Pre-Launch Review
Site Name: Beecove
Site Type: Webmaster/Review
Age: 15 days
Appearance
I'm enjoying the appearance of your forum. The colors flow easily together and they are easy on the eyes. No hard contrasts and no sharp, pixilated edges. The banner is very well designed as well, except for one small detail. The glow at the tip of the tail of the bee is cut of and makes a sharp bottom. Ask the designer of the banner if they can try to work in the rest of the tail to make it smoother and overall better looking. I also like the color switcher, but not sure that all of the options should be included or would even be used. Ask your community what color selections they would like to keep or that they use and remove the rest of the options. Other then that, I can think of no other suggestions for the appearance of your forum.
Layout
You have a very to the point board layout, and I like that. I only have a couple suggestions. If you are going to go with the 'bee' theme for the categories, follow that theme to the boards. Give your boards names that fit with the name of your forum and the category names. The usual, run of the mill names are good, but nothing new or unique. you have a very different name so make the most of it. You could use the descriptions to let the members know what the board is for and what types of content to post in each. Other then that, you have a good amount of board for your current member base and activity.
First Impressions and Interest
My first impression of your forum was" Wow! This forum is very clean and well laid out!" The tag line also caught my attention. At first glance, thought, I have no idea what your forum is about. It was not until I did some digging in the news board that I figure it out. I first thought, "Oh, another webmaster forum." Then I saw the "Oh that user!" board and thought, "Oh! It's not a webmaster forum, it's a member review forum. Cool!" The point is, your genre is not very apparent, and that would turn me off from joining. Think about adding a guest box that tells guests what your forum is about.
Content
Your content is great so far. Lots of great discussions with thought out replies. Grammar and punctuation are good as well. I would recommend finding a way to decrease the number of posts in the General Discussion board though as it is starting to overlap your "on-topic" discussions. You may also want to kick things off in the "Warm Recommendations" board to get you members posting there as well.
Words from the Reviewer
Overall, you have a very nice looking forum and great activity for being 15 days old. Think about changing your board names to something more 'bee-like' before it is too late and you have too many members who are used to the way they are now. Best of luck with your forum. Again, it looks great!
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