Fictionpost.com - A Community Forum for Writers
 

Hi everybody, I was wondering if I could get some comments on my forum.

Albeit, we have been open for about 2 1/2 years, and the member growth rate hasn't been phenomenal, but we have a core of regulars (around 30-40 per day and 50-60 per week) and this is helping to keep the forum above the surface ;)

Some things I would be interested in hearing about:

1. The design / aesthetics of the site.
2. The layout of the forums / first-glimpse ease-of-use.

Various, notable modifications include:

- Profile comments / friends redesign
- Arcade
- UserCP redesign - the one that won HoTM

URL is: http://www.fictionpost.com

Thanks for all your comments :)

I like the skin alot.

Thanks - it was custom done by myself. Took me about 2 hours of experimenting to get the colours just how I liked them.

Well, I am not a big fan of your colors.
For example, the yellow color that you used on top of the forum does not match the rest of the site. Also, I find your colors to be too light and dull. You may want to add stronger colors or more colors.

I like it. Looks nice and a very great idea. I still own daypoet.com which I never use. Let me know if your intrested. I used it back in 2000 for poetry, but taken it down in lieu of making gaming sites.

I see. Any recommendations to the colours you would insert into the current layout? I'm a rather big fan of orange and blue, but didn't want anything too... imposing.

Interested in what?

He wants you to buy his site (or give it to you, maybe).

I, too, have a writing site, though mine is a bit more... fantasy based (roleplaying post by post). :) I like the site overall, but perhaps having a slightly more colored background, like a pale blue with a darker blue, would make it less straining on the eyes. Personally, I opt to offer dark, medium, and light skins to my users so that they can choose whatever is most pleasant and causes the least eye strain. I don't know if this helps you any, but... there it is! Just remember, though, that color isn't everything when you have reliable members :)

That's true, but I have so many modifications it would be a real hassle maintaining them for the skins...

Thanks for the tips, though. I'll be sure to look into it.

I think I have like... 6 or so skins myself, and tons of mods. It is kinda a pain, but it's worth it - at least to me. :)

I like it. It is very clean and easy on the eyes for long reading sessions. You have a tremendous amount of activity...great job there :)

I also run a writing site...went for a bit of a darker skin myself but still easy on the eyes. The last thing you want to do is cause unnecessary eye strain....it will drive away visitors very quickly. Multiple skins is always a good option if you can support them.

My only complaint is more of a personal one. Forums do not make good fiction archives, at least in there default setup. Chapters get lost in the reviews and the reading flow gets disrupted for anything over a single chapter. I have seen setups that use different skins for the story pages that helps to resolve this problem...it keeps the chapters together while displaying the reviews without getting in the way.

However, if none of your members are complaining I would stick with what you have :)


On a side note, I am always looking to exchange links with writing sites. Shoot me a PM if interested.