Pre-Launch Review
Site Name: Forum Hour
Site Type: Forum
Age: >2 months
***Since you've noted that you're getting a new design for your forum, I will be combining the appearance & layout section***
Appearance & Layout
I won't make much comment about your theme as it doesn't really matter since it'll be changed soon. However, let me mention that I do like it, it's very simple and the color go well. I'm split on your logo, you can definitely use a better designed logo. Perhaps speak with Tindris about a logo with a new mascot. Your favicon, I'm not sure if you'll be changing that with the new theme but I would recommend that you do - perhaps a hourglass or a clock
🙂.
Your layout is pretty simple and basic and I do believe some adjusting can be done to improve the quality of your forum. You have your menu, then a sub menu (and this is usually at the footer), user menu and then forums. It's good because most users are used to a similar set up but it's also bad because it's not very different. Hopefully, Tindris creates the new design with a bit more innovation playing around with the menus.
Let's take a menu, first the menu item "Hosted By BelieveHosting" is very obnoxious and for me at least, takes away from the menu because menu should be a method of navigating your forums not advertising. Also, I've never seen this on any forums but I think it'd be a good idea to have a drop down menu of "Services" that are provided by ForumHour where each link takes you to that certain forum/topic.
I love the concept of poster of the hour, it's very original and appealing. However, I think the placement of the banner could be improved; I think it'd asthetically look better as well as serve your members better if you placed the banner on the top right side of your header. If you're against the idea of having in the header, then I would suggest instead of having the sponser ad under the poster of the hour, have it on the right of it.
For some reason, I want to suggest the following order for your forums
1. Promotion & Services
2. Between Members
3. Webmaster Discussion
4. General Chat
5. Member Center
Also, your forum names and descriptions are all..well just like any other promotion forums, it's always a good idea to try to be different. Use more interactive titles, shorter to-the-point descriptions.
First Impressions and Interest
As I mentioned earlier, I simply love the idea of having a poster of the hour. When I first visited you forum a while back, I was surprised at your activity, for a forum that's so young - you're doing a damn good job! Because of the similar forum names and descriptions, however, I did get a feeling of "oh another promotion forum" when in truth..it's not just another promotion forum!
Content
There's nothing much to criticize here, for a forum that is only 2 months old, you've not only got quantity but also quality and this is why your forum will succeed. As a member of your forums, I've obviously browsed through the forums and I've noticed that most discussions are very real discussions between members and they're not just posts that being made to increase post count or such.
Words from the Reviewer
You're on the right path, your forum is continuing to grow so don't give up and look forward to what's about to come; ForumHour will go far.
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