Ideas on the header banner and color theme

[caravel]

If I might point out, it's not purely about load times and bandwidth but rendering and general performance. I have found in particular that Firefox struggles with vBulletin 4.x, whereas v3.x is smooth. The problem is most apparent when scrolling. If you use chrome, opera or IE or your system is particularly high end you may not notice it.

I found this:

https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/show...=1#post1974926

Also note: vbulletin's own support forum has the rounded corners and shadows disabled and it's a lot smoother.

I use the default "vb4 default style" template when browsing the .org as the .org's TWS2 template is far too slow, due to the extra images, especially the background image - I believe it would be ok if shadows and rounded corners were turned off.

I would advocate removing some of the graphics (and rounded corners and shadows) and going for a lighter and cleaner default template.

£0.02

//edit: I've just noticed that rounded corners and drop shadows are off within the thread bodies, which makes a huge difference compared to the main index and forum indexes.

[TinCow]

If I might point out, it's not purely about load times and bandwidth but rendering and general performance. I have found in particular that Firefox struggles with vBulletin 4.x, whereas v3.x is smooth. The problem is most apparent when scrolling. If you use chrome, opera or IE or your system is particularly high end you may not notice it.

I only use Firefox and haven't experienced scrolling issues with the skin. What are your specs?

[caravel]

1) Intel(R) Celeron(R) D CPU 3.06GHz,, 1GB RAM, Nvidia 7300GT (my main system)

2) Athlon 64 X2 5200, 2GB RAM, Radeon HD 3650 PCI-e, Windows XP (my better half's computer)

3) Pentium Dual Core ~ 2.6GHz, 3GB RAM, intel graphics, Windows XP (work PC)

None of which are particularly "high end", I'll be the first to admit.

On all of these scrolling isn't smooth at the .org and other vbulletin 4.x forums when using Firefox. Scrolling is smooth as anything on vb 3.x and other types of forums.

Scrolling is much better and smoother on vb 4.x sites when using Opera or Chromium - which is my workaround.

As I said above there is a huge difference when scrolling within a thread as opposed to the main index as the rounded corners and shadows are turned off.

It's up to the .org admins if they want to do anything about it - I'm just trying to help. You shouldn't need a high end hex core gaming rig just to browse a forum. £0.02

[TinCow]

It's up to the .org admins if they want to do anything about it - I'm just trying to help. You shouldn't need a high end hex core gaming rig just to browse a forum. £0.02

I honestly don't see much of an issue. I've tested it with Firefox on a machine that has near identical specs to your #3 (including onboard VPU), and there's barely any scrolling difference between TWS2 and vB Default. The level of slowdown is so minimal I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been flipping back and forth testing it, and it's clearly due to the onboard VPU. If you are bothered by the same level of slowdown that I saw, then I suggest that you should try using one of the other skins. TWS2 works without any noticeable slowdown on pretty much everything else I have tried. It even browses smoothly on an iPad 2 and iPhone 2 (though I highly recommend using one of the mobile skins for all smartphones). I do not see a "huge" difference anywhere on the site. I'm not particularly keen on making TWS2 uglier to improve its speed by a small amount on lower end machines. We already have five other skins that have minimal graphics which can be used by anyone who experiences this issue.

[caravel]

You seem to misunderstand me - I'm talking about vbulletin 4.x vs vbulletin 3.x/vbulletin 4.x with rounded corners and shadows turned off. Not the difference between the vb default and TWS2.

The background image especially on TWS2 does cause some choppiness but the rounded corners and shadows are eating up more CPU cycles.

[TinCow]

We are aware of the issues with vB 4 and we gripe about some aspects of it regularly, but downgrading to vB 3 is definitely not an option.

[caravel]

Who said anything about downgrading to vb 3...?