need an outside opinion

[advancedgamerz]

just started this web site advancedgamerz and i would like to get an outside opinion.

a few questions that i need answers too.

- is the website user friendly

- is the web site visualy appealing

- is it clear what the web site is for

- what would you change or like to see.

home page- http://www.advancedgamerz.net/forum/content.php

forum- http://www.advancedgamerz.net/forum/forum.php

[Gio~Logist]

You need more of a personal brand. From the logo to the advertisement filler, nothing is really branded or personalized on the website. Aside from that, i would definitely get on a fixed width, a lot of your content just floats in the center for me as it is with a lot of dead space.

I also imagine gaming websites to be much more image heavy. Not graphically anymore, but more photos of games and users blogging / writing about them.

[advancedgamerz]

yea im working on some of that. i guess ive just been trying to do too many things at once. lol.
thanks for your review.

[Gio~Logist]

yea im working on some of that. i guess ive just been trying to do too many things at once. lol.
thanks for your review.

No worries, everyone has been there. You're at a great place to find a lot of help and resources as well ;) Good luck :up::up:

[MrPitBull]

Your site is painfully slow to load. At GTmetrix your page load time was 12.10 seconds. You have way to many requests and your page size is way to large. Go to GTmetrix.com to analyze the solutions. Best wishes.

[RSNF]

I think you are on the right track with your site. I think you should get your members opinions first and foremost as they ultimately are the ones who you are catering to. Not that you can help it but I would do a bit more research on the mods you have installed as there are a lot of similar mods out there which do not require you to have the copyright text down on your footer. To me it just looks cluttered with all that extra text down at the bottom basically advertising a lite version of modifications you applied to your site. Like I said though I think you are on the right track. Best of luck to you and your site!!

[advancedgamerz]

i think the page loading time has alot to do with the host im using right now, we have made some changes though so i hope that helped. it would also help if my veiwers had an opinion, i seem to be the only one on there who has anything to say. right now i feel like its been hit and miss. i think the web site has the look that it needs, now i just need the disscusion.

[advancedgamerz]

ive been doing some work on making the web site more colorful and have more images. also, we have switched to bluehost so the site should be running faster now. most of my users say they have noticed a big difference.

i do have a minor problem with my banner. i was trying to make it where it takes up all that space in the header. how do i make the banner the same size on everybodies screen because when it looks right on my screen a smaller reselution screen shows it protruding off to the side. any thoughts on that?

--------------- Added 1346729605 at 1346729605 ---------------

Your site is painfully slow to load. At GTmetrix your page load time was 12.10 seconds. You have way to many requests and your page size is way to large. Go to GTmetrix.com to analyze the solutions. Best wishes.


switched host and took your advice. page load time is now 7.69 sec.
page speed grade was a b. not bad

[Budabing]

Unfortunately I cant help with fixing the banner, but I just wanted to put my 2c in and say, that the dark blue text against the dark grey back ground is almost un-readable.

I had to literally get up close and personal with my monitor to read it.

[advancedgamerz]

where did you see text that was dark blue. the only dark blue there should be is admin names.

[Budabing]

The blue text is in User Spotlight, Latest Statuses, VB Arcade and Active users online.

[advancedgamerz]

oh ok. yea those are the admins user names. thanks for letting me know.

[RipperJack]

Site looks good but you do need to fix the banner on my screen it is only covering less than 3/4 of the header and it also should be a little taller it looks squished the way it is now. I do like the layout with only one major complaint the second navbar seems a little much considering the first bar is far from full it looks like something is missing. everything on the second bar would fit on the first bar making the second bar obsolete Just my opinion though

[advancedgamerz]

im just worried that if i make the banner any larger it will look messed up on a smaller reselution screen. if i could figure out a way for it to be the same size on everybodies screen i would make it bigger.

ill take your advice on the second nav bar though

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or if i knew how to center it that would help

[John Lester]

im just worried that if i make the banner any larger it will look messed up on a smaller reselution screen. if i could figure out a way for it to be the same size on everybodies screen i would make it bigger.

ill take your advice on the second nav bar though

--------------- Added 03 Sep 2012 at 22:19 ---------------

or if i knew how to center it that would help

Read this thread and see if it works for you. https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=287389

[advancedgamerz]

i think ill just leave the banner.
i did add some cool stuff to the nav bar.

im pretty happy with the way the site looks now.
now i just need more active users. lol. thats the hard part.

[TechSpaz]

i think ill just leave the banner.
i did add some cool stuff to the nav bar.

im pretty happy with the way the site looks now.
now i just need more active users. lol. thats the hard part.

I don't want to be harsh but it's for the best:
- http://grossie.me/s/gus-fehBl9.png - There is too much going on in your postbit. Remove some things and organize it.
- http://grossie.me/s/gus-kikKMK.png - When running a site you need to be as professional as you can. That means capitalize your letters and use proper grammar.
- http://grossie.me/s/gus-PFwfYF.png - Again, capitalize. Also, I don't really think that you need a Facebook Admin. It'd be nice as well if you ordered the groups from highest rank to lowest.
- http://grossie.me/s/gus-tfvk1q.png - Could be capitalized.
- http://grossie.me/s/gus-CTrO5q.png - Get some real rules. All this is is the default registration sign up thing that you agree to.
- All capitalized forums - Doesn't look that nice. Just make it capitalized where it should be.

Overall the forum just kind of looks out of order and not very professional, but if you fix things like that you can start getting there. ;)

[advancedgamerz]

I don't want to be harsh but it's for the best:
- http://grossie.me/s/gus-fehBl9.png - There is too much going on in your postbit. Remove some things and organize it.
- http://grossie.me/s/gus-kikKMK.png - When running a site you need to be as professional as you can. That means capitalize your letters and use proper grammar.
- http://grossie.me/s/gus-PFwfYF.png - Again, capitalize. Also, I don't really think that you need a Facebook Admin. It'd be nice as well if you ordered the groups from highest rank to lowest.
- http://grossie.me/s/gus-tfvk1q.png - Could be capitalized.
- http://grossie.me/s/gus-CTrO5q.png - Get some real rules. All this is is the default registration sign up thing that you agree to.
- All capitalized forums - Doesn't look that nice. Just make it capitalized where it should be.

Overall the forum just kind of looks out of order and not very professional, but if you fix things like that you can start getting there. ;)

well i took care of some of that. i like the forum titles to be in all caps and bold because the should stand out.
i did fix the user group titles but i have no controll over the order in which the fall.
i did remove some of the stuff off the postbit.
facebook admin is staying because it is a needed group.
and as far as the punctuation goes, most of the threads do have proper grammar but you targeted a few that didnt and i dont know of many teenagers who care about that anyways. its not like im trying to sell them anything.

as far as the forum rules go i kept it basic because its a laid back forum, and my rules pretty much cover everything. i dont want my users feeling like they are walking on eggshells.

[advancedgamerz]

ok, we,ve made alot of changes around the site. let me know what u guys think.

[CAG CheechDogg]

Hello buddy, to center your adds banner do the following in your additional.css

#ad_global_below_navbar {
text-align: center;
}

[advancedgamerz]

cool, thanks bro im gonna do that now.

[CAG CheechDogg]

No problem buddy

[advancedgamerz]

made some pretty big changes around the site. need some opinions!

[betterthanyours]

Your site is still terribly slow to load. You have a lot of graphics. If these are static, you should consider about sprites.