Looking for opinions. Please take a look

[kevinjs]

Hi all

Looking for opinions and suggestions for improvements.

Please note that some areas of my forum are not visible to guests.

MusicShack

[Radrook]

I just went there and being a musician, of course I am interested and might join after checking out the contents in more detail. I like the variety of subjects the forum provides since I am cosmopolitan in my music taste. Also like the game areas idea.  


Suggestions 

I would narrow the board and provide the forum with some space at the edges. I think f it would enhance readability for me by not forcing the eyes to scan or swivel so widely. Orange is too glaring to my eyes.

Also replacing the image of stacks of cd's with another music-related image would be better. They give the impression of extreme clutter and humans tend to have a slight aversion to  being cramped and might decide to bolt. 

Here are some you might find useful.

www.123rf.com/stock-photo/music_background.html?sti=np6dhjmmyynkimrtck|&mediapopup=20276259
www.123rf.com/stock-photo/music_background.html?sti=np6dhjmmyynkimrtck|&mediapopup=20276259
www.123rf.com/stock-photo/music_background.html?sti=np6dhjmmyynkimrtck|&mediapopup=31120327

But there are many others available there that I feel will greatly enhance the website's visual appeal.

Also, viisitors are rumored to enjoy seeing forum stats, such as total members, recent visitors, when the forum was set up and so forth. That would be a nice addition at the page-bottom. 

Also, the pentagram symbol on your avatar, which has become associated with wichcraft, might cause some Christians to hesitate becoming members.  

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagram
Kind Regards

BTW
Please feel free to disregard any suggestion that you find not helpful. 

Radrook

[kevinjs]

Thanks for those thoughts. You would, of course, be welcome to join.

I'll discuss the colour scheme with the other contributors and see if anyone is finding it off-putting. Good point.

The background image is actually part of my LP collection, repeated across the page. It's about the only thing in my music room that isn't cluttered, but I see what you mean.

The forum stats are above the shout box on the home page. I've been thinking of introducing a side bar. Maybe that will be a good home for the shout box and stats, as well as having the effect of narrowing the main display. In all honesty, the few of us that regularly post there are not too bothered about stats. We are more interested in giving, and receiving, ideas about musical directions.

Can't do much about the pentagram. It's an instantly recognizable emblem in prog rock; taken from the Rush album cover of 2112, one of the most significant albums in the history of rock. I guess you can't judge every book by the cover. However, since at least one of our regular contributors is an evangelical Christian, that could be an excellent subject for a thread. If you join, I'll introduce you to him. When we set the forum up in the first place, I discussed with him whether we should have a category for religion, specifically Christianity, since we play a lot of religious music (and Christian rock), but we haven't gone anywhere with that yet. Might be time to revisit the idea.

My own thought on the pentagram is that we (non-witches) should take ownership of it whenever possible and dilute the effect that it has in other areas. In this case, it actually shows a man in a defensive posture when faced with a dictatorial regime. The red star, at the time, was clearly understood to be indicative of the communist regime in eastern Europe.

Thanks for your very useful comments.

Kevin

Edit: Radrook. I've applied most of your suggestions. Feedback seems favourable, so thank you. The pentagram is not negotiable, since my reasons for using it are clear to most people who will see it. If anyone is offended by it, they will have to own that offence.

[Radrook]

Nice classy, musically-relevant background! Love those blue and black and white color-contrasts! 

[kevinjs]

Thanks. I took a photograph of one of yesterday's Jethro Tull plays and messed around a bit with the colour and contrast.

The colour scheme has met with approval from regular posters.

[kevinjs]

Bump

[firemist001]

I just took a quick glance at your forum, and I think its looks really good. Don't know what to say to improve it, but I am curious as to how long its been around?

[kevinjs]

Sept 10, 2019 4:53:50 GMT -8 firemist001 said:

I just took a quick glance at your forum, and I think its looks really good. Don't know what to say to improve it, but I am curious as to how long its been around?

Thanks for taking a look. It’s been up for 7 months.

[dustys]

May 14, 2019 13:43:05 GMT -8 kevinjs said:

Hi all

Looking for opinions and suggestions for improvements.

Please note that some areas of my forum are not visible to guests.

MusicShack

Is there a reason you don't have your full banner displayed? This is what I see on my desktop in firefox and my phone. It's kind of an immediate turnoff.

My roommate's desktop shows the same thing in Chrome.

[Kami]

Sept 12, 2019 3:12:19 GMT -8 dustys said:

May 14, 2019 13:43:05 GMT -8 kevinjs said:

Hi all

Looking for opinions and suggestions for improvements.

Please note that some areas of my forum are not visible to guests.

MusicShack

Is there a reason you don't have your full banner displayed? This is what I see on my desktop in firefox and my phone. It's kind of an immediate turnoff.

My roommate's desktop shows the same thing in Chrome.

This is because of the size of your resolution + the way the banner has been constructed. It's a large image, and isn't set to be responsive, so small resolutions will display the image as cut off. It's fine for me on a 1980 width monitor, though if I make my browser window more narrow it cuts off as well:

[kevinjs]

I'll see if I can sort that out. I use a retina display Mac so I wasn't aware of the problem. I'm used to that behaviour on phones and learned to accept it as a feature, not a flaw.

[Former Member]

Hi friend!

I wanted to provide some constructive, honest feedback. These critiques are never meant to offend anyone. These critiques are only meant to help and to help designers become more confident in their websites.

First Impressions: This website is incredibly blue. Normally, I love blue. It is my favorite color. Especially, the color that you chose. My phone is that color as is my purse. However, for reading purposes it is a little overwhelming. I also always highly encourage the designer not to put the "Rule" board first thing on the website. It can seem intimidating and uninviting. 

Content: I always highly encourage designers to not name categories or boards, "General". This makes the website look unprofessional and not creative. Have fun with the names! Don't be afraid to be different! It will make it more appealing and friendly to the guests. A few of the boards and categories can be consolidated. This is how I would organize it:

1. The "General" category could be named something like, "The Shack Community", "The Booth", "The Stage" (something music related), and ect.I would organize this category such as:

Category: "General" renamed as "The Stage" (or something else related to music). 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First category: "The Stage": This should always be the first category should always state the website's function, welcomes the members first, and gives navigation help as well. 


Board A: "The Studio": This is where members and guests can see what the website is all about and the rules as well. This can also be a place for administrators as well. 

Description: The Music Shack was designed for people to come to a safe place to talk about all kinds of music. This is a website of discussion and fun for all kinds of music. In here, people can find information about the website, website rules, and where questions can be answered. 

Sub-boards: 

1) Announcements: This board can be placed here because it is technically not a discussion board, but a board specifically designed to make announcements. 
2) Music Notes: This is where members and guests can find information about the website. 
3) Raise a Hand: This is where all comments, questions, and concerns can be answered about the website. 

Board B: "Chorus": or something related to social activities in the music world. Don't be afraid to be creative! 

Sub-boards for Chorus: (I also like to try to alphabetize the boards as well) There is also an entire category dedicated to which genres of music to talk about. I love this idea, but it is a little redundant with the following board: "General Music Discussion" because there are so many listed below, it should be changed or removed.

General Music Discussion (please take out "General" in the name of this board. It is in the "General" category and the description of the board can let users know what type of board this is.). This board can be named something else and used as something else because the category named, "General" already describes that the boards are general. This creates redundancy and makes the website look unprofessional.

1) "The Mosh Pit": This is where members can talk about anything that is not related to music.

2) "Welcome Party" (where you can introduce yourself). 

Remove the "Off Topic" board if you are going to replace it with "The Mosh Pit" because that is already a board that discusses non-related music items. 

I love the Bits & Pieces category! Don't change a thing! 

Hardware, Groups & Artists, and Resources need to be consolidated and placed in other categories. 

Graphics: I would change the background color of the banner with the words, "Music Shack" (I love the title of the website!). If "Music Shack" is the desired color with the font choice then I would definitely change the background to something different. 

Advertisement Ideas: I would find Facebook groups that advertise music and discuss music. Ask the admins if you can post the link to their pages and see if you can grow the website that way. 

Last Few Notes: 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!