The Webmistress — Tue, 18 Sep 2001 16:21:38 +0000

This has been continued here http://www.webmaster-forums.com/showthread.php?threadid=15539

TheGizmoid — Sat, 15 Sep 2001 18:38:57 +0000

Yeah, what's been said.

That orange background with black text hurts my eyes. You need to pad the cells so the text isn't running into the edges.

It's not apparent to me that voting or refreshng will bring up another joke. At first I'm thinking, "How do I get to more jokes?"

The Webmistress — Sat, 15 Sep 2001 09:29:58 +0000

I agree with everything that's been said so far. You need to have something pretty spectacular to keep peoples attention to this kind of site as there are so many of them out there!

m1l — Sat, 15 Sep 2001 07:48:48 +0000

Thanks for all that, I knew there was a problem and now I know what it is ! Quite a few of the things I thought where problems (logo, colour scheme, banner ads) have been mentioned but there are a few new ones ! A lot seems to be based on having to sign up, I may have a rethink on how to stop people getting at the more adult jokes.

To answer the one question of how did I get so much traffic so quickly, it's because of those darn banner ads, there all banner exchanges which have proved to get quite good for traffic. I'm thinking long and hard about removing them, they will probably be gone by version 3 of the site.

I wont be able to do anything this weekend, so expect another post Monday or Tuesday. Thanks again for all the help.

BOF — Sat, 15 Sep 2001 03:58:58 +0000

For me the main problem (at least on the first page - can't access others without signing up) is the colour scheme. The black text on the coloured backgrounds is very difficult to read. I'd suggest that you make some changes to colours.

Out of interest, how did you manage to get so many hits so quickly?

Archbob — Sat, 15 Sep 2001 03:35:12 +0000

I think more content in the middle column would help and and round logo instead of a square one.

nike_guy_man — Sat, 15 Sep 2001 02:19:50 +0000

Ok...
The jokes aren't that bad...
But this is a critique forum!
Just a few things: the "joke or not.com" graphic in the upper left is over optimized and hard to read.
The maroonish background for the jokes is very hard to read.
At 1024X768 the page is offcenter, to the right.
On the "top 10 clean jokes" box, I can't see the whole joke and I would not read it if I can't read the title!
You have a lot of good jokes, but there are a few points that need to be fixed!
Good luck and happy joking

Megan — Sat, 15 Sep 2001 02:06:48 +0000

Step 1: Get a colour scheme. Pick 2 or 3 colours that match and use them exclusively. If you don't know how to pick colours that match, borrow from someone else (like another website or a sports team or something) or ask someone who's can (like your mom or your girlfriend)

Step 2: Get a decent logo. The easy way to do this is browse some font sites (like http://www.fontflood.com for example) and pick a neat font that represents your site topic. You'll be looking for something fun and happy looking. Install your font, open your graphics program and type your site name using your new font and one of the colours you chose in Step 1. Save and you're done!

Step 3: Lay out your page. What you've got here isn't really all that bad. It's easiest to start out with a white background and use your chosen colours (see Step 1) for table backgrounds and header colours.

Step 4: Get some content and give it away freely and easily. Get lots. People aren't going to bother to register if they don't think they're going to get anything out of it. How many user names and passwords do you have to remember? I'm sure most regular 'net surfers have more than they'd like to and aren't exactly eager to add another to the list.

disaster-master — Sat, 15 Sep 2001 01:02:48 +0000

I peeked at your site earlier and if I remember correctly it had a different color background than it does now. The blue/gray one that you have now doesn't work at all. I think you are also using too many colors and this seems to divide the page up so that it is a bit confusing. Your layout doesn't guide the visitor enough. You should rethink your color scheme and go with maybe two main colors and an accent color.

Content is lacking. Need more. Like busy said there are thousands of joke sites out there. Look at others and see what is appealing about theirs and try and come up with some ideas.
Loose the annoying banners if you don't need them.

Busy — Fri, 14 Sep 2001 23:59:37 +0000

Hmm, I get insulted as soon as the page opens lol but i wont hold it against you

cant view the archives, need username and pasword, so guess am stuff with just the index and top ten clean jokes (which arent funny)

first impressions - very unfinished, looks like bits of things have just been thrown on the page.

you mention on the FAQ page your not doing it for the money, then get rid of those annoying animated banners.

your site has no layout, its just a couple of boxs slapped on a page.

I think people are leaving from the first page as they cant go anywhere, the archive is locked, I'm not going to sign up for a site that has a bad lyout and sexest joke on the first page, you have to convince me that your site )and jokes) are worth coming for, how about a preview, how many jokes do you have? how many members? ......

the rate it panel should also be under the joke, how can you rate something you havent read yet?

as i mentioned, cant get into the site so have no idea if the layout is any different.

me thinks you need to rethink your layout, there are thousands of jok sites out there, you have to make yours eye catching and appealing and easy to use.