Dragon Riders of Berk Analysis

[Tiffamu]

Name of Board: Dragon Riders of Berk
Link to Board: dragonridersofberk.boards.net/

Hiccup and the rest of the Dragon Riders have retired and handed off leadership to a new generation. A whole new set of Dragon Riders are now in charge of the safety of the archipelago. They will explore further and discover even more new dragons while protecting their home.

We're fairly new, so I'd really like first impressions, if the information is clear enough to just hop in, and what I can add/change/remove to make it better.

Link to profile on the Board: Tiffamu

[Tiffamu]

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[CollieflowersBark]

I found your website quite ascetically pleasing! The layout is very simple. I feel like things are laid right out in front of you in a way that nothing feels...hidden. I can easily find all information that I need because your 'quick links' are right there in the center upon entering the page.

It was very easy for me to figure out what your site was about right down to the plot.If I were to join, I would have no trouble getting started.

Overall, I liked it!

[Tiffamu]

Thank you for your input! I'm glad everything was easy to find and upfront. And I'm glad you like the site design

[Tiffamu]

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[CollieflowersBark]

Quick heads up, when previewing code blocks on your site, you cannot see the text. It's the same color as the background--white! (I did check to make sure there was actually text there by highlighting. I'm not crazy!)

[Tiffamu]

Thanks for the heads up CollieflowersBark I tried messing around with it, but I can't seem to get the text to show up right in the preview pane unless I were to completely reverse my color scheme for the posting page.

[Comatose]

I'm going to start by saying a frikkin love HTTYD~

Now onto the review!

Since it is a premade layout I won't comment on it. (though for your issue of code previews, you'll need to change the background color on the code tag in the css)

Rules:

Your rules are very well thought out and easy to understand. Only suggestion there is mention your disciplinary actions, such as when you give warnings versus dishing out bans so people will know how serious you are over people doing things like attacking other members versus posting 20 words under the minimum count.

Plot:

Short and simple. I love plots that aren't a novel worth of text. Only thing I do suggest with this is maybe have a separate, optional thread about Hysteria? As is, it is a vague explanation of them being insane and possibly run by a dictator chief? Not necessary but for those who love world building and lore, it may be a good idea. Also, the Berserkers could use some expansion for those who haven't seen the Netflix series and are just searching for a place from the movies alone. (I do see you have some information on your Allegiances thread, but more info other than a few sentences might be helpful if you have time for it.) You could possibly crowdsource from your staff and members to fill out long histories for the tribes from all over the archipelago and would be a neat little side project to come up with deep lore that affects no one at all and doesn't even need to be read in order to rp.

Guide:

Lots of information in the guide and very helpful for those who are coming over from taptalk or jcink. I see no problems with this as it's clear and explained simply enough to follow.

Applications:

Lets start with the new dragon species application. You have stated that you are picky about what gets accepted but you don't really give much information on what you are looking for and not looking for. Perhaps make a list of things you would like to see and what would help persuade you to accept a species rather than leaving it vague would make it so people won't be scratching their heads wondering how much information they need to enter into the form.

Restating information from the rules and having helpful links to character creators and other information threads is a good idea. (I know there are plenty of people who don't read rules/plots before trying to post apps from running my own forums so pushing for them to actually look at that info is great)

Having a separate form in the canon thread is a bit confusing when clicking on the link at the top of the forum. For those who haven't sought out the actual character creation form prior to checking all the links there might think you only accept canons. Might I suggest putting that form into the character application thread with the other two? It would save some confusion and clean that thread up a little by not having it there above the list of taken canons.

Other Information:

Your book of dragons is very nice with the table of contents at the top so you can speed through to get to what you want to see without having to scroll past all the other entries. I have two suggestions for this though: a) maybe make a template with equal sized images and a neat, formatted table under it to contain things like the habitat, diet and quarks of each dragon type to make it more uniform and pleasing to look at. and b) maybe try expanding on the dragons further than just what the wiki says? It'd be cool to have the head canon of the staff injected into the species that aren't well documented or as spotlighted as toothless is. Right now the information is kind of sparse and limited to a single paragraph, which is completely fine! Just that someone who would like to know more might be a little underwhelmed at how little detail is there.

Conclusion:

All in all, your site is rather good as is and doesn't need any alterations to make it work! You and your staff have pretty much thought of everything needed to start a good community of roleplayers