Nintendo Forums - your views?

[Mikaya]

Hi, I was just after some feedback for a Gaming forum I'm staff at. Any comments/suggestions are welcome. I'd like to see if there's anything we can do to improve and make it better. Thank you for your time.

http://www.nintendoforums.net

 

[Teejay23]

Re: Feedback required!

Hey Mika,

Ill comment on the mobile side of things as im looking at it on my Samsung Note.

With mobile devices gearing up to more sources, a good mobile site is a must for a smooth transition.

Layout form its nice and well presented giving a good first impression. One of the better mobile forums i have seen. You can still zoom in whats a plus as the text is still a standard size so can easily zoom and click. Some forums dont have the ability to and need to be switched to fullmode.

I like the forum icons and simple postbits. Easy to get into a thread and read then reply.

I dont like the mobile banner of the forum that much. The black background and the forum logo dont go well together. The banner on fullmode is good though.

Hope helped abit.

 

[Mikaya]

Re: Feedback required!

Thanks for your comments! much appreciated! Glad to receive some positive feedback! =D

didn't really think about the mobile side of things.

 

[Teejay23]

Re: Feedback required!

Yeah its easy to forget and only concentrate on the web side of things. But as i said with mobile being more streamlined now, its something you got to at least somewhat cater for. Even if its a little bit.

Ill really check the web version out later today and put my 2cents in 🙂

 

[Mikaya]

Re: Feedback required!

accessing the forum on the go might prove popular, so there should be a good, simple, easy to use layout/features for mobile devices.

sounds good! thank you so much! I look forward to it! ^^

 

[Teejay23]

Re: Feedback required!

Just had a look at the web version of the forums.

As i stated the logo banner is good as it captures the Nintendo feel of characters and essence of history.

As the background black with blue glow, i don't know - good it feels unique but i always see Nintendo to be "bright" or i guess lightish in color. That includes the black header at the top.

With the "Outside World" forum would be maybe good to continue the trend of the side "logos" example for the Art discussion have an icon of a paint brush or something.

I like the member ranks aswell, they suite the structure well whilst still keeping to the Nintendo theme.

You might have some link problems at the bottom of the forums aswell under "Community". The Home link doesn't lead anywhere and gives an error. Where the other links are all generic and lead to the homepage (unless they are all under construction) - just don't forget about them 🙂. So maybe make a forum thread relating to the link to make it lead somewhere in the meantime if you plan in the future of making actual pages for them.

 

[Mikaya]

Re: Feedback required!

Thanks for checking it out & giving feedback! I spoke to the owner, and a new theme should fix things. Stay tuned!

and working on the links too. ^^

 

[Mikaya]

Re: Feedback required!

I'd like more feedback!!! What could we do to make it more appealing to potential members? =D

 

[Mikaya]

Re: Feedback required!

give us your views! every little bit of feedback counts!

good and bad points considered! =3

 

[Ashley]

I'm a member there on an active/active post exchange and I really like it. To be honest I really can't think of anything that needs changing at this time. I guess it doesn't help that I don't know much of anything about XenForo either?

 

[SarahKik]

I actually don't have much in the way of improvements, but wanted to comment anyway 😛

In my opinion you have a really solid layout. To me it seems to cater to all Nintendo fans which is nice to see. Personally I'm more of an old school fan so seeing that Retro area is a huge plus for me =p The specific-game forums are spot on, though I'm kind of wondering if it'd hurt to add another? There's Kirby, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Animal Crossing, etc. To me it just seems like Maro Kart could maybe be a subforum in Mario instead, to give room for another popular series. But maybe the others aren't as popular on the board? Regardless, I think the board did a really nice job with the layout.

The themes on the forum are nice as well. I'm glad to see a dark theme there now (fairly sure there wasn't one when I was posting there) - it's a nice addition for those who prefer them! One idea is maybe adding more game specific themes? I'm sure fans would really appreciate and love the idea. Like a green/gold theme for Legend of Zelda. Or maybe some retro 8-bit theme for retro lovers 😛 Etc. I think it'd be a unique touch for your board =]

And just a random thought because I saw the contest thread; some little ones may go a long way! Ones that could be done on a weekly or bi-weekly basis - something like Caption Contests (especially if you use screenshots from Nintendo games to do this) are really fun. Plus they're easy for both the staff and the members.

Overall, I think the board is doing pretty good. Keep it up ^_^

 

[Mikaya]

@SF: what do you think of the themes? is there anything that could be improved? =3

@Kik:

In my opinion you have a really solid layout. To me it seems to cater to all Nintendo fans which is nice to see. Personally I'm more of an old school fan so seeing that Retro area is a huge plus for me =p The specific-game forums are spot on, though I'm kind of wondering if it'd hurt to add another? There's Kirby, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Animal Crossing, etc. To me it just seems like Maro Kart could maybe be a subforum in Mario instead, to give room for another popular series. But maybe the others aren't as popular on the board? Regardless, I think the board did a really nice job with the layout.

glad you like it. I see what you mean, but tbh, those series aren't really that big. I really like the themes too!

The themes on the forum are nice as well. I'm glad to see a dark theme there now (fairly sure there wasn't one when I was posting there) - it's a nice addition for those who prefer them! One idea is maybe adding more game specific themes? I'm sure fans would really appreciate and love the idea. Like a green/gold theme for Legend of Zelda. Or maybe some retro 8-bit theme for retro lovers 😛 Etc. I think it'd be a unique touch for your board =]

Yeah, it's best to have a mixture of themes to cater for all tastes. The owner is working on some new themes, There will be a Mario, Zelda and Rosalina themes coming very soon.

I like the 8-bit theme idea, though. Thanks! I'll give the suggestion to the owner.

And just a random thought because I saw the contest thread; some little ones may go a long way! Ones that could be done on a weekly or bi-weekly basis - something like Caption Contests (especially if you use screenshots from Nintendo games to do this) are really fun. Plus they're easy for both the staff and the members.

I've thought about contests, but I feel that the community is not active enough and doesn't have enough active members to warrant a contest of sorts. We need participants. Once the forum grows more and we get more dedicated members, then I'll consider it. The caption contest sounds neat though! thanks for the suggestion!

Many thanks for your time and feedback! much appreciated!

 

[Ashley]

Mika: I haven't really checked out any of the themes. Haven't had much time to do much screwing around in that department. I like the default theme, though! When I get more of a chance I'll have to check out the other ones.

 

[Mikaya]

Mika: I haven't really checked out any of the themes. Haven't had much time to do much screwing around in that department. I like the default theme, though! When I get more of a chance I'll have to check out the other ones.

OK sounds good! thanks a lot! much appreciated! =3

I look forward to your feedback! =3

 

[Mikaya]

still after some feedback! show me what you've got for me! =3

 

[Mikaya]

Anyone? any comments will be taken on board and considered! =D

 

[Moonface]

Overall your site is really nice. You have some nice skins available, although I'd consider looking into replacing the Melankolia and Nintendo Forums themes with ones that are more Nintendo themed, like how your other two themes are. Also is there a reason for the secondary banner on each of the themes? I can't understand why there's a need for a logo at the top of the page, and then a banner right under it that says the same thing. Are they both meant to be logo banners, or is the second one something else that just so happens to also have the site name on it?

The site layout itself is nicely organised and hasn't got many flaws to it besides the News area at the top of the board. Your first category is centered mostly around the actual board, and without reading the description the News area at the top looks like it's meant to be for forum news, and not gaming news. If that is intended as an area solely for Nintendo News, I'd suggest you move it and put it at the top of the Nintendo category and label it as Nintendo News, rather than just News.

One last thing I've noticed ever since your site first opened, is at the bottom in the footer you have "Popular News". Not only have I never seen it changed, but none of the content there is even linked to go anywhere. It's just an image with "Super Smash Bros." under it and serves no purpose of taking people to the latest or popular news about it, and the same applies to anything else within that area of the board. If you don't intend to keep it updated or at least have a working purpose, you're better off removing it.

Overall though, your board hasn't got anything that would strongly turn me off from it. I won't rate the activity or community itself because I feel those are things you can only do when you've been part of it long enough to have a good feel of what the community overall is like.

 

[Mikaya]

Thanks a lot for your feedback! these points will be worked on! =3

 

[Mikaya]

anyone else willing to give some useful and honest feedback? =D