that's not necessarily true, but is good for usability. animated gifs which animate for no real reason are bad because they make a page less readable because they are distracting.
Thanx for that, it makes sense, I guess I've been thinking more about what I like than other people. I will change some of it, but not all.
Both the background and the banner don't work for me. The background is actually too distracting. Maybe you can just opt for something simpler? Something that won't make people leave the site just because they find the background too distracting.
Yeah I'm with everyone else.. the background is too flashy and would look a lot better solid. The banner is hard to read and doesnt really go well with the layout.
I agree. The spinning text was popular during the mid 90s, but it just does not work out the way it used to. Its hard to keep focus reading other forums you have listed because the header and footer keeps spinning. Also, the "Moderators Lateralus, LeeLuo, Administration, Site Developer, Moderator" should be hidden. It's really not needed to be listed under every forum.
1990's huh. I'm 30 years old and in the 1990's I never even new anyone who could afford a computer let alone know how to use one, so spinning text is new to me kind of. I got my first com in 2002, but I've only been doing web design since January 2008 (although I am quite fluent in HTML and CSS, I learn quick). As for the Moderators thats something I havnt had much time to deal with lately. I've never seen an option to remove Moderators... from being visible, where is it at in admin panel or is it a mod?
Yeah, I understand how that can be. I was lucky to be introduced to computers when I was younger, just sad I that I mainly used it for gaming. lol Anyway, I think it's in your admin control panel (ACP) under.. . forums I think. It's been a while since I used phpBB2. I don't exactly remember where it was, but I think it's near where you edit the forum names. Let me know if you can't find it. I'll get the exact location for you. When I started a forum, I had categories of almost everything you can think of. I kept it that way for many years and kept wondering why the growth rate was so slow. Later realizing that if someone wanted to talk about cars or fishing, they would rather go to a forum that specifically talks about that instead of a general forum where there is a large range of subjects. Plus the people you attract would have more in common and less arguments. Also, when I tried to put up ads to help pay for the server cost, it became a problem as well, because the forum was so general it was hard to find ads that would convert to sign ups or clicks. A general forum is fine to start with, but just can't expect too much to come out of it.
that design reminded me of my design back in the day (1998 to be exact). you should avoid using animated gifs for your design, they are a thing in the past.