Pre-Launch Review
Site Name: Skating With Us
Site Type: Specific Discussion Board (Skateboards)
Age: N/A (not yet opened)
Appearance
I think the theme is designed pretty well. From the top, the banner is obviously out of place. 'Unicorn' and the color don't match the theme. You will also need a matching favicon to help perk up the forum. For the body of the forum itself, I think you need more contrast for the color of the text (forum names and descriptions, poster information like post counts and registration date on threads, navigation menu links, and so on). They are hard to read against that black background since their color doesn't differ much either way. The categories/forums icons are pretty good although not really related with skateboarding. The thread icons are not very unique either, still using standard MyBB icons. If you can get a customized one, it'll be great. Good job with the side bar, I think it's at perfect size to fill the space there. When I was reviewing, there is a line of "div class=" at the very bottom of the index page. You better sort that out to make the theme tidier.
Layout
You start small, which is good for new and young forums. However I think you can work more with the ordering of the sections. If I understand correctly, your on-topic sections are actually your current third category, "*Something* Boards". Therefore I think it should be moved up as the second category instead as you will want visitors to notice that section first more than anything else. Then you have a section called "General" and "Free-Chat". What is the difference? Excessive general discussion sections is probably not a very good idea for young forums; just create one for focused discussion. Unless either one is for general skateboarding discussion; that way you can keep both.
First Impressions and Interest
First impression is very confusing. I see the forum's name "Skating with Us" but when I visited the forum there is a banner with unicorns in it. That is very confusing. Scrolling down I begin to see more of what your forum wants to offer so I guess that is pretty good. I don't know anything related to skateboarding so I don't know if the sections related to skateboarding you have there are already enough as starters, but to me it seems fine. You just have to work hard to add content there and pick visitors interests.
Content
Content wise, as the forum is not yet open, can't be commented on much. I didn't find a forum rules/guidelines thread during my visit, you will need it later. For grammar, I think it looks pretty good overall. For forum descriptions don't forget to add full stops to the end of the sentences; you used it in some but you forgot it in most others. No need to use it in forum names like you did with the last forum. I noticed you have "Trick" forum in second category and another "Trick" sub-forum under "Skateboards" at third category. Same goes with "Media". I would say you just concentrate the discussions on either section, having multiple sections with exactly the same name like that will get members confused of where to post what, and eventually it may stop them from creating new threads. Keep on going to add content; your ideas with the video and gallery system is pretty interesting. You can expand it by regularly posting articles or keep members updated with events related to skateboarding or such.
Words from the Reviewer
I haven't seen a skateboarding forum before so I think Skating With Us have quite the chance to grow. Especially since skateboarding is pretty popular world wide. The key to growing is to regularly add content, unique ones if possible on top of that, to give visitors reasons to always return to your forum.
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