I don't know if this has been suggested/shot down before, but I'm just gonna say what catches my eye. The layout's very well done, but nothing is perfect.

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Most important: decrease the loading times. It's not really bad, but once you keep trying to click everywhere it really gets to you and starts to get annoying. If you'll only do one thing out of everything on my list, do this first.

Improve the text on the copyright footer. It's not bad, but it blends in too much with the light blue of the footer. Put a black stroke around it or something, and make it bigger (same goes for the top button on the footer).

Change the rollover. I know you guys are trying to be different, but still. Instead of making the rollover become a background for links, just make it darker or something.

Same goes for the border on text areas. The dotted line design just doesn't go well with the forum. Add a black border instead.

Smooth off the ends of the gradients if possible. I know most of the time it isn't, but they would look even more kickass if they were.

Attach the PM bar to the nav bar on the top. It just looks too...detached. Also, you could put "Private Messages:" before the text that says inbox, etc.

Take out the rollovers. They're cool and all, but I think they're too graphic heavy on the forum. Somehow you could make it simpler, I guess, or just take them out.

When you enter a board, add a table with the gradient for the search and reply buttons, like it is when you enter a topic. Hope that makes sense.

For the rating icons table, have the rates be displayed vertically so the posting text area gets more room. It looks and feels way too cramped.

If you do that, increase the size of the text area and align it equally within the table it's in...everything's too far to the right.

Add a scrollbar. Just because IE users can see it and FF's can't doesn't mean there shouldn't be one. Putting in a scrollbar is easy, but I just wanted to bring it to your guys' attention.

Putting the actual color in the add colors part of the posting area was a cool idea, but it really looks bad for light colors, and beige is completely blended into the background. Maybe it would be better just to list all the colors in black text, or I dunno...do something at least.

Make the nav bar a little bigger -- everything, the background and the home icons and everything. It just feels too small compared to the banner.

As for the banner, it looks really cool, but don't you think it would make more sense if it were high-tech-looking? Kind of like with a neo-futuristic feel? But that's just me. If you don't want to change it that's fine, but you should probably give the rest of the image a little more of a blue hue.

In a user's post window, the post text with the kanji (?) is cool, but it's too small. Make it a couple of pixels bigger.

Don't italicize g-mods. I've seen it done so much at other forums and for some reason no one agrees with me. It just doesn't look good. Maybe you should think about the purple, too. =P

The threads/post images on the main page aren't aligned to the cells they're supposed to be labeling. They're also too small in my opinion, and aren't visible enough.

Add the view 10 most recent posts link (View New Posts) from the PM bar into the info center. I think it belongs there instead. You could also make the Inbox text be a link to your inbox.

Add a gaming board. I know this is a design board, but still, I think a gaming board is necessary. You could make it be a sub-board in the lounge or something.

The "Studio Zero" text in the quick reply box is too bold, in my opinion. Make it a little more clearer (which is funny, because the rest of the text images I want more clear). It's too...bunched up.

Make the new post icons (showing you there's a new post) more eye-catching. Seriously, sometimes when there's a new post I can't tell, especially if it's a poll. Make it bigger and more distracting.

Change the "Pinned Topics" image (announcements for all boards) to simply "Announcements." Because technically, the "Important Topics" are pinned, too.

For some reason admin names are italicized when they're listed as mods for a board. I just think you should do without the italicizing at all.

Why did you guys take away the stat that showed how many times a thread has been viewed? I admit it is kind of useless, but still, it was kind of cool to have. Bring it back if you want.

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Well, yeah. There was something else, but I forgot it for now. Hope you guys at least take those into consideration to make SZ better. If at all, please just decrease the loading times. Studio Zero's a great board so far, though. Good job, guys. (I'll post other things when I think of them.)


Last Edit: Aug 21, 2005 17:40:53 GMT by Ess Ohh