Do you guys like the look? http://www.blogparty.net/blogparty/ What would you do differently? Thank you so much for your honest opinions!
I, too am not much of a fan of the color scheme but that can vary from person to person. The one thing that strikes me is the # of sub-forums you have. Way too many to start. When a new visitor comes to your site, these two thoughts may come to mind. 1. The forum isn't very active so there isn't much reason for me to join/post. 2. There's too much information everywhere. i'm confused. When you start a forum, it's better to have a few sub-forums and make them really active. It's much better to have 4 forums with 250 posts each than 40 forums with 25 posts each. Both scenarios add up to 1,000 posts but the first will look much more active than the second. Then as your forum grows, you can split the forums. Good luck with your endeavor! I really like the name you chose! Blogparty.
I agree that the colors are little hard on the eyes. It is difficult to read the grey text on the google ad. Also that is a ton of categories, even if they were populated it would be an intimidating forum to try and get into. But who doesn't enjoy a good blog party.... I think its my second favorite type of party
On another note, I personally think it's a great forum! I like the idea that it is trying to portray FUN! It's different than your common grey, blue and green forums. Which is a kind of refreshing change. I think maybe because it's different, that it is something most are not used to looking at and therefore considered a little hard to deal with...don't know if I'm making any sense there...but I kind of like the change up. It totally matches the FUN balloon within the logo. I also like the variety of topics there are to choose from. What's so intimidating about going in and viewing whatever your heart desires in regards to the topic at hand. Just because they are there doesn't mean that you have to look at all of them. It's for the variety of people that are out there. Maybe some of yours desire to be a part of ALL of the categories gives reason to feel that there are too many? I've seen some forums out there such as DigitalPoint that have a ton of categories and it doesn't seem to stop people from checking them out. I'm all for BlogParty.net!
There really isn't anything wrong with having a ton of categories to view. It's just that the most difficult part of starting a forum is to make it active. You need to attract new members but new members don't want to register or post if they feel they're only going to be talking to themselves. On the other hand, you won't have any posts or discussions without new members. When I visit a forum and half of the categories there only have 15 posts or less, I usually dismiss it as "inactive" get the info I want and leave. The difference between Blog Party and the DP forum is that it's clear DP is an active forum. When you visit Blog Party, it's clear the forum is inactive. The best way to create the perception that Blog Party is active is to create broader categories and concentrate all of the posts there. Then, as the forum attracts more members and activity, you can split the forums.
i like the white type on orange, it lools very nice, but i dont like the orange on yellow...it looks faded and hard to read also i dont think the light blue forum items look good with your colour scheme and i like the balloons too
I see what you mean, but Blog Party is still so new it hasn't had a chance to build up, I'm sure you give it a little bit of time and it will be just fine, but I myself being a new member of forums would like to see a variety, not limited to a few things to talk about. Personally, I think that a part of forums is that people like to talk, whether it be just saying your piece and going on to something else. I don't have time to spend in forums where I can sit there and chat all day long, so I post what I want to post and go on to whatever I was doing. But again, I see your perspective as well. Ultimately, we are different people and see things differently.
Interesting, will look at it later. I agree, Donelle, I want this to be something that appeals to many people. Not just a small group. That is why I have started this thread to see what works more universally speaking
Then I hope that the universe speaks! However, maybe going to different forums and asking their thoughts might be a more universal thought, since this is one type of forum and there are others...ya know? Don't know, worth a shot...
done http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10976 but this forum has been the best in my experience when it comes to honest opinions overall