Your Forum Review
First Impressions & Appearance - (Out of 20)
I’m sort of hot and cold with your theme. It’s nice, but there are certain things about it that annoy me. It’s too blocky. You’ve got like 6 boxes of information at the top of your skin, none of which have nice rounded edges like other parts of your forum do. Also, couldn’t some of that info be put somewhere else? It’s a bit annoying to have a scrolling box, then a menu bar, then an announcement for voting (which was scrolling at the top anyway), then a random rule warning, then another voting thing, followed by yet another advertisement for voting. Couldn’t there be one place that says, “All voting announcements here.” or similar? Another thing that bugs me is that you can’t hide the sidebar. (the box with “Latest Threads”, etc.) It’s only really useful for the first look when you first visit the forum. Other than that, however, it would be nice to be able to hide it.
Let’s talk about what’s good, though! All of your icons/emotes seem to look good. They don’t have any pixelled edges, and they’re very crisp. I also like your share/bookmark section. The icons are nice and rounded, and also show the site they’re linking to correctly. Finally, I like that you have a favicon. I couldn’t really tell what it was (I think it’s a ghost for Halloween?), but regardless, you have one. That’s good.
(Scored 15/20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
I mentioned this above, but you really need to clean up the boxy elements. Your forum would look a ton better without those there. I do like a lot of your layout, though. I like how you have the user info on the top of posts, because it’s different and unique. You also have lots of good information about each user on the right of the info bar, which is good. Your post view screen is also very simple, and it’s easy to read. As far as your layout of forums, I’d like to suggest one thing. I’d remove the literature forum. It’s off-topic, and it’s not really something a lot of people would go to a forum called “gfxcafe” for. Plus, it only has 3 topics. I think the regular off-topic board would suffice for literature discussion.
Another minor thing I’d like to mention is the arcade. Why do you have it? Your forum isn’t a general discussion forum, nor is it a game forum. It has nothing to do with graphics. It makes your forum seem too bloated with features.
Finally, I see you have a donation link, and an “upgrade” link. I would suggest you merge the two together. Just have the upgrade link say that you can donate anything over $5 to upgrade, and that you appreciate higher donations. It seems silly to offer both.
(Scored 14/20)
Statistics and Activity - (Out of 20)
Your forum has been open for roughly 2 months. For that amount of time, 2.8K posts is very good. You also have 86 members, although only 63% have posted on the boards. Your forum also averages over 30 posts a day, which is good. There are 2 things to note, however. First, your forum is still new. Only time will tell if the activity will keep up. That’s why it’s important for you to keep promoting. Keep encouraging members to post. Another thing to note is that staff accounts for 1,000+ of your posts. Don’t get me wrong; it’s certainly important to have active staff. However, it’s more important to have actual members post, because that’s who your staff are for.
(Scored 17/20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
You have 4 or 5 members on your staff team, which isn’t bad. I wouldn’t hire anymore for a forum your size, but you’re fine right now. All of them seem to do their job. All of them have a healthy amount of posts. Your forum seemed free of spam as far as I could tell. Overall, I think your staff team is excellent. I would suggest an improvement in spelling and grammar, however, as I will touch on below.
(Scored 18/20)
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism - (Out of 20)
Many of your forum descriptions could be improved. I’ll point out a few for you.
“New? Stop in here and say hi!” should be, “New? Stop in here, and say hi!”
“Questions, Comments, Ideas? Go here!” has capitalization errors, and an incomplete sentence. Revise to, “Do you have questions, comments, or ideas? Go here!”
“Everything else about graphics in here” should be, “Everything else about graphics goes in here.”
“If you want something like a tutorial or something you can ask here! You can offer GC's. “ needs a revision. Make it something like “If you want something like a tutorial, you can ask here! You can offer GC's. “
“*Note this will not give you any GC's if you wish to gain GC's please use the downloads section. “ should be, “*Note: This will not give you any GC's. If you wish to gain GC's, please use the downloads section. “
Some of your forum’s posts were the same way. I’d definitely do some revision on your official documents, and try to improve the writing quality of the posts.
(Scored 13/20)
Total Score – 77 (Out of 100)
Final Remarks: You have a nice forum started.
What was most liked about the website/forums: Staff team.
What was disliked most about the website/forums: Spelling/Grammar
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website? Fix some of the spelling and layout issues.
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