First Impressions:
I find it quite a positive first impression. The skin is according to the season holidays which makes it pretty welcome and shows me even before scrolling down that the forum is being cared for.
By the name in itself, I am not sure what exactly will I find, I am curious as it could be a roleplay forum, a book club a creative hub or something else I just didn't think of. My doubts are quickly dispelled with a glance at the categories "Fantasy" and "Entertaining". The community seems to be pretty relatable so hanging around shouldn't be a problem if I care for any of the sections covered in either fo them. The name is really fitting: We all have been exposed to stories that made us daydream.
The forum seems pretty solid with several topics to choose from.
Good
Site Structure:
I find the structure simple but effective. The forum is not expanded with a labyrinth of sections. The welcome mat has all the basics. Fantasy brings you four well-known franchises to talk about and an area to cover any other you fancy. I suppose with time more areas might appear but I hope that in general the section is maintained short and sweet.
I think the current structure works well. The overall length is appropriate and the showcasing zones inviting. The last category is interesting but I'd love to see in it ways for members to showcase their creations so we see how they daydream and have their stuff showcased. The VIP mall sounds interesting but by restricting it to only certain people it seems like the zone will remain for the mot part rarely used. The way it is, the zone would work better as a subforum than the main zone. Right now it only has one thread. Maybe it is easier to stick the topic in another section than having a whole section for it, on the other hand, I think the zone could become interesting if any stable member was allowed to create their own shops, courses and what have you in exchange of forum currency.
As or the descriptions, I'd recommend editing the
Music one to reduce the number of dots in the pause to three and to make sure to leave a space before "any music discussions". Other than that the descriptions are pretty good the way they are: well spelt and differing from each other.
Lastly, I'd like to point out the "portal" menu item under the logo. Since the portal page is empty, it seems pointless to have a link to it. If you guys have a way, I recommend to deactivate t, otherwise, you could use the portal space so visitors don't find themselves empty handed when they click it.
Good
Design Quality:
The current layout is a temporary one for the Holidays, but since it is the current default it will be the one I will be focusing most of my attention.
The design overall looks good but I found small problems with it. Nothing that requires immediate action, but nonetheless good to be aware of. The header extends to cover the length of your browser window. It works nicely in bigger resolutions but unfortunately it is not optimised when you have your browser take half the screen or are dealing with a smaller resolution than 1200px of width. Anything smaller will break the header illusion as the sky and especially the snow slope will not match.
The top menu items are white, and some of them might end up in front of the snow area, making them hard to read on some monitors.
Another thing I noticed was that the bar that says "welcome «username»" and give us some account options has a small vertical white line just after the inbox. I suppose some padding attribute is separating the images for a pixel, so hopefully is an easy attribute fix.
With that said, the theme is nice and unified with the white and blue combination. I really like the candy batons when you are checking the topics list.
The community offers a total of eight themes to suit your tastes. I find "my journal" to be especially noteworthy, as the skin goes the extra mile to create something unique.
Good
Originality:
A community around entertainment and franchises in itself is not something I find new. There has been different names and ideas to bring this kind of topics together. I don't feel the forum is trying to be original and stand out. I get the vibe the community is not trying to compete or offer anything revolutionary. It is just a community offering a space for people that like submerging themselves in stories and share their passion for them, being books, movies, video games or something in between. It is something very relatable that hopefully has worked in the community's favour.
With that said, the Daydreaming focus brings potential to come with some original ideas that feed that daydreaming nature that could help boost the community to stand out more.
Average
Thing you liked best about forum: The activity in the niche areas.
Thing you liked least about forum: The minor design errors of the current theme.
Overall Mark:
Daydreamers is a fine community. The staff is active and creating discussion. I've seen it grow slowly but steady in content. The effort and time put into is noticeable and puts Daydreamers above many other forums that just can't stick long enough.
