Autocurb.com Review Please

[dano9258]

I've built my website, and am currently trying to drive traffic to it to get some feedback on the functionality and design. Please let me know what you guys think, and sign up if you wish!

http://www.autocurb.com
The niche is sport and luxury car enthusiasts and owners. My goal is to get the community to over 100,000 members eventually, where everyone can talk with other owners of the same vehicle. But I want them to be able to talk about other cars on the same forum.

[clutchthese]

Personally i think it's very blan. Your header is a bit messed up. The navbar is running into your header, thusly cutting off the "Remember me" and it's checkbox.

It's a good start however! :)

[dano9258]

I fixed the running in the checkbox problem, and centered the search box. Next up is to add some icons next to each navtab choice, and to make the search box more rounded.

Thanks for the review...please keep them coming!

[Sage Knight]

The navbar looks pretty slick mate but the searchbar and logo needs to be moved out of it.


I also recommend you to use this plugin:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=244351

This will add a unique icon next to each forum, since you have a whole lot of boards on the various car manufacturers, it would be perfect to spice up the actual forum display. But be sure to test it out on a test installation first.

And a word of advice is to never place ads at start, I mean you'll only earn a few dollars a month unless you get really lucky. Having ads and no content don't really go together IMHO.

[JacquiiDesigns]

Well - there's not much to critique; The forum skin is default with a few color changes. The logo is bland and unbrandable. The forum really has no particular identity. I'd suggest revising and/or commissioning a logo design with matching main forum index icons as to give your site more character. Speaking of logo = your current logo positioning is all wrong. I admire you trying something different with placing the logo in the navbar. But it just seems wrong to me.

Other than what I've mentioned ==> your forum is basically an out-of-box vBulletin install.

HTH,

J.

[dano9258]

The navbar looks pretty slick mate but the searchbar and logo needs to be moved out of it.


I also recommend you to use this plugin:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=244351

This will add a unique icon next to each forum, since you have a whole lot of boards on the various car manufacturers, it would be perfect to spice up the actual forum display. But be sure to test it out on a test installation first.

And a word of advice is to never place ads at start, I mean you'll only earn a few dollars a month unless you get really lucky. Having ads and no content don't really go together IMHO.


Thanks for the opinion. I'm trying to figure out how to make the search box more rounded and not so outdated looking, and possibly moving it out of the navbar. As for the mod you suggest, I will be prolly adding that. The ads are there just for now to keep those spots, and I'll be removing them probably once the site is 100% done.

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Well - there's not much to critique; The forum skin is default with a few color changes. The logo is bland and unbrandable. The forum really has no particular identity. I'd suggest revising and/or commissioning a logo design with matching main forum index icons as to give your site more character. Speaking of logo = your current logo positioning is all wrong. I admire you trying something different with placing the logo in the navbar. But it just seems wrong to me.

Other than what I've mentioned ==> your forum is basically an out-of-box vBulletin install.

HTH,

J.

Ouch! I appreciate the review. It's a work in progress. I really liked the placement of the logo I have. You are the second person to bring that up however, so maybe I will be rethinking that. Any reason why it doesn't seem to go there?

[JacquiiDesigns]

Ouch! I appreciate the review. It's a work in progress. I really liked the placement of the logo I have. You are the second person to bring that up however, so maybe I will be rethinking that. Any reason why it doesn't seem to go there?

LOL @ the ouch = you asked. And I hope this wasn't taken as too harsh a comment, but as constructive criticism ;)

Anyway - if the navbar will have the logo in it - perhaps a better placement for it will be at the very top of the forum like so:

http://imageup.jacquiidesigns.com/di-Z16Q.png

Just my opinion anyway...

J.

[Narutoboy]

Add a vignette to your background or at least have it vertically fade to black. It doesn't look that appealing as it is. Your logo could use some improvement, but I think it's suitable. The contrast between the border lines and the navigation bar is too high. I would suggest you turn them into indented lines instead. Add a medium black drop shadow underneath the header and the main board. The words 'follow us on' are too close to the edge. It should be aligned with the logo.

Those are my suggestions for improving Auto Curb. I love the color scheme that you've chosen, and I think if you implement some of the changes I suggested, the site as a whole will look ten times better.

[dano9258]

LOL @ the ouch = you asked. And I hope this wasn't taken as too harsh a comment, but as constructive criticism ;)

Anyway - if the navbar will have the logo in it - perhaps a better placement for it will be at the very top of the forum like so:

Just my opinion anyway...

J.


No, I have definitely taken it as constructive criticism. I appreciate everything you guys have said so far. The problem with what you state (having the navbar at top and login below), you can't move the Facebook Connect out of the toplinks, which is up at the top. As you have seen, I've moved things around on the site already, with the login and register below the navbar now. Any suggestions how to get around this?

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Add a vignette to your background or at least have it vertically fade to black. It doesn't look that appealing as it is. Your logo could use some improvement, but I think it's suitable. The contrast between the border lines and the navigation bar is too high. I would suggest you turn them into indented lines instead. Add a medium black drop shadow underneath the header and the main board. The words 'follow us on' are too close to the edge. It should be aligned with the logo.

Those are my suggestions for improving Auto Curb. I love the color scheme that you've chosen, and I think if you implement some of the changes I suggested, the site as a whole will look ten times better.

I love some of your ideas, and will be implementing them in the near future. As for the contrast difference issue, are you talking the red line, or the gray ones?

[Narutoboy]

I love some of your ideas, and will be implementing them in the near future. As for the contrast difference issue, are you talking the red line, or the gray ones?

Sorry for not specifying. I meant the gray lines that separate each navigation link. To create that effect, all you need to do is add two lines, one on top of the other; make the top one darker and the bottom one bright (so for instance, a dark black in front and that gray color you're using now in back), and then shift the bottom line 1px to the right.

[dano9258]

Sorry for not specifying. I meant the gray lines that separate each navigation link. To create that effect, all you need to do is add two lines, one on top of the other; make the top one darker and the bottom one bright (so for instance, a dark black in front and that gray color you're using now in back), and then shift the bottom line 1px to the right.

Sorry, but I'm sort of a newbie at Vbulletin. Would you know how to actually implement this? Do you do this with Stylevars?

[Narutoboy]

Sorry, but I'm sort of a newbie at Vbulletin. Would you know how to actually implement this? Do you do this with Stylevars?

I haven't worked with VB4 much, so I couldn't tell you. I looked at your code, though, and I found out that 'A.navtab' is what you want to change. A.navtab + border-right is set to #999999 (a light gray) right now. Whether you have to change that through the 'Stylevars' or the 'Main CSS,' I have no idea.

Edit: Your background looks MUCH better. Also, I love the drop shadow effect on the main board (as in the forum space). It adds some nice dimension to your site. I'm not as keen on the drop shadow underneath the header for some reason. Yes, I know I suggested that, too. I guess it just looks a little too overpowering (for my taste), whereas the one on the main board looks perfect.

[clutchthese]

I'd also make a favicon. :) Looks a lot better now than when we first started this review.

[dano9258]

I'd also make a favicon. :) Looks a lot better now than when we first started this review.

Thanks! I've been putting a lot of time and effort into the redesign. I know there is a long ways to go, but I think its all starting to come together. Items I know I need to fix still:

- Contrast in navbar
- Newslider is still not working correctly and also shows up on article pages instead of just home
- Icons in forums need to be site specific and branded (same goes for Directory)
- Facebook link needs to go to Facebook page (having trouble signing up for Facebook)
- "Sign Up" button turns weird color when hovering / "Log in" button to match sign in
- Forgot Password/Remember Me in single line in all browsers
- Favicon
- Make Header/Navbar section 100% of the page with the content within the 1200px body (if anyone knows how to implement this, please let me know. I can get it to 100% but then the logo and everything is outside the body width.)


Any others than anyone can think of would help greatly! Thanks again for the help along the way.

Correction, Facebook is now working.

[Narutoboy]

1. Add a tagline.
2. Your header's drop shadow looks inconsistent with the other drop shadow. I would just center it.
3. The gradient in your nav bar has a visible stopping point. I personally prefer smoother transitions.
4. Move 'autocurb' up so it's in the center.
5. The white glow effect looks outdated. I would rather see a subtle (centered) black drop shadow.
6. Change the font for your headlines. Verdana, Bebas, M + 1c, and Futura are some that I use.
7. Fix the padding on each of your news blocks. The content is way too close to the edge.

That's all I got. Hope I've helped.

[dano9258]

1. Add a tagline.
2. Your header's drop shadow looks inconsistent with the other drop shadow. I would just center it.
3. The gradient in your nav bar has a visible stopping point. I personally prefer smoother transitions.
4. Move 'autocurb' up so it's in the center.
5. The white glow effect looks outdated. I would rather see a subtle (centered) black drop shadow.
6. Change the font for your headlines. Verdana, Bebas, M + 1c, and Futura are some that I use.
7. Fix the padding on each of your news blocks. The content is way too close to the edge.

That's all I got. Hope I've helped.

Thank you! My list of to do's I guess just grew lol.

[dano9258]

Alright guys, the site is officially changed with all the suggestions thus far. Please review it again and see what you think! Thanks again!

[setishock]

I would suggest changing the white background of the articles and the forum rows to something off white or maybe a lite gray. That stark white on the darker background is rough on the old eyeballs.

[wtricks]

'Kill' the shadows in the forums, they look weird on a dark background. Otherwise, sweet job ;)

[dano9258]

@setishock - I fixed the background of the articles and forums to a very light gray. Does this work better for you?

@wtricks - By shadows, I'm guessing you meant the white at the top of each forum category fading to the gray? I fixed this. If this is not what you meant, please let me know.

[wtricks]

http://www.autocurb.com/forum.php

If you look at the forum listing you'll see a white 'shadow' fade into the 'black'. Looks bad. You can delete it by adding

* {-moz-box-shadow: none !important; box-shadow:none !important; -webkit-box-shadow:none !important;
}

in vbulletin_chrome.css