Your Forum Review
First Impressions - (Out of 20)
The first thing i come too is your portal, i feel this has a bad lay out. The first thing you see is the advert at the top, which is always a bad thing. The image and the text are fine, its just that the navigation is underneath it next to the youtube video, i feel that the navigation part should be next to the first large box with the image and text, and have a link to the forum in it too. Then maybe add the hot games at the other side, so your really just moving them 2 up. Then it would be better if you put the youtube video underneath the text, rather than having it in a different box. The colour scheme on the portal is a bit muddled up, the red and the grey don't really go, but they aren't ugly together so its not a priority to change. I've never been a big fan of the fixed backgrounds either, they can be off putting when scrolling, but that's just my personal opinion. I'm going to divide the total score for this into 2, 10 for the portal and 10 for the forum, i'm going to give you 5/10 for the portal as there is much to improve on.
Now onto the forum, The first thing i see is the random character generator, i think this is great, but a bit big and very oddly placed, i feel this would be better as a part of the side bar or maybe on the portal. I always like seeing the first few forums or category of the board when at the top of the page, i feel your forum looks a bit crowded as i can't see even the top forum, there are adds, the menu, drop down menus and a medium size banner for another forum, i think this is well too much and needs sorting out, i'll tell you my ideas for this in the "site layout" part coming next in the review. Another problem is the background, it doesn't stretch to fit any screen resolution, as on my screen it shows a different shade of red at side, and the pattern on the background stops around 3 inches in each side of the screen. Of course this won't be a problem for a few people, but it doesn't look great for those who do have this. Everything else is nice, the Forum skin goes very well with the portal and the rest of the forum and everything looks nicely done, so i'm giving you 7/10 for this.
So overall thats a 12/20
(12 /20)
Site Layout - (Out of 20)
As mentioned above, on the portal i'd make it so you have a side bar, like the forum, but with all the navigation links in it. Then after that Maybe make everything more together, move the youtube video to underneath the text thats above it at the moment, then on the other side add the hot games section. I feel this would make the portal look more whole, rather than in 2 sections. Then on the forum i'd change where the Random game character generator is situated. I'd also get rid of "The brawl domain" banner as i feel its taking up a lot of space, maybe add it as a smaller version in the sidebar, as i see you already have an affiliate button anyway. Then i'd take out the middle part of the "Register - Firefox - Portal" Link part as i don't think a link to firefox is really needed. Maybe have a topic about it in your forum instead.
Now onto the forum itself, not just around it. The only thing I'd change is the layout, The first category should be called "Forum, or Forum Affairs, and should consist of the forum news, suggestions and feedback possible (but not really too important) and then introductions. Then you should have a category called "Sony" or something similar, this should have everything to do with sony in it, with the top forum in it being "Sony news". Then after that another category called "Other things" where you will find your General chat section, the Advertisement zone, graphics, contests, entertainment, literally anything that doesn't fit into the first 2 categories. I'd also recommend trying to make it so the "Staff room" doesn't show in the homepage for regular members or guests, only staff can see it and get into it. I'm going to give you 8/20 for this, as I personally would change quite a lot.
(8 /20)
Forum Statistics - (Out of 20)
Your forum has been open for quite a while now, so the amount of members and posts you have during that time is very very poor. I think you need to go on a big advertising spree, on every advertising forum possible, and request packages and Get member and post exchanges whenever and wherever possible as post exchanges can play a big part in whether a forum lives/dies, as any guests viewing your site won't know whether you have asked these people to post or not, and will think your forum has activity and may join themselves. I can't stress how important advertising is, have a look through this forum:
viewforum.php?f=22 for tips on how to do so, and especially at
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5786 to find other forums to advertise at as well as this one. I'm going to give you 7/20 for this, as its quite poor.
(7 /20)
Staff Moderation - (Out of 20)
Your an admin and Hcfwesker is a moderator, that's well enough staff for your forum as there isn't that much. I've had a look around and you 2 seem to be doing a good job, i don't think it's worth hiring anyone else until activity picks up a lot, sorry i can't write a lot about this section, there's just not a lot to comment on. I'm giving you 20/20 for this as there's nothing that can be changed or improved when it comes to staff moderation at the moment.
(20 /20)
Spelling and Grammar - (Out of 20)
I've had a look around and i think the spelling is good in the forum descriptions etc, but i do think at the start of every forum description you need to put a capital letter, as at the moment they are there in only a few descriptions. I've had a look through some of your posts, and theres nothing worth changing so i'm going to give you 17/20 for this section, a few small things to change but nothing important.
(17 /20)
64 - (Out of 100)
Final Remarks:
A good start, but quite a few things need changing.
What was most liked about the website/forums:
The side bar, looks as if a lot of effort has been put into it all.
What was disliked most about the website/forums:
It felt very cluttered
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to join my website?
I've already joined.
(64 /100)
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