Duckapple- My 'new' Website. Ho ho ho.

[DodgyPhil 1]

Hello Xisto readership. Two months ago I started a website called 'DuckApple'. It's a pretty general site, and I'll let anything swing whether it's comics, reviews, tales of olde .etc

I'm seriously interested in getting writers together, and giving them a place to post of their 'hilarious' antics. I decided against starting a forum right away as viewing figures are limited (like two people, maybe?) and I've yet to properly advertise.

At the moment I'm just interested in a getting a general appraisal of the site so far. Any suggestions (or praise, please let it be praise) would be muchos appreciated.

The site runs on Joomla 1.5, which I chose after remembering my experiences of other less usable CMSs came to mind. I used the 'jb_ruins' theme as a template, and simply added my own graphics on top.

I also scraped out most of the crud that accompanies Joomla, and replaced the few useful modules with custom ones.

 

http://www.duckapple.co.uk/

 

Also, in anticipation of getting zero replies to this topic, just have a look around the site anyway; that way I can sleep easy for all of the three hours that school life has allocated me. It's also Christmas, the time of giving.. Dankesch?n.

 

- DodgyPhil, the cool kid.

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Edited December 23, 2009 by DodgyPhil (see edit history)

[Baniboy 3]

The background isn't very appealing to me, it doesn't fit very well with grey-white theme your site seems to have. I'm viewing the site on a 1440x900 screen. The background image ends and then suddenly reveals a red background color. You could have the background image end/start from the background color if you want to keep the image in the background. I suggest you get rid of the background image and put a dark grey background color contrasting your content box, which would immediately have the viewers attention in the content, not wondering why the background is so weird.You might also want to get rid of the animation in the left navigation when you hover on the buttons. You should put the "frontpage" at the top, before anything and also call it "home", people are used to that and will notice that quickly. Just making the navigating on the site easier can make more money if you place ads. It'd give a less messy impression. You could also get rid of frontpage link completely as you already have a "home" button at the top of the page.Regarding the flash object on top of your template. When I click the play button again after clicking it already, it starts the audio file again ON TOP of the current one playing. So you should really have that play button to turn into a stop button after it has been clicked on. The text "duckapple" in the flash object increases in size after you hover on it as well as the mouse turning into its "link-mode" giving the impression that it's a link even tho nothing happens when you click on it.Every box-like object in your template has round corners, it would seem kind of natural that the box your content is in would have round corners, too.The content seems to be good enough from what I've looked at(a few articles). Seems like a nice site to visit when you want to kill some time(like youtube etc.). Just try driving more traffic to your site.

Edited January 10, 2010 by Baniboy (see edit history)

[DodgyPhil 1]

The background isn't very appealing to me, it doesn't fit very well with grey-white theme your site seems to have. I'm viewing the site on a 1440x900 screen. The background image ends and then suddenly reveals a red background color. You could have the background image end/start from the background color if you want to keep the image in the background. I suggest you get rid of the background image and put a dark grey background color contrasting your content box, which would immediately have the viewers attention in the content, not wondering why the background is so weird.
You might also want to get rid of the animation in the left navigation when you hover on the buttons. You should put the "frontpage" at the top, before anything and also call it "home", people are used to that and will notice that quickly. Just making the navigating on the site easier can make more money if you place ads. It'd give a less messy impression. You could also get rid of frontpage link completely as you already have a "home" button at the top of the page.

Regarding the flash object on top of your template. When I click the play button again after clicking it already, it starts the audio file again ON TOP of the current one playing. So you should really have that play button to turn into a stop button after it has been clicked on. The text "duckapple" in the flash object increases in size after you hover on it as well as the mouse turning into its "link-mode" giving the impression that it's a link even tho nothing happens when you click on it.

Every box-like object in your template has round corners, it would seem kind of natural that the box your content is in would have round corners, too.

The content seems to be good enough from what I've looked at(a few articles). Seems like a nice site to visit when you want to kill some time(like youtube etc.). Just try driving more traffic to your site.

Thanks, that was really useful feedback.
I'm viewing the site at '1280x1024' so I never noticed the red background! I just set it to red as a test, I'll just make the background repeat.
Also, I'm aware the flash at the top is out of place- I made it a few months ago and I wanted to keep it when I changed theme.
I stole the background from another theme, and I can see how it could look out of place. Most of the site is from a template that leaves little room for modifying, so I may just do a complete overhall.
I tried to list the pages in the navigation alphibetically, and I thought having 'frontpage' at the top would be weird, but seeing as there's already a home link at the top of the page I'll probably get rid of it.

Also, when I first posted my site I was using a completely different theme, I'm more in the testing stage of this new one- so don't get a bad impression if it looks tacky.
Anyway, thanks again for the feedback, I'll either start making changes accordingly, or if I get bored I'll just create a new theme.

[Atomic0 0]

The logo banner is well done with a grungy type effect.On the page layout and graphics, I find the white, grey and black colour scheme for the site to be a bit dull. Further adding to the overall dull feeling is the yellow-brown colour of the hyperlinks in that it fails to stand out significantly from the rest of the text. In a way, I also feel that the footer doesn't match the overall design of the page, in that it is the only rounded object on the page and has a colour that doesn't match those of the general colour scheme of the site.In all, the logo plus banner at the top is the only object that really stands out on your site.

[Sea Mac 0]

I think it's a hoot, mate!

 

That Video clip including that guy boning a Japanese "Octo-*****" was weird ....

 

None of the background or navigation elements put me off.

 

Keep up the good work!

[DodgyPhil 1]

The logo banner is well done with a grungy type effect.
On the page layout and graphics, I find the white, grey and black colour scheme for the site to be a bit dull. Further adding to the overall dull feeling is the yellow-brown colour of the hyperlinks in that it fails to stand out significantly from the rest of the text. In a way, I also feel that the footer doesn't match the overall design of the page, in that it is the only rounded object on the page and has a colour that doesn't match those of the general colour scheme of the site.

In all, the logo plus banner at the top is the only object that really stands out on your site.

I know this outlines my incredible laziness, but I honestly hadn't noticed the footer! Ye gads! Also, when I was designing the new layout I wanted the only two things on the page to stand out to be the header and the images, but the white background has slightly dampened the intensity of the images, so I will probably make a few adjustments.

That Video clip including that guy boning a Japanese "Octo-*****" was weird ....

Thanks for the nice comments, although- to put this into context and to stop people scouring my site for filth: it's a YouTube video involving a Japanese woodcarving: classy, not sexual.

[DodgyPhil 1]

Sorry about double-posting, but I've recently changed my entire site (both design and concept). Rather than waste space by creating a new topic I thought I'd reignite an old one.
Firstly, I've removed a lot of the pre-loaded Joomla mods that I'd used before. I also created an infinitely simpler design using Artisteer. To fit with the design I've made the site largely text based.
I've also moved a lot of my older articles into an 'archive' section to differentiate them from my newer, slightly better ones..

The biggest change so far is my introduction of a Bulletin Board System. It runs using Kareha (similar to Wakaba, but purely text based). It doesn't require registration, and is very stripped down. Originally I'd planned to use an Imageboard (anonymous forum with image uploading capabilities) but I realized I had too little diskspace to allow it, and anonymous image-posting posed a risk (not just the posting of images that broke Xisto TOS, but the law as well).

With so many new features (and the removal of a lot of old ones as well), I'd be interested in some people's opinions. I'd also be happy if you made a few posts on my BBS, keeping in mind that only the posts by "alex#UZwhdD8HLI" are by me.

Anyway, the links again in case you missed them:

DuckApple
DuckApple BBS

[Little Asterisk 1]

The site, overall, looks nice to me, but has a "dull" effect due to the greyish-blue colours that overcome its layout. You might think about changing that, maybe using Adobe's Kuler, which has some nice color schemes online. The first thing I noticed is that the header stands out with the not-so-appropriate blue colour.

Secondly, the forum is a bit hard to look at since the threads aren't anything like "classic forumers" are used to. You might think of introducing the "normal" thread posting with a simple registration (username, password, mail). A plus for that type is, you don't have to worry about spammers that'll just use up your bandwith.

The third thing I noticed is that the categories on the left side aren't clearly indicated (Agrumentalist, Audio treat etc.) because Home and About makes it seem like you put the sitemap there. You might set the title of the left sidebar to something like categories and remove these two unrelated pages from it.

And lastly, maybe set the home page to a static About page. That way, people will see your page's purpose in this world and decide if they like it right away. Also, add a couple of words about "Unycyclopedia" there so people understand your hard fight (don't give up! ) against it.

The site has potential, just that these small mistakes set it off from its mission. Hope you use my wisdom wisely!

[DodgyPhil 1]

Also, add a couple of words about "Unycyclopedia" there so people understand your hard fight (don't give up! public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) against it.

Ha, well, it wasn't my choice to give up. Some of the guys from Uncyclopedia called me on my podcast (episode 6) and got royally burnt.. Since then they've been completely silent. Excellent.

The third thing I noticed is that the categories on the left side aren't clearly indicated (Agrumentalist, Audio treat etc.) because Home and About makes it seem like you put the sitemap there. You might set the title of the left sidebar to something like categories and remove these two unrelated pages from it. public/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif

Yeah, I decided to get rid of the side bar and just use the top menu. I've decided the categories into 'sections' so it should start to make more sense..

Secondly, the forum is a bit hard to look at since the threads aren't anything like "classic forumers" are used to. You might think of introducing the "normal" thread posting with a simple registration (username, password, mail). A plus for that type is, you don't have to worry about spammers that'll just use up your bandwith.

This was a dilemna. I'm a big fan of anonymous textboards as it takes pressure off of people. Whoever wants to can post when they feel like it without having to register. However, most of these textboard scripts are brutally functional and have no aesthetic merits. It's a compromise, but it doesn't seem to bother people too much.

Ps, Thanks for the feedback!
Edited May 27, 2010 by DodgyPhil (see edit history)