Reviews On New Community Site What do you think about the new forums?

[africa 0]

Hi folks,

I recently finished designing new forums (my second website) and would like you to tell me how you feel about them.

I will take any comments..positive or negative because i want it to be a real cool site.

The URL: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

I will be watching this thread very closely for your feedback!

Thank you.

Edited February 19, 2009 by africa (see edit history)

[brandonjbegle 0]

I personally think the site looks pretty great. the colors all seem to go together, the layout doesn't seem to look cluttered or anything like that. And also you have a great looking banner! i vote 9 out of 10I personally think the site looks pretty great. the colors all seem to go together, the layout doesn't seem to look cluttered or anything like that. And also you have a great looking banner! i vote 9 out of 10

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

I'll do a full review on this since:

1. I used to have a non-paid job on a forum reviewing other forums

2. I may be buying another/renewing a domain, and this post could really help me out!

 

What I liked

The portal is very nice! There is a lot of color in it, which makes it look great. Many people tend to overdo portals by adding and adding, but yours doesn't have too much or too little. Your banner is very well made! It has a great logo, and I love the flags at the top. The FavIcon is another great addition, and goes well with your theme.

 

What I didn't like

The forum looks great with the icons off to the side, but why did you stop and not add some for the last three forums? I think it would make the forum look more complete if you were to add three more.

I didn't see a "Who's Online" or Statistics Center, did you just disable these for guests?

The theme! I forgot the name of the theme you use (I use SMF), but if I remember correct it is default. Change the colors, and it will look a lot less "Default". Or if you don't know how to/can't change the colors, change the new posts/old posts icons to maybe the African continent, in a different color for new posts? It will further "Africanize" your forum.

The term "gayism" in Debates forum. The correct term is homosexuality

 

What I think could be improved

Rather then africahangout for the title of your index.php page, how about African Hangout? It would look much better capitalized.

As far as I can see, there isn't just a general chat board. I think this is the biggest thing you are missing, as usually this is where the most activity is in a forum.

 

I wish you good luck, as it looks like you spent a lot of time on your forum!

[africa 0]

I'll do a full review on this since:

1. I used to have a non-paid job on a forum reviewing other forums

2. I may be buying another/renewing a domain, and this post could really help me out!

 

What I liked

The portal is very nice! There is a lot of color in it, which makes it look great. Many people tend to overdo portals by adding and adding, but yours doesn't have too much or too little. Your banner is very well made! It has a great logo, and I love the flags at the top. The FavIcon is another great addition, and goes well with your theme.

 

What I didn't like

The forum looks great with the icons off to the side, but why did you stop and not add some for the last three forums? I think it would make the forum look more complete if you were to add three more.

I didn't see a "Who's Online" or Statistics Center, did you just disable these for guests?

The theme! I forgot the name of the theme you use (I use SMF), but if I remember correct it is default. Change the colors, and it will look a lot less "Default". Or if you don't know how to/can't change the colors, change the new posts/old posts icons to maybe the African continent, in a different color for new posts? It will further "Africanize" your forum.

The term "gayism" in Debates forum. The correct term is homosexuality wink.gif

 

What I think could be improved

Rather then africahangout for the title of your index.php page, how about African Hangout? It would look much better capitalized.

As far as I can see, there isn't just a general chat board. I think this is the biggest thing you are missing, as usually this is where the most activity is in a forum.

 

I wish you good luck, as it looks like you spent a lot of time on your forum!

Oh thanks a lot mate!

 

I will address your issues asap! that really helped me lots!

 

I have had a few problems with the activity that why I had disabled the acticty stats mod. I intend to enable it soon...

 

Thanks a lot. I am on the hunt for some good icons to use at the bottom there. I will also add a general chat section as it makes sense.

 

I tried modifying the template a little bit by changing some fonts, etc. The icons...i'll look for them and put something that has a bit more african thing into them!

 

Thanks for the valuable review: willielwgg

[rvalkass 5]

Good Points

 

The banner at the top looks excellent. You've got a clear and simple logo, and the flags work really well in the background like that. The design of the whole portal page is good. You've kept it clean and simple, so people can easily find the information they need, and the important stuff is all highlighted.

 

The gallery is a nice feature, and should attract people to your site. It will also mean you might show up in image searches as well as text searches in the search engines, which is always good for bringing in new people

 

Stuff to Work On

 

The banner at the top, when the screen is shrunk down in width, can get cut off on the right. That causes the box with "The community..." to disappear off to the right. For people with smaller monitors, or who don't maximise their browser, they might never see that text box, or only see the letters down the left hand side.

 

A similar problem occurs at high resolutions. The banner starts to repeat itself. On my screen resolution this looks odd, as it cuts off half way through the logo (getting the letters AH and half the globe).

 

These could be fixed by editing the banner to move the text box to the left, so that it fits on a smaller resolution. Then, rather than repeating the same logo, perhaps repeat just the background (the flags on the blue background colour) so that the logo doesn't get cut off.

 

I would also remove the --> from the Recent Topics section. The title of the topic being bold is enough to make it stand out, and the little --> doesn't seem to serve any purpose other than taking up space.

 

The logos for each forum section look good, but you're missing them for the last three sections. Try to find some logos that fit for those. If you can't then ask in the graphics section here at Xisto and I'm sure someone will take on the task of designing a couple of little icons for you.

[africa 0]

The logos for each forum section look good, but you're missing them for the last three sections. Try to find some logos that fit for those. If you can't then ask in the graphics section here at Xisto and I'm sure someone will take on the task of designing a couple of little icons for you.

Thanks...i am working on it. Been looking for the section where I can ask for graphics here at Xisto. Any help?

I've put some regular icons at the bottom before I get the ones that really fit the sections. Thanks a lot guys.

[rvalkass 5]

Thanks...i am working on it. Been looking for the section where I can ask for graphics here at Xisto. Any help?

The Graphics Questions and Requests section would be the best place for it

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

That is a great idea what you did, disabling the stats. When my forum was slow, I disabled the stats, and it helped a little. If guests see if there hasn't been much posting, they won't join. I think you will do well

[africa 0]

Thanks for the help guys.I wanted to edit the logo section so that it doesn't repeat the banner which some are saying is looking rather nasty...what resolution should i use or is most common for a fixed as opposed to fluid width?Right now I set it at 1000px, i don't know if thats the standard.

[TheDisturbedOne 1]

My forum is at 1016 pixels, I believe, and I haven't heard anything bad about that. The other 16 pixels are for padding.

[Ash-Bash 0]

Wow a nice forum, I find the homepage is very atractive and intresting to look at and also the logo is unique and fantastic! and nice work on choosing the icons on the catorgies.!

[africa 0]

Thanks a lot.I am currently working on customizing phpbb3 and it's always nice when i get a positive review!!Cheers

[Saint_Michael 3]

I would have to agree that the layout is nice, clean and organize, but I think now you should take it a step further and use colors that relate to the African culture, like black, yellow, red, green and white. Though it is a challange to make those colors work together correctly, it is possible to do it. My suggestion would be to have the text black, your content boxes either green or red, and try to incorporate the yellow with the rest of the colors with the banner itself. The same goes with the forum, since I assume you use some basic templates/default layouts and so it is time to give your site personality.Also work on social networking as well such as myspace, twitter, facebook, stuff like that to help connect to more people and of course give your site some free advertisement as well.

[k_nitin_r 8]

Hi!I really like the simplicity of the forum. I've always been a fan of phpBB due to its simplicity and the skin you've given to it is just amazing! The African map and the flags in the header build upon the theme.I've got just a couple of suggestions to make though. The icons that you've used for the forums are too large. Either use smaller icons or increase the size of the table. The footer of the pages is left-aligned and the lines are too far apart. You could compact them and have then centered. The message displayed to guest users is too long; perhaps you can display 2 sentences on separate lines.Regards,Nitin Reddy

[africa 0]

Thanks mate. I have been working on converting the current phpbb3 forum to smf. I have been getting feedback from some users that its not perfoming well in Internet Explorer.

I am going to work on what you said. I really appreciate your reviews.

I would have to agree that the layout is nice, clean and organize, but I think now you should take it a step further and use colors that relate to the African culture, like black, yellow, red, green and white. Though it is a challange to make those colors work together correctly, it is possible to do it. My suggestion would be to have the text black, your content boxes either green or red, and try to incorporate the yellow with the rest of the colors with the banner itself. The same goes with the forum, since I assume you use some basic templates/default layouts and so it is time to give your site personality.
Also work on social networking as well such as myspace, twitter, facebook, stuff like that to help connect to more people and of course give your site some free advertisement as well.

You are indeed correct in your review saint michael. Its something thats been on my mind for sometime now. I hope to find someone who can desing such a lovely layout either for phpbb3 or SMF. I am still searching for the right one and i am sure soon I am going to find something that will fit the African theme.

Thanks a lot people.