As many of you know, this is the fifth design iteration of this site, not to mention the 14th design candidate for just this iteration. Each iteration has two overall objectives: a new, fresh appearance, and compelling new functionality. New iterations happen about every year; traditionally, they're implemented on January 1st.

So, it's no surprise that we (the moderator team and I) are thinking about the next design iteration, naturally called WDF v6 as this is WDF v5. However, that is where the similarities end. We're striving to completely depart from the paradigm a forum introduces, and turn this site into more than just a discussion area for all things web design.

Don't get me wrong: we're not aiming to change at WDF is at its core: discussions between web designers is still going to be the target, and always will be...or the domain will be useless! But we're going to extend that with many exciting new features. When I say exciting, I'm not trying to use marketing-speak: I genuinely hope to turn WDF into something that is literally completely different from any other site in this field.

We do have some big ideas, and unfortunately, we're going to break tradition and not share what they are. However, we are going to keep with tradition in another area: seeing what you, the members, want. Everything and anything goes. Don't worry if it's complex, seems outside the scope of the forum, or you think nobody else will want such a feature. Let us know.

• Obviously, there'll be a new appearance for the site. Suggestions?
• Are you pleased with the power of the site now? Do you want certain features enhanced, removed, replaced...?
• Do you think the use of vBulletin (the software powering the forums) are limiting WDF's potential, and would you recommend that we either switch to another product or write our own entirely?
• In generally using WDF, what's the one feature that you wished you could have?

It's probably clear by now that this is no design change like most of the WDF versions have been, but instead, a whole new approach to discussing web design issues and learning about web design. That also means you shouldn't expect to see anything by January 1st, 2007; 2008 is possible. That's how in-depth this will be.

Any and all ideas are welcome. Please reply to this thread with whatever you are thinking.

I like WDF as it is, though the current design with the earth feels a bit tired, perhaps i have just seen it one too many times.

Anyway, loading the first page always seems to take a while, while the rest of the forum has good load times. Does anyone else come across this?

1 change i would like to see is a better implementation of the tutorial forums. Perhaps when tutorials are submitted they could be published as a web page instead of a forum post. I feel that the current method in which the tutorials are set up limit's their use. I can't explain it that well, i just think they would be better and used more frequently if there was a tutorial section of the site instead of just a forum.

Its the same with site of the month, both these forums seem a bit squashed or stuck in a hole... basically i feel that these would thrive if they were redesigned and a bigger part of the website was dedicated to them.

Thats all i can think of right now

One thing I would love to see is better support for mobile devices. Right now you can view WDF on a smartphone as text only, but does not give you the option to post new topics! I find that a little strange. I use WDF on my mobile device often and always have to view the page in its entirety which means downloading the graphics, and taking a lot of time.

As far as the design goes I'm not big on the Earth either. Being a forums site, I think that it needs more of a cleaner look.

I would like to see a <New Threads> button as well as the current <New Posts> button.

These are good suggestions, but keep in mind we're trying to think high-level. Fixing small issues (or larger issues as you may see them) in the current design is still good feedback that can be applied towards WDF v6, but we're thinking more along the lines of how you'd interact with whatever features you'd like to see, not how to tweak current ones.

I've got an idea.

WDF look like EVERY other forums site. Which is fine because you instinctively know how to browse it, but lacks originality.

What would be really cool is to have a customizable home page obviously for members only. For example, when you log on there would be several fields that you could choose to have displayed or not. This would run along side of something like microsoft sharepoint. I hope most people know what that is... because its amazing!!

In this customizable home page, you can choose to show fields like, online friends, topics that you replied to or started, certain boards that you monitor, a featured topic of the day. There could also be a field that would display a WDF calendar.

Maybe you could even have a field that can be like a bookmark that would use an xml document to keep track or your favorite posts. That would kind of work like the bookmark section of Firefox. This way when you come across an interesting article or post you can store it and reference it whenever you need. I rely heavily on bookmarks and have hundreds of them saved. It's how I got a job as a web designer

Lastly, there could be customizable themes that you could use. People love that! I know I do! Maybe going a step further there could even be an option to make your own theme. After all, isn't that what all vBulletins are basically?

I think this would move WDF towards being very original and would give the site personality.

I like it.

Ditto.

Me three!

you made an intresting point in saying vBulletin powers this forum. I would say that rewriting it however difficult might be an idea to add full flexability to the forum. you wanted to add additonal features try adding scripts to the site that users can comment on and edit (i myself was working on such a system and would love to chip in on such a development). I personally however like the forum and hope it continues to operate

pyrodragon,
what you are refering to is some sort of repository where users can post bits of code that others can comment on, and even make changes themselves?

And no worries about the future of WDF, we have a good team in the background and strong membership, things are only going to get better.

yes for example i post a script that allows users to use an alert (i know it is simple but it is an example so here is the script
now another user comes along and says that is would be better as a function to be invoked at will by the designer and also says that alert would be better displayed as a variable.

this new version as well as the old one should be available to the user.

What an intruiging idea. And that's not a subtle hint.

Still accepting comments.

If you need ideas, consider these hypothetical features:

• More advanced formatting in posts (line numbers for code blocks, additional coloring schemes for languages other than just HTML and PHP, etc.)
• Your own WDF-hosted blog
• Threads that can belong to any number of categories instead of one single forum (consider how Gmail works)
• Improvements or refinements to the How's My Site forum
• A threaded discussions system where replies have their own replies, rather than threads with all posts on one linear level

I think blogs would be cool.

One suggestion I have for the "How's My Site" area is to have separate rating areas for style and accessibilty. That way people who post their sites get a better idea of what needs improvement.

I have seen blogs attached to forums and haven't been to impressed, while they sound like a great idea unless people get subdomains and full blogging features it really is pointless. The users forum blog becomes a watered down version of a proper blog..

A much better blogging idea would be to link WDF to users existing blogs. Perhaps via RSS or something. When a user makes a blog entry it can be accessed through their profile. Furthermore you could have a WDF/blog which shows the latest, most useful (rated by users) and most popular entries(views).

You could also use wordpress tags to sort them into categories like technical, web design, personal. I don't know how this would work with similar blogging systems like blogger but its an idea.

As for the code tags, line numbers would be awesome. Especially when it comes to determining errors.

I like the script idea above. I think that would be excellent.

Yes, please. And also make CSS an option so it's not just [code]

I agree with Perad, it would have to be better than what's already out there

That's a good idea.

Remove the "I will visit again" or append it with something on the lines of, "If I were in the target audience..." Or, allow the user to define what gets ranked. If it's in the design phase, colors, fonts & layout are more important than how quickly it loads.

Sure. I don't tend to see many threads that get that deep though.

And for something completely different... what about an internal IM, so if someone is online, you can contact them for more info and 1-on-1 suggestions.

I think the problem with IMs is that it defeats the public part of the site. Private help doesn't help the community as a whole. IMs can just be left to standard IMs...

Although a WDF Jabber server would be interesting lol.

What sort of "advanced" features for user blogs would you be thinking about? A subdomain (more likely, a top-level directory, for technical reasons) isn't entirely out of the question.

BTW, this is the official logo we're using. It's already assigned to some collaborative software we're trying out. I think it'll be great for WDF v6 without a single change.

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Some things you just aren't supposed to joke about... You got me on the brink of a stroke with that!

..................this is a joke, right?

It took me a long time to make that. No need to hurt my feelings.

Im sorry. That was merely a botched joke.. aimed.... at... not you...

What exactly do you mean by making CSS an option? For what?

I think he DCScene means that when posting some CSS, instead of wrapping it in [ code ] [/ code ] tags, you would wrap it in [css] [/css].

I like the codebank idea, posting new versions of code etc..