Here goes.... I'll try to get it all, if not, I'll finish tomorrow.
Colors/color scheme:
For starters, it's all gray scale. Sometimes it can work if you have good complementary border colors. It is a little bland, but everything is readable, and it's all easy on the eyes.
But I would work on the link colors a bit. Those should be a different color than the text is so they stand out. I would suggest perhaps a bluish gray... something like that blue from your banner. Something light that it would stand out on the background, but not too bright that it is hard to see.
Bonus for making staff link color colored so that it stands out. I'm not sure about the green, though. Perhaps a red or a nice blue would be better.
Overall.. it's a nice color scheme, but there is always room for improvement.
Images/Graphics:
Banner - This is a cool banner, but is it just Gears of War? There should be Halo images in there as well. And also... when you figure out a title for the forum, the title should go in there as well, not just the titles of the games.
Menu buttons - Nice, simple, plain. I'm assuming they came with the skin.
On/off icons - Are those grenades? If so, those are really cool. Maybe you could continue that throughout the forum.. make it a battleground/weapon theme.
Info center icons - A bit boring, but I suppose those came with the skin. If you can, I would change those... maybe to something similar to the grenades.
Background - If a skin, not much you can do there. And it's fine. It's better for the background to, well, blend into the background. It doesn't need to be flashy.
Overall.. nice work so far on the graphics.. but I would just make sure you're covering your theme a bit more.
Content/Topic/Forum theme:
First off... I think your forum needs a title. "the forum for Gears of War and Halo" isn't much of an eye-catching title. Maybe you could find something that both games have in common and name it after that. Maybe like "Battlegrounds" or something. Be creative.
Like perhaps.. give your categories theme-related names. Just a suggestion.
As for covering your topic.. I think it would do a lot better if the banner was changed, like I said. But as for all that is there... I think it's covered fairly well. Gears of War and Halo have their own categories.
But I would make sure for your boards that those topics actually need their own board. Everything needs to be posted in regularly to make it worthwhile in keeping.
Also... make sure there are posts in all the boards for your members to start posting in. You can't wait for members to create threads.
As for your order... it's a good order. But to make it all revolving around your topic... I would move the "General" board to the bottom. That way all your important stuff.. the game topics and such are at the top.
It's okay to keep the rules at the top, though, as those are more important than any theme you would have.
Overall... it's a nice start.. just make sure everything is being used and move things around to make navigation easier.
Coding/Odds 'n' Ends:
Codes to add:
--I would get the code to move down the title bar, this will put the banner ad at the top and won't split your forum.
-- Category splitter: not so necessary as you have few boards, but if you ever expand, it's nice to have things split up and easier to find.
Let's see... well, the only other thing I notice is the text for titles...as in "Info Center" are a bit small. It's probably the skin, but see if you can change those to something easier to read.
Okay, you have a good start here.. Mainly I would work on adding some personality re: colors, graphics, new title for your topic and then matching your theme better to that topic.
Any questions, please ask. : )
--Mara
