Review: CSOffensive.com

[QuickSand]

Hey

xTreme and myself have created a forum based on the game Counter Strike Global Offensive(CS:GO).We want to build a strong community.
In which members can:

Be kept up to date with News about the game(Official open beta release date,Final release date)

Discuss problems and get support

Get guides on the game

Obtain the latest and greatest maps

We want Reviews on it,constructive criticism,not any bitching and feel free to join if you like the game and the forum
We welcome all members,members are what makes a forum successful.


The site is http://www.csoffensive.com/

 

[Daniel]

[mod] Title updated; Review: CSOffensive.com [/mod]

 

[Phozon]

You should really upgrade your IPB install. Latest is 3.2.3 i think?

 

[snowmanrene]

Get a simpler theme.

 

[QuickSand]

We will upgrade soon,this is just temporary,the theme is pretty simple and it has been optimized to be as light as possible,if you can recommend me a lighter theme i would love that,but we would stick to this theme and this version of ipb for the time being and after getting more reviews,make changes so it will be the best we can make it be.

 

[xTreme]

yes latest is 3.2.3 , there was some issue in creating subforums in 3.2.3 hence opted for 3.1.4 (which is quite stable) . Will upgrade to 3.3 once it get released.

@ theme : It suits the niche (tried searching for another theme for hrs but couldn't find a better one ). I'm optimizing the theme so that the site loads faster.

 

[QuickSand]

any other comments,anyone?

 

[Daniel]

Hello,

let's start from the top. I like that you let us have the opportunity to register through facebook using the "f" button located next to the login button. There are many benefits to splice the forum with Facebook. One will include a better society, and you will become better acquainted with members.

You have a "more" button that includes a link to facebook, g +, youtube and twitter. There are not many people have such a button. Most people tend to place the buttons on a point on the front. Personally, I think that it would be best in this case also. I think it would be the best because the forum is very dark, and thus it would be cool if there had been some bright colors that could be brightened up the forum a bit. As you probably know, I think that the forum is a bit too dark. It's very rare that I like dark forum, and unfortunately I did not this time either.

I would argue that you can remove the "calendar" from the menu. No one uses the function. You can possibly do something about it .. Among other things you could have clan matches. They can be written on the calendar.

What is your goal? Are you having a website for everyone, or do you want to gather a small community (one clan, maybe?) Who can discuss, talk and play together. You should have a server that you own. On the server you should have lots of text links that explains and promotes the web site. This is classified as very good traffic, mostly because you hit the target.

Given that there are hundreds, thousands of similar sites already, I would have tried to hire a coder who can create something unique. Unique features, unique characteristics. It is not difficult, considering that you actually have a good starting point; Counter Strike. Be creative, use resources and achieve success.

I like that you give us the opportunity to change the background, but it would have been even better if you could give us the opportunity to use a lighter version as well.

Instead of having a text that guests will see, I would have made ​​a fascinating picture that really caught my attention. If you really want a text, I would recommend some bright colors, which also captures the attention. Write a lot of information in depth about the site, clan, and what the benefits are by registering on your website. Use a smaller size of the text so you get more room to write information, making it easier to persuade the visitor to sign up.

I'd worked a little more the forum explanations. It is important that they maintain the same quality on absolutely all the forums. I feel there is a lack of quality some of them. You can write a very long explanation, with good foreign words and good English. It helps, also Google is a fan of such information. Moreover, during the short time you have suddenly raised the professionalism very much just by writing well.

I would not have had Global Offensive in front of each forum title as you have now. I feel there is too much of the same. It is easy for a member that he only read the first word of the section, and thus there will be that people see that it is written Global Offensive everywhere.

You should hide the forum statistics until you actually have something to be proud of. Currently there are almost no members, no threads and no posts. Thus, there is no activity at this time. There are few people who want to register on a forum without activity and members. You must in this case offer something unique that can persuade them to sign up.

There is much open space on the right side during recent topics. I would have made ​​something cool, or added something cool that fills up the open space. You can include a link to news (cs news, general) on the major news websites. You can optionally have a crawler that constantly updates whenever a new news from one of the websites the crawler has been told to leak articles from. You can also do so it created a new thread each time.

First and foremost, you should talk with your friends and ask them to register. They are, after all, your friends, and thus whether they're a good friend should help a bit with activity during the first weeks or months until you get up the activity level.

You must, among other things, fill up the dead forums that still does not have any threads. You can have discussions where you talk to yourself, or you can offer things that you have made ​​regarding cs.

By all means, it must not look dead! work work....

 

[xTreme]

Thank you for your detailed review MrSandvik.

Removed "more" and added buttons in header. (Will add "subscribe to youtube channel" after I create youtube channel ).

I'm planning to add "Login via Steam" too , so that gamers can directly login using their Steam ID.

The community is for everyone and not for a single clan. Schedule of upcoming matches of international level will be maitained using Calendar.

As Global Offensive version isn't released yet , there are no server's to play . Once it is launched , we will provide servers. (Thank you for your suggestion )

I'll add "top 5/10 servers" or something similar (will pull data from GameTracker) in sidebar once the full version is released.

Will change the "register" text with modified image/text , add alternative light theme soon . Have already implemented other suggestions.

Will fill other sections as soon as beta gets released.

 

[StupidGlitch]

Interesting start so far,

Not too keen on the idea of logging in with Steam ID, could put users at risk? ( well depends how it's done )

Also the theme is kinda odd, when i'm scrolling it's not flowing correctly like a normal scroll should do.

Should add afew custom sidebar blocks with what's coming up or your plans to do etc...

 

[l0calh0st]

Well, your host is slow. Took 30 seconds to load :O

 

[xTreme]

Interesting start so far,

Not too keen on the idea of logging in with Steam ID, could put users at risk? ( well depends how it's done )

Also the theme is kinda odd, when i'm scrolling it's not flowing correctly like a normal scroll should do.

Should add afew custom sidebar blocks with what's coming up or your plans to do etc...

I'll read about Steam OpenID integration and then only implement it , thanks for letting me know.

It seems the server is loaded hence the lag.

Thank you for your review.

Well, your host is slow. Took 30 seconds to load :O

30 seconds :O

Where are you from ?

 

[Daniel]

Thank you for your detailed review MrSandvik.

Removed "more" and added buttons in header. (Will add "subscribe to youtube channel" after I create youtube channel ).

I'm planning to add "Login via Steam" too , so that gamers can directly login using their Steam ID.

The community is for everyone and not for a single clan. Schedule of upcoming matches of international level will be maitained using Calendar.

As Global Offensive version isn't released yet , there are no server's to play . Once it is launched , we will provide servers. (Thank you for your suggestion )

I'll add "top 5/10 servers" or something similar (will pull data from GameTracker) in sidebar once the full version is released.

Will change the "register" text with modified image/text , add alternative light theme soon . Have already implemented other suggestions.

Will fill other sections as soon as beta gets released.

It is truly a joy that you read and take the time to look at my suggestions and ideas. In addition to adding top players and the like, I would also suggest that you have a system that people can use whether they have been banned from the server. You can include using one of the many options that already exist. Thus, the person who has been banned can create a thread to get help, and the ban may be reconsidered or he can simply get a second chance. You should then create a new section for such cases, or a unique script that can be used for such cases. Thus, a script for bans and statistics in general. They should be modified so that everything is automatically updated from the server when it happened. It may be updated every hour or every minute if you wish.

 

[xTreme]

Thank you , will start a server soon.

Theme changed and created a youtube channel . Hows it ?

 

[Daniel]

I think the youtube channel looks good.

I hope you will create and publish videos on a daily basis. I hope you will make frag montages, etc, and maybe some really cool movies you've edited.

You can also create a video about the website.

Read more about YouTube marketing here.

 

[QuickSand]

The theme has been changed,its pretty simple but it does not lag.
Check It Out and review it.
http://csoffensive.com

 

[jayfella]

you have a script that is supposed to move some shiz, but it doesnt move anything. You should remove the script or at least remove the function that starts it.

You scored pretty well on gtmetrix, but you could optimize the images by using smush.it

[slide]http://screensnapr.com/e/190Sok.png[/slide]

You failed miserably on the w3c validator check.

[slide]http://screensnapr.com/e/AAVNzu.png[/slide]

The skin is whored out. Whilst it is nice, I like what you did, you can't get around the fact that is is IPB3. You can't hide it, so don't worry too much about trying to make it unique. You can't. It is what it is. You can't make a donkey look like a pair of knickers.

 

[snowmanrene]

You have a spelling error:

Annoucements should be Announcements

 

[Daniel]

There is a space too much: http://screensnapr.com/v/lkbBcx.png

I love this change: http://screensnapr.com/v/5njJUw.png

A small error after I press the like button (facebook): http://screensnapr.com/v/s3XAyn.png

After I clicked the facebook button the other options disappeared: http://screensnapr.com/v/kSOBCO.png

This post should have been better worded and contained much more information: http://www.csoffensive.com/topic/1-welcome-to-csoffensive/page__view__findpost__p__1

Create a "like" or "reputation button". Modify it to make it fancy. Place it here: http://screensnapr.com/v/kS5i8F.png

I also like that you have changed the background. It seems a bit more other professional now.

You can make the logo more attractive and you can add a cool slogan.

some multiple errors that should be corrected: http://pokit.org/get/7fae787992a31886898859a8c5dcd142.jpg
http://pokit.org/get/5da8e7ac1f810913d5b2f7164bfdb86b.jpg

Introduction should be placed at the top.


***** all images *****

 

[xTreme]

Thank you again

Corrected the mistakes , just FB like button thing is messed ,will add it later.