To me honestly it doesn't matter...
I come here for the information, discussion, and community...
I do agree with your statement :
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frostbite
I am aware chinariders.net is hardly the pinnacle of web design
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And I am replying to that, as a whole, and not just the image at the top (which I am assuming is just the stylized text China Riders, if there is something else I am not seeing then correct me please)
I blame this on the use of a generic CMS... I think there are 2 main features here at China Riders, the forum, and the imager gallery... I don't feel a complete cms is really necessary.
The rest isn't something I think is used often... News is on the home page is rarely updated, and as such I never go to the home page... I don't think that you need to be constantly updating it though. I think the best would be to make the forum the home page. With a custom header with the links to the gallery, frappr, and the "swag" section, which could use some more items
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I think there could be a separate forum category for downloads such as the user manuals, parts manuals, and tech info print outs.
The your account link on the top doesn't make a lot of sense because that doesn't affect forum profiles. Submit news I'm guessing is also rarely used and I don't know that it needs to be there.
My opinion would be it would be best to make the home page of the site the forum, and have links in the custom page header to the home page (forum), gallery, swag, and frappr. The custom page header could have a new logo if one was created...
I have experience with phpBB and as such would never choose to use it myself. If I was to update the site with the suggestions I've mentioned I would swap it over to a SMF based forum, and convert the existing forum database so posts aren't lost. I would give the forum and the gallery the same page header, and create a page for the frappr link so it doesn't just leave the site, but maybe opens the frappr part in a frame under the page header.
These are just my ideas, and I don't expect them to be implemented as we aren't paying you for this, and I am sure that the rest of the members would agree with me that we appreciate the site how it is, thanks