Depends what exactly you need. What I gather is that you have a forum, and the members of the forum have their own profiles ala myspace or deviantart where they can post things in gallery.
It all depends how many features you want. A simple forum something like this one, with a member page that has a gallery, isn't all that big a deal. The more buttons and gizmos you want, the longer and harder it is. Like all things.
Interface design is more important than graphic design in these type and most other sites, the graphic design could be anything really, as long as it doesn't cloud the interface or clash with the object of the site... You wouldn't want to do... www.bungie.com for example. Nor would you want to have flowers and little girls all over a site dedicated to first person shooter clans.
The real kicker is how you would prefer to update a site like this. If you want the easy to update, hard to code, route. You could have a fully-featured admin system that lets you have all the control of some stand-alone forum package like Invision Power Board. But is that really all required? Are you going to want to re-arange the whole site and have all that extra control? Unlikely.
On the other hand, you might not want to have to touch code every time you need to make a slight change.
This is why I want you to e-mail me. Talk is free, planning is also free. Once I know what it is you want, I can better help you figure out what you need. If nothing else you can take it elsewhere and find what you require.
The big issue with all these opensource things, is they have so many un-needed features, that the interface becomes hazed. It is always better to have a custom-design. Specially when it will likely be cheaper than anything out there you can buy and retro-fit.
Tell me what your ideal site is. What your idea was in creating it. Why you think it should exist. And let me see what it currently looks like.
If you don't like my ideas, all you wasted was some time and words.
It all depends how many features you want. A simple forum something like this one, with a member page that has a gallery, isn't all that big a deal. The more buttons and gizmos you want, the longer and harder it is. Like all things.
Interface design is more important than graphic design in these type and most other sites, the graphic design could be anything really, as long as it doesn't cloud the interface or clash with the object of the site... You wouldn't want to do... www.bungie.com for example. Nor would you want to have flowers and little girls all over a site dedicated to first person shooter clans.
The real kicker is how you would prefer to update a site like this. If you want the easy to update, hard to code, route. You could have a fully-featured admin system that lets you have all the control of some stand-alone forum package like Invision Power Board. But is that really all required? Are you going to want to re-arange the whole site and have all that extra control? Unlikely.
On the other hand, you might not want to have to touch code every time you need to make a slight change.
This is why I want you to e-mail me. Talk is free, planning is also free. Once I know what it is you want, I can better help you figure out what you need. If nothing else you can take it elsewhere and find what you require.
The big issue with all these opensource things, is they have so many un-needed features, that the interface becomes hazed. It is always better to have a custom-design. Specially when it will likely be cheaper than anything out there you can buy and retro-fit.
Tell me what your ideal site is. What your idea was in creating it. Why you think it should exist. And let me see what it currently looks like.
If you don't like my ideas, all you wasted was some time and words.