Post by Leo Ascendent on Dec 26, 2013 14:40:18 GMT -8
Hi,
At first glance, the forums coloring is quite pleasant, it's not too tough on the eyes, I like it. It's also very to navigate, which is a plus.
There were a few things that I had an issue with, the links (at least on the bottom) are white, which annoys me, I hate my links and text being the same color. Maybe they could be a mix of purple and white? Or black? It might just be me (I'm at work, so maybe the icons are blocked for some reason), but many of the icons on the forums are broken.
Overall, it looks quite nice and is very easy to navigate.
I'd love to see the logo fill its space more. The small logo always creates a bit of an amateur feel and you really want to ooze "I know what I'm doing" because of the genre of your site. Having a large banner, at least one that's wider, would be a good step toward that. Likewise, a more professional, clean font in the actual image would be useful, the one currently used is very pixelated and reminds me of an old Ninentdo 64-type game. Something very neat, like Georgia, or something similar would be my suggestion. Also not sure about the overlay text in the backgroud, it seems more like added chaos than actual positive contribution to the image.
I don't personally know what a teacup has to do with your site (for those on/off icons) but I'm not a big fan of it. The object looks rather bad when repeated like that unlike how, say, a circle or just the word "Old" would look if repeated. Also, the color blends in a lot. While that's fine and perhaps even ideal for an Off Icon, for the On Icon it's bad. It's also a bit unpleasant that the On Icon just spins like that. If someone's computer doesn't load it, for example, that would cause problems. It should be something that you can easily tell at a glance is New, such as a different, brighter color than the Off.
I think it'd help you greatly to have the info center remodeled. Remove the non-default images, get the text formatted better, get things fresh. Having your forum age there of 8 years puts a HUGE pressure on your shoulders because people will expect your site to be very advanced if it's been around for so long. Having such a default, newbie-type theme contradicts the forum age and might result in you losing members. Honestly, at this point the forum age showing might be harming you and I think I'd encourage you to remove it at least for now.
I'd love to see more remodels in general. Board list, thread list, and categories in particular. The category text could do for centering, some font re-sizing, something that makes it pop a bit more. As it is now, it looks like just about everything your site is default and that creates an amateur atmosphere, which I don't think is going to lure in many artists who tend to have more picky expectations. Looking into remodels (our Layout Templates) here on Support or, even better, on a resource forum (I can suggest a few if you want) to help promote a more knowledgeable atmosphere should probably become your number-one goal.
I hope this wasn't too harsh and something out of it will be useful for you. ^^
I appreciate the detailed feedback, it sure is a breath of fresh air seeing honest and constructive feedback. I've already begun to make the changes suggested. Thank you once again. =)