Rate Sprout Tower!

[Chev]

What do you want to know? What is your site about? There are only two boards and that doesn't really say a lot...

[bellsprout]

It's mainly about Pokémon and stuff..

There's only two boards because I read on a website to start small, and ask for suggestions.

[Chev]

Well, are you just doing a discussion board then? If that's the case then you may want to consider boards for each region as well as an advertising board so you can advertise elsewhere and also get advertisements and affiliates. What makes the Chat Board and General Discussion different? The descriptions that go wtih them are nearly the exact same.

[bellsprout]

Ok.

A dude on the forum suggested a roleplay board, so I might as well build that, too. Anything else?

[Nori]

In addition to what was already stated, I would suggest just changing the title of your 'General Board' to something like 'Important Info' or 'Rules' or something of that like since the only thing in there is the rules at the moment. Then move that up above the chat board and add in any other important OOC information such as rules, history, setting, FAQ's and whatever else that may crop up over time.

A news or bulletin board for posting announcements and interesting tidbits to alert your members of important or interesting going ons of the site, or maybe even just Pokemon news from the official website, might also be a good idea.

Before you add in too much though you should really think about what you want your forum to be about though, instead of just adding in things at random. Did you want it to be more of a discussion forum for all things Pokemon? And perhaps have a small side section for those wanting to do some light rping... or did you want it to be the reverse? Maybe even a balance of both. Or you could focus on a certain range of generations; a ton of choices. A lot of Pokemon sites I encounter are majority RP sites so if you go that route you may want to look into other Pokemon sites around and pick up ideas on what is working, what you like and may want to incorporate, and what you would like to avoid cause it either doesn't fit your site or doesn't appeal.

It would be great to see you experiment with the theme too. On certain monitors that I've looked at this place on the colors are a bit too bright and fluorescent. However when mixed and moderated correctly they would be an interesting combination that would make your site stand out from all others. I like that it matches Bellsprout colors, just needs some tweaking I think. The initial suggestions that pop into my head (and you do not need to go for all or any if you don't want to) is the following:

- A toned down background with some sort of general bellsprout imagery tinted with a yellowy hue that is strong at the top/banner area but fades into a grassy scene at the bottom. Perhaps even just a simple yellow gradient overlaid on the scene. With the strong bold colors though it may need to be a bit faded so as to not detract from the content of the site.

- The banner image at the moment is cute and practically perfect as is. Nicely done. Though I wonder if you could change the 'o's in it to be a bellsprouts eyes... and then have the 'S' and 'r' on the ends be leaves, mouth oval below... I'm not even sure if that would look good and would be totally dependent on seeing it. The banner is good as is though.

- Title bars being a color that matched the Bellsprout's mouth, boards that were a green a bit closer to the shade in your avatar on this site, the borders in-between boards were a brown... the folder icons for 'no new messages' could be a Bellsprout leaf and the 'new posts' icons could be a Bellsprout head peaking out from behind a leaf.

- As for text I'm not sure. A dark brown perhaps? I like the idea of the blue links cause they could be like water droplets.

The above are just theme ideas. You could also even go for the Tower theme and take inspiration from Gen 2.

[bellsprout]

Ok, thanks

Taking everything into consideration

[bellsprout]

So sorry for double posting, but I edited my forum!

[Former Member]

I would work on the theme. Maybe try a premade? The background looks blurry and that green is very bright.

[bellsprout]

Ok, I re-did the theme.

I like it a lot.. Does it seem good?

[Nori]

I think it is a definite improvement! Great work. However I agree with Jade there that the green is still fairly bright. If it was dimmed to match the faded yellow and the leaves of your Bellsprout avatar on this Support Forum it would pop the blue links out and make them easier to read.

Love the new icons!

Though your 'General' category title is all the way over on the right side whilst the 'Legend' and 'Forum Information & Statistics' are on the left. I would suggest making these all match up.

Don't be afraid to experiment with typefaces Get fancy (but not too fancy of course or it might not be readable). There are a lot more available than what is listed in the theme selector. Just be careful not to choose something too exotic or some of your guests/members may not have that font installed and be unable to see it as it is meant to be.
- With the way your boards are setup I would encourage larger titles to take up more space and fill the green void a bit more. That or you could look into a simple repeatable background that would fit your theme... or just a simple non-repeated pattern that sits at one of the edges to spice things up.

I'm not sure I like the banner change. One of its beauties was it wasn't giant and centered like every other banner out there, which it still holds, but now it seems pushed up into the corner whereas before the little Bellsprout was running on top of the forum. By that I mean his feat were hidden by the top bar and really made the banner a part of the site but not overbearing. Likely the issue I am having with it is the placement of your menu bar and login section. It just separates the banner and makes it easily missed; disjointed.

Regardless, it's come a long way in a few hours. You're doing great!

[bellsprout]

Ok, thanks


I edited the forum more, so now the Bellsprout is running on the website. Well, more jumping xD. I also dimmed the color of the green more. I also don't know how to move the General, so I'm just gonna keep it there.

[Former Member]

Looks alot better.Good job!

[bellsprout]

Thanks Hope you like it!

[bellsprout]

Bump