

While I certainly agree that the layout of this site is outdated and in desperate need of a "freshening" (which, BTW, is underway), I cannot agree that a fixed-width theme is best for this site. Here's why.

If you do some research on modern web design trends, you will find that a large number of the predominate designers are going back to variable width layouts. The reason for this is flexibility. Fixed width layouts impose a tremendous limitation on the type and amount of content you can display on your site, while variable width layouts give you the flexibility needed to tailor your site for each user. The use of PHP and JavaScript can help the end-user's browser determine the best layout for the user.

Also, fixed width layouts do not lend themselves well to sites with a large amount of content. If you visit any one of the top 100 websites, you will find a dominate trend of variable width layouts. The reason for this is usability. Putting aesthetics aside for a moment, the #1 concern for designers is how usable is their design. It's not that difficult to make a "pretty" design, but it takes real talent to make a "pretty" design that is usable by as many people as possible.

Again, I'd like to emphasize that aesthetics are an important part of design; however, it is not the only aspect. If your users cannot *use* your site in a comfortable fashion, then most of your effort is in vein.

What the developers of this CMS are working on is not only the backend "logic" of the tool, but also the presentation. A great deal of effort is going into making the next version of XOOPS the leader in functionality, usability, customization, and flexibility. This is certainly no easy task, but IMHO, is well worth the wait.

Beside all of the above, XOOPS has a major advantage over most of the other CMS systems out there... The theme/template system is so easy to understand and customize that users who are only comfortable with traditional HTML/CSS can easily customize their sites to suit their needs and preferences.

HTH.

James

While I do agree the some variable width layouts can be very functional and aesthetically pleasing the layout of this site and in the Themes Library are in general very fisher-price-esque.