Roadbusters.com new design

[PoorDoggie]

Ok, so it still is the forum style, subSilver, but with a few color changes, and a bit of re-design here and there. I am just wondering what you think of what I have done:

http://roadbusters.com

Please do sign up, and if you like the place do stick around.

Thanks
Tom

 

[zachary0611]

nice site odd domain name tho

 

[PoorDoggie]

Domain is odd, i give you that. The point is that my friend (I know nothing about cars, lol) started this website driveat16.150m.com (its shocking) but claimed to have earnt near $30 on adsense (in heinsight it could have been people trying to get away from his website). So I said that I would make a car forum, if he posted loads and got the content.

I didn't want to shell out $10 for a new domain when I already had that one, and if it ever did take off then we could just swap it for a better domain - basically if we made enough money to buy a new domain, which we haven't yet! lol

Thanks for your comment tho

 

[glors]

i don't really like it because it's kind of plain. i like the banner though

 

[PoorDoggie]

hmm... how do you think I can make it less plain?

 

[dojo]

VERY nice ideas for a forum. I like the way you integrated the google ads in the layout and the shocked message is really nice. I like the forums. You need to work on the icons (some were for light designs and look pixelated here), but I like the site overall. You do have some unique ideas there. Nice phpBB integration.

 

[CreativeWeb]

being a huge car buff, i love the concept and the top image is sick (i have a wrx)

 

[PoorDoggie]

(i have a wrx)

dosen´t mean anything to me, but good! lol... Im not the car enthusiast, lol - I just make the forums hoping that my mate and business partner should post the content. lol

Thanks for the nice feedback though. We are hoping to sometime get a whole site up not just a forum, with content and stuff.

Thanks for the comment about the adsense as well. One thing that just really annoys me is when people have got adsense and it is red with white writing when the website is mainly blue and gray or the block of asense is stuck up at the top of the website and is pushing all the content down etc... I have tried to integrate it as best as possible.

lol - I got bored and created the "I am shocked" thing, but I quite like it, lol.

I think that some of the images look pixxellated because they have transparent backgrounds, and instead of making them from the psds I jsut used the wand tool round them, lol.

Thanks for all the comments though.

Tom

 

[Zubair1]

Hello PoorDoggie,

The stye and layout of the forum is superb and i really like the top image you have there :D, plus the color scheme is brilliant

Regards,

 

[PoorDoggie]

thanks a lot, lol that top image was hell to do, lol.

Because the website stretches to fit everyone´s browsers I needed to make the image so it stretched as well, lol. If you resize your browser then you can see how it works. hehe. Took me too long! heh

 

[Man In The Box]

Hmmm, I'll be frank with you - this isn't a very appealing layout. Maybe it's just me, and car enthusiasts may think otherwise, but what I see here is mediocre at best. Please don't take it to heart, it's just that the layout looks really awkward. I'll give you some of my suggestions.

- That is one big logo! Unfortunately, big doesn't necessarily mean high-quality. I would try to shrink those cars sizes to about half, and maybe add embellished auras to their perimeters.

- The light blues and greys of the forum do not match too well with the burgundy and dark blue of the background. They [the blues and greys] stand out a little too much. I would add more pallor to the backgrounds and the logo, or if you want, you could darken the colors of the forum bars. I would also suggest adding a border to the forums so as to make the separation of the forum bars visible.

- The bottom portion seems alittle awkward, but that's just me. I guess the amount of empty space it contains gives it that awkwardness.

Overall, it needs work, but it does have potential to be a great-looking forum. Continue working at it and you should be able to make it look great. Good luck.

 

[PoorDoggie]

- That is one big logo! Unfortunately, big doesn't necessarily mean high-quality. I would try to shrink those cars sizes to about half, and maybe add embellished auras to their perimeters.

The idea was to make it look more like a magazine than a website. I quite like it, and think that "In your face" is moving in nowadays. Maybe I haven´t done it quite right though. Thanks for the advice. Its not a logo anyhow its a feature, and its there to advertise the article that is up. It won´t be there permanently, and will be replaced with just the "roadbusters" bit in the middle with the little sign.

- The light blues and greys of the forum do not match too well with the burgundy and dark blue of the background. They [the blues and greys] stand out a little too much. I would add more pallor to the backgrounds and the logo, or if you want, you could darken the colors of the forum bars. I would also suggest adding a border to the forums so as to make the separation of the forum bars visible.

I quite liked the red and blue colors but, I will rethink them for you! You know when you make a site, and it never turns out right! *snif*

- The bottom portion seems alittle awkward, but that's just me. I guess the amount of empty space it contains gives it that awkwardness.

gotcha! Will rethink the bottom as well thanks

Overall, it needs work, but it does have potential to be a great-looking forum. Continue working at it and you should be able to make it look great. Good luck.

Thanks a lot for all the advice. I really don´t like the plainess of it, especially the forum bars and stuff, but I wanted it to have a more grungy look, obviouslly because it is a car forum! Thanks for the help!

Tom

 

[PoorDoggie]

lol... ok thread postponed for a while because I am currently redesigning incorporating everyone's ideas! :D

Thanks for everyone's help