A whole cooking site based on vBulletin

[Aunt Clara]

I am about to move on to another project, and even though I'd still like to do some minor modifications to my site I'd like to get some reviews from you nice people:

www.dominicancooking.com

Suggestions, critiques?

[KevNJ]

Looks good... except you have 6 broken images in your navbar "home" "dominican recipes" "articles & features" "about us" "forums" "store"

the "top" arrow at the bottom left doesnt seem to fit the rest of the sites style in my opinion.

other then those two things site looks very clean.. very eye pleasing.

*edit- why is your first cell ( the new post image cell ) in the forums so big? should make that smaller so your "topic" cell is larger/longer to fit more of the topic title on one line.

[Aunt Clara]

Can you see the images now?

*edit- why is your first cell ( the new post image cell ) in the forums so big? should make that smaller so your "topic" cell is larger/longer to fit more of the topic title on one line.Sorry I don't understand. Where and what again? :)

[Kirk Y]

Very nice look. You can't even tell that it's vBulletin really. Makes me wanna go grab an apron and get cooking!

[KevNJ]

Can you see the images now?

Sorry I don't understand. Where and what again? :)


Yup, can see them now. Looks very nice.

And the thing about the cell width, I guess it was my computer acting up cause they are fine now.

[Aunt Clara]

the "top" arrow at the bottom left doesnt seem to fit the rest of the sites style in my opinion. I got rid of the top arrow.

I really appreciate your feedback, so keep it comming.

[bloodydecks]

<a href="http://www.dominicancooking.com/dominican-recipes/" target="_blank">http://www.dominicancooking.com/dominican-recipes/</a>

Did you use Geek articles to do that?

Looks very nice!

[Aunt Clara]

I didn't know about the existence of Geek articles until after I had finished. If I had known I would have saved myself hours of working and would have just bought the darn thing.

Thanks for the praise, if somethign seems not to work, please let me know.

[KevNJ]

Few quick question and opinions...


Opinions - Put the bottom navlinks inside where you have the "http://www.dominicancooking.com/forums/enlighten/misc/footer_ls.gif bar and keep the cellpadding so the beige color still stays at the bottom.

Also at the bottom you dont have the corners arounded like you do at the top. Think it would look a little cleaner if you had them like the tops.

Maybe add the random header to where your current logo is. Or put a rotating banner/advertisement that you have at the very top inside that orange/reddish area... ( ???? )

Questions..
At the bottom you have "DominicanCooking.com and owner" why the "and owner" ??

Also you said you didnt use vbgeek. Did you make that mod yourself. Care to release it here ?

main page your "news and annoucements" "Featured Dominican Recipe" etc. is that with cmps or also part of what you coded?

[wtricks]

I knew I saw the theme.
http://www.gardenpondforum.com/ another forum using it. But at least they didn't delete the theme credits: "vBulletin skin developed by: eXtremepixels"

If you're not able to mod your theme by yourself, then I don;t think you should delete the credits for those who did this ;)

Anyway.. looks very good.

Later edit: http://www.extremepixels.com/forum/index.php?styleid=79

Love the tomato buttons you made. :)

[Aunt Clara]

Honey, I paid US$60 for the right to do that. Be careful you don't go around accusing people without asking first:

Payment Details
Transaction ID: 2D197614JE6319436
Item Price: $60.00 USD
Total: $60.00 USD
Item/Product Name: eXtremepixels branding free (global)
Invoice ID: 109272-1
Buyer: DominicanCooking.com

And BTW, although I bought the skin, the modding is all mine. I don't remember having claimed to have created the skin. The questions centered about the structure of the Recipes and Articles sections.

[wtricks]

Sorry if it looked as if I accused you of stealing, didn't know that in this case yo can take the code out. I never bought a theme, I make them myself. The main point was that unfortunately many people like this theme and they also bought it. It's a stock theme and it's getting used since it does look very good.

for your demographic this might not be an issue (since the members are not webmasters or forum admins), but I got to know the theme by heart since I;m a designer and always looked to not look as other sites.

I noticed the coding, that's why I later edited to let you know about it.

As far as the looks are concerned the forums look very nice, but other projects use the theme and have the same look, this was what triggered my response. Sorry for accusing you of taking the link out ...

[Aunt Clara]

I am sorry for snapping at you, but I am very sensitive to accusations of copyright infringement, seeing as I myself live off the fruits of my intellect, and am myself routinely plagiarized. I wish I had a dollar for every site that copies my material, it goes from large corporations to religious organizations. People think that if it is on the net it is free, and that pisses me off to no end.

Anyways, I plan to do some changes to the design later, but the design is not my strenght, it's the content that makes my site. I'd rather spend more time producing quality content than changing the design. I have only done it insofar as it makes the site more "usable".

And don't worry, the users to my site have a small to nil chance of finding another forum with that skin. And if they do I don't mind, I have never claimed the design was mine.

[PhenomLeader]

Aunt Clara, I LOVE your site! I'm a bit of a GARS dummy... I run a forum for women and we have a recipe box that completely pales in comparison. I'm quite jealous1

[FLMom]

Awesome site!! You have done an excellent job there :D I have a parenting site with a recipe section, but man, this puts mine to shame hehe

Keep up the good work :up:

[PhenomLeader]

Hi Cori! It's MissMoke! :D You should try GARS... if I can figure it out anyone can.

[FLMom]

Hey Miss Moke!!! it's hard to keep up with the usernames lol

I have the GARS lite, but use it for my articles, so I would have to buy the full version if I want to use it for any thing else....guess I know what I am getting soon haha

[wtricks]

I am sorry for snapping at you, but I am very sensitive to accusations of copyright infringement, seeing as I myself live off the fruits of my intellect, and am myself routinely plagiarized. I wish I had a dollar for every site that copies my material, it goes from large corporations to religious organizations. People think that if it is on the net it is free, and that pisses me off to no end.

Anyways, I plan to do some changes to the design later, but the design is not my strenght, it's the content that makes my site. I'd rather spend more time producing quality content than changing the design. I have only done it insofar as it makes the site more "usable".

And don't worry, the users to my site have a small to nil chance of finding another forum with that skin. And if they do I don't mind, I have never claimed the design was mine.

And I am sorry it came like this :)

As a web designer I review sites on a daily basis. i have a lot of members in my forums or others who just come with a stock template for their site or a forum skin I just saw in tens of places and ask for a review. And I aften go ballistic since most didn't do ANYTHING else but install a stock theme and they want a review. What to review? I always ask them :)

Your forums are well put together and it looks like your programming skills are not to be underestimated at all. We are a bit different since I can install hacks and mod the script, but my main skill is with the colours and design. And since I always go nuts when seeing stock themes I spend a serious deal of time trying to have something unique.

I apologise again for the sentences that sounded that harsh. I look forward to see the new things you'll do to the forums. I'm sure they'll develop a lot as far as features and looks are concerned. And in some of the modding issues, I think I'll have to learn a lot from you ;)

[Freesteyelz]

You already know what I think of your site, Auny Clara. Keep thinking outside the box. I'm looking forward to your next project. :)

[smacklan]

Honey, I paid US$60 for the right to do that.
ouch!!! What a racket..twice the cost of the skin itself ;)

Very nice job with your site and structure...best of luck for your success with it :)

[Shelley_c]

Overall the structure and design of your site/forum is very nice, colour usage compliments the theme and looks inviting to "potential members". If I had to be picky, I would suggest you exchange the navbits_start.gif & navbits_final.gif to something more custom, something that is both consistent with your theme and colour.

Maybe it's just me, but the footer images seem a little off as they just fall short on each end. Maybe expanding that to 100% might look better.

Like I said, overall the structure/style and images look good and compliment each other nicely so I can't really say anything negative.

Goodluck with your site Aunt Clara. :)

[Aunt Clara]

I am still tweaking the looks:
http://www.dominicancooking.com/articles/1527-venezuelan-cuisine.html

[pcoskat]

Aunt Clara, I LOVE your site! I'm a bit of a GARS dummy... I run a forum for women and we have a recipe box that completely pales in comparison. I'm quite jealous1

I'm jealous, too!

Please ZIP that recipe mod up, and sell it. PLEASE!

[CSS59]

looking good! nice job!

[G0F0RBR0KE]

Good Job

Esta muy bunita tu pagina ;)

[Aunt Clara]

Thanks!

BTW, a lot of things have changed since I started this thread, including the looks of the sites.