Recreational Flying with new style and menu system

[ibaker]

I have just updated my site with a new style and menu system and would like to hear comments on it...there is nothing better than being judged by your peers with constructive comments.

Addons used:
Audio - by AndyB
Friend Inviter - by Chris D
Hotspots - by Waindigo
HTML BBCode - by Luke Foreman
Minimum Post Length Enforcer - by Alteran Ancient
Post Ratings - by Luke Foreman
Profile Viewers - by Borbole
Showcase - by Bob
Social Connect - by Chris D
Social Groups - by Snog
User Profile Cover - by *******
XenAtendo - by Jaxel
Xenforo Enhanced Search - by Xenforo
Xenforo Media - by Xenforo
Xenforo Resource Manager - by Xenforo
XenPorta - by Jaxel

Other Addons and Styling:
Menu System - by self
Mobile Menu System - by self
News Reader - by self
Style - by self

Site is about recreational aviation and can be found at:
www.recreationalflying.com

To view the site as a registered user you can use the login details of:
Username: Test
Password: test
(if you login you can use the User Preferences to select which side of the screen you want the menu displayed)

Your feedback will be very valuable, thanks...also make sure you check out the mobile phone view of the site

 

[Alpha1]

Your store seems out of place with a completely different design.
I like how you use showcase.
I am not fond of your news page.
I like the bargains slider on your home page. What is this?
The 'grab a bargain' add seems out of place because it does not match your style.

I like the style its light and good for mobile.
I like how the hamburger menu is placed at the top when using mobile.

 

[ibaker]

Thanks Alfa, next step is to do the shop and coding is about to start for a single registration/login between Xenforo and CS-Cart which is a part of redoing the entire shop site, and the grab a bargain advert is as well...thanks for pointing this out

The bargains slider is adapted from the Media slider. The News page was an attempt to use RSS Feeds from web sites and instead of just news links sending users off to other sites, it enables users to see the entire rss feed page on my own site making it quicker to see what may be of interest or not and keeping the user on my own site, all in all it is effort free because it is all just RSS Feeds...can you suggest how it could be improved?

 

[Alpha1]

I like the approach that www.huffpost.com its mobile app takes for offsite content. They list previews of articles on their overview page. Much in the same way that @Bob 's Article Management System does it. But then when you click on it, it takes you to the offsite content, but with a navigation menu on top.
Im not sure what the optimal approach is, but I think that you can probably do something similar by extending either showcase or AMS.

How does the bargains slider work? Does it pull special offers from the shop?

 

[Optic]

Very diverse content with lots of interesting forum discussions.

Only thing I have mixed feelings about is your news section:
http://www.recreationalflying.com/news/

Having each news article embedded onto your forum like that in an embedded iFrame feels disjointed, because now you are loading the navigation, their ads and sidebar from ABC and Fox News. It's not a fun experience when viewing on a mobile device.

I realise though it's convenient having it like that. But maybe it might be better to get dedicated members to manually find really newsworthy articles, use each one as the basis for a discussion topic and just post an excerpt with a link. It would perhaps make it easier for members to chime in with their aviation experience and thoughts that way than sifting through over 2,000 articles.

 

[Alpha1]

I realise though it's convenient having it like that. But maybe it might be better to get dedicated members to manually find really newsworthy articles, use each one as the basis for a discussion topic and just post an excerpt with a link. It would perhaps make it easier for members to chime in with their aviation experience and thoughts that way than sifting through over 2,000 articles.

Embedded or not. Its needed to have article comments under the article so that discussion can take place. Having a completely separated discussion thread doesn't work well because its a fragmented experience. AMS has a commenting system that can solve this.

 

[ibaker]

Thanks guys, that is helpful. Each news item is in an iframe but in their own thread so users can comment. Problem would be getting users to create news worthy articles. Tried that in the past but always good for a few months then stops so I had to come up with a wqy that was completely automated.

Will look into alternatives though, thanks again

 

[Kintaro]

@Alfa1 what do you think about the menu system?
I like it and I would like to test it one forum of mine.

 

[Alpha1]

If you have a site with many addons/content types and many categories/nodes then there will be many links and functions to present to your members. I dont think that presenting a few links in the offcanvas menu allows your members to browse the site effectively.

Mobile users need to be able to easily find:

1. all content types. This menu does that.
2. the appropriate node/category for each content type, so that members know where to read or post. This menu doesn't do that.
3. all relevant links and functions for the content type. (post new content, my content, search content, node list) This menu doesn't do that.
4. new posts and recent activity. This setup does the first.

I think it needs more work or a different approach.

 

[ibaker]

The menu system that this thread refers to is not what I am using on my site now as this thread is over 2 years old. The menu system that it does refer to can be seen at
https://theadminzone.com/resources/modern-off-canvas-menu-system.961/

What I now use does not have an off canvas slide out menu on PC mode but only on a mobile device. In PC mode my current menu system basically has the main horizontal menu bar now verticle on the side and with constant access plus a user can choose to have it either on the left or right side of the screen.