Infinite flight atc room

[mhhodges76]

advancedserveratc.freeforums.net

[Mixed]

Hello mhhodges76,

I thought I'd give you a review tonight. Before I start though, I'd like to warn you, this will likely be a shorter review than my average as it seems your forum is only just starting to be put together. Still, during this review, I will start with first impressions before turning to the details. I hope some of my suggestions can help you pull your forum together for the public and to start attracting members. So let's start.


First Impressions:                               
Sky. This is a great first image for a flight simulator () based forum. However, another first impression is the sheer lack of boards and lack of available information. I won't consider this a real first impression because your forum is obviously only starting out.

When you posted your forum for review, you didn't give any sort of information on what you were hoping to hear from. So I'm going to try touching on some of the important stuff I think you will need.


Forum Marquee & News Feed:           
I'll start by evaluating them separately since I like when either one is used.

First for the Forum Marquee, I should mention that it takes an awfully long time to repeat itself. Could you make the wait time between scrolls shorter? The information given is good to have at the top of the forum. I would recommend, however, that each information point has the same amount of space between it and its neighbors. Also I don't think you need to have a hyphen there in front of one if it's not used between all of them. Speaking of things to drop, there is a random "<<<>>>" in black scrolling with the information. It doesn't look good.

In terms of looks, I would recommend you either remove the marquee outline or change the color to either orange or white so it doesn't stick out SO much.

Secondly, the news feed has a misspelled "chattbox". You should drop that extra t.

As for having both the marquee and the news feed, I'm not sure you really need it. Having one or the other is great but having both is a tad redundant here and they kind of fight each other for the attention of the visitor. It gives me a bit of a headache honestly.


Color Scheme/Theme:                       
I like the cloud theme you have. As I stated earlier, it makes a good first impression to bring the guest directly into the skies. I also like your choice of orange to contrast the blue sky. However, the darker orange in your forum banner doesn't fit so nicely.

What if you used an image of a plane or something of the sort to connect with the flight simulator () that your forum is based around?


Layout:                                               
Honestly, I find it a bit bland. I enjoy when the normal board layout is broken up a bit. Perhaps you could add a sidebar that would serve a dual purpose and also offer visitors some information.


What I am Missing:                           
I really don't want to be so blunt considering your forum is really only starting out, but there are obvious exclusions.

First and probably most importantly, your forum rules. You even ask visitors in the marquee to read the rules before starting and yet you've given no rules. I had even done a search just to be sure there were no hidden boards hiding the rules.

Besides that, you mention a chatbox at the bottom of the page and yet there is no chatbox. A shoutbox can easily be activated from Admin >> Settings >> Forum Settings >> Shoutbox.

Another important point missing from your forum is its purpose. You will be able to receive much clearer reviews once your forum's purpose has been defined.

I highly recommend you include more boards. Having only "The Team" gives visitors no information. I would at least include a general board where guests could find the rules, site introduction, and such. Perhaps even include a place for people to have general discussions.

Lastly, I am a fan of the forum statistics section of a forum. Including it definitely gives guests a quick idea of just how active the community is while considering to join.


Overall:                                           
I'm not sure I could really rate your forum. You have a nice theme but I have no sense of what your forum is meant to be and what kind of community you hope to build. I believe that once you define these things and include more boards to make your forum feel less empty, not only will you be able to receive more specific and meaningful reviews, but you may also start attracting members.

Still, I wish you luck in building the forum of your dreams.