Name of Site: Pokémon: Titans Site Genre: RPG Site URL:http://w11.zetaboards.com/Pokemon_Titans Type of Review: Quick. Opening Date: June 16th, 2013. Additional Notes: I know there's a large amount of empty forums (and it makes the board long) in the RPG section, but keep in mind that it is collapsible AND those sections are empty as nobody has reached them yet.
Thank you for requesting a Forum Promotion review. You will have your review completed in 48 hours or less. If you have any questions regarding your review, feel free to ask me. While you are waiting on your review, why don't you look around the forum! After your review is finished, please rate your reviewer on how they did here.
Thank you for using the Forum Promotion Review Service, Review Team
The theme.
While I am not a big fan of the color scheme, you do have a pretty nice theme. Seeing as there is not a theme copyright in the footer, I am guessing it is a custom theme? Either way, I think it looks nice. If you were going to make a few changes though, I think your forum would be in a lot better shape with a color scheme change. It seems like the majority of forum users prefer light themes over dark themes, so I think you would want to appeal to the majority. This is why most forums have a light theme as their default theme, and then they can have a dark theme that members can switch to if they choose to. With that being said, I think you should do something like this on your forum. If you really want to keep the current theme as the default theme, then you should have a light theme installed as another option. Also, this is kind of irrelevant to this category, but I see what you said about the board layout in your review request, but I do not see where I can collapse them? I think it might be best if they were collapsed by default for guests. Even if you have a very good reason to have that many boards, a gigantic page length could still possibly be overwhelming to potential members.
Custom graphics.
In addition to your forum's theme, I really like all the custom graphics on your forum. First of all, the logo looks good. I do not really like the font used for "Pokemon" on the logo, but the logo looks fine and it matches the theme. Next, the board icons look nice, but I think you could change them to something that is related to Pokemon? Perhaps you could take one of the Pokemon from the logo and turn it into a board icon as well. If you do not want to do that, you could take a Pokeball and make them board icons, but I do not feel like this would match the rest of the theme very well. While it is still a Pokemon forum, I actually do not see any Pokeballs anywhere. It is best to have the board icons matching the logo. Finally, I really like the Pokemon GIFs you have at the bottom of the forum. They look great, and I think the "Featured Trainer:" thing is an excellent idea. One concern that I have is that they are hotlinked from another website. I am not sure if you have permission to do that, but it would be better if you re-hosted these GIFs.
Weaknesses:
The chat box.
To start things off, let me say that I do not think the chat box is a weakness. I know that goes against what the title of this category is, but I dislike how the chat box is displayed, not the chat box itself. You have a collapsible table that stays at the bottom left of the forum at all times. It says "Open Cbox," and when you click on it, that is how you see the chat box. I usually am against chat boxes altogether, but I think chat boxes are okay for roleplay forums. I know of a lot of roleplay forums that have them. Next, I think you could be using a better chat box provider. I am not sure if you have ever heard of Chatango, but they have awesome chat boxes. The update automatically. You do not have to click the "refresh" button. Lastly, my main dislike about the chat box is the fact that the table stretches over part of the forum. I think it should be shrunk so that it does not do that. It is rather annoying when I scroll down and part of the chat box table is covering board titles and board descriptions.
The favicon.
First of all, I think you need to get your forum a favicon. Your forum is currently using the default ZetaBoards favicon, and I think that looks kind of tacky. It is very easy to get a favicon or have one made, so you should not have any trouble finding the perfect favicon for your forum. If you need help deciding what you want your favicon to be, It looks good when it matches the logo. You could take something from the logo and make it a favicon. A lot of websites just use their initials for their favicons though. That is the type of favicon Forum Promotion has, and that is the type of favicon I have on my forum. You could have someone make a favicon that says "PT" and that would match your forum well. I know some free forum hosts might not allow you to change the favicon, but I am pretty sure ZetaBoards does. I have seen a couple ZetaBoards forums with custom favicons.
The domain.
Finally, I would like to talk to you about buying a domain. I am not sure if you are planning on getting one, but if you are not, I think you should consider making the purchase. While domains are annoying to buy, domain registrars are always running special deals. If you buy a domain at the right time, you can save a lot of money. If you do not have the money to buy a domain, you can save up your FP$ and buy a domain with it. Also, from a promoter's perspective, it is a lot easier to promote a forum when you have your own domain. It is a lot less to type out, and generally, the shorter the link, the better. Overall, I think having a domain would make your forum look not only a lot more professional, but it would also make things easier on you.
Final Remarks:
I think Pokemon Titans is a forum that has plenty of potential. While it is on a free forum host, if you have a dedicated staff team, that really should not matter. I wish you the best of luck with your forum.
After reading your review, please click here to rate your review
Cash Deducted!
Thank you for using the Forum Promotion Review Service. Your FP Cash has been deducted, and payment for this service has been received. If you would like to give feedback on our services after reading your review, you may do so by clicking here!
