Website Forums

[Teg]

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Advanced Review of Website Forums
http://websiteforums.org/index.php
Review by Teg​

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First Impressions: (10 out of 10)
A lot has changed since I last viewed Website Forums. The logo is different but looks amazing! I love the new look overall. The forum icons have changed giving it a much better look and feel too than it was before. Overall, on first look, I'm really impressed.

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Number of Posts & Members: (8 out of 10)
Given that the site has been open for over a year, I feel like your forum statistics regarding members and post counts should be way higher than what they are sitting at currently. That said, I do remember seeing that the site was closed for quite some time and re-opened towards the end of last year. So, with that in mind, I think you are doing okay for the number of users and discussions that the forum has.

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Activity Level: (4 out of 10)
I feel like the activity of your forum can be improved drastically. In any given forum or sub-board on Website Forums, the most recent post is either today, yesterday or Wednesday. That would normally be a good thing, but, in this case, it isn't simply because almost all boards have like one or two posts from today and yesterday, then move back into Wednesday and further. I have suggestions involving the site structure that might help, but you'll need to read them in the next section.

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Site Structure: (10 out of 20)
Starting with the header, I love everything about it. The logo is big, but it isn't too big and it's catchy. I love the new look of it too. I like how there's a search bar, globally, included in the header making it easy for user's to look up specific topics and such. The menu looks great and makes each important aspect of the forum easy to find. I even like the sub-menu which is something that I normally don't enjoy on a forum. But, here, it looks good.

I like how the site is laid out in terms of looks. The sidebar is in a safe place and the information it contains is useful and gives users the latest information and statistics as it should. Kudos there. The boards off to the right is a nice touch. On many forums, we tend to see many people put the sidebar on the right and the content to the left. I'm glad you chose to do something different. I like the staff online section as well as the status updates area. It's also nice to see the recent posts and forum stats in the sidebar as well.

After looking at your forum's activity, I feel like you have way too many forums and sub-forums on your site. Some of the forums hardly get any attention from other members. I also feel like a few of them can be combined into one forum as they seem to be related in some way or another. So, starting at the top and working my way down, I'll make suggestions about the boards and categories.

Webmaster Discussions
Here is what I propose for the webmaster discussion category:
- Website Management
Merge everything from Website Financial Discussions and Web Hosting and Domains with Website Management. They are all a big part of managing a website, forum or blog. I suggest that you remove Website Appraisals altogether because people don't seem to be interested in it at all.
- Coding and Design Discussions
Give this forum its own main forum. There's really no reason for it to be a sub-board at all. While it could be considered "Website Management," Not all coding and design is done for the Web. Rather, it's not done for particular websites. People make fan art and other graphics just for fun and no real purpose. Additionally, people use various kinds of coding from Web languages to computer programming languages. It's such a broad category which is another reason to give it its own forum as opposed to leaving it as a sub-forum.
- Software Discussions
I still think you should add Forums.net as a software even though it's built off the ProBoards platform, it's still a paid service, and it's a major one like the rest of the ones you have listed. Of course, that's more a personal preference as you know, but I'm sure, in time, you'll find there are more and more people using the software than you think. Optionally, I really don't believe that you need sub-boards for the different forum platforms anyway.
- Blogging Discussions

Webmaster Resources
- Community Feedback
I think you should merge the Website Showcase and Community Feedback into one forum: Community Feedback. People seem to be posting their websites in both forums for feedback. That said, while one is for Websites specifically, there's really no point in having two separate feedback forums in the same category especially when the ultimate goal is to get feedback from the members and staff about Web projects in both.
- Community Collaborations
- Market Square

*NOTE: I'd also like to suggest that you remove "Community" from collaborations just because it seems redundant.

Off Topic
The off topic forum area seems to be okay. That said, I think the whole category should be moved to the bottom of the forum.

Website Forums
This category's forums seem all right to me. However, this category should be the very first thing that visitors see, especially on a forum of this niche. Announcements are important and users should be able to ask questions right away if they need to. Having this category at the bottom of a webmaster forum is strange to me.

I, honestly and truly, feel that a site restructure will help your forum's activity in a radical way. Think about my ideas; they may not be ideal, but I can almost guarantee they'll help you.

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Design Quality: (20 out of 20)
The overall design of your forum is great. As I mentioned earlier, I think the new logo and the icons make the site look much better. I honestly have no suggestions on how to improve the design.

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Originality: (8 out of 15)
This is a tough category for a Webmaster Forum because there are so many of them. Unfortunately, aside from the design of your forum, there really isn't much that's different from other forums of your niche. Your site has the same categories and types of discussions as almost every other webmaster website and that is unoriginal, to say the least. I think you guys need to sit down and think about something you can add that will give Website Forums something that hasn't been seen anywhere else. It's the only way to make your site stand out apart from the rest of them. By something, I mean a topic of discussion that is new to the niche or anything else that would grab a visitor's interest.

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Spelling, Grammar & Professionalism: (15 out of 15)
I have no comments or concerns about the Spelling, Grammar or Professionalism on Website Forums. In all areas where it counts, all of the staff is pretty great at all three things. They remain professional when dealing with members, other staff members, and complaints or questions. Additionally, most of them use correct spelling and grammar 99.9 percent of the time, so that's not a concern either.

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Thing you liked best about forum: I loved the new logo and icons. They really added to the forum's look and feel.
Thing you liked least about forum: The site structure is a little off, and some drastic changes should be made to improve the overall forum activity.

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Overall Mark: (75 out of 100)
I think with some major changes related to the categories and boards, Website Forums will really take off. I mentioned multiple times, and, I'll say it again, I love the new logo and the forum icons. Good luck, John. I wish you guys the best.​

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[Joshua Farrell]

Cash has been Deducted!​

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Thank you for using the Forum Promotion review service. We have deducted 400 FP$ from your account in exchange for conducting an Advanced Review. You can request another review in 30 days.

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[Hydroden]

It's a rather bland forum. There's nothing "welcoming" about the design. Sure, it's easy on the eyes however you have the same colors throughout the entire forum and nothing to add any kind of contrast. I would also move the sidebar and put the announcements at the top of the forum. No one really scrolls down to the bottom of a forum to read announcements.

I would have the forum redesigned, add something for members to look at instead of just threads on a white background.

 

[John]

It's a rather bland forum. There's nothing "welcoming" about the design. Sure, it's easy on the eyes however you have the same colors throughout the entire forum and nothing to add any kind of contrast. I would also move the sidebar and put the announcements at the top of the forum. No one really scrolls down to the bottom of a forum to read announcements.

I would have the forum redesigned, add something for members to look at instead of just threads on a white background.

Thanks for your feedback. 🙂

Where would you move the sidebar?

Also, about the announcements: I actually put them there so the discussion sections are first. I personally see those as more important than the announcements. It's mainly because there really aren't that many "highly important" announcements that we make. On a smaller forum community, the announcements aren't nearly as important as a forum like FP. Staff changes, host changes, and design changes aren't as important to a smaller community as they are to a larger one (like how FP is). Either way, I've decided to poll my users on this.

Thanks again for your feedback. 🙂

 

[Hydroden]

It's a rather bland forum. There's nothing "welcoming" about the design. Sure, it's easy on the eyes however you have the same colors throughout the entire forum and nothing to add any kind of contrast. I would also move the sidebar and put the announcements at the top of the forum. No one really scrolls down to the bottom of a forum to read announcements.

I would have the forum redesigned, add something for members to look at instead of just threads on a white background.

Thanks for your feedback. 🙂

Where would you move the sidebar?

Also, about the announcements: I actually put them there so the discussion sections are first. I personally see those as more important than the announcements. It's mainly because there really aren't that many "highly important" announcements that we make. On a smaller forum community, the announcements aren't nearly as important as a forum like FP. Staff changes, host changes, and design changes aren't as important to a smaller community as they are to a larger one (like how FP is). Either way, I've decided to poll my users on this.

Thanks again for your feedback. 🙂

I would move the sidebar to the right of the website like other forums of your "genre" have. It looks much better in my personal opinion. I also must say that any kind of announcements are important ones, though, I do see your point on adding it to the bottom. My apologies.

 

[John]

Does anyone have any more thoughts? 🙂

 

[katzer]

This is not a bland forum by any means as someone stated. I have to say that it looks professional and that logo looks like it was approved by a company team. A site that is devoted to website design should not be flashy "Bling-Bling".

If I did not know any better and this board came up on search for me I would think this is an established board(if it had more content) with people exchanging ideas about web design, forumware, code, etc.

The staff may focus on some more solid content overall and not play into anything that distracts anyone from the interest of making a site/forum, and the amount of registered members is really not an overall factor in a board as this. If the board is getting good hits what does the overall registered member count matter? They are not in the business of playing games. They are in the business of idea's and information. Big difference.

Hits do matter today and many people want to read solid content, especially the older crowd like myself. Some boards I never join but I always visit because I respect the content. As long as he and his mods focus on that aspect of the board I see no reason as to why this board will not be a success.

I hope that content keeps flowing upward in a professional manner. As I read many of the staff members have the skills. Now share it. Write some TUTs and FAQs, etc.. If you know it, show it.

The site is just fine. No Bling Needed.