I have tried many things with this site and thought I have seen it all but then I found daniweb and I realized my forum is missing so much. I want to make the site a better experience for my members and increase revenue while keeping away from too many similar ads. I really like the look of daniweb, but dont need anything that complex. I don't know if i need a complete redesign and code or just some modifications I dont know about? Any help will greatly be appreciated. Thankyou,

www.abadss.com

I don't think you really need to redesign it but there are some changes you need to make in order to make your site more usable and eventually more popular to it's users. Here are what I have come up with.

• There is way to much to look at on the homepage. You must loose some of the ads because they are seriously getting in the way of your site's content.
• Your first main paragraph about your site is good but this must be put in simpler terms instead of all the initials.
• Take a page out of the daniweb homepage layout book. Everything must be displayed clearly and in equal columns.
• I can't see what the different is between "whats new" and "recent threads"? I would get rid of "recent threads"
• I don't think the info for newbies is vital info for your site really.
• I would totally get rid of your seo box, because that is what it is rather than about us.
• Birthdays are a nice idea but I can't see that that really needs to be there.
• You have two forums stats bits.
• I think you need to loose the advert on your header and all your buttons should be in equal width.
• I think you have some problems on your forum with the blue bits, they make it very unreadable.
• You MUST make your blog look the same as your main site!!!
• MOST IMPORTANTLY: The left hand side of the page is where everyone looks first so DO NOT put ads down it.
• Online members are not important enough to be displayed on the homepage.
• What are the numbers 1 -200+ at the bottom of the page?

I hope they help, they are a bit unorderly and bit harsh sorry.

The main thing is just to make your site easier to use and less ads.

Good Luck

Hehe, and thanks to the power of DaniWeb all that advice comes free of charge! You've got to love this place...

I wouldn't want it any other way unless this guy wants to pay me to help him more

Thanks for that advice you guys are great! I have tried to ask all sorts of IT directors, etc.. in person and they don't have a clue. Thanks again.
mort

Just make sure you tell your friends and colleagues to come visit us, that's all the payment we ask for

Well, mortimerduke your page is a information/communication and design chaos…
There are so many things for you to read at your first page, that you end up not reading a thing..
Do you listen to someone that speaks a lot? I don’t..
The same thing happens on the web… when you want to say to much, people will ignore what you want to say… I recommend that you read some articles about how do the internet users see and interact with web pages.
One other thing, when I arrive to a forum my first action it’s to search for the search box.. if I don’t find it I feel completely lost… You don’t have a search box…
Well, I also had a lot of difficulties trying to read a post from your forum, there are to much letter all over the place, and they have the same size and colour. I have had a hard time focusing my eyes…