Chat Arena - General Forum [Reviews Please]

[Ashley S]

I created this Forum, because I am forum and chatter addict,
I would appreciate it if you could let me know what you think of it and if there is any improvements you think I should make.

My concerns are:
- Is the theme okay? Not to bright?
- Is the shoutbox okay at the top of the board index?
- Is the forum boards layout good? Any improvements need doing?

I know my forum works well in all web browsers so it should be okay viewing my forum.
Thank you!

[akurtula]

I like it

maybe you should make the shoutbox the same width as the "site" and "general arena" leaving the sidebar all the way through - but it does not look bad as it is
the quick menu icon on the right is not clear what it does (only afte you click it) so I would make that clear some how.
The advanced search icon is a typical settings icon, so again unclear what it was
the minus icon that appears when you hover of the heading, I would keep them visible, like the plus you get after wards

I do not like the "go to top" icon - I personally do not like things to be centered

I personally like the IP.board theme better than the default Overlay blue - though I dont understand why you want to have the option of changing themes - but that does not create any issue - I jus dont get why.

Also something that is important, your tagline underneath the logo MUST me the same width as you logo. So "your local general discussion forum" must be the same width as the top part.
- I would also strongly recommend that that tagline is the same with as ONLY the "Chat Arena", and the put the speech bobble down so that the height of the bobble does not exceed the height of anything else
-- these last two recommendations are theoretically proven to be the "good practice"
The idea is everything should be within the (logo) grid - unless you intended to brake out of it - in those cases the intentions are always visually clear

[J in Calgary]

When I arrive at the site, I'm not sure what it's for. Is this the home page? Fixing this could be as simple as making the tagline, "Your Local General Discussion Forum" bigger in your header banner, or possibly giving us 1-2 sentences describing the site's purpose. (Something like, "If you've got something to say, you're in the right place! Chat now about movies, politics, and more")

When I see the message about no spamming/trolls, etc., it's off-putting. It's the first thing I read on the page, and it makes me think you've had problems with this issue, or you expect to, and that's the focus of the site. A message like that won't keep people from spamming/trolling/posting links, anyway, so I'd replace that statement with a user policy--but it doesn't need to be the focal point of the home page.

I don't think the colors are too bright. I think you might consider making the grey text a few degrees darker for a little more contrast. One thing is that the animated avatars really steal attention, and you want first-time users to be able to look around and decide to click next. I would hide those avatars and just make the recent posts text-based on the home page. You can reveal the avatars within each discussion category.

Categories look logical. You might think about an "Everything Else" category, unless your intent is that the General Discussion has that covered.

You've got a lot of posts for a new site. Good luck!

[navyfalcon]

<title>Chat Arena - General Forum</title>

<meta name="description" content="Chat Arena is a Discussion Forum. Everyone is welcome!
General Discussions, Entertainment, Gaming Arena, Webmaster Arena to discuss about!" />

Note: You have 40 validation errors and 2 warnings

<title>News & Announcements - Chat Arena - General Forum</title>

<meta name="description" content="News & Announcements: All the News & Announcements related
to Chat Arena will be posted here." />

Note: You have 7 validation errors and 2 warnings

<title>Discussion & Feedback - Chat Arena - General Forum</title>

<meta name="description" content="Discussion & Feedback: Have any Ideas, Suggestions or want
to post your Feedback towards Chat Arena? Then please post them here." />

Note: You have 7 validation errors and 2 warnings

<title>Introduction - Chat Arena - General Forum</title>

<meta name="description" content="Introduction: New to Chat Arena? Come and say hello!" />

Note: You have 10 validation errors and 2 warnings

HTML Tidy can help correct those errors
http://infohound.net/tidy/

Each title for different pages should describe only that page information (repeating General
Forum waste space and doesn't describe the page (Check what Google says about it). You have
66 characters (including spaces) in the title - don't waste them. Also you have 150 characters
in the description (again don't waste them)

Googles information about title and description
http://support.google.com/webmasters...n&answer=35624

hope this helps
falcon

[IzzoNet]

Hey

good job on the forum, althought i would add/change some things:
1) i would increase the logo
2) the slogan color and the background color are almost the same. i would give the slogan other color - even white.
3) i would increase the shoutbox

that's it , these are basic and minor changes.
anyway, wish you good luck with the forum, i'm sure it will be successful!

[ralph.m]

I agree with J in Calgary—that you need a bit of an introduction to tell people what the site is for and why they should stay. Without that, most visitors will leave straight away. Don't leave it up to them to do the homework and try to find out what it's for. They won't have time or interest. that's your job.

Ideally, have a sentence at the top of the home page in big, clear type that explains what the site is for, and then what to do next. At the moment, people just get the small tag line—which doesn't give enough info—and then a warning not to be a troll.

[brigzy]

I agree with previous posts, it is not clear that there is any subject focus, or really what the site is about.
Having said that you have attracted allot of members & have many posts so you have great potential for advertising.
I would take ralph's advice and give yourself a welcoming and interesting and friendly introduction.

What is most obvious (for a social site) is the lack of Facebook integration.
You should be able to 'register with facebook' and 'sign on with 'facebook', IMHO.

Good luck

[MinecraftGeek]

1) theme is great but tweaks should be implemented as that theme is an overused free theme.
2) Most forums that have a shoutbox die as users tend to talk in the shoutbox other than making a thread.
3) The forum layout is ok but there are no unique features.

-MCG