Site Name: Atrium Date Opened: July 20th, 2018 [the current version] Review Requested (Quick/Advanced): Neither 😉 Community Feedback Notes:
Would love to hear peoples thought's of Atrium. We are always trying to grow and expand for more participants. We have some changes in mind, but we would love to hear peoples thoughts of Atrium currently.
I'm a little biased, but I have little complaints/constructive feedback to give here.
The theme is polished and makes the forum easy to use (light and dark). Perhaps working on a theme that is custom to Atrium would be a good next step, I know that was something you had on ZetaBoards.
Layout makes sense and clearly matches the wants and needs of the community. Very specific sections, not just generalized areas that most general chat/entertainment boards would have. You've got a good mix and something for everyone. Maybe look at your most popular sections and re-order your index to reflect those popular spots on the board. Might change somewhat frequently, but it could be cool to see what is "trending" of sorts.
Atrium is one of the best forums out there.... I have seen forums come and go but you really put a lot of effort into yours Rev... I do miss the old ZB version though.
@Geoffrey thank you! Yeah I would love to get a custom theme for Atrium. Ideas are bouncing around in my head for it.
I have about 5 new layout options laid out. Some of them where stuff is completely re-ordered. Thanks for the suggestion of having it reflect our popular areas. The idea of having it all semi-rotate for a "trending" is interesting! We'll see though.
Again thank you for all the kind words and suggestions!
@Aaron thank you so much! Yeah I feel like we have the same ol' ZB feel again though fortunately at least for me. I think the community has really made that happen. 🙂
I'm really liking the whole look and vibe of this forum. Even though it's not a custom theme like @Geoffrey pointed out, it still fits perfectly with the whole niche of the forum.
The categories also look very nicely arranged. There aren't too many that you'd have to scroll on forever. They are just the right amount. I like how they're split up with Gaming, Entertainment, and the Community boards.
For some reason, not sure if it's just me or not, i would prefer the sidebar to go on the left, instead of the right. I think it's just because we read from left to right. It's a pretty small issue, so i wouldn't worry about it too much. 🙂
I know that this was a rebooted forum, so the activity that you have going on is amazing! I think it's a great start to a new forum. 🙂
The sidebar on the right makes more sense as you want the most important information on your left, as you read from left to right. Sidebars of any kind are usually complementary elements.
I love the theme. I am a huge fan of dark themes. The banner you have on Facebook is very pleasing to my eyeballs. 😀
The first time I visited Atrium I saw the nice dark theme. It looks pretty clean which makes it easier for me to navigate trough the forum. Also, each board's description are well-written without any spelling errors. The small logo at the top left corner stands great there and can be used to get back to the main boards quickly.
The members can choose between a dark and a light theme to fit their preferences. It's nice to see this as an option. Some people don't like sidebars but they can hide it. With the time when the forum get bigger I would suggest to move on a custom made theme. It will help Atrium to be even more outstanding and attract more users.
The layout of the forum looks almost perfect to me. People can read the site news and see the newest events without having to scroll. But to make an introduction topic the member have to go all the way to the bottom. Also, the gaming boards are coming in 2nd place but they aren't that much active as other parts of the forum. I would suggest to switch the positions of the Gaming Galore and the Entertainment boards. It's just my opinion and Atrium seems to be more focused on general discussions rather than gaming ones.
There are a lot of other forums available in the Internet where people can discuss everything which they can in Atrium. But you made your forum outstanding to most competitors. I have seen that you host community events with prizes. This is one way to shine from others. Thinking of unique events will make the forum more original and give a member even more reasons to stick with Atrium.
For only a month you managed to build over 7,300 posts and gathered almost 100 members. This is a very nice start of the reboot of your forum. I noticed that when you launched Atrium last month you opened an event with a prize for the top posters. I think that it helped to rocket the activity in the beginning which is always good. There are always members online posting new content and most of the time there is at least one staff member. Anyway, the activity of your forum is amazing and I'm sure if you keep working hard it will become even more active.
Tried to do something like a review. This is the second time when I try to do something similar so please don't laugh at me.
Thank you all for the kind words seriously. I appreciate it along with any and all feedback you've each given so far.
We wanted gaming to be a bigger part of Atrium which is why it is at the top. 😛 Just haven't found all those gamers quite yet. I have layout ideas - so this could change in the future.
@Keranov I wouldn't laugh at you silly, I appreciate it a lot! 🙂 Thank you for all your feedback!
Trying to get ideas down for a custom theme - it'd be fun to have a magical theme on Xenforo for us. We had plenty of resources for Zetaboards and what not - may be more difficult to find someone willing to help with Xenforo but we'll see. @Esper and I are discussing what we want for our custom. :3
Thanks. Yeah politics aren't really a favored topic at Atrium. 🙂 We generally like talking about games/movies/tv shows/world events (so like changes in the world, or news etc), and really generally getting to know one another. 😛
Just wanted to add - we did listen to suggestions and have made some minor layout changes - possibly more in the future but we figured this would be a great start. Thank you all again for the suggestions, feedback and etc. 🙂
I personally think the lighter theme should be default. It's nicer and more professional imo. As for the amount of discussion areas you have, they seem mostly reasonable. 'General Discussions' has a few too many sub-forums for my taste. If you renamed 'Entertainment' to 'Hobbies' then you could move 'Book Nook' and 'Talk Food' there. You could theoretically put 'Games' there and move that whole section to sub-forums, but they're fairly active so it's probably not necessary.
In my experience I've felt the staff and community were friendly and professional. My only criticism is that the place can sometimes feel very clique-y and if you're not going there all the time then you can sometimes feel overlooked in favour of the regulars.
But overall I like the place and think you've done a really good job with it. Great to see so many loyal members coming back after the reboot as well.
Some of them where stuff is completely re-ordered. Thanks for the suggestion of having it reflect our popular areas. The idea of having it all semi-rotate for a "trending" is interesting! We'll see though.
