Ishimaru-Design

Link of your board, website, blog (very important) : http://angelflare.darkbb.com
You desire to have advices from the analysts : yes
You want an evaluation according to a scale : yes
You want to be added to the standings : yes

Hello.

Since I haven't had news from Kilsek yet, and the design is a Caihlem-like, I will take the analysis to ensure impartiality.

I won't have much time tonight (I will go out after supper), but I will at least begin to write it, then continue tomorrow.

EDIT : By the way, could you create me a test account please ?  Because I need to see the buttons who aren't visible to guests and I can't register, because I can't fill in the last required field (Awards) : there is no field, and the source code confirms it when I view it.  Here's a screenshot of what I see : http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v381/ladykatt/missing-field.png

wow cute Firefox skin... anyway that should not be on the registration form i will fix that right away.

EDIT: ok account created

         Username: Ichimaru-test
         Password: Ichimaru

there's the account.

aya_miyaca @ 24/09/2008 - 00h05 wrote:

wow cute Firefox skin...

It's not just a Firefox skin, it's my Ubuntu desktop skin, I personalized the default skin a bit, to make it fit with my wallpaper (I posted my desktop screenshot in General chat).  Ubuntu is a Linux-based system.  At the moment that you're open to new stuff and new habits, Ubuntu isn't harder to learn than Windows.  You can get more info there : http://www.ubuntu.com

EDIT: ok account created

         Username: Ichimaru-test
         Password: Ichimaru

there's the account.

Ok, I will explore on daytime.  Right now, it's 2:46 a.m at home and I should catch a few Z's first

0o0o0oh ok... then good night...

Hi again

I finally could find some time to finish this analysis.  I already made a draft before I could have the test account, but I had to correct it since most sections were hidden to guests, so as a guest, I couldn't see if the forum was a plain RPG forum or a GD forum with RPG discussions.  Having the test account permitted me to correct it.

Now, here's my eveluation.

Relation with the website/forum/blog's theme : 25/30

Even if the skin is a self-service skin found on Hitskin, the choice you made fits quite nicely to the forum's subject who's mainly a general discussion forums with an orientation to RPG-related discussions, even if a custom skin made from scratch is always the best to fit a forum's "personality".

Coherency of the whole design (between colors, between buttons, between colors and buttons) 12/15%

I have not much to say since the chosen skin is a self-service skin.  But I notice something wrong.  Your right category background is a subsilver background, so it doesn't fit with the rest of the skin at all.  You can correct it in your images management section by using the left category background's URL for the right category background.

Graphic quality : 12/15

Not much to say either, for the same reason than above.  The icons aren't pixelated and are in PNG format (PNG powaaa!).  But as stated above, there is this subsilver right category background issue to solve.

Accessibility and ergonomy (text legibility, icon sizes, effect on the eyes) : 15/20

The text size is quite OK, even if the phpBB2 version has the flaw to use fixed sizes who can't be zoomed under Internet Explorer.  Saying this makes me think I posted CSS codes for relative sizes in the French Forumotion tips section, I should post them on the English side as well.

About the contrast between texts and backgrounds, I suggest to use a light color for your texts in category backgrounds.  Black text on a dark background isn't very legible for people with bad vision.

Here's the CSS code you can add in your admin panel > Display > Colors > CSS Stylesheet, to change these texts' color :


th, td.rowpic, td.cat, td.catHead, td.catSides, td.catLeft, td.catRight, td.catBottom
{
   color: #e3d097;
}

(Web Developer toolbar powaaa!)

For the rest, the text has a good contrast in light-colored and medium-colored places.  I also noticed this issue in the buttons (new topic, reply, etc.) but in this case, it's harder to solve since they are pics.

The icons sizes are just perfect.  They are small enough to not make the navigation uneasy for visitors, especially in forums who use the widgets module.

And finally, the colors aren't much aggressive, and the medium orange color isn't too dominant.

Customization : 13/20

By the fact that you didn't take a subsilver-like skin or any other "generic" skin gives you a chance since the chosen skin is related to RPG and your forum is oriented to RPG discussions.  But I suggest to customize it, to make it fit even more with the forum's subject.  Since I don't know your graphics level and if you have Photoshop/Gimp users in your members, you can start with this option if you don't intend to have a skin from scratch for now, and later, you can think about this second option for a next version.


Final rating : 77%

In general, it's a good start for a first time.  Having chosen a skin who quite fits the subject helped it out, but I recommend to customize it to make the skin fit even more with the subject, and to correct the two issues I noticed : the right category background, and the text color in title/category background areas.

Good luck with your forum, and if you have questions before I move this topic, ask them

Regards
Ishimaru

EDIT : I added your website in the standing : http://ishimaru-design.servhome.org/en/analyses.php

thanks for your rate, i will try to fix some of the bugs i have on it.

I...I...

I've never seen such a good looking skin, that guy should be crowned GOD

*Runs away from the girl with the 5 ton Hammer *