I am working on a complete new site design.

The idea is to combine the forum with a new frontend. I have done this before with the same frontend, but different forum software.

The frontend software has really matured and is probably one of the best things out there for a content management system for a website.

The first stage will be to get the frontend layout complete and then migrate it to YardLimits.com and bridge it to the forum so they share the user database. I will also be working on customizing the layout style of the forum to match the new front end.

After that framework is in place (frontend with matching bridged forum), I will try and integrate a social networking componant I have purchased into the CMS. Once I do that, I will disable some of the old forum add-ons (blog, photo gallery, etc) that are already in the new social network componant to eliminate redundancy.

The time frame on this will be 1 to 2 months (I hope).

As I get the frontend fine tuned on the test site, I plan on letting all the forum members watch the progress on the test site along with putting up the donation bar. This way they can follow along with the progress and see just what their donations will be helping build. Any donations will go towards the purchase of custom build componants, commercial add-ons, and hired professional design/intergration help.

You can view the progress right now on the test site - Welcome to the Frontpage

I have basic working layout of the frontend functional and am changing the template to fit our needs - ie changing it from a demo music site to a rail labor site.

Please give me your feedback on the basic look of the design. Don't pay attention to the content as that will all change.