Review: Forum

webcosmo · 05-03-2008, 08:31 AM

Started this new forum with vBulletin 3.7 with cool features:
- Revenue sharing
- Social groups
- Photo albums

http://www.webcosmoforums.com

Had a forum before with another software, then moved to vBulletin. Like to hear your opinion.

corneo · 05-03-2008, 11:40 AM

I like your logo.

If your going to be an SEO forum I expect the best.
I want to see a welcome page with ideas and tips on it. Your forum needs to be "smokin." (better than the normal) People come to you for ideas and thoughts. If I know more than you do, you will be no help to me and I wouldn't come back nor would I tell anybody about you.

You need to have "sticky's" with links or suggestions to links that will help me in each thread that applies. I want to see rules or you leave the door open for me to slam you with my links and when you kick me I'll post how much of a loser you are because you didn't tell me I couldn't do that.

There are a butt load of hacks for vbulletin. Use them.
Lose about half of those google ads. It looks like you have that site to make money instead of being help out the web community. Very big turn off.

Remember, you are dealing with people who know the web world. If they think you are pulling something over on them, they will blow you off.

I'm hard on you because if your going to run a site like this it has to be good. Spiders don't click ads, people do. If you have nothing to offer you will get nothing. Right now, I wouldn't look twice at your site. It has nothing.

webcosmo · 05-03-2008, 12:13 PM

You got some very good points there. Thanks pal. Rep added.

Swefx · 05-05-2008, 06:12 AM

The logo is what stands out at first. It's really nice. All the colors blend perfectly and there are alot of forum categories.

Great work!

arcel · 05-06-2008, 01:54 AM

nice forum... i like your logo.
great forum... just like v7n.
btw, i just join your forum

webcosmo · 05-06-2008, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arcel

nice forum... i like your logo.
great forum... just like v7n.
btw, i just join your forum

Thanks. Glad you like it.

wendallb · 05-06-2008, 07:32 AM

Nice job, Looks really good from here. Good luck with your forum

webcosmo · 05-06-2008, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wendallb

Nice job, Looks really good from here. Good luck with your forum

Thanks, looking forward to see you there.

lloyd.velarde@gmail. · 05-07-2008, 05:07 AM

I think the design is quite interesting and has a lot of categories which is a proper standards to a forum, the colour scheme is quite unattractive, and rest are good to go! still a great job.....

Luke Beale · 05-07-2008, 05:23 AM

I like the colours and love the logo

webcosmo · 05-07-2008, 05:59 AM

First I thought about going crazy with the design. Then I realized if I do much work it will just add to the load time. Since forums are really resource hungry applications I did the basic works with the design.

I like the logo as you guys do. It was done from a contest run on this forum and at DP. The guy did a great job. At first glance the rocket looked like a dolphin to me; Later it became a space rocket going for cosmo

Appreciate the reviews.

ewomack · 05-07-2008, 07:03 PM

I just visited your forum like I would any other. I registered, modified my profile, and posted. Everything seems in fine working order. You have a small to medium sized community started. Not bad. The color scheme is a dominant gray and blue that, though not as eye catching as it could be, at least doesn't cause any eyestrain or headaches. The logo works and uses a good amount of the real estate allocated for it. You don't have an at-a-glance way to determine the forum's topic. "WebCosmo" could mean many things, so maybe you need a byline or some more verbiage that states "an SEO webforum" or "a place to discuss webdesign, marketing, etc., etc. That's not a big deal, but it would make it easier for the casual surfer to determine whether or not they want to explore the forum further.

Overall a nice site. It looks like a great beginning. I'll try to check back in the future.

webcosmo · 05-07-2008, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewomack

I just visited your forum like I would any other. I registered, modified my profile, and posted. Everything seems in fine working order. You have a small to medium sized community started. Not bad. The color scheme is a dominant gray and blue that, though not as eye catching as it could be, at least doesn't cause any eyestrain or headaches. The logo works and uses a good amount of the real estate allocated for it. You don't have an at-a-glance way to determine the forum's topic. "WebCosmo" could mean many things, so maybe you need a byline or some more verbiage that states "an SEO webforum" or "a place to discuss webdesign, marketing, etc., etc. That's not a big deal, but it would make it easier for the casual surfer to determine whether or not they want to explore the forum further.

Overall a nice site. It looks like a great beginning. I'll try to check back in the future.

Thanks Ed.
One thing about forum design is not making it too pretty. Once people love a forum they spent good amount of time there discussing stuffs. As you said a neutral eye-soothing color is important. I tried different combinations, finally settled with gray and blue.
You made a good point about stating the forum category somewhere; possibly the logo. I would do that change.
Thanks again for your in-depth review.

Cryxellis · 05-08-2008, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arcel

nice forum... i like your logo.
great forum... just like v7n.
btw, i just join your forum

Yeah same here I like the logo, the color is just fine,
and I was already a member of this forum

webcosmo · 05-08-2008, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cryxellis

Yeah same here I like the logo, the color is just fine,
and I was already a member of this forum

Glad you joined. Thanks.

woof75 · 05-09-2008, 03:56 AM

for a forum, i wasnt expecting so much work put into it. nobody seems to try very hard at beautifying a forum. you did it. looks great. now show you are an seo expert. you certainly know what you're doing in web design.

webcosmo · 05-11-2008, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woof75

for a forum, i wasnt expecting so much work put into it. nobody seems to try very hard at beautifying a forum. you did it. looks great. now show you are an seo expert. you certainly know what you're doing in web design.

Yes SEO would be the next thing to work for sure. Best thing of having a good off-the-shelf software like vBulleting is it relieves you from putting your time for coding. Appreciate the review.

C.Whyte · 05-11-2008, 08:59 PM

As everyone else has already said, the logo gets an A+

subtle tweaks to VB forums often times make them stand out among the others. You're going against some big dogs (this forum included), so the more original you can get it, the better.

Lastly, I like how the forum colors match the logo / layout.

barsa · 05-11-2008, 11:15 PM

website logo is fantastic