Magical Freedom (HP Furture Generation)

[zmeyjustsaying]

Hey there! I would love to get some opinions on our site. We just opened in the beginning of the month so we are still a work in progress. I would love for this site to be one of the ones that last and in order to do that some honest opinions on where we need to improve are much needed. I know one of the complaints is the lack of an automatic c-box, we are aiming to get one soon (Update: We have a shoutbox now). I look forward to hearing everyone's opinion.

Magical Freedom

[zmeyjustsaying]

Bump

[zmeyjustsaying]

Bump

[zmeyjustsaying]

Bump

[zmeyjustsaying]

Bump

[zmeyjustsaying]

Bump

[zmeyjustsaying]

Bump

[zmeyjustsaying]

Bump

[zmeyjustsaying]

Bump

[zmeyjustsaying]

Bump

[zmeyjustsaying]

Bump

[zmeyjustsaying]

Bump

[Mixed]

First Impression:
I like the layout. The color scheme is simple and easy to read and the board flow easy to follow. Obviously a Harry Potter theme forum from the banner.

Forum Banner:
Love the image! You have the 4 houses, the main crest, and then 3 shadowy figures in the front. Between these figures and the burnt newspaper clippings, I'm curious and am drawn in deeper.

One thing I would change would be to highlight the sub-title description just a bit more. Don't do it so that it stands out more than "Magical Freedom," but give it more so it's more easily seen. In particular, "RPG" in "A post-Potter RPG" fades away and someone might not grasp that this is an rpg right away.

I also enjoy the use of this space with the fade-in menu. Good touch. I do wonder what those numbers under the 4 crests in the welcome box of your fade-in menu mean though.

Color Scheme:
While I do very much like the color scheme - it's simple and easy on the eyes - I feel like it might benefit from an accent of color here or there. I can't be sure as it's hard for me to picture it clearly without actually seeing the colors next to each other, but what if you used wisps of color (house colors) in the background representing traces of magic?

Creating Characters Board:
Every rpg forum needs this for sure. However, from first glimpse at yours, I am a little confused about the difference between the applications and the claiming centre sections. Perhaps you could add just a bit more description here?

Also, in the character extras board, from just reading the description, I understand that this board will contain something like a character adoption center and a role-play board squished together. Would that be a correct assumption?

Wizarding Events:
I know you are still building up your forum so I won't say too much here, except that you should include a board or two here even if they aren't open yet. This way, members know what they could look forward to. Either that, or I would drop the category for now as it just looks like a hole as is. Sorry.

Role-Play Boards:
I like your use of pictures here. I might, however, be inclined to include a written description but it probably isn't so necessary.

Two slight improvements you could make:
For the travel abroad board, I would like to see the picture span across the container as the others did. I understand these pictures are all the same size between boards, but I feel it would look nicer if each board container had the same amount of empty space.
Also "upper levels" sounds better than "higher levels".

Rules:
I did check out your rules out of habit. Short. Sweet. Reasonable. Overall, I don't think you should have a problem with this set of rules.

Just a heads-up, in rule 01 of the out of character category, you write

You must have both a signature and/or an avatar.

Do you mean that members have to have BOTH or they have to have one or the other at minimum? It's just that 'both' contradicts 'and/or'.

Overall:
In general, I think you have a good balance of boards and with 22 members, a potentially stable member-base. Even just hanging around your forum to give you some comments, I felt like it was a very welcoming forum.

I hope my comments make sense and help you out where you hoped.

Good luck and have fun!

By the way, I also like your signature image here. Did you make that?

[zmeyjustsaying]

First Impression:
I like the layout. The color scheme is simple and easy to read and the board flow easy to follow. Obviously a Harry Potter theme forum from the banner.

Thank you, we did aim for a simple and easy to read look that could play along with any colors.

Forum Banner:
Love the image! You have the 4 houses, the main crest, and then 3 shadowy figures in the front. Between these figures and the burnt newspaper clippings, I'm curious and am drawn in deeper.
One thing I would change would be to highlight the sub-title description just a bit more. Don't do it so that it stands out more than "Magical Freedom," but give it more so it's more easily seen. In particular, "RPG" in "A post-Potter RPG" fades away and someone might not grasp that this is an rpg right away.
I also enjoy the use of this space with the fade-in menu. Good touch. I do wonder what those numbers under the 4 crests in the welcome box of your fade-in menu mean though.

Awesome! Glad you liked it and that it does get people to question about the site. Yeah I know the RPG is a little light, I'll play around with that to see if I can find a color that works better there. The 4 crests with the numbers are the House Points. I guess we didn't label it because those that frequent HP sites usually know that's what it stands for. Perhaps we will put in a label for it.

Color Scheme:
While I do very much like the color scheme - it's simple and easy on the eyes - I feel like it might benefit from an accent of color here or there. I can't be sure as it's hard for me to picture it clearly without actually seeing the colors next to each other, but what if you used wisps of color (house colors) in the background representing traces of magic?

I'm a little confused as to what you are suggesting. Are you talking about on the actual boards..maybe the titles of the board to add some wisps of color?

Creating Characters Board:
Every rpg forum needs this for sure. However, from first glimpse at yours, I am a little confused about the difference between the applications and the claiming centre sections. Perhaps you could add just a bit more description here?
Also, in the character extras board, from just reading the description, I understand that this board will contain something like a character adoption center and a role-play board squished together. Would that be a correct assumption?

The application is for people to apply for their character and the claiming centre is for after your character has been accepted to post and claim your face claim/job position/etc. And yes the character extras is where the plot pages go, thread trackers, wanted ads, and even journal postings.

Wizarding Events:
I know you are still building up your forum so I won't say too much here, except that you should include a board or two here even if they aren't open yet. This way, members know what they could look forward to. Either that, or I would drop the category for now as it just looks like a hole as is. Sorry.

Yes I'm trying to work on something right now, and with my co-admin out for now it is a little hard to get it all together. But I do agree it does look a little empty. So maybe I'll post the upcoming idea to fill it in. Thank you.

Role-Play Boards:
I like your use of pictures here. I might, however, be inclined to include a written description but it probably isn't so necessary.
Two slight improvements you could make:
For the travel abroad board, I would like to see the picture span across the container as the others did. I understand these pictures are all the same size between boards, but I feel it would look nicer if each board container had the same amount of empty space.
Also "upper levels" sounds better than "higher levels".

We didn't provide a written description because most know what everything is in the Harry Potter universe. Not sure if there is a code for it but maybe we could put a fade there and have the picture fade into the description.

Rules:
I did check out your rules out of habit. Short. Sweet. Reasonable. Overall, I don't think you should have a problem with this set of rules.
Just a heads-up, in rule 01 of the out of character category, you write

You must have both a signature and/or an avatar.

Do you mean that members have to have BOTH or they have to have one or the other at minimum? It's just that 'both' contradicts 'and/or'.

I'll go in and fix that because I think we mean both. I'll have to check with the co-admin because she wrote them. Thanks for catching that.

Overall:
In general, I think you have a good balance of boards and with 22 members, a potentially stable member-base. Even just hanging around your forum to give you some comments, I felt like it was a very welcoming forum.
I hope my comments make sense and help you out where you hoped.
Good luck and have fun!
By the way, I also like your signature image here. Did you make that?

Thank you so much. I appreciate you taking the time out of your day and giving us feedback. You gave a lot of help. Thank you. And also I think my co-admin made it, I will check with her and ask her and let you know.
Mixed

[Mixed]

I will try to clarify some of the confusion from my comments.

Color Scheme:
While I do very much like the color scheme - it's simple and easy on the eyes - I feel like it might benefit from an accent of color here or there. I can't be sure as it's hard for me to picture it clearly without actually seeing the colors next to each other, but what if you used wisps of color (house colors) in the background representing traces of magic?

I'm a little confused as to what you are suggesting. Are you talking about on the actual boards..maybe the titles of the board to add some wisps of color?

Mostly I was thinking of literal wisps of color across the dark (black?) forum background. This would be behind the boards. Trying to picture it, I think it would be best behind the boards rather than on the boards so that it adds to the forum look without taking away from the board simplicity and easy layout. But I think you would best figure this out by playing with it.

Creating Characters Board:
Every rpg forum needs this for sure. However, from first glimpse at yours, I am a little confused about the difference between the applications and the claiming centre sections. Perhaps you could add just a bit more description here?
Also, in the character extras board, from just reading the description, I understand that this board will contain something like a character adoption center and a role-play board squished together. Would that be a correct assumption?

The application is for people to apply for their character and the claiming centre is for after your character has been accepted to post and claim your face claim/job position/etc. And yes the character extras is where the plot pages go, thread trackers, wanted ads, and even journal postings.

Okay. That makes sense. You may want to rephrase the description a bit in that case. You see, as it stands, I understood that actual role-playing would be happening in this board rather than recaps and role-play news.

We didn't provide a written description because most know what everything is in the Harry Potter universe. Not sure if there is a code for it but maybe we could put a fade there and have the picture fade into the description.

As I said, the descriptions probably aren't completely necessary. I am just used to seeing written descriptions about the places. Therefore, I would say don't include it if you can't make it work aesthetically.


You are very welcome, zmeyjustsaying! I am glad my suggestions were well received and have given you some ideas for improvement.

Good luck getting everything together (especially with your co-admin temporarily out)! Have fun!



--- Edit ---
I wanted to add a quick comment. I think it would be nicer to move the banner ad above the forum banner. This way, your forum wouldn't be broken up by randomness. I know there is a way to do this (I did it to my own WIP forum), but I forget how I did it at the moment. Sorry. :- /