Theming of this site

Here's a link to mockup from Crystal

Some detail questions:

Shall we base this off an existing theme like "Zen"? Here is a recent Zen-based Drupal site: http://toriamos.com (what do you like/dislike about it?)
Which of the usual suspects should we employ besides the primary menu indicated on the mockup? Secondary menu, footer, search box, login form, link to regster, breadcrumb path, mission, slogon, etc?
Which graphic elements should we replace from Zen? Logo, favicon, info and error icons, user icons, etc?
Which regions do we need? Zen has left and right sidebars, content, content_top, content_bottom, header and footer.
Shall we use a single image or a rotating collection from Flickr?

Also...

How do we wish to theme profiles?
How about a page for LA Web/Geek community? (I have LAGeek.org)

not quite two cents

On August 9th, 2007 mike stewart says:

I like the basic idea, it seems like a rough draft,, and there's "nothing wrong" with that. Assuming the mockup is just that, here's my first impression. I'm being super critical,, i think information/functionality is primary, look is secondary,,, and from that standpoint, let it ride. otherwise... feedback:

color scheme a little busy feeling... makes it feel blocky - not enough contrast. i don;tlike aqua/cyan, but that's a personal taste thing. :-P
primary navigation wastes screen real-estate - most of "us techie" people on the site will find it easy enough to find ""main sections"", and many might be using pda/cell phone to read - so real estate / element order of prime importance.
primary navigation ""bullet"" would be easier if list was indented and bullet appears when highlighted... imagine this is only due to mockup, tho

any of this make sense? hope I'm not too critical.

fwiw, some cool links worth sharing for other designers

WellStyled is a great web based tool for color.
Also, a neat link for natural color combinations.

ps. - most of mediawiki syntax not working on ladrupal.org - what's wrong with simple HTML markup like drupal.org for posts? prob not the right place for this comment... but if Im missing something please share, can't get ""bold"" or "italics" to work according to syntax.

I prefer less cool and

On August 1st, 2007 highermath says:

I prefer less cool and easier to read. If we were selling something, cooler and harder to read might be okay, but, presuming that this site is informational, I think that it should strike a balance between cool and usable.

I like the mockup, very

On July 29th, 2007 thund3rbox says:

I like the mockup, very cool. Seems like Zen is the way to go these days: a good starting point. I would hope you wouldn't need any more regions than that, IF that many at all, but you never know. Easy to add new ones in via template.php.

How would you do the fickr rotation? I like that idea....

Totally off topic, how in the WORLD does the Tori site get away with banner and google ads?!? If we tried that on our sites, we'd be crucified. I'm guessing it's a Sony/BMG policy or something.

Yes - we need ads!!

On August 1st, 2007 gusaus says:

We need annoying ads like the Sony sites!! Actually was discussing that w/ Jeff (Lullabot) in the irc today. Yeah, its a Sony/BMG policy.

I like the direction of the theme (except for that shifty looking 'featured member') - its clean, yet looks nice. LA drupal 'should' be a showcase in addition to a repository for information. Plus we're in Hollywood - looks are important!