A Fitness Forum

[Simply101]

Hey everyone, the last website review I got was awesome and I greatly appreciate them

Now this site is a "Fitness Forum", it is still under a bit of construction with the backend, but please let's hear your reviews on this.

This forum is oriented to "Bodybuilding & Fitness", so please keep this in mind when thinking about what I should add, etc...

Some questions,

what should I fix?, what should I add?, hows the style?, how can I make it so that more members will join?, etc...

The LINK

Thanks in advance for all reviews

[Vertexity]

I like the colour scheme and layout of things but the footer looks a little too busy. I would maybe have the disclaimer elsewhere, just providing a link to it. It should give you a bit more of a cleaner footer.

[justin-gray]

I think it looks really good. My only negative comment is the photo of the lady on the right of the header makes the header look slightly busy.
I agree with Dave about the footer aswell. Overall its looking really great though. Two thumbs up.

[helix7]

I think the header images need to flow better. The left image with the logo and two people looks like it's cut off on the right edge. Seems odd.

And I agree about the footer being too busy. Not sure how you do it, but I'd imagine you can somehow remove the "Powered by vBulletin..." stuff and free up some space there.

I also wonder if the featured photos are necessary, or if there might be a better way to show them. It just seems like they are pushing the actual content too far down the page, and you have to scroll to really read anything.

[Simply101]

Thanks for all the reviews, lets get some more great ones

[kimberlybarryd]

I checked your site on IE 5.1, IE 5.5 IE 6, IE 7, Opera, F Fox, K-melion, and Safari for windows. Thumbs up however 35 errors when validated. CSS is good. Good design overall.

[Simply101]

I checked your site on IE 5.1, IE 5.5 IE 6, IE 7, Opera, F Fox, K-melion, and Safari for windows. Thumbs up however 35 errors when validated. CSS is good. Good design overall.

Oh thank you, I'm going to have to fix those xhtml errors.

Thank you for the review

[RichardN]

As a person who is interested in fitness this forum looks great and the color scheme is great! I instantly went into the forums looking for information so it definitely can work.

The header looks great but I didn't even read the information on the right hand side so you could probably remove the text and the lady who is impersonating Jesus on the cross. However the left hand side looks great, those people are photoshopped hotties but it's the ideal photos to get people to join your forums.

As previously suggested maybe create a new page for the disclaimer so it doesn't look so out of place.

The feeds are great but I didn't recognise them as rss feeds straight away, especially the "Add to Google" feed. Perhaps you could could rename it to "Add TalkFitness Feed to iGoogle" or "Add Feed to iGoogle". Once I realised what it was I actually considered adding it to my iGoogle so perhaps think about promoting this more. The feedburner box doesn't really do much for me as most of the topics listed were pretty boring like "How to make homemade yoghurt", although once I clicked on it some of things were pretty interesting.

You guys also don't have any photos on the website of yourself? Sometimes I find it more "welcoming" if you have a photo of the admin with a nice smile on their face to help you feel more personally welcome.

9/10 from me, well done!

[RichardN]

Also, don't stress out over the validation errors as you can't always guaranteed that the software you're using will adhere to web standards correctly or consistently.

In fact, when I validated this forum webpage from Sitepoint it returned 25 errors so I wouldn't worry too much about your fitness forum not validating since you use the same forum software as Sitepoint (vBulletin).

[kimberlybarryd]

Also, don't stress out over the validation errors as you can't always guaranteed that the software you're using will adhere to web standards correctly or consistently.

In fact, when I validated this forum webpage from Sitepoint it returned 25 errors so I wouldn't worry too much about your fitness forum not validating since you use the same forum software as Sitepoint (vBulletin).

True, but most of the errors were html. It can hurt to correct some of them.

[RichardN]

You are right, it could certainly help with Search Engine Optimization if spiders can understand the webpage easier and if the webpage is smaller in file size.

[bwnunnally]

The format / layout look attractive.

The text next to the upper right header graphic does make it busy, especially perhaps because it is set partially in front of the graphic. Maybe only have "WHY JOIN?" there and link it to the same loc as Why you should join below? http://talkfitness.org/about-us

This text under "Welcome to Talk Fitness" seems slightly wrong:
"These categories cover the basis of fitness and go further for you to not just think of it as a place of fitness, but also as a place where you can learn new exciting things."
perhaps should be:
"These categories cover the basics of fitness and more. Talk Fitness is an excellent place to discuss fitness with other enthusiasts, and also learn and share exciting new things."

Not related to layout, but perhaps consider a custom field which will allow your readers to self-identify as Trainers, Experienced, Hobbiest, or Novice, etc?

[jeffinj]

Its 6/10 overall. I always prefer slightly darker colors. Also if you could show the face of guy behind the logo, that may have been better. Now the picture looks cut from top and bottom. The domain name is great! Well done.

[game]

I have had fitness for over a year and i love it...It gives you recipes, meal planner and the workout changes every time i use it.

you forum is standard, but works truly OK

[Shoewallet Guy]

I like it! The fitness forums are growing and a great target to go after. I like it, simple and straightforward. I'll keep an eye on it...there may be some complementary ways for us to work together-

[Geeza]

Your fitness site looks great. looks professional and not sure how long its been up but looks like its doing quite well too.

[skillipedia]

The header of your page is taking almost all the page height. Some users are lazy to scroll up and down

Forum content should be right after the menu and you could embed the logging forum in the right-hand side of the top div

cheers

[Simply101]

Thanks everyone, I'm taking all these comments into work, thanks!

Your critiques are awesome!

Their all well appreciated

[andy91]

Its a nice site But lets face it there are thousands of similar forums out their that cater for your audiance, Whats is your angle? what separates your forum from the crowd?

[vallartafish]

great forum I really like the layout and the recipe page was great I always am looking for new healthy recipes keep up the good work!!

[Loonm]

Nice forum, i like the design but maybe you could improve it, maybe buy template or buy logo contest on this forum. Make it softer,
btw nice forum if you would like to exchange links with my forum PM me!

[Simply101]

Nice forum, i like the design but maybe you could improve it, maybe buy template or buy logo contest on this forum. Make it softer,
btw nice forum if you would like to exchange links with my forum PM me!

Hey yeah thanks, we're actually looking to get a new logo done/redesigned from the current one we have. We are wanting to keep the "bubble" design, but want to have it incorporated alot better to represent more of "fitness". Something like the logo here at www.talkbanners.com , we were thinking of designing the new logo something like that one.

Anyone have some ideas on what we should do when redesigning the logo?

Thanks to all current reviews and all reviews to come in advance, they are greatly appreciated!

[gadiandi]

I like the blue color scheme. The top links (Register, FAQ, etc...) should be made larger as they are difficult to read.

The footer seems too long. Also the ad block on the individual post pages takes up a lot of space. I think it would work better to use the horizontal style ad block rather than the square style so there isn't as much white space on the right.

[Simply101]

I like the colour scheme and layout of things but the footer looks a little too busy. I would maybe have the disclaimer elsewhere, just providing a link to it. It should give you a bit more of a cleaner footer.

Thanks Fixed

I think it looks really good. My only negative comment is the photo of the lady on the right of the header makes the header look slightly busy.
I agree with Dave about the footer aswell. Overall its looking really great though. Two thumbs up.

Thanks fixed that

I think the header images need to flow better. The left image with the logo and two people looks like it's cut off on the right edge. Seems odd.

And I agree about the footer being too busy. Not sure how you do it, but I'd imagine you can somehow remove the "Powered by vBulletin..." stuff and free up some space there.

I also wonder if the featured photos are necessary, or if there might be a better way to show them. It just seems like they are pushing the actual content too far down the page, and you have to scroll to really read anything.

How do you like it how I have it now?

The format / layout look attractive.

The text next to the upper right header graphic does make it busy, especially perhaps because it is set partially in front of the graphic. Maybe only have "WHY JOIN?" there and link it to the same loc as Why you should join below? http://talkfitness.org/about-us

This text under "Welcome to Talk Fitness" seems slightly wrong:
"These categories cover the basis of fitness and go further for you to not just think of it as a place of fitness, but also as a place where you can learn new exciting things."
perhaps should be:
"These categories cover the basics of fitness and more. Talk Fitness is an excellent place to discuss fitness with other enthusiasts, and also learn and share exciting new things."

Not related to layout, but perhaps consider a custom field which will allow your readers to self-identify as Trainers, Experienced, Hobbiest, or Novice, etc?

Thank you fixed that part up Also about the custom fields I am still working on that, it is a great idea

The header of your page is taking almost all the page height. Some users are lazy to scroll up and down
cheers

Fixed the header, made it smaller in height, how is it now?

The footer seems too long. Also the ad block on the individual post pages takes up a lot of space. I think it would work better to use the horizontal style ad block rather than the square style so there isn't as much white space on the right.

Thank you very much, the ads are changed to the horizontal style ad block Great suggestion!



We have upgraded our hosting, so I was just wondering, how is it running for you?

Thanks everyone

[ramone_johnny]

Hey mate, Ive been involved in weightlifting for 11 years so I thought Id comment.

Firstly, what makes this site different to other similiar sites? How do you intend on drawing traffic? First intention was, and please dont take offence is .."oh another forum..."

Perhaps you should try to break it up somehow, have more of a traditional home page, create some stand alone articles and branch the forum off as another feature of the site.

Also, I didnt see a category for steriods? Any reason for this? I think, whilst many may disagree, is that when body builders and weightlifters, in particular, those just starting out, are after information such as this, they want to be able to do it anonomously. Therefore, forums work for perfectly for this. Maybe youre dead against the idea, but something to consider anyway.

Your main menus up the top are really small - you might want to think about making them larger. My eyesite isnt the best and I find them quite difficult to read. Not sure about your chosen colours either - the light blue is really hard to grasp - then again could just be me!

Best of luck mate!

RJ