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EclypticStudios (HOME) & (FORUM) pages
- Thread starter Saruman
- Start date
Re: EclypticStudios.com (HOME) & (FORUM) pages
HOME
Appearance – The buttons at the very top of the page are choppy and unattractive; it appears the creator used MS paint to crop them out of a larger picture. They also do not fit the overall theme of the webpage. Create new buttons that match the theme and look sharp and attractive. The black bar on which they sit does not match the site, either.
Varying shades of blue make up the rest of the webpage. While blue isn’t bad in and of itself, there lack of variety makes the shades appear bland. Links do not stand out. If you insist upon keeping blue links on a blue background, try adding shading to the bold links. Something to give your site depth might help it out.
The upside of the layout is that everything is readable. The margins on both sides are a good width (on my computer at least). The font is a good style and size. (The lighter grey of dates can be more challenging to read.)
Content – I don’t know what type of site this is. There is no introductory blurb, and the articles appear to be neither here nor there. The “About” section is nothing. One moment there’s an article about boots and the next is a coffee maker. Scroll down and there are articles about Microsoft and dreamcatchers. Define what your site is so that people don’t just look at it and wander away.
Though, of course, new content helps. Your “latest content” marquee has information dating back to August. If this was a webpage I went for new information, I’d find myself awfully bored. (Though to be honest, since I don’t know what I’m looking at, maybe it’s not supposed to be a place people go to for new information.) The article for “Desura Evolution” features comments from February. Which I assume is February 2013, but that’s still almost a full year ago. The dates on the archives indicate that this is nothing new and that it isn’t updated very frequently.
FORUM
Appearance – The same blues are carried over to the forums but now with an even bigger problem. The appearance of the webpage was mediocre, but the forums now are practically impossible to read. A column on the far right has the latest posts. A column on the far left has the entire forums squished down to maybe about 400px in width. If I were just looking for a site to join and not reviewing this place, I’d leave right now.
Spend some time to develop the forums. I have never administrated MyBB, but I know of several sites and people have made them very sleek and easy on the eyes. I’m sure that there are pre-created skins/themes if you do not have the time or talents to make one of your own. The category titles, the forum icons, even the fonts used—it all looks so overwhelmingly basic. Basic can be good if it is used right. It’s not used right here.
The simple forums clash drastically with the header. Where the forums are blue, the header is black and grey. There is teal in the user links, a different blue in the forum logo and a picture of a videogame character under those ugly buttons again. And in case you can’t see what I see, here is a link. The skin honestly looks like it is half finished with pieces taped in there from other skins. Even the main titles (forum category titles, in case that’s not the common name) differ. “Board information” and “Journalism department” differ from “World news” through “Video media” (which are bolded versions of the first). Then the next couple have a red background and finally the last handful go back to the bold.
The links in the sidebar have no visual relevance with the rest of the board, either. I can barely read any of the sidebar’s information since there is so much stuff crammed in there with very few breaks and several random coding bits. And at the bottom of the page, the footer is only half finished.
Content – This section will likely be sparse on my part because I can’t read the board very well. Some sections of the site appear to be fairly active. Judging by the time stamps on the latest posts, I can only guess that there might be one or two active people who post around the same time. I would imagine that if there were more active people, there would be a larger variety in time stamps (ie: instead of all posts being 20-22 hours ago, some would be 4 hours ago and others 10 hours ago and others 20 hours ago). But sadly, I can’t really verify this.
I do know, however, that some sections are almost never touched. One of “Global News’” related posts is from 2012. A year ago. That’s not latest news.
OVERALL
I apologize if it appears that I am bashing on your site for the skin. However, this is a huge component of your site. Potential members will see this first and then decide if they want to read more content and explore the site more. With a skin that is a complete turn off, you won’t be getting much members. But moreover, if the forums are squished to one side and the other, there is no way people can be expected to look at the site, say it’s a great place, and join. So here I see are the big problems:
1. Your skin/theme. Appearance. Whatever you want to call it.
2. Content on your website.
3. What the heck your website is actually for.
Good luck with your site and let me know if you have any questions.
HOME
Appearance – The buttons at the very top of the page are choppy and unattractive; it appears the creator used MS paint to crop them out of a larger picture. They also do not fit the overall theme of the webpage. Create new buttons that match the theme and look sharp and attractive. The black bar on which they sit does not match the site, either.
Varying shades of blue make up the rest of the webpage. While blue isn’t bad in and of itself, there lack of variety makes the shades appear bland. Links do not stand out. If you insist upon keeping blue links on a blue background, try adding shading to the bold links. Something to give your site depth might help it out.
The upside of the layout is that everything is readable. The margins on both sides are a good width (on my computer at least). The font is a good style and size. (The lighter grey of dates can be more challenging to read.)
Content – I don’t know what type of site this is. There is no introductory blurb, and the articles appear to be neither here nor there. The “About” section is nothing. One moment there’s an article about boots and the next is a coffee maker. Scroll down and there are articles about Microsoft and dreamcatchers. Define what your site is so that people don’t just look at it and wander away.
Though, of course, new content helps. Your “latest content” marquee has information dating back to August. If this was a webpage I went for new information, I’d find myself awfully bored. (Though to be honest, since I don’t know what I’m looking at, maybe it’s not supposed to be a place people go to for new information.) The article for “Desura Evolution” features comments from February. Which I assume is February 2013, but that’s still almost a full year ago. The dates on the archives indicate that this is nothing new and that it isn’t updated very frequently.
FORUM
Appearance – The same blues are carried over to the forums but now with an even bigger problem. The appearance of the webpage was mediocre, but the forums now are practically impossible to read. A column on the far right has the latest posts. A column on the far left has the entire forums squished down to maybe about 400px in width. If I were just looking for a site to join and not reviewing this place, I’d leave right now.
Spend some time to develop the forums. I have never administrated MyBB, but I know of several sites and people have made them very sleek and easy on the eyes. I’m sure that there are pre-created skins/themes if you do not have the time or talents to make one of your own. The category titles, the forum icons, even the fonts used—it all looks so overwhelmingly basic. Basic can be good if it is used right. It’s not used right here.
The simple forums clash drastically with the header. Where the forums are blue, the header is black and grey. There is teal in the user links, a different blue in the forum logo and a picture of a videogame character under those ugly buttons again. And in case you can’t see what I see, here is a link. The skin honestly looks like it is half finished with pieces taped in there from other skins. Even the main titles (forum category titles, in case that’s not the common name) differ. “Board information” and “Journalism department” differ from “World news” through “Video media” (which are bolded versions of the first). Then the next couple have a red background and finally the last handful go back to the bold.
The links in the sidebar have no visual relevance with the rest of the board, either. I can barely read any of the sidebar’s information since there is so much stuff crammed in there with very few breaks and several random coding bits. And at the bottom of the page, the footer is only half finished.
Content – This section will likely be sparse on my part because I can’t read the board very well. Some sections of the site appear to be fairly active. Judging by the time stamps on the latest posts, I can only guess that there might be one or two active people who post around the same time. I would imagine that if there were more active people, there would be a larger variety in time stamps (ie: instead of all posts being 20-22 hours ago, some would be 4 hours ago and others 10 hours ago and others 20 hours ago). But sadly, I can’t really verify this.
I do know, however, that some sections are almost never touched. One of “Global News’” related posts is from 2012. A year ago. That’s not latest news.
OVERALL
I apologize if it appears that I am bashing on your site for the skin. However, this is a huge component of your site. Potential members will see this first and then decide if they want to read more content and explore the site more. With a skin that is a complete turn off, you won’t be getting much members. But moreover, if the forums are squished to one side and the other, there is no way people can be expected to look at the site, say it’s a great place, and join. So here I see are the big problems:
1. Your skin/theme. Appearance. Whatever you want to call it.
2. Content on your website.
3. What the heck your website is actually for.
Good luck with your site and let me know if you have any questions.
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