First Impressions:
One of the first things I noticed about your forum was the incredibly fast load times each page took; Considering the amount of system demanding content each page has (Videos, Social Links) I was amazed about how fast and responsive your site was! Another great impression of your site I got was your homepage which was to the point about what the site is about and was clear and easy to use and navigate. I liked the way you used an introductory video on the homepage rather than text, it engages with the user and also matches the genre (Your Youtube Channel). You kept a minimalist but useful approach to your homepage- You displayed some welcome text, a video, a subscribe button and also some recent topics from the forum- This approach meant you could focus on the important aspects such as subscribing and viewing the forums but also didn't bombard you with a lot of unecessary content. Another feature I liked was the simple and easy to use navigation menu, Again you kept a minimalist approach, only displaying links to important pages and then the forums. Overall the first impressions I got of your site were excellent and for your genre, I could see all the things relating to it with ease.
Excellent
Site Structure:
When it comes to the structure of your site, I feel you have done a good job on the pages of your site, however the forum seems a bit rushed and more of a mini-Script than a powerful discussion software. Your pages were organised in a logical and purposeful order in the navigational menu- Prioritising pages about your videos content and placing things like the Hall Of Fame and the forum at the bottom. This draws attention to some of the more important pages of your site and I liked your organisation of the menu. When it comes to the structure of the pages, I felt they were kept basic, you displayed the title of the page and then some content. In a few of the pages like the "Projects & Extras" the title of the page was half cutoff by the header and the text seemed squashed in at the top. This makes the pages appear a bit unprofessional and could certainly do with a quick bit of reorganisation. Some pages also didn't contain very much content, for example your "Games" page. Moving onto your forum, I feel this has been quite rushed and looks extremely compressed and squashed in for mobile users however it does appear slightly better for desktop users. From a quick glance I found out you are using bbPress, a mini-script like software for intergation into websites, which has a few disadvantages to using a traditional forum software. For example after joining and having a look around some bbPress powered forums, I noticed a lack of: A Private Messaging System, No signatures for users, no moderation (You are either a user or admin), No Avatars and no advanced formatting tools for posts such as bbcode or quotes/multi-quotes; As a site user, it is important that some of these basic features are there. Another disadvantage in regards to the forum aspect of your site is the descriptions for each catergory; For me there is not enough emphasis or spotlight on your forum descriptions, which fundamentally tell a user what that section is for. One of the advantages of bbPress however is the vast plugin library and customisable features of it! Though a few plugins and some changes to your forum descriptions placing and text size, you could really improve your forum, to match the quality structure of the other aspects to your site. Overall I feel your pages and site has a very organised and minimalist structure however the forum could be improved with a few plugins.
Average
Thing you liked best about forum: I really liked your simplistic approach to the site, displaying the important things in the prefect places. I also really liked the responsivness and speed of your site as a whole.
Thing you liked least about forum: The forum could be further improved through changes to the code and with a few plugins to further enhance some features of the script, bbPress, and the overall mobile experience isn't really enjoyable compared to the desktop experience due to the design and "squashing" of some of your site- A few changes to the themeing could make a big difference for mobile users.
Overall Mark:
Overall, I feel Mathlete Nations is a really good site matching the genre and needs of the Channel perfectly. You displayed a lot of channel useful content (Such as information regarding your videos and projects) There are a few areas, like the structure and organisation of the forum, you could improve on, but overall I feel you have a very solid basis to work on and make great. I wish you all the luck with your site and also your channel!
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