Well, i had ninjamuk make me a nice theme, if you ever need any work hes the man to choose! Ok, now I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for my website : http://www.thepiratescreen.com Like to change anything at all that you think needs changing or adding and I'll take it into account! Thanks guys I appreciate it.
There are quite a few things you could do to improve the site's look overall but it looks much better than most of the movie sites I have looked at so far. Here are a few random things I noticed: 1. Bottom half of header seems too dark/faded. 2. The film design at the search seems a little generic. Not a major issue, just my opinion. 3. Search doesn't blend well with header. Maybe move it in the toolbar if it fits properly. 4. The Home button...red on red doesn't appeal to me. 5. The black background parts make the site seem poorly done and take a lot away from it. 6. The login doesn't seem fitting there. If you could uniquely design a replacement for the black background/frame and put the login in a more appearing presence at the very top it might look decent. 7. The >> after Upload hurts my eyes (yes, I'm picky) 8. The recently viewed section is useless if the viewer can't even see the name of the movie! 9. What does your average visitor have to benefit from a recent viewers list? 10. Same as above but for list of tags. 11. Same as above two...but for friends list, no reason to have it viewable for those not logged in. 12. There is no reason to show the tags for movies, they don't add value/info to the movie. All the viewer really needs to know is the movie name, description, year, main actors/actresses, and film genre. It's fine to include what users rated it though obviously. 13. Why make the description darker when hovered over? Just make it darker permanently. Some people have bad eyes and it could leave to a higher bounce rate. My sister's ex-husband has poor vision and when I was showing him how to find movies online (through ovguide) he was going through a site and decided to leave it because, as he said, he couldn't read the description. So, maybe size the text bigger if it won't take away from the site at all. 14. The film design doesn't blend well with the About Us/Privacy Policy links on the bottom of the page. 15. Privacy Policy page - the Google privacy link shouldn't be like that. Make it an anchor/text link so they can just click it, re-word it to something like "To find out more information on how to.....just[link]click here[/link]" 16. The advertising partners section does not look professional. Replace the "..." with a colon. Skip a line before listing them. Maybe use bullets/nuggets as well. 17. Under Log Files don't space out between brackets ( IP ) just make it (IP) 18. When I go to the Media section the time box doesn't make sense. Why call it "Time", make it something like Videos Listed, Most Watched Videos, or whatever. 19. The Log In box in the media section is so far out of place it makes me want to puke. 20. Would you be doing any harm by letting guests comment on videos? 21. Get rid of the "Media Responses" feature! 22. Why have a "More From User" option if it's all movies anyways. 23. Related videos, why? Have genre sections for that. 24. Where are your genre sections anyways? 25. I like the concept of a "random" button. Not to create a random list of movies to look at though. Maybe you could make it so they click the button "Suggest Me A Random Movie" and it works like the shuffle option for iPod's, takes you to a random movie's page. This may be beter for a site that offers links to the movie (non-embedded) and only has trailers on their site, as the viewers can discover movies they might be interested in. Well, there's 25 random suggestions/things worth mentioning. Edit: Ohh, and every movie is listed under "Movies" and it shows on every post, that is annoying. Also, add a shoutbox.
1. Bottom half of header seems too dark/faded. Will look into it 2. The film design at the search seems a little generic. Not a major issue, just my opinion. Ok 3. Search doesn't blend well with header. Maybe move it in the toolbar if it fits properly. Ya, I'll probably move it down a bit 4. The Home button...red on red doesn't appeal to me. I noticed that too, what other colour do you suggest? 5. The black background parts make the site seem poorly done and take a lot away from it. What other colour should i make it? I thought black was alright 6. The login doesn't seem fitting there. If you could uniquely design a replacement for the black background/frame and put the login in a more appearing presence at the very top it might look decent. Ok 7. The >> after Upload hurts my eyes (yes, I'm picky) I'll take it away 8. The recently viewed section is useless if the viewer can't even see the name of the movie! Oh well it looks nice, and they can see the thumbnail. 9. What does your average visitor have to benefit from a recent viewers list? Dunno 10. Same as above but for list of tags. Tags are for SEO 11. Same as above two...but for friends list, no reason to have it viewable for those not logged in. Friends list is actually partner sites 12. There is no reason to show the tags for movies, they don't add value/info to the movie. All the viewer really needs to know is the movie name, description, year, main actors/actresses, and film genre. It's fine to include what users rated it though obviously. Seo purposes 13. Why make the description darker when hovered over? Just make it darker permanently. Some people have bad eyes and it could leave to a higher bounce rate. My sister's ex-husband has poor vision and when I was showing him how to find movies online (through ovguide) he was going through a site and decided to leave it because, as he said, he couldn't read the description. So, maybe size the text bigger if it won't take away from the site at all. I dunno, i just thought it was a cool effect. 14. The film design doesn't blend well with the About Us/Privacy Policy links on the bottom of the page. Ok 15. Privacy Policy page - the Google privacy link shouldn't be like that. Make it an anchor/text link so they can just click it, re-word it to something like "To find out more information on how to.....just[link]click here[/link]" why? 16. The advertising partners section does not look professional. Replace the "..." with a colon. Skip a line before listing them. Maybe use bullets/nuggets as well. where is this? 17. Under Log Files don't space out between brackets ( IP ) just make it (IP) Where is this? 18. When I go to the Media section the time box doesn't make sense. Why call it "Time", make it something like Videos Listed, Most Watched Videos, or whatever. Ok will do. 19. The Log In box in the media section is so far out of place it makes me want to puke. Lol, where should i put it? 20. Would you be doing any harm by letting guests comment on videos? It's to prevent spam, but i could give it a try. 21. Get rid of the "Media Responses" feature! Right away! 22. Why have a "More From User" option if it's all movies anyways. Ok 23. Related videos, why? Have genre sections for that. Ok 24. Where are your genre sections anyways? I just started the site, i havn't really added categories and stuff yet. 25. I like the concept of a "random" button. Not to create a random list of movies to look at though. Maybe you could make it so they click the button "Suggest Me A Random Movie" and it works like the shuffle option for iPod's, takes you to a random movie's page. This may be beter for a site that offers links to the movie (non-embedded) and only has trailers on their site, as the viewers can discover movies they might be interested in. Ok Well, there's 25 random suggestions/things worth mentioning. Edit: Ohh, and every movie is listed under "Movies" and it shows on every post, that is annoying. I'm going to make sub categories with genres, and add more main ones like tv shoes, anime, and music videos.
4. Just test out different colors till one fits, not sure what color to suggest. 5. I actually just noticed the script you are running, it was one I was looking at last night and may end up using myself...but with various customizations if it doesn't run up too much of a bill. Anyways, at a different site with the script it had the same separate background problem. It definitely takes away from the sleek design. Alright, the very back background on the left has a red pattern, try to incorporated that all around somehow? 8. Make it take up the whole space in the white area with the option to click a semi transparent arrow on left or right to go forward or back. Fit about 6-7 thumbnails there and allow it to show the movie name and year underneath when hovered over. This would be perfect if done right. It is a nice feature but not if they just see the thumbnail as not everyone knows what movie it is by a wallet sized photo. 10. I know that but they take away from appeal. 11. It can be but I don't think that's necessary for this type of site. You could have an affiliated sites but I would fit it in the bottom somehow. 12. Great for getting visitors, not great for keeping them. 13. Not everyone has the same opinion. You have to think about the visitors...you want the majority of them to love the design so they stick around. Just that one effect could cause + .00005% bounce rate, random number, not a lot but even if that's 5 visitors per million that could have been regulars and told their friends about it. For instance, if they were the people with bad sight, lets assume they are older. Less of the older audience probably know about these sites or have found loads of them. If you manage to get the occasional visitor like this, not only is it important to have them liking the site but they could tell their friends...so instead of 5 it could be 20 visitors you are missing out on. Strictly hypothetical and really not a major issue but it could be a negative, especially with it being on the homepage. 15. Do you want your site to look like spam? NO! By adding a clickable link you do the following: 1. Make it more convenient for visitor to go where you are telling them to go, 2. Limit spam by getting rid of URL, and 3. Limit spam by shortening it enough that part of the URL doesn't extend to the next line down (most important reason) ...that's supposed to be a professional page. 16. Privacy Policy page: Some of our advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site. Our advertising partners include .... Google Adsense Ireel Adbrite 17. Privacy Policy page: The information inside the log files includes internet protocol ( IP ) addresses, type of browser, Internet Service Provider ( ISP ), ^ Note: Also, capitalize "internet" in the first instance. 19. It's not even necessary. People can log in on the home page already. I'm sure they won't go past the home page before logging in if they plan on doing so or have a reason to want to. Otherwise, figure out a comfy spot. 20. It shouldn't be a problem at all. Once you get a lot of people there may be an idiotic comment or two but nothing serious, all real visitors commenting I would assume. You could add a CAPTCHA code... 24. Well, it's important. About sub categories: movies - good, tv shows - good, anime - good, music videos - not so good unless you really know what you are doing. Don't have them just to have them. If you want to do that then have a sports section if you can manage very frequent updates or find an auto script for it. Not full games but highlight from games, etc, just an idea but music videos are definitely not as great as you would think for this type of site. Take care & good luck. I probably won't give out too many more suggestions, I am in the process of planning my own movie site after all. Maybe I'm setting you up for your demise.
Ok thanks again And also, i don't get whats so wrong with the tags Why would someone leave just because there's tags there? It's also used in the search process too.
Nothing wrong with it was far as people leaving solely because of it but: 1. Do you want your site to be decent or the best you can make it? 2. Can't you make the search work without tags (search titles?) because the tag is just a repeat of the title anyways, spam, just for SE 3. Tags on home page are definitely a waste of space. Sure, they may help with SEO...but I would take a professional site without spammy looking features and having to do extra off-page SEO work instead. I would think the organic traffic you are after is for specific stuff such as "watch Madagascar 2 online for free" (random example) so if that's the case then home page tags are irrelevant. That's all, but keep in mind these are my opinions as a visitor to your site. There are better alternatives by presence already and since I know about them I wouldn't consider your site. However, I'm sure most people at DP or any webmaster forum are extra picky and over think this stuff compared to the average visitor.