I've bought addons and got mostly free themes, but I have never really hired someone in particular. Then again my communities didn't have anything that couldn't be filled by the options already available. How about you guys? Have you guys spent money to get an exclusive theme or have someone code a plugin so it does exactly what you need?
If so, what made you decide to do that?
I also would like to hear how well did it work and how did you guys decided who to hire.
In the past I've spent (alongside my partner) to get something particulary bespoke for our forum made. We had an add-on and a theme made for us and to be honest, I'm not sure there was a particular reason for us wanting the theme to be completely custom other than "why not?". I guess we were just fledgling young webmasters wanting to look cool lol.
For the add-on, we got that made in particular though because we wanted to execute a certain function within the forum for the members and nothing out there did what we wanted how we wanted.
Personally I would pay for a style designer if I used some of their themes in the past but creating your own theme on certain platforms (not all) can be easier than you think. At least on Xenforo 2 it's very easy in my opinion. That's really only if you know CSS. If you don't know CSS then it's not going to work out too well. I've created themes on Xenforo 2 and it wasn't hard at all with my CSS capabilities.
Anyways some theme designers are worth the $400-500 bucks you'd be shipping out for a custom theme. Some of them do fantastic work and is well worth the money. Just have to know which ones your choosing. Also it's good to get custom add-ons made too if you know the developer can keep them updated. Or even that is more difficult to do on your own but still not out of the realm of possibility
https://www.mindpiff.com - Mind Piff Discussion Community
If there is a style or addon i cold modify to my needs i will invest into it or last result would be i would code my own or get my designers or someone who has the knowledge or know how to design to do that image work for me, when it comes to code im pretty much self sufficient to get the right features i need.
But again if i want the feature set quickly and an addon is available i would support the developer and may contribute to them if i can improve the addon in the future in some way to help others who need the same improvements.
I've yet to pay for an exclusive theme or add-on, but I do buy themes and add-ons that are on general sale. I tend to modify and adapt them, to try and offer something different on my website. I'm pretty good at sharing my ideas and/or code though.. 😀
I've had a couple of quotes for add-ons I'd like to be made, and thought they were extortionate! I usually ask for a second quote to fund the development with the caveat that they could release it afterward, and that tends to be much more reasonable. I've yet to actually go ahead with a project though, since there's usually an existing add-on that I can modify for my needs.
Nerdface
I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
I have paid for my own themes before from Pixel Exit, its a good service but I don't feel like their customize skins come out to be the price they charge for.
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I have paid for my own themes before from Pixel Exit, its a good service but I don't feel like their customize skins come out to be the price they charge for.
That's always been my issue with designers really. Fairly few seem to actually stand up to what they say and produce something that's awesome and unique. Those I've worked with in the past just seem to take a template - or a site they've already done in the past - throw a few new bits on it and have the cheek to tell me it's custom. I stopped my organisation from getting charged £2000 for an edit like this before, although the web company providing it wasn't too pleased. : - )
I have paid for my own themes before from Pixel Exit, its a good service but I don't feel like their customize skins come out to be the price they charge for.
That's always been my issue with designers really. Fairly few seem to actually stand up to what they say and produce something that's awesome and unique. Those I've worked with in the past just seem to take a template - or a site they've already done in the past - throw a few new bits on it and have the cheek to tell me it's custom. I stopped my organisation from getting charged £2000 for an edit like this before, although the web company providing it wasn't too pleased. : - )
i can imagine. I could get a really good custom though if I could somehow think of something good I could explain.
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