need members :)

[coreyk67]

hi,

check out my site and let me know what you think.

if it is not to much trouble join my site and maybe ask a question in my forum. im getting hits but no one is joining and asking questions.

should i make my content private?

[a href=\"http://www.cybertechhelper.com\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.cybertechhelper.com[/a]

[lpxxfaintxx]

Well, first of all, your server is extremely slow, which is a definate nono for a site. Secondly, I highly suggest improving your banner/logo whatever you may want to call it.

Regards

[steviewdr]

Well Im certainately not going to join just to ask a question!

Here are a few tips about usability & attractability for your website ->
1. Straight away - Whats your website about/for - I dunno? - it doesnt tell me. Im not going to go reading a whole paragraph to find out what your website is about -> Ive a general idea its about computers and stuff - but what. You NEED A TITLE for your website - in a FEW words.
Take forexample phpfreaks - I know its to do with php. I can get an immediate idea from the left menu. Your left menu is VERY general covering everything about computers.

2. Whats all the instructions on joining and stuff in the WELCOME area???
I would MUCH prefer to see some of the articles which are hidden down at the bottom of the page - which would attract me and entice me to read more.

Anyhoo - Ill leave it at that - get a proper header/title and make the Welcome better. I know its the design - but it all looks very very light coloured - with nothing standing out for me to easily read.

As for traffic - with such a GENERAL website - you wont be the first on the search engine results - you will have to build up your visitors and ratings.

-steve

[moberemk]

Well, I'd comment on it, but (and this is no offence to you or your skills), I doubt that you could really change it. You're using a pre-made theme there, and while it isn't an ugly one, it is terrible against your header graphic. I'd go into more detail, but there is really nothing to be said here. Just a site with a pre-made portal and a pre-made theme.

[ober]

I'm very tempted to close this. You're asking for a critique on a template, like moberemk said. On top of that, you're asking for members. That's not what this board is about.

[moberemk]

Also, as to making your content private: it's really just not a very good idea. People will visit your site and join if they feel that it's interesting; forcing them to sign up for a few pages of content just isn't something that people enjoy.

[fert]

Because you asked so nice I registered [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/smile.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":smile:\" border=\"0\" alt=\"smile.gif\" /]

[steviewdr]

The website is an improvement.
I would leave the 4 steps on the front page - to when they actually want an answer/ask a question.

Rgds,
steve

[steelmanronald06]

If your like me, you probably can't design worth a flip. That is okay, that is what templates are for.

I like the header, footer, left nav, right nav, content layout. That is always good for a portal site. But find a better template of it.

The index page is...bad. Delete the welcome. No one wants to hear you welcoming them like a door person...those ppl are annoying. Instead put those steps in an FAQ page along with questions like, What is this site about?

Then the news. Let it take the place of your welcome...meanign move it up. However, only show like the five newest news articles. Then have a news page that list ALL the news articles. Keeps it cleaner IMO.

move the login box to the top left or to the left nav. I feel like the login box is so...distant. Like i have to move my mouse a mile to get there. Keep the right nav solely for advertising and things people won't normally go to under normal conditions. The stats and stuff should be moved to the BOTTOM of the left nav. Then throw a banner or let people put their links or something on the right nav. Right nav is typically used for advertisment purposes just because it is so...distant. we read left to right, and so right is futher away than left...it is instinct in humans unless your dislectic (spelling?).

Take out the top links. You have those same links (home, etc) on the left. Pick. top or left, but not both. Very cheesy looking.

Users Online should also move to the bottom. ALWAYS put site stats towards teh bottom of yoru nav. No one cares how many people are browsing our site, or how many members you got, normally. all they want is to get their question answered.

The forum design looks really good. I like how you intergrateded it into the design. Very clean looking. No comment on the desgin of the forum. Should networking really be under the Hardware category? perhaps change the category name to Miscellaneous instead of hardware:

Miscellaneous
Hardware
description
Networking
description

Tutorial link leads to article.php? and btw, that page is horrible looking. it has no real design besides the template it sets in. the content itself needs some definition to it.

Same for software threat...put some content design into it. Weblinks has NO template at all. Talk about eye killer. on a dark site, expecting to go to the weblinks page which will be dark as well, it is all of a sudden really bright white with black text, big nono.

Take your email off the feedback page. Your providing a feedback form, you don't need to offer a email. Main reason is spam.

Warning: fsockopen() [function.fsockopen]: unable to connect to mail.ftbendpc.com:25 (A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. ) in C:\wamp\www\includes\smtp_include.php on line 106

i get that when I send email using the feedback form. BTW, I used kaljd;fjk@kdjkjsdf.dk for my email, that is NOT VAILD EMAIL! USE REGEX TO ENSURE IT IS A VALID EMAIL ADDY. Also, I put alot of HTML into it. DO NOT EVER ALLOW HTML OR ANY OTHER CODE TO BE INJECTED INTO YOUR FORMS. I should have got an error when I sued the html tags. IT said my message was sent, so you should see if it really did send.

Take the rating part off of the article section. Instead use the classic star, or other image, system and put that along the top so that is one of the first things ppl see. no one wants to read a sucky article, and then get to the bottom to find out everyone else said it sucked. they wasted time on something that others said was bad and they agreed with.

Apart from the banner along the top, that appears to be all. Number those if you wish, to refer to them, but else that is all i have to say...by far the best critique i have ever given ;)

[fert]

I noticed some of your PHP pages have errors in them

[ober]

That's fantastic.... want to point out to the person WHERE you found these errors and what they were???

[fert]

[!--quoteo(post=381807:date=Jun 9 2006, 05:59 AM:name=ober)--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE(ober @ Jun 9 2006, 05:59 AM) [snapback]381807[/snapback][/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]
That's fantastic.... want to point out to the person WHERE you found these errors and what they were???
[/quote]
well when i forgot my password and was trying to get a new one it gives me the error
Warning: fsockopen() [function.fsockopen]: unable to connect to mail.ftbendpc.com:25 (A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. ) in C:\wamp\www\includes\smtp_include.php on line 106

[moberemk]

I think that that's just a server problem, not a code problem.