Need painfully honest critique
 

I would like critique on my site from some of you senior members.

http://www.livinginkentucky.com

My first impression is good n professional. Nice logo. Not sure if its really applicable to Kentucky, but nice anyway.
The skin looks good to me.

CMS:
There is a big white square where google maps is supposed to be (in the Kentucky region article). Something is not working there. I use FF8. EDIT: it loads after quite a long time. You might want to check that page out with firebug.
I dont like how the mp3 widget looks. Not sure if its meant to look Grey. When i click a song, I am taken to another site. No song. :(
The clock looks very nice, but whats the use?
Latest videos would look much better if the width would be wider. Now it looks cramped.

Forum:
Accuweather loads slow.
Why no who's online?
Way too many forums to start off with. The problem with this is that if people start looking at your forums and many have no activity, then they are gone. You would do better with fewer forums, and expanding later.
It may be me, but I dislike the forum icon. (unless the particular image is part of Kentucky imagery)

Clock & Calculator?..

When designing a layout, ask yourself "what widgets can I take out?" instead of "what widgets could I possibly add?". The clock widget is absolutely not needed. Less is more.

Also there's a bit of a CMS separator issue.

Overall looks good though.

Here's the first thing you should look at and improve:

http://www.webpagetest.org/result/11...ZQB/1/details/

This is terrible load time, and you also have a 404 not found error for one of your xml files:

You have 116 requests - that's massive. 70 or 80 is considered slightly on the heavy side.

I'd get rid of the clock widget and the mp3 widget (it's a mess to look at). When I first go to your site, you should wow me with something that is on your site that makes me want to be there. The first few widgets are useless and even take me to other sites. That's not what you want. The welcome message is nice, but pretty long. It might be better as an article - the first one they see and then all the content would move up instead of us having to scroll down to see anything.

Forums look nice. Why do I want to countdown to July 4th though? I mean, is it something super duper exciting in Kentucky (as compared to elsewhere)? Listen to what Lazorbeam said:
Overall though, I like the colors and the graphics and think it looks nice.

- The logo... looks like you used a free font to generate it? Open it up in GIMP or some type of editor, now carefully cut out some of the skinny graffiti text from around the same letters... for example all the I's and N's you can see it prominently and only need it once per letter or remove all of it and only leave one little part to make it seem as if the painter "signed" the wall etc.
- Did anyone else mention that you should probably remove the clock and some of the widgets as they seem overbearing? :p
- Figure out something and post a blog or disable it because there's nothing there currently, even if it's a Blog on why you feel the grass is greener in Kentucky just do something :D.

I see a issue w/ my style in regards to the forum descriptions so check for a update in the next release and I will try to remember to PM you the fix as well ;), also I did receive your PM about a critique of the site I've just been extremely busy as of late both work-wise and Christmas-everything wise so forgive me for not replying until now :cool:.

Thanks soooo much y'all. I made note of all of your suggestions/comments and am currently in the process (after I finish typing this) of acting upon your input. The only thing I read here that really bothers me is that I have so many "116 requests". I'm kind of lost on how to correct that?

Again'
Thanks for your time and very helpful critiques.

Lots of them are due to widgets you're apparently planning to remove. At the link I provided, are details of each and every request. Lots of them are third party ones too, leaving you dependent upon the load speeds of these third parties, for your own pageload.

I removed the widgets that call for off site content.

--------------- Added [DATE]1324674001[/DATE] at [TIME]1324674001[/TIME] ---------------

I replaced the logo with one that has a simpler font. I also removed some of the widgets. I'll create a Blog on something so it's not empty.

I totally understand not answering a pm. This is a very busy time of year for folks that have a job/life. I'm a home bound disabled veteran but I do remember what it used to be like :)

Thanks for the critique, I'm pretty sure my site is headed in the right direction now.

HUGE improvement in load speed, and now only 48 requests! Good Job!

Here's what it looks like now, on identical test conditions as before:

http://www.webpagetest.org/result/11...FCZ/1/details/

Lol, I must of had a brainfart :)

It's fun to play with things that are out there. Put them on a test site if you want to play with them. You should see all the odd things I have on my test site. :) Sometimes I just like to see what other people have created, ya know?

Since this is really more like a hobby to me I have fun trying things that look cool. But, at the same time I'm really picky about installing any mods that may interfere with the workings of my site. In the past four years on Vbulletin I have probably done at least 25 complete new installs. I am VERY picky about my site even though it gets no traffic.

I think social media such as Facebook, Twitter and others have taken a chunk out of site/forum memberships.

On a parting note let me just say to all the VB crowd, Merry Christmas.

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2012/01/29.jpg

Hi Gary,

I'm a bit late for this review, but if you are still interested in feedback, here it is...

The above is a screen shot of how ALL your pages look like on my laptop (resolution 1280 x 800 pixels).

Your home page, all your forum sections, and all your threads look completely identical, unless I take the time and effort to scroll the page down. The above screen shot is of one of your threads actually.

ALL, and I really mean "ALL", that you see of your page in the above screen shot should fill no more than 30% of the vertical space it fills now. People should see substantial amount of REAL content of your page without scrolling. I see 0% of content without scrolling your pages.

On the positive note, I'm sure your site looks very nice on a large computer screen. I like the colors, design, etc.

Good luck, and post when ever you modify your design. I, and others, will be glad to give feedback.

not being funny, but how many members are you trying to gather from( Descendants of either Lee Thomas 1871-1948 or Thomas Owens 1857-1937)?

15-25?:confused:

The site is for family use only now.

It looks very simple and user friendly.

Good luck :)

G!