Quick Review by Red Herring
Analysis:
Oho, now what do we have here? Why, I do believe that this is a forum and community dedicated to the forum software known as "MyBB", my dearest Herring. Ta ha. Well, this is certainly a pleasant surprise. MyBB is, without question, my all-time favorite forum software and even web software in general. I have always been proud of my loyalty to this software; loyalty that has continuously been rewarded with its progressive development.
I am ecstatic to find that a new community dedicated to it has sprouted up, as I honestly feel that MyBB is more underrated than it should be. With that being said, I am ever the critic. My more-than-positive feelings on MyBB will not affect my unbiased standpoint as a reviewer. I shall show no mercy, if it is required. So let's end on that thought and begin.
Strengths:
- Beautiful Aesthetics
If there's ever an element that an admin wants to succeed in, it's website design. Overall, design is not as important as other elements in the grand scheme of things. However, when it comes to first impressions from potential users, you're really going to want to excel here. Unfortunate as it may be, most individuals on the web often do judge the book by its cover. Additionally, the design should always be themed towards what it's catering to. So, for a website dedicated to MyBB, it needs to feel MyBB.
Definitely not an issue here! When I first visited MyBB Developers, my eyes sparkled in delight. They ate up the design like the eye candy it was. Everything is gorgeous. However, I do not believe this is a theme uniquely designed for MyBB Developers, as I do vaguely recall seeing such a theme somewhere on the web. However, I certainly haven't seen any other MyBB websites using it. So while this design may not be unique, it certainly feels unique. And that's what counts. I actually have almost no complaints regarding actual design. Not even nit-picking. The criticism I do have is mostly in regard to technical details. So let's break it down, shall we?
As always, I will begin with the header. It is a very gorgeous header and consists primarily of thwo elements: a blue textured navigation bar at the very top, and a sleek dark bar beneath that which houses the logo and UCP elements. Quite a colorful display. The MyBB Developers logo consists of a red ribbon design with great bold text reading "MyBB Developers" (in silver and blue) overlaying it. Were this just about any other forum, I would likely have mixed thoughts on this logo. However, it somehow manages to work here, to great effect. The red provides a delightful contrast to the rest of the forum with the general ribbon shape fitting very snugly into the header. It actually feels very MyBB. A successful logo. I would prefer something a little more creative, but it's executed beautifully and complimented by the very sleek UCP area next to it. Beautiful.
If I must offer a complaint about the header, however, it would be in regards to the navigation elements. There is nothing wrong with the design itself. The design is pristine. What I'm bothered by is a couple of the navigation elements themselves. Namely: "View New Posts" and "NewPoints." Now don't get me wrong, I very much enjoy the NewPoints plugin and a "View New Posts" button is always very helpful. But do they really need to be in the navigation bar? The primary navigation bar should always be reserved for links to entire essential sections of a website, not handy features like "View New Posts." Meanwhile, the NewPoints would be fine if it were something users would frequently make use of; for instance, if you actually had useful shop items. But the shop is quite devoid of an inventory. These are elements I feel should really be included in the UCP area rather than the navbar. Nonetheless, I am getting a bit off track here.
Let's continue praising this lovely design, shall we? I shall now scroll down to the index...
Apparently, the breadcrumb bar wants to accompany me. Ta ha. Well, hello dear Breadcrumb bar. Do you want to take a journey with me around this wonderful land known as "MyBB Developers"? You certainly look like you do. Very well, then! Accompany me on this adventure you shall! I hereby dub you "Bred Herring!" Come on, Bred! We're off to find the land of dreams and rainbows!
No offense to my dearest companion Bred, but...why is the breadcrumb bar following me wherever I go? I certainly appreciate those types of elements, but it seems a bit unneeded to make it the breadcrumb bar of all things. I mean, it's certainly more helpful than if it weren't following me, but I'm honestly not certain it's useful enough to warrant such a feature. If it included UCP elements as well, then perhaps. Not to mention, Bred seems to occasionally suffer from some...anomalies.
OH GOD BRED WHAT'S HAPPENING TO YOU!?
Ah well. Moving on. Index! Quite. Forum design consists of a dark blue gradient-shaded curved category header and TABLE-LESS forums. You have no idea how much I appreciate the fact that all of those hideous table separators are not present within this forum. In place of separators, forums rotate slightly different shades of grey; very subtle, but still noticeable...to positive effect. This is all topped off by absolutely gorgeous forum icons: square icons with rounded edges and lightbulbs. They're not too subtle and not too pronounced, just how I like them.
Moving on to the last element of the forum, which is the footer. I am ecstatic to encounter a website that actually uses a footer! I mean, it's not a particularly astounding or complex footer, but as I always say: To make a proper sandwich (website), you need good ingredients and two pieces of bread (header / footer). And MyBB Developers has its two pieces of bread. Its footer is a simple black bar, fit with stock MyBB navigation elements. Very simple, but quite sleek. And hey! It's a bloody footer! Apparently they're so difficult to include these days.
Well, that's about it. I may have done quite a bit of nitpicking, but this is truthfully a gorgeous design. The color blending: consisting of blue, black and white; feels very MyBB. And it's a design that almost no one would be unhappy with staring at on a daily basis, especially not me. On a first impression basis, MyBB Developers would certainly grab my attention. Excellent work.
- Great Forum Structure
Forum structure is important. Especially for a forum dedicated to content, such as MyBB Developers. I don't believe anyone is going to dispute this. If your forum structure is a chaotic mess, the only thing it'll serve is to confuse your userbase. This would be quite detrimental to a content-oriented forum. If users have difficulty accessing the resources it offers, then it pretty much defeats the purpose.
Fortunately, this is not the case with MyBB Developers. There is a grand total of three categories...and they're perfect. These three categories consist of your standard announcements/information forum, the main content category and an off-topic category. It's a pretty minimal selection for a forum; most forums tend to incorporate several categories. Normally, I would object to such minimalism, but in this case, it literally covers everything that it needs to at the moment.
The announcements and general information category covers website announcements, member introductions, feedback and support, and MyBB announcements (definitely useful in a MyBB community.) The main content category, "MyBB 1.6.x" consists of a general MyBB discussion forum, MyBB support forum, plugins forum, themes forum and a Tutorials forum. Lastly, the Off-Topic category encompasses a general off topic forum, a tech forum, a media forum, a programming forum and an advertisement forum for MyBB board owners. All-in-all, it's quite a solid lineup. It covers everything a MyBB forum would need to cover. Beautiful.
If the community starts to grow, I would definitely suggest expanding upon this list. But for a starter forum set, it's concise, thorough and easy to navigate. Everything one would want in forum structure.
Weaknesses:
- Lack of Content
And now we move on to the unfortunate bits of unmentionables. It's lamentable, but negatives must be pointed out. And they're very critical flaws for a forum that aims to providing resources and content to its memberbase. And this section will cover the worst flaw currently afflicting MyBB Developers; that flaw being "Content". Or more specifically, the lack thereof.
Lack thereof indeed. MyBB Developers isn't simply lacking in content, it's almost completely devoid of it. Although if you want to be technical, there are 18 MyBB plugins and three MyBB themes. However, it's really difficult for me to actually count most of those as content, because they're reposts of plugins made by another developer, posted with the permission of that developer. This is all well and good, but it is a false sense of content, pseudo-content, if you will. The unique content available is present in the form of one theme (Metamorph), adapted from an HTML template. And if I am to be perfectly honest, it's certainly not my cup of tea.
I can understand the fact that there aren't any community or staff created plugins. There aren't a wide variety of individuals experienced with the creation of them, and a website needs a community before it can have community-created plugins, yes? However, I feel that the tutorials forum is very much going to waste. If one can adapt an HTML template into a theme, then surely some interesting little tutorials shouldn't be out of reach? There's a vast variety of features that one can implement into MyBB through HTML and CSS alone. Furthermore, I would certainly like to see more attempts to create themes. Believe me when I say that MyBB themes are in very high demand.
If I may make a suggestion, perhaps you should incorporate a staff team whose duty is to gather resources and content for MyBB Developers? Tutorials, graphics, etc. A Content Team, if you will. If you build up your MyBB content and resources, you will increase your appeal to guests. It should definitely be your priority.
- Devoid of Activity
While exploring MyBB Developers, there were a few words that crossed my mind. What were those words, you might ask? "Wow, this place is a ghost town." I swear as though I could almost feel the spirits haunting the place. I looked about, kicked around a few tumbleweeds in my way and prayed that I was not disturbing the site of some ancient Indian burial ground.
Quite an empty forum. The statistics are relatively forgivable, considering that it was founded only a month and a half ago, but this forum has almost no community whatsoever. Half of the posts belong to the administrator himself and most of the posters aren't the permanent sort. Furthermore, the owner hardly seems to be posting any threads to get a little more discussion going. This should definitely be remedied. I always recommend that an admin create several new threads daily until a community gets strong enough to start functioning on its own. Things here are definitely struggling, which is a shame, because MyBB could really use more communities dedicated to it.
An effort definitely needs to be made to acquire a more stable community.
Final Remarks:
Let's see. What's the best way I could describe MyBB Developers? Perhaps a doll? Bright and pretty on the outside but hollow on the inside and doesn't particularly do anything. MyBB Developers has all the makings of a good software community website, it's just that the content and community to fill it simply are not there. It may just be that it's too early in the game for it to have started building on that, but the fact remains that this landscape is pretty barren at the moment. I definitely hope it makes a turn-around and becomes one of the brightest beacons dedicated to MyBB to be found on the internet.
Best regards, MyBB Developers. Whatever path you walk, whatever road you travel, I wish you the very best of luck.
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