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Speculative biology is simultaneously a science and form of art in which one speculates on the possibilities of life and evolution. What could the world look like if dinosaurs had never gone extinct? What could alien lifeforms look like? What kinds of plants and animals might exist in the far future? These questions and more are tackled by speculative biologists, and the Speculative Evolution welcomes all relevant ideas, inquiries, and world-building projects alike. With a member base comprising users from across the world, our community is the largest and longest-running place of gathering for speculative biologists on the web.

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TZ's Board of the Month!
Topic Started: Nov 14 2008, 11:03 PM (647 Views)
Livyatan


I was a little late to realize that SE was chosen as the ZetaBoards Theme Zone's Board of the Month! If you wish to read the first review and the second opinion, please read this topic: http://zbthemezone.com/topic/5017340/1/ . If you are unable to access the page:

Nivexonix
 
All ratings are out of 10...

Number of Members - 5
Number of Posts - 9
Number of Active Members - 7
Originality - 7
Quality of Categories - 7
Good Adminship - 8
Good Moderators - 9
Variation of Forums - 7
Layout - 8
Appearance - 8
Overall Rating - 8


I was not overly impressed with the appearance of the forum, but that is not to say that it is bad. It seems to fit well with the idea of the forum, which is always a benefit. I would increase the opacity on the image in the banners to make them easier to see. Also, try to make the banner a bit more noticed. While this is unlike a graphic design, I don't see much of a focal in the forum, which is partially a bad thing. Also, make sure you improve text contrast. The current link colors aren't too bad, but they need to contrast more with the skin, probably a darker color than it. They aren't exceptionally easy to see, which should not be the case - they should be easy to see, without trouble. This also goes for the text on the graphics. For the topic markers, I would try to differentiate them a little more so it is a bit more obvious what each thing is. One thing I also noticed with the Estuary theme is that when you are looking at a member's posts, the year is written in blue. (URL=http://spec-evolution.sytes.net/search/?c=2&mid=124696]Here[/URL], for example.) Make sure that you change this so it isn't clashing as much with the flow of the forum. With the Spring Rain theme, I would make the forum markers blend better with the creme-ish background. I believe I mentioned that in the last review, but aside from that, the appearance is nice.

The forum activity seems to be very low. This is consistent, which I think is like the main problem with the forum. First, I would make sure you have developed a strong member base from which a community can form. Try out posting incentives for new users, such as free advertising, prize signatures, etc. These things could help out to get more inactive users interested in posting. Also, focus on creating long-lasting discussions. Just because the topic that the forum is based around is so broad and also so limited, I would not have a rule preventing bumping. It can sometimes spark discussion again in old topics that might have a renewed opinion. There is not much that I can say here as it lies a lot with just hard work with members and their own interests. Focus on getting a strong community and expanding. Also, advertise as often as possible. Posting on other forums with a signature is a great way to build up the community, for advertising.

Originality is pretty strong on this forum, because the topic is discusses is limited and also expandable. There are a lot of options with how you can take this, so I would suggest just listening to your members and taking into consideration their opinions on what the forum should focus on. The layout could use some improvements, so I suggest the layout below.

Quote:
 
Key
Category
- Forum (Notes)
--- Sub-Forum
----- Sub-Sub-Forum
Etc.

SE Administration
- Announcements & News
--- SE Projects
- Official Competitions
- User Commentary
--- Wiki Support

Speculative Biology
- General Spec (Remove the Spec Guides Sub-Forum)
--- Dixonian Interviews
--- Orphaned Projects/Concepts
- Evolutionary Continuum (Remove the Sub-Forum: It isn't active.)
- Alternative Evolution
--- Terra Alternativa
- Habitable Zone
--- (Keep the sub-forums the same, but remove inactive ones.)

Forum Ecosystem
- Introductions
- General Discussion
--- Forum Games
--- In-Depth Discussion
- Biology Discussion
--- Life Sciences (For other sciences, such as environmental science, place science, etc.)



There were some minor changes, but overall I think some small changes could work well for the board. By inactive forums, I mean forums that have only a few topics and have had no posts within the past two weeks. It just adds clutter to the forum and ultimately isn't needed. As far as staff, they all seem to be doing a great job. All are participating well within the community, but a little bit more focus on the biological subjects wouldn't hurt any. Make sure that your co-administrator is generally as active as you are, or at least more active than the moderators, as far as posting.

Overall, the main problem is the community. I think minor changes elsewhere could help, but a strong community is needed before this board can grow faster than it already is. Work on advertising through your signature on other forums and I'm sure you'll start to reap the fruit of it. Good luck with the forum and I hope the success continues.




And here is the second opinion review:

Kevin
 
The themes you have available for use are by no means under-par, but there is certainly more you can do to boost the appeal of your appearance. The color schemes used in both are interesting, both in which I don't think I've seen used in ZB design thus far; however, the shades you've selected make everything feel a bit too monotone and lack-luster. Simple is definitely a safe direction to head with themes, however, what is lost in complexity needs to be made up with bold colors that project, as that's what is considerably shaping what little design conception present in the theme. Next time around, I definitely recommend placing emphasis on adding more 'pop' to the focal designs - try to branch off from the style you've used in the current two options and allow you're users more of a variety to chose from.

The layout is definitely a fairly strong point, especially considering the topic it's based around being fairly limited to elaborate is some aspects. You've done well with keeping the forums compact and the sub-forum feature has definitely proved useful in keeping everything nice and easy to navigate throughout. The only advice I have to offer is merging the two forums under the "Competitions and Projects" and placing it below either of the three categories. Having "full" categories makes the index seem a bit more clean, and considering either get much use, it would probably be at your benefit to remove them from index view.

Originality is, without a doubt, the strongest area of SE. With that being so, it tends to become difficult to grow and develop as finely-toned as that of other boards around the IF/ZB community, simply because it can often be difficult to find the attention of those interested in the topics you discuss. Nevertheless, you've done a fairly decent job recruiting users and keeping activity up. I'm pleasantly surprised with the amount of intelligent discussion being in the general chat area. Your topics spread far from the normal question and answer sort and I praise that.

Overall, the biggest details to work on is adding the wow factor to the appearance and keeping overall activity up. Good luck and congratulations once again on winning the BotM.
The grand Livyatan on deviantArt: link

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Sliver Slave
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I'm going back to basics.

I agree generally with these, except removing the project subforums. What are your plans for the spec guides? And is it just me, but did our activity peak off a while ago?
Something is upsetting the ostriches.

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Livyatan


Spec Guides I plan to keep maybe putting it offline temporarily, but bringing it back soon after. Activity seems to fall with my own activity, so hopefully if I get back in the same flow I was in when the forum started we'll be at superforum levels :lol:
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