Please review our website, SportsWorldForums.com

by Brownsxfanx31 on January 6th 2012, 10:08 pm

Forum name:Sports World
Address: http://www.sportsworldforums.com/
Type of Review (Do not Edit): Full Review
Your Name on the board: Brownsxfanx31

I am an admin there.

Proof:
Screenshot of admin group: http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/9201/adminyl.png

Clearly, under my name is the word "ADMIN" so I am infact an administrator on the site. Another admin, ccdog23, said he submitted our site for review but you guys didnt believe he was an admin. He is. As am I. So I hope that I provided enough proof. Thanks guys!

by **Empire_1** on January 7th 2012, 8:48 pm

Free ForuMotion Service

Sports World

First Impressions - Poor

When I first opened your site, I found the banner appealing. It's nicely designed, especially with the fading sides which matches well with the black-colored header. However, as I scroll down, things become more of a disappointment. The paucity of graphics and images is obvious, with big empty spaces of gray. Forum categories also appear disorganized on first impression. Most distressingly, there is nothing about your site that compels me to further explore it. It's not inspiring and doesn't galvanize a feeling of interest or awe. You need to work on your forum presentation and appearance and add some beautiful graphics to instantly improve your forum's appearance.

Graphics & Layout - Poor

As stated above, your forum needs work in the graphics department. While the banner is acceptable, the rest of the site isn't.

Let's start off with the Navbar. You're using the standard one provided by Forumotion. You can find great sets in the Navigation Bar Gallery. My personal recommendation, however, would be trying out this sweet Drop-down Navbar (click for tutorial).

Your site's color also appears drab and gray. In the topics, the alternating colors between each post is annoying and unprofessional; they should be just one color.
Light colors are good, but adjust the grayness of the colors. Gray can be a very depressing color and can mess with the mood of your site. It gives a drab effect. You can go to the color picker box and lighten up a bit on the grayscale, which I think will give a livelier look.

Now, moving to your forum categories. First off, let's start with organization. It's very disorganized. Instead of all the needless NHL, NBA Talk, MLB, NFL categories, put all the forums you have under one category called "Sports" (or whatever other name you can think up). Eliminate the "Other Sports" category you currently have and place the forums in there also into the new "Sports" category.
"Man Cave" category can stay, but I think perhaps the "Blogs" category can be eliminated and the Blogs section be placed into the "Man Cave" category.
With these adjustments, your forum will have a much cleaner look and give your users much more convenience and sensibility when navigating your forum.

I also recommend adding some beautiful forum icons to each forum section. It's an easy and extremely effective way to jazz up and improve site appearance.

Finally, we move to your dearth of graphics and images. You can first of all eliminate the right-side column of the forum index since you have no widgets placed there (Go to ACP >> Modules >> Forum widgets >> adjust the column width on the right side to "0">> Save).
Next, add some additional widgets to the left side to eliminate all that gray space and make things more interesting. You can also search up fun and interesting widget codes on Google and place them there. Also, you can make widgets just to display graphics. And don't forget that many members appreciate widgets that have helpful links to pages around your site Wink

You can also pay a visit to the wonderfully helpful Tips & Tricks page which help you add amazing features to your site that will give it heightened appeal.

Forum Activity - Poor

Member count is pretty bad, but your post count is fairly high, which suggests a portion of your members are quite active. I see several forum sections that haven't had new posts in them since the last month or so. Every section should have new content everyday.
Focus on improving your site appearance for now. As your site's appeal grows, member registrations will rise as you attract new users.

Staff & Usergroups - Average

I only see an Administrators group, no Moderators or other staff. Remember to keep the staff-to-users ratio low (the ESF has a perfect staff-to-users ratio, so you can use it as an example). Try to appoint 2 or so moderators to keep the forum clean and filter/eliminate harmful content.

Originality & Unique Quality - Average

I've seen lots of sports forums and your doesn't stand out. A tip here would be to go Google some sports forums and see how they themed their appearance. See how they got creative and use their success to your advantage and style your own site similarly.

You have a good enough start so far. Now it's time to get serious! Follow the tips I showed you in this review and I think you have a great potential for success.

Regards and best of luck,
Empire_1

Would you like to share your review on your forum, on another forum, or with your friends? Then here you go... grab the code!

Code:: [center][img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/yfr214.png[/img] [size=18][font=Trebuchet MS]Sports World[/font][/size][/center] [img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/red12.png[/img] [size=16][b][color=#932222]First Impressions[/color][/b][/size] - [b][color=olive]Poor[/b][/color] [list][font=Trebuchet MS]When I first opened your site, I found the banner appealing. It's nicely designed, especially with the fading sides which matches well with the black-colored header. However, as I scroll down, things become more of a disappointment. The paucity of graphics and images is obvious, with big empty spaces of gray. Forum categories also appear disorganized on first impression. Most distressingly, there is nothing about your site that compels me to further explore it. It's not inspiring and doesn't galvanize a feeling of interest or awe. You need to work on your forum presentation and appearance and add some beautiful graphics to instantly improve your forum's appearance. [/font][/list] [img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/purple11.png[/img] [size=16][b][color=#9507c9]Graphics & Layout[/color][/b][/size] - [b][color=olive]Poor[/b][/color] [list][font=Trebuchet MS]As stated above, your forum needs work in the graphics department. While the banner is acceptable, the rest of the site isn't. Let's start off with the Navbar. You're using the standard one provided by Forumotion. You can find [i]great[/i] sets in the [url=http://help.forumotion.com/f54-navigation-bars]Navigation Bar Gallery[/url]. My personal recommendation, however, would be trying out this sweet Drop-down Navbar [url=http://help.forumotion.com/t102748-navbar-menu](click for tutorial)[/url]. Your site's color also appears drab and gray. In the topics, the alternating colors between each post is annoying and unprofessional; they should be just one color. Light colors are good, but adjust the grayness of the colors. Gray can be a very depressing color and can mess with the mood of your site. It gives a drab effect. You can go to the color picker box and lighten up a bit on the grayscale, which I think will give a livelier look. Now, moving to your forum categories. First off, let's start with organization. It's very disorganized. Instead of all the needless NHL, NBA Talk, MLB, NFL categories, put all the forums you have under [i]one[/i] category called "Sports" (or whatever other name you can think up). Eliminate the "Other Sports" category you currently have and place the forums in there also into the new "Sports" category. "Man Cave" category can stay, but I think perhaps the "Blogs" category can be eliminated and the Blogs section be placed into the "Man Cave" category. With these adjustments, your forum will have a much cleaner look and give your users much more convenience and sensibility when navigating your forum. I also recommend adding some beautiful forum icons to each forum section. It's an easy and extremely effective way to jazz up and improve site appearance. Finally, we move to your dearth of graphics and images. You can first of all eliminate the right-side column of the forum index since you have no widgets placed there (Go to ACP >> Modules >> Forum widgets >> adjust the column width on the right side to "0">> Save). Next, add some additional widgets to the left side to eliminate all that gray space and make things more interesting. You can also search up fun and interesting widget codes on Google and place them there. Also, you can make widgets just to display graphics. And don't forget that many members appreciate widgets that have helpful links to pages around your site ;) You can also pay a visit to the wonderfully helpful [url=http://help.forumotion.com/t61210-list-of-tricks-tips]Tips & Tricks[/url] page which help you add amazing features to your site that will give it heightened appeal. [/font][/list] [img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/orange12.png[/img] [size=16][b][color=#e2a718]Forum Activity[/color][/b][/size] - [b][color=olive]Poor[/b][/color] [list][font=Trebuchet MS]Member count is pretty bad, but your post count is fairly high, which suggests a portion of your members are quite active. I see several forum sections that haven't had new posts in them since the last month or so. Every section should have new content everyday. Focus on improving your site appearance for now. As your site's appeal grows, member registrations will rise as you attract new users.[/font][/list] [img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/blue11.png[/img] [size=16][b][color=#0f6ec7]Staff & Usergroups[/color][/b][/size] - [b][color=green]Average[/b][/color] [list][font=Trebuchet MS]I only see an Administrators group, no Moderators or other staff. Remember to keep the staff-to-users ratio low (the ESF has a perfect staff-to-users ratio, so you can use it as an example). Try to appoint 2 or so moderators to keep the forum clean and filter/eliminate harmful content.[/font][/list] [img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/green11.png[/img] [size=16][b][color=#3acd0d]Originality & Unique Quality[/color][/b][/size] - [b][color=green]Average[/b][/color] [list][font=Trebuchet MS]I've seen lots of sports forums and your doesn't stand out. A tip here would be to go Google some sports forums and see how they themed their appearance. See how they got creative and use their success to your advantage and style your own site similarly.[/font][/list] You have a good enough start so far. Now it's time to get serious! Follow the tips I showed you in this review and I think you have a great potential for success. Regards and best of luck, Empire_1 [center][img]http://i28.servimg.com/u/f28/14/18/91/65/83941310.png[/img][/center]

Forum Review Supplied By: Empire_1
Note: Please be reminded that members are not allowed to use this template for reviewing as it is reserved for the staff only. Thank you.
Cordially,
The ForuMotion Team

by **Jophy** on January 8th 2012, 3:43 pm

Review complete and moved to completed requests.

Please review our website, SportsWorldForums.com

Please review our website, SportsWorldForums.com

Re: Please review our website, SportsWorldForums.com

Re: Please review our website, SportsWorldForums.com