Well, i named it accel, and then hit a snag when i tried to buy a domain... The problem is, i've now put up with it for 9/10 months, and it would be a ridiculous ammount of effort to go and change the name. We just kinda use Accel as a name, and thecarforum.net as a domain and slogan. The problem that leaves, is that we're very hard to find in google - accel is used by thousands of companies, and putting in "the car forum" brings up a bunch of larger car forums.

As for the flash, it is a bit slow for the first time visitor. It shouldn't be that bad - it's a max of 5 seconds for me, and i'm on 1mb too.

Yeah, the header is a bit busy. It's only been up for a few weeks and already i've designed a non-flash non-dashboard version.

Thanks for the feedback :)

Just thought i'd bump this so i can get some critique on my new design.

It's not actually online yet - this is my testing area for new styles, so there's absolutely no content apart from the standard joomla stuff (ignore it :p).

I know it's not a forum, but the forum's design is essentially the same (i've got it hidden for everyone but admins).

http://www.thecarforum.net/joom/

Anyone? I'm now ready to launch, and I need some feedback :)

The flash header is distracting and it takes up a lot of space.
I think a simple header would have suffice.

I suggest removing the top flash.

You do have another flash banner within the body (portal area below the top nav) .. now this looks professional. It's not too much; and it provides valuable information. :up:

I recommend that you grab this whole area (nav and flash) and use that as a header for your forums.

1. Integrate the designs (portal/forum)
2. Have your site logo appear on all frames within the flash.
3. Refine your logo (the one on the second flash looks good; the logo on the first flash looks REALLY bad)

Thanks for the comments, Princeton :)

Right, new design is now up.

http://thecarforum.net
http://thecarforum.net/forum

Anyone?! :p

...and bumped again. I changed the homepage a bit.

takes to long to load

Looks good.

Gary, 56k? Loads just fine on cable for me.

no I'm on a fast ADSL line. about 1mb connection