Forum Name:
Aus Tech Forums

Forum URL:
Aus Tech Forums • Index page

Comments:
Gday Feel Free To join! even thought it says aussies!!! we accept all people from all over! i just upgraded to phpbb3 rc1 and i need some reviews so far! you need to register to get full access

Overall Ratings per Category
Design
(3/5)

Guidelines and Staff
(2/5)

Organization and Navigation
(2/5)

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Broadcasting World - Broadcasting, Shoutcast Forums/Site
iwebfusion - Simply Hosting

Design
Category Rating: (2/5)
Category Comments:
Sloppily done. I combination of glossy buttons to plain boring gradients. This could be fixed with proper choice of a colour scheme. Currently you have red, black, yellow, blue, grey white. It is a horrible blend of colours. Plus i can't read some of ur text. It was just changes to the existing template. Plus the use of tables suck, but it seems like the skinners don't know that phpbb3 runs on li and ul tags. Logo could be redone with better colour, and graphics also. i highly recommend an update because the current logo looks like the ones in the early 90's. Also, there is no padding on either side of the forum. I know some people make there headers with no paddings, but the body should not.

Guidelines and Staff
Category Rating: (2/5)
Category Comments:
To my knowledge there are a couple staff. I have no idea how many because of all the blocks there are as an unregister member. However i believe you have 2 admins. just remember the more staff you have over the number of members is not a good sign of forum management. with 80 members, the most amount of staff u should have is less then 8. As for guidelines, i notice u set up a rules forum. this is not necessary, you could have globe announcement to every forum. this way you cut the clutter on the organization. the rules need a major changes. Rules are suppose to be formal piece of writing and yours have several slangs in it. Avoid slangs. Plus the organization of the rules need to be improved, it seems like you wrote the rules based on when u come up with them, that is not good, reorder them.

Organization and Navigation
Category Rating: (2/5)
Category Comments:
I hate to say that it is bad navigation. However i was given no choice based on how you order your forum. First of all, you might have a bit more forums then you should, plus the way you organize them into the specific category needs improvement. Organize by importance and group as much similarities together.

well thanks for the review
its my first forum, only been up for 2 months
im not much of a photoshopper and coder, i currently have 3 global moderators and 2 admins
and too many forums? may you suggest some i take away? i will do some now

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Broadcasting World - Broadcasting, Shoutcast Forums/Site
iwebfusion - Simply Hosting

Design
Category Rating: (3/5)
Category Comments:
I don't think your design is that bad, although your logo is plain I think it does a pretty good job. The two things that I would change would be that I would first either make the forum fixed width - or at least add some padding on the left and right sides, it's too harsh having the text go right to the edges. Also, in your welcome header there isn't much contrast between the colour of the text and the background.


Guidelines and Staff
Category Rating: (3/5)
Category Comments:
The base guidelines that you have are pretty good, however it is my opinion that they could be expanded and be more comprehensive with better information on unacceptable types of posts - as well as the consequences in place. I think you've got a good number of staff at the moment.


Organization and Navigation
Category Rating: (2/5)
Category Comments:
The choice of forums you have so far is criss-crossing, some forums double up on the subject of other forums and so on. some forums could be merged and some are completely unnecessary for example 'Spam' could just be merged with general chat, and suggestions could be merged with news.

Design
Category Rating: (3/5)
Category Comments:
It does seem a bit miss and match, plus there is alot of white space, it does look almost like a default theme that has tried to be modified, i think you just need to complete or finish off a few things, then it will be ok. As the others have said you should put a padding on the sides, in regards to fixed width i have a feeling you like to keep it as wide as possible, therefore i wouldnt go fixed width.Every Topic Description Has A Capital Letter - i dont like that as it looks unprofessional.Cant see anythingyellow on your forum, eg the colour for premium members is hard to see.I like the header and how the AUS stands out, its simple but effective. You could maybe put some sort of description or saying about what your forum is about here also, but your call.The great thing is you have the basics right, and i think you will be able to improve it easily to something very nice. Keep it up.

Guidelines and Staff
Category Rating: (2/5)
Category Comments:
i wouldnt advertise for moderators on your forum, the best way is to PM someone who you think deserves to be mod, you will have more luck this way, and then you wont have people applying that you have to say no to, then they can get offended. Leave the control in your hands.Make the rules a sticky in all topics, can be easily done, see my forum or i can tell you how.You actual rules look random and you should split into different sections, go to my website and steal what i have (i dont mind you can copy ) and then maybe modify the bits in you like, and take the bits out you dont like etc.staffing levels are good.

Organization and Navigation
Category Rating: (3/5)
Category Comments:
change the rules as per above.i would remove the spam/testing bit, or if you really want it put it right down the bottom.ATF 2.0: who cares about the old - remove this as some of the images dont even work in the old version anymore...Some of the forums do seem a little muddled so i think you need to clean that up a bit and make it more concise with less cross over. I would remove the gold lounge, nobody wants to see sections they cant get into, a better idea would be to put a banner under the name of people that donate money, you can always still have a gold lounge but the other members dont need to see it.The competition should be like the rules, do a boardwide annoucement instead - if people are putting the referrer in when they are signing up why do they then need to post this in a topic? i doubt they would know or remember, you should be able to get this info from the database later. if you wanted to run a tally etc type thing you could just update it weekly etc.I dont understand the spot prize, how does that work is it random? you should say something like "there are 10 random free t-shits up for grabs for anyone...."overall work on restyling the 'default looking forum' and switch a few things around, otherwise good job so far.

thanks for the reply
im going to change the overall width of my forum and apply a dark background

heres my plan for my forums:

Aus Tech Forums
-New Member Introductions
-Feedback/Problems/Suggestions
-Competition
-ATF 2.0

General
-General Chat
-Austechforums Marketplace
-Reviews
-ATF Tutorials

Computers/Hardware
-General Computer Discussion
-Operating Systems
-Buying/Building/Upgrading PC

Internet
-General Internet
-Hosting & Websites
-Coding And Programming

Gaming
-General Gaming & Consoles
-PC Gaming

Imaging & Graphics
-General Graphics
-Photoshop
-Paint Shop Pro
[why am i putting these 2 seperate? because it seperates them both and its like at adminfusion where different forum softwares are seperated into categorys]

Admin
-Team Aus Tech

(Rules Inbuilt With Every Forum)


i have updated my forum with these so please tell me if this is good??
and my staff levels are up i have... 2 admins, 2 global mods, 1 gfx support mod, 1 computer support mod.
thats 6 all up


you can fiddle around with it if you want and thanks cornnfedd i will look at your site and try some ideas

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Broadcasting World - Broadcasting, Shoutcast Forums/Site
iwebfusion - Simply Hosting

wow already looks alot better

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thanks yeah ive slimmed forums down, got rid of rules and global announced it and thinned the forums out

__________________
Broadcasting World - Broadcasting, Shoutcast Forums/Site
iwebfusion - Simply Hosting

Design
Category Rating: (3/5)
Category Comments:
It's a hit and miss with this design. It seems very generic, and something easily picked up at a design site. Add something new, fresh, and original. You're off on a good start, but continue on.

Guidelines and Staff
Category Rating: (2/5)
Category Comments:
Some of your staff members are very unprofessional. Some make useless remarks in threads that don't contribute at all to the discussion. Remember, your staff is what your members look up to for example. Guidelines are standard, and provide a good rule system for members.

Organization and Navigation
Category Rating: (2/5)
Category Comments:
Some forums overlap like others mentioned. Merge some forums, and take out specifics.

lol hey jon ive seen you on computervitals

could you mention the forums that need fixing up?

__________________
Broadcasting World - Broadcasting, Shoutcast Forums/Site
iwebfusion - Simply Hosting