Whats your first impression?

Asking members for feedback sometimes helps for certain things, however, having a fresh opinion (like yours) may help me see things that I am overlooking on my site. Also as I am so used to where everything is, I dont have a problem with where things are etc. however a new user may.

so I am requesting a fresh opinion/critique for my site Gamerz Needs - For All Your Gaming Needs!

first impression: nothing loaded

thought it wasn't going to load for me too, but took a good 30 seconds before anything displayed (got a little quicker on subsequent pageview).

Personally, I like the general look and feel. Just 3 things that I picked up on.
1. I've always had a thing about right (or left) nav columns when 90% of it is empty (or duplicates forum links).
2. The h2 tags at the top don't need to be there when you used RR (I would css some custom h1 and h2 tags for your RR's so they stay in theme). Would also move everything up the screen so members can see the beginning of the main contents above the fold.
3. I've never liked shoutboxes. To me when you have it up the top and on the frontpage you are encouraging members to chit chat there rather than use the forum. I prefer dedicated chatroom pages.

Just my personal 2 cents.

• The forum did not display for me the first time, but did when I refreshed.
• I'm not a fan of shoutbox. Maybe you can consider disabling it for guests.
• I like all of the links you have on the right of the forum homepage.
• I think some of your forums could be better crafted. Consider:
  Strategy for Optimizing Keywords in Your vBulletin Forum Title and Descriptions
• I would not repeat your forum title on you sub-forum pages, or showthread pages. I think you will see significant results by changing this.
• Your forum looks good overall.

ok, it's a little thing, but i'd use a conditional to remove the "last visited" for unregistered people. it told me i last visited eariler today, and of course, i've never been there...and i'd disable the shoutbox for guests, too. it would probably help speed up that loading time.

Hey thanks everyone, I am taking some of the advise on board now. If you were to have another look, what would your impression be now, and would you suggest anything else?

Originally Posted by briansol

first impression: nothing loaded

I'll check the error logs, however I have a feeling as we only just moved to this new server, that some fine tuning could have been going on at the time. If it loads for you now, could you take another first impression

Originally Posted by woostar

thought it wasn't going to load for me too, but took a good 30 seconds before anything displayed (got a little quicker on subsequent pageview).

Personally, I like the general look and feel. Just 3 things that I picked up on.
1. I've always had a thing about right (or left) nav columns when 90% of it is empty (or duplicates forum links).
2. The h2 tags at the top don't need to be there when you used RR (I would css some custom h1 and h2 tags for your RR's so they stay in theme). Would also move everything up the screen so members can see the beginning of the main contents above the fold.
3. I've never liked shoutboxes. To me when you have it up the top and on the frontpage you are encouraging members to chit chat there rather than use the forum. I prefer dedicated chatroom pages.

Just my personal 2 cents.

I'm sad to hear it loaded slow. Maybe some intensive server actions were taking place when you first visited. I have spent lots of money to get a really powerful server so it would be fast loading. I have just moved to this new server, so I will continue to fine tune and optimize things more to keep things fast.

1. I want to add some blocks (latest downloads, random arcade games, gallery photos, etc.) to the right side bar, I think this will make it more appealing, thanks for that suggestion.

2. Thanks, looking into that after I type this post.

3. Yeah, the shoutbox is a hard one for me, my active members love it. I had a chat system and no shoutbox for a while, the chat system was always dead tho. I have now disabled it for guests. I remember a while back, the shoutbox was removed for a few days, and my members complained lots so I put it back up. I have thought about moving it to the bottom of the forums tho.

Originally Posted by Joe Ward

1. The forum did not display for me the first time, but did when I refreshed.
2. I'm not a fan of shoutbox. Maybe you can consider disabling it for guests.
3. I like all of the links you have on the right of the forum homepage.
4. I think some of your forums could be better crafted. Consider:
   Strategy for Optimizing Keywords in Your vBulletin Forum Title and Descriptions
5. I would not repeat your forum title on you sub-forum pages, or showthread pages. I think you will see significant results by changing this.
6. Your forum looks good overall.

1. I wonder why it didnt load for several people the first time, that is not a good first impression at all. I hope that problems is now resolved as I have done a fair bit of fine tuning to the server since posting this.

2. I have now disabled it. thanks.

3. thanks.

4. thanks. will be reading that thread after posting this.

5. thanks.

Originally Posted by goddess_dix

ok, it's a little thing, but i'd use a conditional to remove the "last visited" for unregistered people. it told me i last visited eariler today, and of course, i've never been there...and i'd disable the shoutbox for guests, too. it would probably help speed up that loading time.

okay thanks, looking into how to do that conditional after this post, as I would have no idea at this stage. Shoutbox removed has now been removed for guests.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by woostar

2. The h2 tags at the top don't need to be there when you used RR (I would css some custom h1 and h2 tags for your RR's so they stay in theme).

Currently trying to do the above.

This is what I have at the top of my navbar template currently:

Code:

<if condition="is_array($navbits)">
<h2>$navbits[lastelement]</h2>
<else />
<h2>$vboptions[bbtitle]</h2>
</if>
<!--VBSEO_RR_1-->

What changes to that would you make?

Also I am 100% noob at CSS, if you could provide me some help on the custom CSS that I should implement and where, that would be great.

Thanks.