Please help...is our forum front page too long?

[Guest gogoblender]

heya everbody!

Our forum is getting kinda old and dusty and we're working on doing some serious revamps for it for all you loving folks with some design updates in functionality and graphics. What I am looking at here is whether or not the opening page of our forum is too long or not. The dilemma with this question has always been the balancing of two issues.

 

1-Go long

2-Go deep

 

We have always been trying to do this balancing act between making inner forums as accessible as possible by putting links to them on the front page, but as the community has grown so much we have had to put forums in deeper and deeper (eg battle blogs). The Front page can be shortened, but the forum will go deeper.

What do you guys think is easier and more convenient for you?

Also, teh forum looks different to everyoen that uses it. For example, if you're a topic starter, or a new communty member or a guest then that front page is VERY important.

Why?

Becuase you have to hunt down the topics and sections that are relevant to the post you wish to make then place your post within it. If you're mostly a reader then the front page is actually non-existant. Why? Because everytime you come here all you have to do is simply press new posts at the top of the screen and Voila! All new posts appear and the categegories and front page perhaps never even come to mind.

So...what we can do is this.

Ogame on the front page can be replace with ONE button...with all of it's sub forums and categories going even deeper.

Same with Vendettta

Same with SAcred

Same with everything, lol.

BUT... a deeper forum "feels" different, and this may become cumbersome with having to drill down everytime a post is made.

Also...a long forum v.s. a deep forum is much more new user friendly rather than old member friendly. The older member knows exactly where to point his cursor, click and drill down until he hits the forum he wishes to post in.

A new user?

They very often make a cursory glance, look around, and the FIRST impact they get is of the front page with a tasty number of forums and topics to choose from.

The long forum can be attractive to new members and is a great way of getting attention, making friends and connecting with new mebmers of the community.

Whew, long post huh?

Anyway...it all comes down to this final question...

Forum too long?

Or forum just right.

Or ...something else perhaps that we haven't considered?

Again, thank you everyone who chooses to call darkmatters home.

It really is an honor

Lotsa luv guys

/hug

 

gogo

[Yarasa 0]

I didn't quite finished what you wrote ( I have to back to work ) but I like LONG forum than DEEP.

I prefer to go where I want with less click from front page.

 

Later I will add more if I need to, now time to go ...

[fRACTAL 0]

If you can, you ocudl do what DA does we have lil things that contain all inner sectiosn eg. Sacred, General Games Guildwars, if you click it bring up the forusm for them, but otherwise they dont show unliek the other forums

~Doom

[Guest gogoblender]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Yeah I was primarily looking at the setup for DA and SIF

Those forums go VERY deep from the front page

Certainly makes for a very clean first appearance.

But in terms of marketing and first hit appeal when hitting the site, I still think a long forum has more goodies to eat right off the bat with less travelling, reading and foreknowledge to get you through it all.

DA''s front page is very nicely set up, but it does go deep.

Dark Matters has a very extensive and lively GEneral talk section, much larger than the sif's and DA's and is quite robust.

Is this robustness due to the fact that a lot of the Key Largo sections are immedietely viewable from the front page?

Decisions, decisions

 

gogo

[Katran 0]

I am with you Yarasa. I didnt finish reading it to but have to say I am for long forum too

 

Gogo I have to say:

1.You play Guilde wars for 9 hours

2. You come on the forum on a friday and make a long post that makes me tired from reading and to make matters worse you change the background a 100 times a minute and the colors to the people that are on line

MAN YOU WORK TO MUCH! THANKS YOU MAKE IT EASYER FOR THE REST OF US!

P.S. So much for the speech "One family one color" /rofl

[fRACTAL 0]

I'm scared the forusm changed since I last checked it 5 misn ago!

/shok

~Doom

[erialc 2]

I like long...if I have to hunt as things are deeply hidden I go away and thats on all forums. I am with Yar and Kat on this one....nooo not deep...I think it makes ppl go away ...but just imho

[Katran 0]

well before I made my post short but this time I will make it longer.

I really dont like the deep aproach. Why? there are several reasons:

1. When you came to the forum before you had this grand place with so many things to see and look at. Now it is all short and it kills my eyes to look at the under writeing to see what is were. Before you had it all nice and easy to look even when you came for the first time.

2.Tecnical not every one has fast internet. I for one sometimes have trouble with my WiFi and going through ten windows to find a post is slow and discurageing. just think on does that come with Dial Up. I know this because some times I have problems as it is but it is easyer to go through 2 then 10.

 

 

I know you guys think that it is time to change something but I think this is not it. Hope you take this point in mind before you make this permanent.

 

Thanks Ivan.

[Guest gogoblender]

Refresh

 

 

gogo

[erialc 2]

/beers /hug /beers

 

Thank You Both!!

And I know we have to change things and try new ideas and that you both work really hard...and yeah it is a huge forum when you first come here but I really feel that is a lot of it's charm and appeal...it's not big and hard to find your way around...it's just big and easy on the eye and the user

/hug

[Carolyn Hacker 0]

...it's not big and hard to find your way around...it's just big and easy on the eye and the user

Ok, before I say anything know that I like your forum here a lot! Now, having said that I disagree with the quoted text above. I'm also a fan of long over deep, and because of the depth here to me it's always felt very big and hard to find my way around (although I do like the list of sub-forums on the front page, and that helps a lot). Granted, I haven't been coming here that long, so take this only for what it's worth - the n00bs eye view. One other note, which is a very subjective thing (and you can tell by how boring my forum is that I'm on the opposite side of the coin), is that the background image here makes it not very 'easy on the eye' for me. The text and colors in the images make some of the control text hard to see/read. In the old image I could barely see the submit button for login, and the current image makes the post options impossible for me to read without highlighting them.

[Guest gogoblender]

Thanks everyone for your input on this. It means a lot to us. The setup is almost now complete and we're just bug hunting. Please check this thread here.

http://server16.ipslink.com/~darkmatt/foru...ic=2414&hl=

 

LOtsa wuv!

 

/heart

 

gogo

[Schot 407]

Like gogo said, thanx for all the input guys.

 

It certainly is more tidy now I think and there is still very much to be done. On that note you bring up some good points DaGirl. they are things that I've been aware of but as yet am not able to tackle because I've had, erm, several other tasks I am trying to complete. I agree with you on the background not jiving with text on both counts and is definitely on my to do list. And yes, that "Subforums" listing is extrememly handy. I'm looking into expanding on that by changing it from a simple list to a drop down tree menu that will show ALL subforums within a category. Esentially allowing members to reach every section on the forum from the main page.

 

The list is getting smaller. Bit by bit.