I need some feedback from my fellow forum owner friends here at XenForo

[Welder]

Hello everyone,

Well, I've been working pretty hard on getting my site up and ready... with the help of Brogan and the XenForo staff along with a few other friends in the business.

At this point, I need a little outside perspective. If you can, please take a poke around my site and let me know what you think. The good, the bad, improvements, things you like and don't like. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Click here for my site.

No, that's not me in the video. Just a friend.

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[OUTL4W]

You have responsive turned off?

 

[Ernest L. Defoe]

You have responsive turned off?

Yeah that's gonna be a killer as most people these days browse with their phones. You need to make your design responsive for those browsing from their phone.

 

[RobParker]

I didn't realise the images down the right were navigational, I thought they were ads.

 

[RobParker]

It's not clear what "connections" are. Are they your sponsors/affiliates? Or just links to other sites?

 

[Welder]

You have responsive turned off?

Good idea. Responsive turned on.

I actually struggled with turning this on or not. The problem was that I wanted my logo to be larger and the site was not working with me with the responsive turned on. I resized my logo and went responsive. Thank you.

 

[la2k16]

I like what you're doing so far. Only complaint is there may be too many subforums for my liking this early on. But you have some good add-ons, inparticularly that newspaper one. Any info on that?

 

[Welder]

I like what you're doing so far. Only complaint is there may be too many subforums for my liking this early on. But you have some good add-ons, inparticularly that newspaper one. Any info on that?

Hello and thank you for the feedback.

Yes, having the right number of forums to start the site, is always a tough one.... I'm still considering my options there.

As far as my paper is concerned. I got my paper from http://www.paper.li

Check them out. I highly recommend them.

Thank you so much for the feedback.

 

[OUTL4W]

I also see you are still using the default xenforo theme? Many capable theme makers here with awesome themes with extra bells & whistles added. It will add extra tuning to your forum to make it more custom.

btw - you paid for branding free xen?

 

[Welder]

I also see you are still using the default xenforo theme? Many capable theme makers here with awesome themes with extra bells & whistles added. It will add extra tuning to your forum to make it more custom.

btw - you paid for branding free xen?

Hello,

Yes, thank you. I do realize that there are many good XenForo theme creators here, but to tell you the truth... The default theme layout is simple and easy to use. However, if you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Yes, I paid for branding free to streamline the look. I figure, less is more...

Thanks again for the feedback. The more the better.

 

[OUTL4W]

Just suggesting as many themes here incorporate the "off-canvas" menu system that help mobile users navigate better. And the default gradients used in the out-of-box xenforo are just....meh.

 

[Welder]

Hello,

I'm sorry, I do not know what the "off-canvas" menu system is. Do you have an example? Or a basic site that uses it, so that I can take a look?

 

[OUTL4W]

If on mobile...click link in my sig and tap "menu" on left side of navigation bar...if on desktop then reduce window size down till you see "menu" appear on left side of navigation bar. The menu can be style to however you see fit....colors, icons, size etc...etc.

 

[Welder]

Oh ya, that looks good.

Nice site by the way. Looks like a lot of cool stuff.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[OUTL4W]

Then may I suggest
https://pixelexit.com/ from @Russ and @Steve F.
They have free themes as well. All of their themes come with xenbase which is styled like out-of-box xenforo except with quite a few tuneup parts & modifications. Which is where I started and then tweaked it to what you see currently.

 

[Welder]

Then may I suggest
https://pixelexit.com/ from @Russ and @Steve F.
They have free themes as well. All of their themes come with xenbase which is styled like out-of-box xenforo except with quite a few tuneup parts & modifications. Which is where I started and then tweaked it to what you see currently.

Thanks for the link. I'll check them out.

 

[Welder]

OUTL4W,

Thanks for the inspiration. I just did a little color change, but same default style... which I like. I think it actually looks a little nicer. What do you think? Don't forget to press F5.

 

[Digital Doctor]

I found these buttons confusing .... I thought they might be to share Featured Articles ... but MotorThread has their own Twitter account. I think seeing your Forums have a twitter account with 5,000 followers adds credibility to the newly launched forums and you should display it better.

Since it at the bottom of the page ... I'd put the links beside the images.

https://twitter.com/MotorThread (5,000 Followers).
etc.

You need a logo. And use it consistently.

The style is quite plain jane (plus or minus kinda homely). But very functional.

Cool site. GL.

 

[OUTL4W]

OUTL4W,

Thanks for the inspiration. I just did a little color change, but same default style... which I like. I think it actually looks a little nicer. What do you think? Don't forget to press F5.

still not a fan of the gradients....not sure who at xenforo decided the white text on a light blue background with a white gradient(sub-nav bar) would standout on mobile. Personally it makes me have to zoom in to find the "recent post", "new posts" and other links. Can't tell the links apart without having to zoom in. ...then again I could be going blind.

I would also re-size the images used to link to the various forums when on mobile. And did they have a clearance sale at videohive that I missed

 

[Welder]

View attachment 140213
I found these buttons confusing .... I thought they might be to share Featured Articles ... but MotorThread has their own Twitter account. I think seeing your Forums have a twitter account with 5,000 followers adds credibility to the newly launched forums and you should display it better.

Since it at the bottom of the page ... I'd put the links beside the images.

View attachment 140214 https://twitter.com/MotorThread (5,000 Followers).
etc.

You need a logo. And use it consistently.

The style is quite plain jane (plus or minus kinda homely). But very functional.

Cool site. GL.

Thank you for the feedback. I'll definitely give the button idea some more thought. As far as the logo, just call me "Plain Jane".

Cheers