my first vb forum, woot!

[trinitym]

Okay, so we just opened on the first, so yeah - looooots of tweaking still going on, btw, so don't mind any wonkiness. I figured getting feedback early in the game can't be a bad thing. This is my first time using vb and I must say, I'm glad I went with it instead of sticking with invision just because it was free with my host.

http://through-the-barrier.com/

username: Sir Cadogan
password: test

Uhm. Be gentle? It's another Harry Potter board.

*trys to block out the collective groaning*

[M1th]

Originally Posted by trinitym

Okay, so we just opened on the first, so yeah - looooots of tweaking still going on, btw, so don't mind any wonkiness. I figured getting feedback early in the game can't be a bad thing. This is my first time using vb and I must say, I'm glad I went with it instead of sticking with invision just because it was free with my host.

http://through-the-barrier.com/

username: Sir Cadogan
password: test

Uhm. Be gentle? It's another Harry Potter board.

*trys to block out the collective groaning*

I like it! Very nice!

[vbmechanic]

All in all, I like it. It has a good look and a unique, but effective color range. A few minor issues:

- the center photo in the header: the grain effect is too much, looks like a gif that has been lossy compressed too much and with a short palette.

- waaaay too many forums for a new site unless you have a wave of a thousand users waiting to get in

Good luck!

[trinitym]

Thanks for the input thus far.

I did the effect on purpose, though it doesn't look so extreme on my machine. I'm on a mac running 1280x854, I'll look into toning it down a bit.

Ahhh, yeah the number of forums, I didn't really consider that as I've never helped run a forum before. I guess we were reaaaaally anal about organzing the information, wanted to get that figured out in the beginning instead of having to move threads later. I'll defiinitely discuss that with the "founding crew."

Thanks for the compliment on the color range, I was worried it would be a little "too" different.

Woo feedback.

[filburt1]

Respectfully, you guys can't be serious about the colors. They are very close together and dark, thereby making the page look drab, and, more importantly, unreadable.

[vbmechanic]

I'm on PC at 1280 with an NEC LCD1765 and it looks sharp to me. I'm not sure how orange on purple is unreadable? Or melon on purple? The text color (light purple) would be better as white, but respectfully as well, I would call it neither drab nor unreadable. Is it perfect, no.. but usable, in my opinion, yes.

I believe the dark color scheme lends itself to the wizardry and castle feel without being the same overused colors you see everywhere. Of course black on white would be more readable but not appropriate for the target audience.

ps. definitely reduce your forums for opening.. it looks like a vast wasteland of empty space and no one really wants to be posting to themselves in an empty forum. Trust me, this is a cardinal rule of community design.

[trinitym]

No worries, I posted for feedback and I understand where you may be coming from Filburt. From a professional website point of view I would never use that type of color scheme, heh. But as vbmechanic said, the target audience isn't professional, and I did want to try something a little unique than the standard black background schemes that I find in a lot of other HP related boards.

I'll lighten the text though, I'd forgotten that aliased text appears MUCH lighter than when the text is anti-aliased, which I suppose it how it is on most PCs. And yes, we're discussing the "hiding/inactivation" of some of our forums until the board becomes more active. It's a group thing, so I can't just lay down the law.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[Zachery]

Originally Posted by trinitym

No worries, I posted for feedback and I understand where you may be coming from Filburt. From a professional website point of view I would never use that type of color scheme, heh. But as vbmechanic said, the target audience isn't professional, and I did want to try something a little unique than the standard black background schemes that I find in a lot of other HP related boards.

I'll lighten the text though, I'd forgotten that aliased text appears MUCH lighter than when the text is anti-aliased, which I suppose it how it is on most PCs. And yes, we're discussing the "hiding/inactivation" of some of our forums until the board becomes more active. It's a group thing, so I can't just lay down the law.

Thanks again for the feedback.

way too many forums

Also i wouldnt force people to register just to see that you have posts

[Lost Prophesy]

How did you do house points? I am making a VirtualHogwarts.org and I am trying to figure out Sorting Hat and House Points, and a couple other odds and ends, i'd apricate some help if you had time.

- LP

PS .. ups on your forum, I really like it, I never knew there was other vB Potter sites out there, but hey always room for two.

[msimplay]

i love how custamised it is
doesn't look generic at all
and has a great feel about it