ExplosiveGFX

Great suggestions, I'll see what I can do about shortening the forums..

I've seen this over-done on most graphics sites, but I can move it and the newscast elsewhere.

I never said FMB's review was bad, and I am taking everything said in this thread on board, if you'd noticed I've already removed the duplicate guest messages, removed alot of the ads, and I'm messing with the layout and skins right now.

 

You should, because all of the feedback is great!

Take your time with changing things around, even close your board temporarily. Also, when I hear explosive, I thought of a Flash introduction, where there's a volcano, and it blows up with different graphic program names. That would be different, definitely amazing.

 

Your volcano suggestion made me think of a volcano as a logo, which could then be a focal point of a dark skin....

 

Aren't all skins started out with the default templates?

 

Yes but then some are developed further, therefore making it CUSTOMIZED.

 

Then why take credit when its just customized? ALL skins are like that,once
you revert them, it goes back to the ugly default template.

 

Hi Mikey,

Looks like you've got quite a few comments on this one!


Just a few things I thought when taking a look:

• You mentioned creating a logo in another post. When I took a look at your site and read the thoughts you shared with others I started thinking that maybe you could incorporate your "logo" into your site name. Perhaps you could interchange the "o" in Explosive GFX with an old school bomb. I mocked something up to illustrate what I'm talking about (attached - just don't laugh at the limited graphics skills). :o
• Your "notice" area is a great place to sell your forum to new guests and it hasn't explained to me why I should join - just that I can. You indicate that your forum is the "definitive source" for graphics enthusiasts. I would challenge you to explain why. Why should people come to your forum over any other graphics forum? What do you offer that they don't? For example, "Explosive graphics is the only place you can upload 3D artwork..." Once you have isolated that, I would suggest putting that out there on your homepage with a big cherry on top. Sell it hard. Whatever it is just bring it to their attention quickly!
• The titles for the items listed in your "Newscast" section don't make any sense to me. I believe the SOTW is the signature of the week, but would new users be aware of that? (Right now I am so focused on pulling in and catering to new users so feel free to completely ignore this comment if it makes no sense )
• I have to agree that there are a lot of categories for a site that has just over 2,000 posts. General statement I will make about the forums is I noticed a lot of overlapping categories. They may have small differences, but perhaps not enough to warrant two distinct categories.
  • The first thing that I would offer is to move your Lounge to the bottom of the page. To maintain your site you want to attract and cater to people that are interested in graphics talk. Give that to them first. The off-topic stuff should be extra to keep them interested when they are taking a break from your main topic. Also you seem to have two similar forums in there (Off Topic and General Chat). I suggest condensing that whole forum into one category.
  • The Showroom is the hottest area in Drawing Room area. However, again I see a little overlap between the Showroom and Graphics Help. In both places you offer that people can get feedback from others. Perhaps you can emphasize this as a "rating" area which will allow you to get rid of the Battle Zone (sorry not a fan of the BZ) :p. A place people put finished works for others to rate them. Then the Graphics Help area can be for works that are in progress... maybe change the name of the category to "Work in Progress." Other than that I would suggest collapsing everything else into one category.
• The Diary, GFX Stuff, and Forum Stuff links at the top of the home page didn't work for me.

Good Luck!! Hope some of that was helpful!!
RR

 

Thanks all. I see what you mean about the bomb, I'll be using this thread as a reference when I go to change things later on.

 

Good luck competing with Pixel2Life lol. They're one of the largest, if not the largest tutorial index sites on the net.

 

Heh, thanks, but I don't want to compete with anyone

Site is currently down, for anyone who is wondering.