Forum Name:
The Floor Pro Community

Forum URL:
http://www.thefloorpro.com

Comments:
Please note that the URL above leads to the home page, which is the vBulletin add-on, vBadvanced CMPS - all of our articles, reviews and how-tos are also constructed of the same product. The Floor Pro Community is a Resource and Information website for the Floor Covering Industry. Its primary purpose is to support the floor covering industry professional, the consumer and the do-it-yourselfer. It is managed by Floor Covering Professionals with expertise in all segments of the industry and offers discussion forums, articles and blogs about all aspects of flooring.Only the flooring professional has access to view topic content and participate in The Professional Forums section of the site. All other forums are open to the general public and many allow posts by guests who are not registered. TheFloorPro.com celebrates 1yr on May 6, 2007.

Overall Ratings per Category
Design
(4/5)

Features and Modifications
(5/5)

Guest Friendliness
(4/5)

Guidelines and Staff
(4/5)

Organization and Navigation
(4/5)

__________________
Always a work in progress:

www.TheFloorPro.com

Design
Category Rating: (5/5)
Category Comments:
I LOVE the look and colors of your initial portal page, the forums, the colors, and the layout. Honestly this is one of the best I have seen yet for any forum program. Very, very nice job.

The only thing I might suggest, and this is really not a big thing is that I am not a fan of basic icons. I would create some themed icons for the topic of your site, but again, this is minor.

Features and Modifications
Category Rating: (5/5)
Category Comments:
the initial site portal page is very nice.
you have the location stream (breadcrumb) on the bottom of each thread, which is good because you have very long threads
the google maps, gallery, training links, etc etc etc are all very nice
I did not see a quick reply box, but that might be something only members see.

Guest Friendliness
Category Rating: (5/5)
Category Comments:
very good guest message and lots of ways to navigate around and check out the info. Not sure what else you could add. Between the portal page and general navigation everything looks perfect.

Guidelines and Staff
Category Rating: (5/5)
Category Comments:
the About page (http://www.thefloorpro.com/about.php) is very detailed and explains just about everything and has navigation to everything else.

The rules page at http://www.thefloorpro.com/community/site-news-and-announcements/announcement-all-the-rules-thats-fit.html is also very clear.

Organization and Navigation
Category Rating: (5/5)
Category Comments:
Again very clear and you have additional notes about private sections and easy links to help or assistance. the categories are easy to navigate around.

Design
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
You know the Colors are nice, they arent my fave but they blind well.... And I like the Gfx....


Features and Modifications
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
You have a few mods.... not a whole lot but I like the simpel look....


Guest Friendliness
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
I really couldn't tell on this one as I did not try to do anything......


Guidelines and Staff
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
Good rules.... and good staff


Organization and Navigation
Category Rating: (5/5)
Category Comments:
All around good on this one.... just clean and sleak.....

Design
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
Overall, I think that the design is very good. One thing, that may could use improvement, is the colors. Right now the colors all kind of mesh together and there is not much contrast. Using fewer colors with more contrast may come off better than many colors with little contrast. The Search and Quick Links dropdown menus do not work for me, but oddly enough, the Training dropdown does work. I'm using Firefox 2.0.0.3.


Features and Modifications
Category Rating: (5/5)
Category Comments:
Excellent. The site is jam-packed with information and features. What is Remnants? It looks like it just goes to the Reviews page to me. The description of Remnants helps explain what it is about, but the link title alone does not give much insight into what I'm about to click on. Also, if you do not have any use for "Remnants", then it may be best that you remove the link - at least for now. I'd like to see some more pictures in that gallery. As a potential floor-layer, I imagine I would be interested in seeing the various types of floor applications.


Guest Friendliness
Category Rating: (3/5)
Category Comments:
I hate the "looks like you haven't registered, register now" bars. I associate them with spam, pop-ups, and spyware. I know others feel the same way, as we've had quite a bit of discussion about it here at AF in the past. I would personally remove that bar and put your focus on the welcome message. Speaking of which, the welcome message does not currently show on the vBA index. It'd be good if you could get some sort of welcome message before that first news entry. As far as the welcome message in the forums - it should be changed so that it applies to me as a floor layer, not just a person in general. Most people are not going to know or care about the things that the default welcome message says - "post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload your own photos and enjoy many other special features." Tell your visitors what they will benefit from. Tell them you've got great articles and how-to's. Tell them they can get personal and professional advice from experts. Tell them they can view others' pictures of floor installations and share their own.


Guidelines and Staff
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
I like how you've added your rules to your registration page (to replace the default vB rules). Most forum owners do not seem to do this, but to me, this is extremely important...otherwise, you can never be certain that your members did actually see the rules. The rules themselves are very good and straightforward. Have you considered changing your username to something more friendly? Perhaps eJM or Jim? The reason I suggest this is because many members frown upon "Admin". It seems too impersonal.


Organization and Navigation
Category Rating: (2/5)
Category Comments:
The main logo is not linked correctly. The "norm" is to have that logo link to either your forum index or your front page, but yours currently links to whatever page the user is on. This defeats the purpose of a dynamic link if you can't get anywhere with it

The 3 separate links for Articles, Reviews, and How-To's kind of threw me off. They are slightly different yes, but some of that information did overlap. If possible, it would be good to combine some of those sections and cut down navigation. As of right now, you do have a lot of navigation elements from the default vBA sidebar to the vBA/vB navigation bar to your own sitewide navigation.

All in all, I was overwhelmed by all of the different navigation. There are a lot of navigation links, particularly on the home page where you have the addition of the sidebar as well.

Design
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
Excellent colours. Clear, bold and easy to read. Great skin, and it fits really well with the portal.

Features and Modifications
Category Rating: (5/5)
Category Comments:
Loads of add ons and modifications to keep you busy. Nicely laid out so it's good to use. However sometimes you need not to go to overboard with your features, as sometimes it can turn you away from the actual discussion, and make some guests feel as if you are trying to distract them with the mods.

Guest Friendliness
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
I felt very at home, and it seemed very friendly at your place. I was welcomed on the homepage and it feeled as if any of my questions or queries would be answered as quickly as possible.

Guidelines and Staff
Category Rating: (4/5)
Category Comments:
Very clear and a good range of staff. The board is not over moderated at all. The guidelines were personal and make a guest feel as if he/she would be in a safe environment.

Organization and Navigation
Category Rating: (3/5)
Category Comments:
This is sometimes where I think your forum fails. I do like the layout, but with all the modifications and features, and the links to the TOS and other important information seemed to be shoved out the way at the bottom of the board. I suggest you move such links to the top of the board in clear view.

Thank you. I wish I could take all the credit, but the good folks at ForumTemplates.com had a great skin I just couldn't pass up. I have spent a lot of time customizing it for a more unique appearance. I did modify the icons slightly. Even though we are a niche group, there is a lot of diversity in the flooring biz, so the stylized speech bubble icons seems to work best.

I've tried to add the features that would set my forum apart from the other flooring related forums. There are some features, such as the Quick Reply editor, that are only available to registered members.

Thank you.

You should see the job descriptions for our staff. I'm very proud of those too.

I've spent a lot of time trying to put together good navigation. It's not perfect...

Thank you for your review.

Thank you very much for your review. I appreciate your comments.

Search and Quick Links are for registered members only. Some information is purposefully available to even guests (like search spiders), so visitors will be encouraged to join for even more features. The site is coded for all current and recent past browsers and should not be different in any of them - I check my work with IE7, FF2, Netscape8 and Opera9 and also have access to other, non Windows related previews.

"Remnants" is a part of the site that has been replaced by the new blogging system. There is one poem left there by an accomplished author that I don't want to remove until the member has a chance to begin his blog. Each of those major links to Articles, Reviews, etc., lead to an index page that may look similar, but contain content links that relates to the page it's on. I may have to consider condensing the introductory content and get to the meat and potatoes.

The Gallery isn't my member's favorite feature. I am considering other options at this time, but it will remain until a decision has been made.

I've tried several different methods. For the target group of visitors, the system I use now works much better than any other. I have received zero emails claiming they can't get the registration to work since adding that stylized version of an info bar.

This is my attempt to look like a real website, instead of just a portal to a forum. There is a welcome box for members that includes handy links to the UserCP, Private Messages and even tells you how many new posts have been made since your last visit. But guests, like search spiders, don't need to be welcomed, they just need to see the content we have on the home page.

I've tried to be a minimalist here. Just a quick look at the list of forums and descriptions should provide most of that information. Perhaps I should do a "Why should I join?" page with a prominent link in the welcome message.

Actually, it's not "Admin", it's "TFP Admin", also affectionately known as "T". I use that account strictly for administration duties and answering website specific questions and comments. I also have another account there as "Jim McClain". With that account, I can be more relaxed and my members and friends who I have been participating on flooring forums for many years with do not feel that I am being over-bearing. I'm just another floor pro, albeit a retired one. TFP Admin doesn't have a blog, but Jim does. Jim is also one of the article contributors, not "T". It's a split personality that many members are aware of and all have accepted. As it states on the About Page, mentioned above, TFP Admin is not now, nor ever will be a single identifiable person. When I am gone (I have a terminal lung disease), someone else will wear the TFP Admin hat - and I hope they follow the example I have tried to present.

That one got by me. But I'm not sure linking to either is a good idea. That's what all the other navigation links are for. I'll have to think that one over. Thanks for pointing it out.

There are many opinions about navigation around the web design circles, which can be confusing in itself. I went with what I hoped would give my members the easiest way to find the content they were looking for and what I hope search engines will fine advantageous. I guess it deserves more investigation.

Thank you for your review. You've given me several things to think about.

Thanks very much for your review. Good points made about the over-abundance of mods and features. As I mentioned earlier, the Gallery and maybe a few other things are on thin ice and could disappear soon.

I felt the main features of the website should be the top level navigation - Home, About, Forums, Articles, Reviews, How-To, Blogs and Contact pages. Secondary is member related pages - FAQ, Members List, GoogleMap, Calendar, Search and QuickLinks. Certainly no less important, but of a more technical nature are the copyright info, site map, TOS and Privacy pages and these are very commonly found at the bottom of website pages - if they are found at all. Far too many sites, including many forums, do not have proper copyright info and legal information concerning privacy rights and service policy. vBulletin software defaults to having some of the information in the footer, so I just enhanced it a little. It also, I hope, prevents some of what Ryan mentioned in the navigation clutter he experienced. It coulda been worse for him.

Thank you all again for your insightful reviews and comments. This is an important aspect of web design and everything you said will help me to improve TheFloorPro.com. We began our 1 year anniversary today with a big contest and I am very pleased and excited with the turnout. We have a long way to go and I firmly believe a website is like a home - the building and remodeling never seems to end. I am enjoying it. Websites like this one help me to build my skills and hone my craft as a webmaster.

Best R'gards,

Jim

__________________
Always a work in progress:

www.TheFloorPro.com

Hmmm...Wouldn't it make more sense to hide the links than to disable them? By simply disabling the dropdown, you make it appear as if the links are actually broken, not that I am denied access. You don't want to make your visitors think that your navigation is broken. If you don't want to remove the links, you could add a message that just says "Registered users only" when you click on that link.