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Review my forum pls.

Discussion in 'Websites' started by Okoji, Jul 24, 2015.

  1. #1
    Hi people,

    I run a new IM forum and I know you to review it as I am readu to start promotions to pull traffic.

    The forum is http://www.martforum.com

    It check and tell me all you can sir about it.

    Thank you.
     
    Okoji, Jul 24, 2015 IP
  2. deathshadow

    deathshadow Acclaimed Member

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    #2
    Like most myBB installs it's got illegible fixed metric (aka pixel) font sizes mated to an inacccessible fixed width layout making it an accessibility disaster; I'd be forced to zoom in ~150% or more to even try to use the page, but thanks to the fixed width that results in having to pan left and right; the template is a laundry list of how NOT to build a website from purely an accessibility standpoint.

    The codebase is the typical ignorant train wreck I've come to expect from the current crop of forum software -- endless pointless DIV for nothing, broken/incomplete forms, tables for layout on forms, strong tags and TD doing label's job, (or is it TH's job, so they don't know how to write tables either!). Static scripting in the markup, static style in the markup, presentational use of classes... and even when you get to stuff that should be a table, it's TD+COLSPAN doing CAPTION's job, TD+STRONG doing TH's job, endless pointless classes instead of leveraging semantic markup (again that stupid "throw a class at everything, it's faster/easier" BS -- it's neither), attributes like cellpadding, spacing, border and align that have no business on any website written after 1997...

    Bottom line, the code is trash, but typical of most "off the shelf" site templates. (there's a reason ALL off the shelf answers are ineptly coded rubbish). More important to me is that it's an inaccessible mess that I would automatically bounce from as it's USELESS to me from a UI perspective.
     
    deathshadow, Jul 26, 2015 IP
  3. Okoji

    Okoji Well-Known Member

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    #3
    Well, that was hard for me to understand. Maybe you come back to our local level.
     
    Okoji, Jul 26, 2015 IP
  4. deathshadow

    deathshadow Acclaimed Member

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    #4
    Lemme try to simplify it down...

    Tiny little fixed metric fonts. The fonts are declared in pixel sizes, for example in the BODY declaration in the CSS you'll find:
    font-size: 13px;
    Code (markup):
    fonts declared in pixels do not auto-enlarge for accessibility users. That's why the WCAG (web content accessibility guidelines) says that when and wherever possible font sizes should be declared using either % or EM. 13px is also ridiculously tiny even on normal displays -- and an utter disaster that will send users diving for the zoom

    The layout isn't responsive, is barely semi-fluid
    .wrapper {
    	width: 85%;
    	min-width: 970px;
    	max-width: 1500px;
    	margin: auto auto;
    }
    Code (markup):
    Since that 85% conflicts with the min-width on zoom; said min-width being WAY too wide to be friendly on much of anything. At the very least the min/max width should be measured in EM not pixels, with media queries used to change out that width and re-adjust the layout as need be.

    The markup (html) used to build the page is gibberish hindering the ability for non-visual users to use the page, the font sizes and widths declared on the page make zooming something a lot of users are going to try and do as soon as they land on the page, but the nature of the layout makes it so that zooming is broken.

    I can't put it much simpler than that -- if you don't understand these SIMPLE bits of site accessibility, you probably shouldn't be managing a website or making choices about the skin for it's forums. SADLY most of these problems are common to certain forum softwares who's CREATORS have no business making website for others either.
     
    deathshadow, Jul 27, 2015 IP
  5. Okoji

    Okoji Well-Known Member

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    #5
    Ok, sir. That is great. I am making a new theme for the forum.
     
    Okoji, Jul 27, 2015 IP