Review for New Horizons

6/15/10

I requested a review for New Horiozns. This is what I got:

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Generalities

1. First Impressions (Score: 17/20):
   The first thing I did on your forum was scroll through the categories. I like the fact that you have a guest forum. It didn’t work out so well on my forum, but I personally like the idea of giving the members a chance to experience the forum before the commit to it by registering.
   
   I think that the introduction forum should be in the 2nd category (or just move it up a bit) so that people don’t have to scroll down in order to see it. It should be one of the first forums that they see when they first log in so they feel like they have a place to go to so they can be welcomed.
   
   I then noticed that you have 3 categories with only 1 forum in them. I would either put all of them into the same category so it looks more intact with the rest of the forum or I would make them sub-forums in another forum.
   
2. Categories & Forums (Score: 8/10):
   I said a lot of what I wanted to see in the first impressions. The graphics and art, technology, and role playing categories only have 1 forum in them. I would assume that the graphics and art has more forums once I register, but I can’t confirm that.
   
   Other than that, the only thing I would change is the location of the intro forum
   

Generalities total :: 25/30

Graphic Design & Layout

1. Graphics (Score: 15/20):
   Banner
   This banner doesn’t seem to fit the topic. It’s a plus that it has the forum name and a slogan. However, I don’t know what all the other things are. For example, the black area behind the letters “New Ho” and the other random specks of black on it. Other than that, I think it takes up a good amount of space for a banner.
   Navigation Bar
   I would center the navigation bar instead of having it to the right. There also isn’t really a need for the line before the Home button. The font is ok but it looks like it matches the black lines in the banner which is cool. I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but it looks good.
   Forum Icons
   I can only see the no new topics one so I don’t have anything to compare it to. To me it just looks like a blob of paint or something. It does fit with the light grey color of the forum though.
   'Who Is Online?' Image
   Firstly, this image is very tiny. I almost didn’t notice it when I was looking. It looks like two smiley faces from a chat/IM service or something like that. That really works for your forum because it’s a chat/general discussion forum. I would just try to make it a little bigger so it’s noticeable and takes up more space.
   
2. Forum Layout & Colors (Score: 8/10):
   Normally, I like forums that use 2 main colors and then have others to complement it. On this forum, there weren’t really 2 main colors. There were several shades of grey and then just other places had white and blue. I think your forum looks decent with this color scheme, but I think it would look even better if you had 2 main colors.
   
   As for the layout, I’ve spoken about it a couple times. Just fix the forums a bit and it should be fine.
   

Graphic Design & Layout total :: 23/30

Usergroups

1. Population of Groups (Score: XX/10):
   I can’t see the groups, so I will not score this.
   
2. Staff Groups / User Groups (Score: XX/10):
   There is really no point for a Co-Administrator and a retired moderator group so I would get rid of them. I would add the co admins to the admin group and get rid of the retired moderator group completely. Again, I can’t see the amount of people in the groups, so I can’t rate you on that.
   

Usergroups ::XX /20

Forum Activity

1. Post/Member Ratio & Quantity (Score: 11/10):
   

   Our users have posted a total of 111871 messages
   We have 345 registered users
   The newest registered user is Jewelz
   

   This is simply amazing. Over 100,000 posts for only 345 users! That’s 324 posts per user! That is the highest I have ever seen. Great work in that department.
   
2. Users Active (Score: 6/10):
   

   Members connected during last 24 hours : Ace, Ahmed IV, Craig, Dark Flame99966, fifi, Jewelz, jj16802, Lev_93, Marwa, Mr.Muffin, Paradox,Passion, preid1220, Sayfullah, SmexyGenius

   This isn’t very good for 300+ users. I would want at least 50 logged in during the last 24 hours.
   

Forum Activity total :: 17/20

all in all, it looks good.

Which parts do you agree with?

mabrook

Navigation Bar
I would center the navigation bar instead of having it to the right.

Just completed this.

Gah. A banner isn't always supposed to have a theme that directly relates to a forum

@Flame: I didn't write this Review obviously, but I sort of agree with it. It would make sense that the logo would have something to do at all with the forum title at least...like our previous logos that has horizons in the background.

That logo looked like crap though

Which one? We had many (e.g. iCheese's, Daverto's, Daverto's second one)

Maybe you should try making a new logo with a horizons in the background?

Would take too much of my time that I don't have atm.

But it's summer vacation O.o

I still have Monday as my last day.

Ok. We could wait till Monday lol.

I'll be busy then too I'm going over a friend's house and my grandparents are gonna be in town. And another forums already has be on a task that I'd do if I wasn't busy.

Yeah...but there are priorities. You are a GFX artist here...so...I think we should be on top of the list. lol

Real life is my priority atm

I was talking about here and the other forum.

"There also isn’t really a need for the line before the Home button."

I don't see who would possibly care about that. Otherwise, we had a good review.

Yeah and I was just about to ask soeone to edit the button and remove the lines

the nav bar is actually doing its job now... the log out button ain't flying in mid air any more

Ahmed, you just won in life. Congratz man!

How lol?