Eyestorm is the online studio of David Wranovics, freelance web developer, owner and operator of the forum skin retail stores, ForumMonkeys and vBmode, founder of the original, now umbrella parent company, NetAtom COM. David supplements his larger projects with development partners he has met over the decade he has spent in web development.
Please note: though the final product is attractive, tested, and validated, EyeStorm has no control over what clients do after releasing the files. Personally speaking, I have seen clients make changes that, solely in my opinion, completely ruin their website. If you see something atrocious, please ask to see the original to ensure it was not EyeStorm that committed the atrocity. Where possible, the original can be seen by clicking its thumbnail.
The Christian Chat Network began as a radio program, which branched out to become a popular chat network, which in turn grew to become what it is today, a giant social network of Christians of all walks of ages. When we were approached, CCNet had everything: great members, fantastic features, and more; the only thing they were lacking was a design that brought it all together. EyeStorm provided that design, and created some unique functionality as well. We're utterly proud of the results and how the owner, Brian, consistantly continues to make CCNet even better.
UCT, Inc. approached us looking for a custom look for their scientific community that used the look of the main site as its blueprint. We adhered closely to their unique style, their brand, and the result was a forum rich in both science and aesthetics.
I was intensely honored when Paul from the NFL Team, The New York Jets, approached EyeStorm to launch a community they had been planning for quite some time. There were several key and non-negotiable objectives. One, the transition from their homepage to the forums needed to appear seamless. Another was that the GUI needed to scream "Fans", "The Jets", and "Official" above all else. Though a major brand, they were not without competition. There were several long-established fan communities and if the Jets wanted to win those fans back to their happy home, in addition to those core objectives, the design had to simply blow them away. With a little creative CSS, we delivered a valid, fast-loading, browser-tested forum that we hope the Jets' awesome fans will enjoy.
Kyle from ModMyi was our most challenging client, and there were days I thought this project would never come to fruitition, but we plowed through and the end result was no less than fantastic, a statement shared by Kyle and his entire community of Apple fans. My team and I did a heck of a lot here, so rather than blather on I'll just list them: logo (quick placeholder until they drafted their own), index, forumdisplay, postbit, and vBAdvanced (portal) forum mockups, and some really insane CSS and vBulletin customization. You'd have to see it to get the full sense of the scope of this project! The end result was valid xHTML and tested in about 11 big player browsers.
I made a custom forum design for Hans of ReptilFreaks (below); he had such positive results, he came back to get another custom forum design for his other baby, AquaFreaks. Highlights include a delicious tropical fish logo, submerged forums with light flares through the water, and trendy mouseovers. The framework being heavy on graphics, we went light on the actual forums to balance it out.
As a popular Windows Vista community and resource site, Mike of WinVistaForums needed a look that trumped his competitors. I drew most of the inspiration of this design from the Vista operating system. I coded in a right column and dog-eared other places in the templates for monetization, something WinVistaForums lacked.
Dr. Philips hired us for a tooth to nail website. This site has all the bells and whistles: Flash and PHP integrated navigation and introduction, PHP mini-content system for SEO and keyword targetting, javascript accents for some dynamic content, intuitive and aesthetic interface, and content galore -- most of which was written and researched on behalf of the busy doctor.
ReptilFreaks is a large Scandinavian website for reptile afficienados. Hans wanted to bring his community into the new year with style. This skin has some real eye popping graphics, but we kept the Photoshopping light and devoted that time more into advanced CSS styling and highlights. The result was a fast and light but no less aesthetic forum skin, perfectly branded and modern!
JaguarPC is a dynamic hosting company that was in the process of taking its interface to a new level. Another web development firm was working on their site but they had no one with experience with vBulletin, thus EyeStorm's role. We extracted the graphics and CSS from the header and footer and provided a custom design for the actual vBulletin skin, including an utterly unique and gorgeous postbit. There were some lightweight PHP plugins made as well.
StockTradingToGo had a tight budget, but wanted to get their forums to seem like a seamless transition from their main website. I extracted the base XHTML and CSS, wrapped the forums around them, customized the colors, and put down some buttons and icons from some premade ForumMonkeys skins. You'd never guess the entire forum design put only about three hours on the clock.
Cher, the owner of ProPhotoGS, was looking for an eye gaungingly beautiful look for their landing page and also wanted it grundged out. I then coded it in compliant XHTML with some light PHP and Javascript stuff, at which point her new webmaster came on board and opted to finish things up at about the 95% mark.
CodeWorks is a Romanian software company. Their slogan "Software feels good" needed to be imprinted on their new design, which consisted of four pages, a logo, tableless XHTML and CSS. I used red against blue with serif fonts to pop out key text and some light PHP to do some easy CSS switching on certain pages.
This was a fairly large project so I brought in a small team for this one. Broward Forums is a social forum for Broward, Florida. The final product was fun, bright, but professional, the perfect backdrop for the positive act of seeking new friends in your area. The base code was tableless XHTML and CSS, validated and tested in four major browsers.
The Natural Path started as a home based vitamin business in the mid 80s and has grown since. They were ready to take the leap online and needed a complete ecommerce solution. The final product was a heavily modified and heavily "skinned" X-Cart system with a quasi-web2 look. Launch is expected once all the products have been entered. I will be assisting with final testing and setting up the payment gateway then The Natural Path will be ready for your orders!
TrickSession was using the default vBulletin style and wanted something that matched their standard look. I extracted the images and CSS and implanted them into vBulletin and then put down a custom look for them for the actual forums.
Eric runs ABA DSS, a large free to air satellite forum, and contracted EyeStorm to fix a few XHTML bugs. I have since done other light work for ABA DSS, such as manually updating their outdated forum templates.
I built the website for the Virginia Chiropractic and Natural Health Center with warm colors and imagery and tableless XHTML. Dr. Clark's budget allowed us to put a lot of extra time into planning, creating a nice balance between keyword placement and density, ease of use, and flow. I am very proud of the finished product. Dr. Clark also enjoys first page ranking in Google for her main keywords.
I was provided a design mock up and used that to build this custom forum skin. EyeStorm cannot take credit for the design, but we did code a 100% W3C compliant XHTML forum skin for vBulletin bug tested in IE6, IE7, and FireFox. Wes from IDidIt Club was what you could accurately call a dream client. His quick and clear communication made this project a real snap, much to the delight of all parties. A few more graphic customizations from Wes and a little TLC and this has the makings of a great community.
Shane at PowerBoatParty is a technical individual with limited time and only passing familiarity with vBulletin, so he contracted EyeStorm to get the ball rolling with his new community. I coded in a column, added some forum hacks, created some custom up-selling functionality, assisted setting up the subscription back end, configured the banner system (another hack found on Vbulletin.org), plugged in a header he had another design firm do before he found me, and did some minor template edits. Shane certainly made working with and for him easy. I have secret desires to "pimp his forum" but I'll leave that up to him!
AboutLancaster wanted their forums to match their main website, which was developed by another group. They favored flat, tabular design elements with vibrant colors and wanted exactly the same for their community. Custom graphics were minor, the most significant being a fully vector icon representing Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Custom coding was also relatively minor, the most significant being a fully populated sidebar.
John, the same owner of AboutLancaster, hired EyeStorm to put down some minor customizations to another forum in his portfolio, as well as installing some plugins for additional functionality. John's concise direction made this a quick, easy, and painless project.
The client wanted a fun, cartoon atmosphere where members can "complain, vent, debate" in a positive environment. Commercial scripts and custom coding made this an enjoyable and interactive website where membership is continually growing.
The chief goal in creating this website was creating a fun community and making providing the same profitable by selling bundled services and displaying advertising. Value needed to be added to entice members to become Premium Members and was accomplished by offering free email services , Bash Grams (electronic postcards), and advertisement free browsing. Attractive banners were created for advertising campaigns.
I was supplied with Art Quotient's master .psd of their existing design and a flowchart; from there, I extracted what images and content were required and put everything together into web format (html4, dhtml, and php), adhering to W3C compliance and cross-browser functionality.
Although entirely pro bono, we did not hold anything back on The Institute for Truth, a side project for the Baptist Pastor, Dr. Warren Grant. The site is clean and vibrant, a perfect platform for showcasing Pastor Grant's numerous publications and other Christian written works.
Technology meets dentistry theme with interactive elements. Dr. Chillura's office uses technology to its greatest advantage to offer his patients the highest level of health, convenience and comfort. He wanted a website that would convey that dedication.
We needed to provide a clean and up-to-date design that looked better than anything else out there and communictaed Dr. Chillura's services and professionalism. Futhermore, every page had to be optimized for high rankings in the most popular search engines. An advertising and link building campaign have won the office many new clients who found them on the web.