Discreet site reviews.

[RagingPenguin]

bfoot45,

I looked at both styles and liked both very much. I think I liked "Blue Shutter" better. THe other one had a few graphics that were a little off. The rounded blue edges in your navbar template aren't nearly as smooth as they could be and the avatar image flickers on mouseover. There also seems to be a dotted line that runs along the top of the navbar template and vetically seperating the login/pm cell. My sight isn't that good and I had a hard time reading the fancy small lettering in the menu item images just under the logo. I'm not the only person with bad eyesight, so I'd fix that above all else. You've limited your hacks to a minimumm which is good, using just what you need. Your postbit in the Blue Shutter style is really good.

All in all, a great site, just a few minor things to fix, and it's an A+.

[RagingPenguin]

Croft,

Babblers Fluid

Very nice clean style. Simple but effective header. Wonderful icon and button work! Not much else changed in this style.

Ghost Recon

Nice but not as good as the first one. Again, simple but effective header abd decent icon/button work. A few things threw me on this one. At first I thought it was too wide for my screen because the thing is right aligned with the screen edge. Not sure that's a good move. The collapse icons you added to the navbar, what's going on, and footer don't work (may be intentional) and there seems to be some intermittant border/spacing problems with your tables. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

bluey

This is the best of the three. I really liked this one. Nice neutral colors, freat icon/button work, header and footer both well done. My only gripe is that the index welcome box doesn't conform or line up correctly. Try making that match the rest and this one's a winner.

[lighterrr]

I'll like a review as well.

http://www.plecofanatics.com

I'm using the original style but i changed the colours.

[RagingPenguin]

lighterr,

You have an interesting and unusual topic there. Pleco is a specific breed of fish then? Learn something new everyday. Catering to such a specific niche get's a plus in my book. It show's you're in it for the love of the topic and not some other reason.

I won't go into detail on the portal since I don't know whether or not it's a vbhack or not, but on the whole it's very nice and clean. I'd put a small textual navbar under the logo myself, but what you have works.

As you said the forum itself doesn't stray from the stock style too much. Your colors don't even stray that much, just different hues of blue. YOu did make a good effort in customizing some of the icons, but I feel you could go a bit farther and complete the set. You have a nice slim set of categories and forums without a lot of fluff. A place for everything and everything in it's place.

I'm not sure your clientelle would be very impressed with an excessively graphical style, and your colors do match the environment. I think you have a great community there. I'd just finish the icons and buttons, perhaps make the buttons little aquariums with text in them, and the statusicons Pleco icons, smilie style? Just suggestions.

If I were a fan of this breed of fish, I would definately post there regardless, even in it's current state. Very nice.

[camoman]

Great reviews!

Ok I know my site needs some work.. maybe diffrent colors or organizing?!?! The thing is I am not sure what to do next and am hoping you can help with that.

www.trackshare.com

Thanks

-Curtis

[Blue Moose Aaron]

I know you're getting swamped, but after reading your responses to others I would like to see what you have to say about my site. http://www.thekryptonian.com

[RagingPenguin]

I'll get you caught up this weekend guys.

[Blue Moose Aaron]

Cool, I can't wait!

[camoman]

Any word?? Looking forward to it!!!

[RagingPenguin]

Any word?? Looking forward to it!!!

Guys, I have to put this on hold. My workstation died recently and al I have is the server now, which is commandline only. All I have is pine and lynx to communicate with world. I am sure you don't want me to review anything based on that. Actually, I have a bit of a scenario now. I can't seem to get xorg and kde installed right on the server (freebsd) and I don't have any reasonable place to upload backups to in order to put windows on it either. I'd lose everything I have with no chance of recovery. Until I figure out what to do I will be unavailable. This includes my recent appointment to vbJudge at vbDirectory.org, though I may make a visit to the local inet pub so I can uphold those duties. Later fellas...

[Deviant++]

Heres mine :P


www.deviatedhq.com

[Blue Moose Aaron]

Maybe we could all pitch in and get you some internet space for the month? Has anyone any free space or money to spare?

[Deviant++]

I use company space

[RagingPenguin]

Guys, don't worry too much about me. The server is fine, it's just command line only, whic is why all I have is the lynx text based viewer to surf with for now. I have a new workstation on order though and it should arrive in a few days. It's a nice p4/2.8 machine with 1 gig ram etc... I'll get caught up then. Feel free to continue posting sites here for review. Just don't expect an answer until I get the new machine set up. For what it's worth, I can say that the vbulletin system in general works really well under lynx and the display isn't too bad either. I viewed a few other systems as I post in a lot of different places and I wasn't real impressed with some of the others. Maybe DIVs get messed up somehow? IPB was really confusing in lynx. The layout didn't make sense. Perhaps this is still a good indicator that tables do have a place in layout? Well, that's just my thought for the day. Discuss it elsewhere. Not here.

[RagingPenguin]

I got on my sons pc a while so I'll try and catch up now, while I have the chance...


Camoman,

You got a decent site there. I am torn on this issue of stock versus non-stock styles now. I used to praise those who kept it simple, but I think there's a difference between keeping it simple and not changing it at all. Yours really needs a more 'outdoorsy' color scheme, even if the templates never change. A good css tweaking can really make a world of difference. I'd suggest using more earthy tones. Perhaps browns, tans, and few differing shades of green. Your forum 'title' of "Canada's Outdoor Connection - Dedicated to ATV's, Snowmobiles, Boating, Hunting, Camping, Fishing, GPS Trail Mapping, and the Great Canadian Outdoors. Check out our Forums and join us on a "TrackShare Ride" today!" is just too long and it throws the display off in a few areas. Those are the major detractions and both are easliy fixable. I've included an image in this post. I just took a screen shot and did some colorizing in PSP to show you what I mean, as an example. You hve lot's of great content and it looks like your users are happy and participating, so you know you have a great topic. Just fix the two things I mentioned and your site will be even better.