TRON: Gridlines [Reviews: 1]

[Phear]

Gridlines is a fan-forum for TRON. A modern community to support a modern classic franchise. TRON has been a Disney fan-favorite for over 30 years. This new community gives a beautiful, updated outlet for fans of the franchise to discuss.

Please click here to visit TRON: Gridlines.

UPDATES- Please review the new updates to my board, and let me know what you think, all criticism is appreciated. -- 

-New Program Introductions Board 

-Sticky Transitional Menu Bar 

-GRIDLINES DISC AWARDS 

--Users can earn Disc Awards by achieving a certain requirement. Discs display on User Profiles, and in Mini-Profiles. Click Here to View. 

-User Profile Cover Images!
-New Online/Offline Icons
-Mini Profile Re-Design

[Phear]

Bump.

Would love some feedback, if possible. My first ProBoards community, and was hoping to get some critique from the pros around here.

[Phear]

Bump!

[Mixed]

Hey, Phear! I actually noticed your board when you first posted in the Support Board for help with it. Now that it's Saturday, I have time too look through it, and I've wanted to! So let's start!

First Impressions:
Cool! The bright colors on the black background are great. They really remind me of TRON with it's lights in an otherwise dark place.


Look:
As I said, I really like your color scheme. To add to that, I like your use of the icons. If it's possible, I would recommend you have an option where these icons are marked with a 'new' for when a new post is available. Keep the icons the same, because they're great, but maybe a highlight 'new' across the "corner" of the icon at a diagonal. Could look good. I don't know if you already have something like that considering I'm perusing as a guest and guests don't see the new icons.

It feels a bit empty in the middle of your boards though. On the left, you have a good balance with the icons. On the right, the last post information fills the black nicely. However, the thread and post numbers are very small, even hard to read. I suggest increasing that font size, maybe even increase the font size of the board descriptions if that would look better, but the numbers should really be a tad bigger.


Forum Banner:
Or should I say banners? I love it! You have the forum name to the right and the rest is an image. I think it's great fun that the image changes. Honestly, it had confused me at first. When I first visited there was an image of Sam and Quorra. Now when I visited to critique, there was an image of the city. Clicking around, I found the image changed. Great touch!

Apart from that, I might bring the Home, Help, and Search buttons, as well as the Login and Registration buttons in from the edges a bit.


Boards:
I like that there aren't a LOT of boards. However, you may consider adding an introduction type board to get to know your members. I'm not completely sure of the terminology in TRON so I won't embarrass myself by offering a cool name for an introductions board.

With that, I might also suggest you add a new category for the new board and the General board. Perhaps call this category "Users". Normal but also linked with the TRON universe.

Another good point you have is every board has a thread already there. This helps your boards not feel empty to visitors even if it's a Tester Thread.


Things I'm missing:
- Forum Statistics -
Not an absolute necessity, however, I know of a number of people who use this information to see how active the site it through the member numbers and such. Don't worry about this being a hindrance as it would also show that your forum is NEW.

- Rules -
I did a search for your rules and came up with nothing. While you may not NEED them in your eyes, I recommend you have them available as a safety net for your forum.

- Affiliates -
Sure, your forum is new, but do you have a place for affiliates or advertisements? This is a good way to get your forum name out there for the people to find.

- Shoutbox Reply Option -
Maybe I don't see it because I'm a guest, but as it stands, it just floats there. It works with the theme, but makes me wonder if something is hidden in the black. For example, the shout timestamps?

A question: What is "$whoami flynn" right above your shoutbox?


Overall:
I think this is a great start to a hopefully successful forum. You are clear about your topic in the boards from the get-go (might just want to add a descriptions somewhere so no one confuses your forum with an rpg site). The theme is catchy and the layout clear. With a few additions and a couple tweaks, I think you should have no problem drawing members in. The trouble will be in finding them.

With that, I think I'll wrap this up.


Good luck and have fun!

[Phear]

Thanks for the review!

So, I've already taken a lot of your advice and gone ahead and added Rules for the board, as well as adjusted the spacing on the edges for the navigation and Inbox. I also added an Intro board as a sub-board inside General. I chose not to add a new Category because I have a good balance of boards, and really feel like it's not necessary. TRON is a very niche group of fans, and I'm not expecting a big enough turn out of users to warrant more boards than this.

The lack of affiliates and Forum Statistics is really more of an aesthetic/lack of user choice on my end. Affiliates isn't necessary for me since all I'm after are TRON fans, and the forum statistics is really just because that information isn't necessary for a niche board like this.

I'm glad you like the design, and a lot of my choices with it! The random forum banner was definitely the choice from the very beginning to help represent the multitudes of TRON films and shows. The icons was done to help give the community a more modern forum appearance, while adding much needed splashes of color.

To answer your questions regarding the shoutbox. The reply box is hidden from guests, and the shoutbox is intentionally styled to look like a Terminal console from the films. The "$whoami flynn" command line is a reference to TRON Legacy when Sam discovers Flynn's office, and this is the line that started the terminal sequence. It's a bit confusing, but more of a film reference.

Thanks for the good review, and I'll get working on making it even better, and finishing the rest of your suggestions.

[Mixed]

No problem!

Sounds great! The spacing is nicer and feels less squished up top. I also read your rules - very nice. They are clear, concise, and have a dash of fun with the referencing terminology.

Good decision. I hadn't thought of using a sub-board for the introductions instead and you are right, you have a very good balance of boards, especially if you don't expect a massive number of people to fill more boards. May I suggest adding more to YOUR intro thread though? Perhaps something like your first exposure to TRON or along those lines?

Okay. I can see your point to not using affiliates or showing a Forum statistics section. It does look good without it. However, I'm going to play devil's advocate for a second.
      -  How are you going to FIND the fans for your niche board?

Some things just click right away and are an easy choice. Your forum banner and icons were apparently two of those choices.

For the shoutbox design, very nice and thank you. Now that you say that, I remember the reference to "$whoami flynn" vaguely. (Not the most in-depth fan here.)

Again you are welcome. Your board was fun to review and I hope everything works out! Good luck and have fun!

[Phear]

Bump with Updates!

[Tumbleweed]

Jul 29, 2015 14:24:57 GMT -8 Phear said:

Removed quote

Gridlines,

This is not an advertising board. It is a place to get opinions. Please read the rules before posting in any board:

support.proboards.com/thread/3605/goayb-rules-read-before-post

Descriptions should not exceed 250 characters which is roughly the size of rule #3L. Please fix your first post and remove the image. It's not needed. Also we don't need updates on things you added unless they are in a direct response to suggestions. If you want an opinion on those extras then ask in your first post. Thanks.

[Phear]

Aug 6, 2015 1:20:58 GMT -8 Tumbleweed said:

Jul 29, 2015 14:24:57 GMT -8 Phear said:

Removed quote

Gridlines,

This is not an advertising board. It is a place to get opinions. Please read the rules before posting in any board:

support.proboards.com/thread/3605/goayb-rules-read-before-post

Descriptions should not exceed 250 characters which is roughly the size of rule #3L. Please fix your first post and remove the image. It's not needed. Also we don't need updates on things you added unless they are in a direct response to suggestions. If you want an opinion on those extras then ask in your first post. Thanks.

You'll notice that my first post was updated with the new additions with the express purpose of getting opinions on those new features specifically. I've edited my latest bump and removed the Updates, but they'll remain intact on the first post. As for the image, I've seen other boards use an image to link to their board, and that's all I'm doing here. It's simply a link to get to the board itself.

[Phear]

Bump!

[Phear]

Bump!

[ukarchaeology]

Cool looking forum.
I was wondering, how did you get the pictures/avatars/icons by the boards on the forum homepage (did you make them yourself and how do you implement them)?

[Phear]

Aug 11, 2015 3:54:01 GMT -8 ukarchaeology said:

Cool looking forum.
I was wondering, how did you get the pictures/avatars/icons by the boards on the forum homepage (did you make them yourself and how do you implement them)?

Thanks!

Yeah, I made the board icons myself, and implemented them with a ProBoards plugin: Different on/off icons for different boards.

[Phear]

Bump!

[Phear]

Bump!