Startrekking

[magicmuggle02]

If people would review and suggest anything useful it would be most appreciated.

startrekking.freeforums.net/

[magicmuggle02]

If someone could follow this up please. Any constructive advice welcome

[magicmuggle02]

Bump

[Dazzal]

magicmuggle02 I took away quite a few of my sub-boards because I thought they were taking up space and not being used that much. Is that something you could do to simplify the forum?

Maybe someone else will chime in and give some constructive advice.

[Former Member]

Hello there! I wanted to give some constructive, honest feedback! 

First Impressions:

I do agree with Dazzle that the website seems a little cluttered. Some of the categories that are displayed on the website can be reduced to sub-boards inside other boards. I was browsing through the website and I also that some of the boards that are there in the General section have punctuation marks, which can be very distracting and a little unprofessional. Try to stray away from putting punctuation marks in the titles of the categories and or boards. The website is a little dark for the older PCs that I am currently using. I might be wrong. I might have to look at it at home on the Mac that I have, but from this perspective, it looks really dark (graphic wise). Also try not to put the "Rules" section first. It makes it seem like this is not about fun and about laws. It's a little bit intimidating. 

Content:

Some of the content can definitely be reorganized. Here's how I would organize it: This for the General Section: 

1) General Category (you've already got this down, which is awesome!) (this category should always go first. don't hesitate to be creative with the names! This could be called "the bridge" like from the show or something like that!)

2) Introductions (this is an example that does not require punctuation and should definitely be one of the first things that the members should see to feel warm and welcome)

3) Forum News (this should contain anything important about the website such as upcoming events, gossip, polling station-since polls are technically a form of news, this board can go in this section)

Sub-Boards: Achievements, Events, Polling Station

4) General Discussions (This could be named the com or something like that from the show as well!) -anything with discussions should go in this board. (Scipedia and General need to be combined into one to avoid clutter). Inside the General Discussions board try to avoid titles with "General" in it. Get rid of the Sci-fi discussions category and consolidate it into this board). Try to avoid naming titles with General in it. This creates redundancy and can seem unprofessional. The sub-boards should look something like this:

Sub-Boards: Advice (this can be advice about the website and how to go about navigating it for the newbies), Comments about Database (anything to do with discussions needs to go into one board to prevent clutter), Concerns (this can be a place where members can voice their opinions and get some answers as well), Memes (memes about star trek or anything can be a fun plus to the website), Gossip (this can be any type of gossip or if you can minimize it to just gossip about the Star Trek actors and where they are now), Non Sci-fi Talk, Sci-Fi Talk, and Sports


5) Websites and or Forums (you can name this board something different such as "Guests" or "The Helm" or "Guest Shuttles" or "Docking Bay" something from the show like that!)

-I noticed that you have two sections that have the same basic function. This causes too much clutter and can be avoided. In the section that is labeled: "Advertising" there are two boards that are labeled: "Forums" and "Websites". However, the descriptions are the same: "Do you have a website? Then place it here. Advertise the website on this board and any websites that involve sales will be removed". Consolidate those into one board. Move threads if you have to, but that should be in the General section as well so that guests can feel warm and welcome.

-In the advertising section you could also create a sub board called "Social Media" where members can place blog links or any social media that they wish that way it is not limited to one topic. unless this is the goal of course which you can then keep the name the same, but it should be in the same advertising board to consolidate).
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Next section: Starfleet Database

-This category is beautifully named. I would just reorganize the boards a little. This section should contain items for the community, which it is half way there! Keep all the sub-boards that are not listed below that are the website the same except without punctuation. Consolidate the Game category and the Starfleet category into one category. If I don't have sub-boards listed below then that means the sub-boards are fine as they are, but please get rid of the punctuation. 


1) Character Profiles

Sub-Boards: Crew Member Profiles, Regular Profiles, ect.

2) Birth of the Federation (try to avoid slashes in your titles on the boards) -here you can specify the history of the website, the history of the federation and how it came to be.

3) Games

Sub-Boards: Alphabetical Abcs, Numbers Galore, Word Games, Miscellaneous Games, Star Trek, and Star Wars (keep Star Trek and Star Wars separate boards)

4) Planets of the Federation

5) Writing

Sub-Boards: Character Stories, Poetry, Writing Snippets, ect.

6) Photo Gallery (get rid of the category and create one board. Create one board and implement sub-boards to relieve clutter)

Sub-Boards: Star Trek Fan Art, Star Trek Fan Art Comments, Non Star Trek Fan Art

7) Ships and Shuttlecraft of the Federation Fleet

8) Star Trek Episodes

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Graphics:

On an old PC, the graphics look very blocky and dark. The colors are beautiful, but maybe shed some light. If you own Photoshop, then I suggest brightening the banner above the website. The Starcraft Enterprise seems to blend in with the rest of the background. Brighten the ship to pop out and blend well with the rest of the colors. Brighten the stars in the background as well. Also, the letters that state: "Startrekking" is very dark. Please brighten those as well. Now I would have to see if the colors are the same on my Mac, but the colors that I see now are very dark and make everything blend in. 

I would avoid dark colors like the purples that you have. The background should be a gray, light blue, white, or something from the Star Trek enterprise that will blend well with the rest of the background and the theme. With dark colors and dark texts, it makes it difficult to read. 

Advertisement Ideas: This one is pretty simple. Make business cards to take costume stores, conventions, ect. Browse the Internet for anything related to Star Trek and ask for permission to advertise your website. 

Last Few Notes: This was a fun project to give feedback on. I probably spent about an hour and a half since I just started watching Star Trek.

I'm not saying that you have to implement my ideas in any way. I am just giving some honest feedback. I hope you liked the feedback and I wish you all the success in the world! 

[magicmuggle02]

Thankyou for all the wonderful advice and ideas for the layout @riversa. I'll be trying a lot of them out.

[Former Member]

Any time dear! Thank you for getting back to me! I can't wait to see the improvements!