I don't like the look of my forum - advice?

[steven s]

Yes .. smoother gradient, it's really degraded

OK. Athough the gradient file went from 967b to 3.2Kb.

 

[Blandt]

3.2kb is not bad at all .. site still good and looks much better now

one more thing :
This

needs to go too wide and waisting space ... a metallic BMW would be much nicer .

Something like this ? :

 

[steven s]

3.2kb is not bad at all .. site still good and looks much better now

one more thing :
This View attachment 6544 needs to go too wide and waisting space ... a metallic BMW would be much nicer .

My wife said the same thing.
I originally was using

.

Something like this ? : View attachment 6545

I can't get away with that.

 

[Blandt]

My wife said the same thing.
I originally was using View attachment 6547 View attachment 6546.


I can't get away with that.

For a fan site I think you can get away with it ... take off the BMW and put on the footer that you are not associated with BMW and get on with it.

 

[steven s]

I'm liking my site a bit more. Don't know what to do with my 80s banner though.
As Sarah Palin says, this is

How do you know when to stop tweaking other than fixing CSS?
It's not like I have a deadline or someone paying me.

 

[steven s]

I just noticed that my banner doesn't display correctly in Windows IE7.
Originally I had a <!--< div blah blah blah div> --> that placed the banner at the bottom.
Now it's on top, but behind and low.

 

[steven s]

OK, I haven't done much to the site lately.
Any comments besides the banner being dated and the category icons.

http://www.bavforums.com/community

 

[xFalcon]

I hope you don't mind some constructive criticism

• I don't like the black to white background gradient - it goes weird and flickers a lot when I scroll up and down
• Transparent header buttons are slightly hard to read
• Maybe too much white - perhaps give the category bars a background colour (lightish blue?), rather than just the M colour stripes at the right side.
• Don't like the grill image used for the node icons.. too wide and looks like a pair of 80's sunglasses

 

[steven s]

The black gradient was a recommendation found elsewhere. It was better than my purple background.

I like the transparent header and you are right about hard to read buttons. That I can work on.

Too much white. I find it easier to read. I'd like to hear if someone else has a comment on that.
I'm trying to stick with a black/white theme.

I don't like the grille image either. It was better than what I had.
I don't know what else to use. I can't use the BMW logo. I guess nothing says it has to be BMW related.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Digital Doctor]

http://www.bavforums.com/community/
Since it will be brand new, no one will be missing any mods/hacks.

The look could be tweaked, but it's pretty good already .... seems like you should worry about more important things ?

Your content is low.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Forum-Mistakes---10-Which-Will-Cause-Your-Forum-to-Fail&id=4880631
I think you should reduce the number of forums.

Models
1 Series
3 Series
5 Series
6 Series
7 Series
8 Series
X Series
Z Series
Can these forums be merged into one ? a few ?
Would it be better to get some more traffic first, and then subcategorize later ?

 

[SilverCircle]

Few things, I would change:

1. Banner.
There are two major troubles with the banner. First, its width needs to be changed. A banner that forces you to scroll the page horizontally is a bad thing, no exceptions. Not everyone is using a high resolution screen (think about the ever increasing number of netbook users). Second, the banner overwhelms you with many small images, but lacks a distinct and eye catching feature. Personally, I would design a banner based on the BMW colors and maybe add a single image of a car. The forum title inside the banner is WAY too big.

2. Forum icons.
Already mentioned by others - they are too big.

3. General design
a) Hovered tabs are almost unreadable.

b) reconsider the forum structure. The top level seems to make sense, but some of the sub forums don't. For example, E46->M3 - don't expect that such a forum will get much content in the beginning, so I would merge them. Your current forum structure will result in quite a few low activity and low content forums, which isn't the best thing to have. Start with fewer sub forums - you can always change it later when you get more content.

c) Personal opinion, but I would change the overall color theme and make more use of BMW colors. Something that focuses on blue, white and black, throw in some grey or silver tones and maybe some (rare) red elements. Ideally, a visitor should instantly associate the site with BMW, even without actually reading text.

 

[steven s]

Of course the content is bare. All forums start off that way.
I won't spam other BMW related forums for members. I'm trying to have my current members drop helpful hints.
The next time I get a coupon to use adwords, I'll probably use it.

I definitely need to work on the nav menu.

I'd cut down on forums if we had thread prefixes. But we don't.

I now realize that I can ask 12 people and I will get 12 different opinions.
My current forum still uses the default vB3 skin.
I understand with no content it's tough to get people to be the first to post.

 

[Paul B]

I now realize that I can ask 12 people and I will get 12 different opinions.

Design by committee rarely works.