should I open yet?

[josephu]

Ok, I revamped it, what do you all think now?


www.unitedmilitia.org

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Anyone? Looking for any reviews here. Rate me on anything.

[JacquiiDesigns]

Ok, I revamped it, what do you all think now?


www.unitedmilitia.org

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Anyone? Looking for any reviews here. Rate me on anything.

I can't tell that you've changed anything tbh - and I'm not really a fan of that style - it looks very rough around the edges. Have you ever thought of installing a premade skin and customizing it? That might be a better idea than trying to create one from scratch.

Jacquii.

[josephu]

Thank you for your reply, it means alot to me. I removed aLOT of forums and condensed the "militia by state" forums down to 5 main regional forums with subforums below that, so on the main index I removed over 50 forums (!) yeah, I guess I had a lot, (newbism!) so that was a big change there, I also changed the color of a few links to make them more visible. I didnt exactly create this from scratch, its just the default theme with alot of transparency and a fixed background image, (Ive thought of creating a few more themes for potential users to pick from) I like the constitution background, it goes with my site, ( I know its not about what I like, but what the users like) but my idea is our forums being superimposed over the constitution, almost like its a part of it. I appreciate your advice, and would really like to hear some suggestions on how I can make it not so "rough around the edges" without completely scrapping it. I would also like more reviews. Thank you!

[Digital Jedi]

Well, do like I do. I never consider my forums finished. I consistently tweak the style until I get something that I think at least passes for professional. One thing you can do is look at a site that has a design you like and try to figure out what it is exactly that makes that work for you. Then see if it's something that would work well for your style. My site is basically a recreation of a style I saw on eXtremepixels, with some major tweaks of my own.

[josephu]

lol, Yeah, Itll probably never be truly finished, but I would really like to get it at least good enough looking to start trying to generate some traffic! you know without completely making visitors turn and run the other way. I think it is better than my previous site (in which the new one will replace) www.UMAmilitias.com . Then again if you look at my 2 main competitors (competitors isnt really the right word, more like 2 biggest colleagues, their sites leave alot to be desired to, so even though mine is a lil rough, maybe itd be a refreshing change for some of our users. check out and compare mine to my "competitors"

www.awrm.org
and
www.UnitedStatesMilitia.com

Tell me specifically whats bad about my forums, and why please. Thank you all!!! Rip into me, Im not easily offended. I know Im no designer (But I am a bit of a poet!)

[JacquiiDesigns]

Thank you for your reply, it means alot to me. I removed aLOT of forums and condensed the "militia by state" forums down to 5 main regional forums with subforums below that, so on the main index I removed over 50 forums (!) yeah, I guess I had a lot, (newbism!) so that was a big change there, I also changed the color of a few links to make them more visible. I didnt exactly create this from scratch, its just the default theme with alot of transparency and a fixed background image, (Ive thought of creating a few more themes for potential users to pick from) I like the constitution background, it goes with my site, ( I know its not about what I like, but what the users like) but my idea is our forums being superimposed over the constitution, almost like its a part of it. I appreciate your advice, and would really like to hear some suggestions on how I can make it not so "rough around the edges" without completely scrapping it. I would also like more reviews. Thank you!
Ah yes. My apologies - I do now recall all the forums you'd had on main forum index. I see you've condensed the forums and that's good actually - I think perhaps you might adjust your settings to show the subforums so that the main index won't look so blank.

Another suggestion is to make sure each of the main sections show a description as well. My thinking is that if you are going to show one forum description = show them all, so there's continuity of style on your index page.

You're using a fluid width style and on my resolution (1440x990px) it looks very wide. One thing you might consider is to enable your side column (right or left) so that the space is not so vast... The most used resolution is 1024x768 - so you have plenty of room to work with on the fluid style.

One additional thing -- and I think I mentioned this in your other thread -- you have a custom header... Why not make a set of matching forum icons? A new set of icons'll make your style much more custom.

Well, do like I do. I never consider my forums finished. I consistently tweak the style until I get something that I think at least passes for professional.

I heard that and totally agree. I think for a lot of webmasters/webmistresses - the idea is to continually improve the forum. I do consider most all my sites a work in progress.

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I know Im no designer (But I am a bit of a poet!)

A poet! Indeed?
Hope you will join us over at JPiC Forum - I'm re-opening member registrations at the end of the week! ;)

((shameless plug - I know hahaha))

[josephu]

ok I will surely take into consideration everything youve all said, I will make some custom forum icons to put in place of the blah ones. I used one of those cross platform browser compatability sites to see my site and was amazed at what I saw, indeed on some it looks very wide, some the background image is tiled, misplaced, or non existant, Im interested in what you said about the side bar, maybe you could elaborate more on exactly what, where, and how, I know thats aalot to ask, but I am a newbie and like Ive reiterated multiple times I am no design or tech guru, I learn 100 percent as I go, Im going into all of this with literally zero knowledge of computers whatsoever, I havent even figured printshop out yet and people now see that as ancient software, I have photoshop but havent even begun to understand it yet either, so tell me more about adjusting my overall width or whatever and the sidebar stuff you mentioned, also what do you think about making it fixed width, or is this what you are talking about? I thought about maybe side borders as well, I appreciate your input, and I will now inactivate my forums and tinker some more, I would appreciate a reply so I know how to fix my "too wide" problem as well as so I can reply to this thread and move it back towards the top at a later date ( so I dont have to make another additional thread for my site, and so it wont auto-merge my double post, thus keeping me way out of sight from everyone. Thanks again, ( and I will check out your site and likely register!)

[JacquiiDesigns]

No problem at all. I'm happy to assist - I think most people are afraid of me thehehehe - just teasing. But I completely understand - I was a newb out the gate when I opened my first forum, so I can appreciate someone new to vB wanting to learn the ropes. ;)

As far as the width. It's really subjective - really depends on what you like. Some like the fluid widths because it adjusts to each browser resolution. I personally am a fan of fixed widths with a nice tiled background.

I wish I could help more - but honestly, I'm only familiar enough with vB4 to know that I hate the stylevar system. And I do not envy you the task of customizing your forum more LOL

Perhaps someone else more knowledgeable with vB 4 might come along and help you out....

Jacquii.

ps - I really do like the concept that you are going for. It just needs to be cleaned a bit, like I said earlier - gotta smooth the rough edges. And I'm sure you'll get it to where you are pleased with it. Good luck!

[Digital Jedi]

I heard that and totally agree. I think for a lot of webmasters/webmistresses - the idea is to continually improve the forum. I do consider most all my sites a work in progress.
I kinda treat it like Disneyland. Which is never supposed to be finished "as long as there is imagination in the world."

[JacquiiDesigns]

I kinda treat it like Disneyland. Which is never supposed to be finished "as long as there is imagination in the world."

Absolutely!
And we must have imagination - it's what webmasters/webmistresses are made of http://a.imageshack.us/img844/5843/curtsey.gif

[tercede]

Looks good, but like others have already said, hard to make a conclusion when we can't see much! The loading time for the background image is more than I would wait for probably.