Working on a forum. Design tips?

[Trigs]

I'm planning on coding a custom forum (to work with my usersystems). Here's a mockup of what the main page should look like.

http://i32.tinypic.com/ke96ih.png

Some constructive critisism would be great. What can I add? What can I do without? Is the page to crowded, should something be somewhere else?

[lTraditional]

Firstly add some colour to it as it is bare without colour and maybe add the images related to the forum. So what is your forum about - a general forum?

[Jack!]

I'm planning on coding a custom forum (to work with my usersystems). Here's a mockup of what the main page should look like.



Some constructive critisism would be great. What can I add? What can I do without? Is the page to crowded, should something be somewhere else?


You really need a more definite layout before we can give much C&C, try maybe adding some colors, finish up a few areas, so we can see what it looks like, but at the min it don't look to bad

[Florx]

Not bad, I would probably move the radio to the top if it was auto playing, because there is nothing worse IMO than a radio auto playing and you not being able to find it to turn it off. Especially seeing as I have Spotify running nearly all the time so I already have music on!

If this is just a placement mock up then go for it, in the next design look into making it more friendly on the eyes, less lines - more curves

Jake.

[Trigs]

There no colour, it's a placement mockup only, just to see what would go where.

The radio thing definately won't be auto playing. And I agree, it should be at the top.

[Irrorate]

That's more of a wireframe than anything, so as soon as you add details like colours then it's easier to give C&C.

The design looks good, move the radio up. I like the use of the tabbed area at the bottom.

[Trigs]

It's not the actual layout, just the template so yes it's suppose to look like the wireframe. I just want to try to make my forum look different from vB, which everyone is accostumed to. I want my forum layout to be an improvement from vB.

[Irrorate]

It looks a lot like vBulletin at the minute. It's quite difficult to differ from the usual category-forum-subforum style of things - if you find a way that'll be great.

[Trigs]

I don't think it's vB's way of doing things, I think all forums use that format. I was contemplating not using a category system but I want to come up with a creative way to display/sort forums. If anyone has suggestions let me know!

[Jamesy]

I don't think it's vB's way of doing things, I think all forums use that format. I was contemplating not using a category system but I want to come up with a creative way to display/sort forums. If anyone has suggestions let me know!

Vanilla uses a different take on it:
http://vanillaforums.com/applications/vfcom/design/images/screen-1.png

Personally though, I prefer the common format.

[Florx]

Vanilla uses a different take on it:
http://vanillaforums.com/applications/vfcom/design/images/screen-1.png

Personally though, I prefer the common format.

Ahh, where as I prefer the vanilla one.

[Trigs]

Thanks Jamesy. That's good inspiration. I don't like how it's not catogorized at all though. Ill use some of those concepts though.

I was thinking maybe I'll keep the categories, but they're clickable and they link to a list of all threads in the forums under each parent.

[redtom]

I think you should keep the current format most forums use, its makes it easy for users to get used to the forum, people dont want to have to learn how to get around each site they go on so it might reflect on the amout of users who stick around.

[Irrorate]

redtom has a point, if it's easily used it might make users stick around... but the alternative is also true. If it's a good design that's not original it will attract people!

[Trigs]

That's what I'm getting at, a good, original design that attracts people. I won't change it up so much that people will get confused and won't know how it works though.

[peteyt]

I think you should keep the current format most forums use, its makes it easy for users to get used to the forum, people dont want to have to learn how to get around each site they go on so it might reflect on the amout of users who stick around.

Got to agree with you. You can try and make it different to VB but the problem is everyone understands the general layouts that forums use. Its like using a new system, it can be very confusing and take a while to get used to it.

While people like innovitation they also like things simple - some people can try and go to over complicated with stuff and the end result is a lot of users getting alienated.