Honest review appreciated

[Budabing]

Hey everyone. Ive just gone live with my first forum, and I'd like some honest brutal (sugar coated) feedback. I'm a bit of a noob, so I'd love to hear of some ideas to make it a better place. Thanks - Mick

Link is in my sig!

[RipperJack]

To be brutally honest I would change skins the color scheme is a little on the grating side. Other than that it is a nice forum and could be very helpful if I lived in AU. but it wouldn't hurt to add some bling to the site to keep it from being boring....A little graphics upgrade and you are on your way.

[Budabing]

Thanks for your feedback RipperJack. Which part of the color scheme was grating? Was it the orange?

I have kept the orange as it keeps in similar style to our website. And orange/grey seemed to be a popular theme in website templates etc.

The graphics update - do you mean icons etc?

Do you have any recommendations for a side bar?
EDIT: Just found the sidebar block mgr in admincp

[RipperJack]

The Orange and gray are fine on a dark skin but on a lite style it is a but much I think a little hard on the eyes to look at for very long. And yes icons would be a good start such as new/old post icons and maybe even forum headers just something to liven up the forums a bit. and not criticizing but your logo is a little on the plain side. I don't mean to go overboard but just a little decorating goes a long way to keep people's attention. You have did a good job on building your forums but now it just needs the finishing touches to make it somewhere people feel like visiting and staying a while. To make it successful you need people not only visit but to come back to and tell friends about so you may want to consider adding some things to keep them on the site for longer than just to check out if anybody is in the area. But you are well on your way just keep up the learning

[Budabing]

Thanks again ripper, Ive been scouring the forums and internet for icons, however they all look unprofessional. Can anyone suggest a site for icons that may suit the color scheme of my forum? Or at least a site that offers professional looking icons other than smilies? Is there anyone else that has constructive criticism of my forum?