Otaku Talk - Anime, Manga & Visual Novel Community

John L.

Well-known member
Hello XenForo Community,

I've been working on a community forum for quite a few months, well actually a revival of one. I started this community back in 2009 on some older forum software and last year revived it with a few friends. The community is for anime, manga and visual novel lovers. We have a few cool things planned, but with the support of guys like @Chris D @Audentio and others, I've been able to put a nice site together. A little visual customization from my end as well, but all in all it's been a fun experience.

I'm looking to get some feedback on the themes, structure and overall feel of the site. We're working on a group/club system and a review system for the site.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, sometimes I need to take a step back and let others critique me :).

http://www.otakutalk.com
 
Well thank you sir. It's based off your framework which made my life quite a bit easier. I'll be posting a review shortly on it.
 
Hey guys, I just recently redesigned the site and made a bunch of changes. I'm also using our new social groups addon on the site as a way to test functionality. I would love some new feedback from fellow admins or users in general. What works, what doesn't, etc.

Again, the URL: http://www.otakutalk.com

I have 3 styles for the site:
  • Original
  • Girls, Girls, Girls (For the ladies)
  • Darkness (For easy eyes)
Let me know what you think of each :).

Thanks guys!
 
Though I'm not a huge fan of the header/navigation bar, I do think the site "feels" good. Pre-loader is pretty cool. How is that working for you so far? Is that custom or something you found here on XF?
 
Though I'm not a huge fan of the header/navigation bar, I do think the site "feels" good. Pre-loader is pretty cool. How is that working for you so far? Is that custom or something you found here on XF?
What about the header do you feel isn't working for you? Just curious, because it's been on my mind a bit too :)

The preloader is just something I've noticed on a few sites and created it for my site. I can post a little tutorial on how to do if that is something you want to do. So far people like it, but no clue yet :)
 
Maybe it's just me but boy do I find that annoying. Not to sound too harsh about it just it doesn't seem to make sense on a forum.

http://www.otakutalk.com/members/

Even each tab goes to the pre-loader where it would be quicker to skip that.
It's really helpful on pages that have a ton of content to load and you can see weird finiky things happening as the page catches up and JS starts loading up fully. This way the page is only shown when everything is all ready to go.

I haven't heard anyone say anything negatively yet, but wanted to see if it would work.
 
What about the header do you feel isn't working for you? Just curious, because it's been on my mind a bit too :)

The preloader is just something I've noticed on a few sites and created it for my site. I can post a little tutorial on how to do if that is something you want to do. So far people like it, but no clue yet :)

Regarding the header, it just feels a bit bland maybe? Hard to put my finger on what's putting me off about it, but it just doesn't feel "right" to me for some reason. (Sorry, that's not very helpful haha)

Don't judge me for this sloppy/quick mock-up lol, but maybe something like what's below? If the header would be bland, then I'd rather it takes up less space. You could overlay your logo on the background & use the space to the right for ads. For me, at least, the current header just feels like a bit of a space waster.

 
Regarding the header, it just feels a bit bland maybe? Hard to put my finger on what's putting me off about it, but it just doesn't feel "right" to me for some reason. (Sorry, that's not very helpful haha)

Don't judge me for this sloppy/quick mock-up lol, but maybe something like what's below? If the header would be bland, then I'd rather it takes up less space. You could overlay your logo on the background & use the space to the right for ads. For me, at least, the current header just feels like a bit of a space waster.
I'll see what I can do. I might just make a few adjustments to the setup in UI.X and see if that works. If not, I'll just customize it. :)
 
Cute background image. :) Maybe consider making your content areas slightly transparent... quick mock-up:
otaku-talk.webp

Unfortunately I found the pre-loader a little disorienting, because it fades in and out with a dark background on every click it quickly became annoying as I browsed through threads with many pages.

I realise the aim you went for to help improve the loading experience but in its current state it just feels like someone is dragging a curtain in front of my screen each time I click a link, also happens if I use the back button on my browser (which shouldn't cause it to appear as the page has already been cached?)

Would be awesome if the preloader was in an AJAX pop-up overlay...
 
Cute background image. :) Maybe consider making your content areas slightly transparent... quick mock-up:
View attachment 99466

Unfortunately I found the pre-loader a little disorienting, because it fades in and out with a dark background on every click it quickly became annoying as I browsed through threads with many pages.

I realise the aim you went for to help improve the loading experience but in its current state it just feels like someone is dragging a curtain in front of my screen each time I click a link, also happens if I use the back button on my browser (which shouldn't cause it to appear as the page has already been cached?)

Would be awesome if the preloader was in an AJAX pop-up overlay...
Thanks, I'll probably see if there is a way to put a little more logic behind this. Thanks :)
 
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