Large Forum Review
First Impressions
When I first clicked the link to your site, the logo was the first thing which welcomed me. I have to say that I was surprised at how simple and small the logo is, especially when you gave such a huge header space for the logo. The color of “WriterBB” is almost similar to the background that it is not very attractive and clear. I would advise you to change the logo, add more color, and perhaps even adding a tag line or a slogan in the banner. You have so many space, make use of it. Empty space doesn’t look good. I like your idea of having a log-in/regiester box to stand alone like that, but I first thought the register button is gone. Move it up to the first line, make it stand out more or even bigger to gain attention. I like the quote posted at the top of the forum, it feels to liven up the atmosphere for a writing website. The color combination is a standard blue-white, calm and doesn’t hurt the eyes. Navigation is easy too.
The other thing I’m a bit worried about is how small your writing section is. It is at the same size with the off-topic section. It is rather worrying, or confusing, since you should’ve been able to explore more on that part. It makes visitors feel in doubt of the idea of the forum, and that is not very good for a first impression.
(Score: 9/15)
Appearance
The theme is a standard one, not very special but not bad either. As stated above, in relationship with first impression, it would be great if you can develop the logo even more. The icon of pencil and the “WriterBB” itself are already good to start with, but you will need to add more. Consider the color scheme as well, too many blue can turn people way because it is too boring.
There is one line empty space after the blue space for the logo. To me it feels rather useless to have empty space there. Maybe you can fill it with the quick log-in box, or the quote, or the slogan of your site, or latest news about the site?
The shades of blue as the background of the category name look strange to my eyes, as if it is not natural. Perhaps change it to one solid color instead, or add abstract structure? Try modify it a bit, the shades don’t look natural there.
I’m not sure about the brown book icon to represent forum with new posts. The brown doesn’t feel like blending with the blue, unfortunately. In this matter, perhaps changing the color scheme of the entire forum to a more colorful one would help. Adapt more than two colors. For example, natural colors like blue, green, yellow, and calm red (rather dark one) can be a good start.
I appreciate that you try to give a different forum icons. For navigation menu icons and log-in box, the icons are standard MyBB icons. Just like the buttons to start new topic or post new reply; all of them are still MyBB standard buttons. Getting a new set would be the next step. You can try to incorporate that pencil you have at the logo into the buttons. That will give the impression that the themes and buttons are one complete package. The user ranks do not match the theme in my opinion, unfortunately. Try my previous suggestion, make a combination of all buttons and images in the site but show connection with each other too.
(Score: 10/20)
Statistics and Activity
It has only been almost two months since the forum opened, so I understand if the activity is slow. Let’s take a more in-depth look in this, though.
WriterBB has 758 posts with 30 members. Roughly it means 25 posts per member. I think that is not a bad number given the age of the forum. You will have to work further on content to raise this number, but at least you have a good start. I didn’t notice many members with 0 post count, though, which is good because it means your members are interested to at least post around a bit. There are two administrators and in total they made around 400 posts, more than half of the total posts the forum has. Again, I wouldn’t blame you because it is new, and new forums need lots of help from the administrators, but do give members their space too. Build threads which require many replies, like about everyday life or favorite things, and let members lead the discussion. You can also try to expand the forums a bit more, add more area for members to explore and talk.
(Score: 14/20)
Ratios
For forum sections ratio, I mentioned this above a bit: I wonder why you have very small area for what your forum is about. “Writing” category has the same amount as “Other” category. This is not good, since you need to open up and explore the area of what your forum is actually about. You can expand it based on the genre of the writing: fanfiction, poem, short story, novel, and so on. Be it discussion forum or the showcase forum.
The “Reading Discussion” as a stand-alone forum rather than a sub-forum of “General Discussion” or as a forum under “Writing” is also rather weird for me. Reading is actually integrated in writing too, in my opinion, so you can put it as a forum under the “Writing” category, or just merge it with “General Discussion” section. You may think this would cause the forum to be very small with only few categories, but it should be okay as long as you don’t lose sight of the main idea of the forum.
You can play the trick of building sub-forums for "General Discussion" if you want to give members more places to talk at without ruling over the writing area.
For staff members ratio, two administrators can obviously handle a forum in your size. Well done on this.
(Score: 6/10)
Content
I will start with the index page. As I read and scrolled around I found some grammatical mistakes, especially with apostrophes. For example, you wrote “
Talk about book's in general.” for "Reading Discussion" description. You don't need an apostrophe there before the "s" because it doesn't show belonging. The same goes with your third forum title. You wrote it as "
Member's Script's". The structure of the sentence becomes very confusing; remove the apostrophe in the second word and you'll be good. Also minor fault like "
If you would like to leave some suggestions and feedback on the forum then please do so in this topic." should have the word "forum" or "section" in place of "topic". Remember, minor details make up the overall impression, so a check now and then would be good. Especially since you are a writing forum, there is slightly higher expectation of good grammar usage around the website.
The grammar inside the rules, guidelines, and other topics and posts are better. There might be minor mistakes, but everyone does it once in a while, so it is not a big problem.
It is great to see the sections related to writing being quite active. Keep on going there. Start new threads, reply to members, encourage them to start their own threads and lead discussions. Small contests might raise more interests. You don't really have to give prizes; or you can give some related to writing to boost people's love in writing. Most importantly, ask the community and let them participate to make the forum grows bigger and better.
(Score: 15/20)
Navigation
The navigation is clear and located at the top of the page, makes it easier to notice important links. Aside that, nothing much is different. The other links are placed at the bottom part of the page near the footer. They are not of the utmost importance so it is good to be there.
The Term of Service is placed at the rules section. I suppose it is quite important so probably would be best to place it in a more visible place. For example, turning it into forum-wide announcement or link it at the footer of the forum.
(Score: 14/15)
Total Score
68/100
Final Remarks
WriterBB is a potential writing community. It is shown with members interest at the writing-related sections. There are also many things to explore on, such as getting a more personalized theme and icons, expand the sections, and add more content. Create events and let members participate and enjoy themselves not only in writing, but also in the community of the forum. Good luck!
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