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nanzhong

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Hey everyone, this is my first try at a PHP-Nuke theme. I'd appreciate it if you could please rate it for me and give me some suggestions for improvement.

http://www.animire.com

The reason is because Animire Studios is a site offering design services and I don't wanna make myself look like a fool who offers designs when his own site is pretty crummy :rolleyes:... hope you understand ;) .
 
I guess your right about the turn off part, but trust me it can be themed quite extensively ;). I've put in hours on that one :cool: .
 
Got an idea dunno wot you think. What would you say if I made the entire nuke site into a "community" site type of site while I put my actual business site seperate from it?
 
Thanks, right now the design's looking alright. Except for one thing... I need slogan... lol can anyone think of one??? A slogan for a design firm. I've only come up with really cheesy stuff so far...
 
Hello Nan
I dont really think using php nuke gives a professional image of your business.

There are a few things I am thinking

Using a free script to power your whole site can give some people the impression that you are either "cheap" or going for a "cheap" market
Although I dont agree with this and Im all for open source, I know a lot of people will get this impression when a business site is using free scripts for everything on their site.
I think thats wrong...but thats just the way some people think

I also dont think using a CMS script doesnt show off your design scripts as much as you should be trying for your own site.
Your own site gives even more of a first impression to people visiting it than any other business site would.
Your site not only shows what your company is like, but its an extension of your portfolio really.
It IS your work

Having a unique design instead of just customising a CMS script would give a far better first impression.
It might be different if you totally change the layout of PHP nuke also, but its still too plain at the minute and there isnt anything to show your skills from someone skinning their gaming portal site.

I think your navigation has to be changed, you have left in a lot of modules which arent needed for a business site, remember that you are using your site to sell your services, not as a community ;)
You shouldnt show stats, have a forum memberlist, PM login, Encyclopedia etc. as they arent needed for your site.

I also wouldnt show the latest posts on your site, you ahve it both under latest additions on the home page, and a scrolling panel in the right nav.
There arent many business sites showing the latest posts for their site on all pages, might help improve it a little anyway :)

I think you have focused too much on the community aspect of your site when its more business oriented.
 
I'm in total agreement, but as you can see from my previous post, I'm designing the "professional" site now. So therefore the phpnuke site won't be a busines thing anymore. :)
 
Look at it this way:

the market is so saturated with web hosts and web designers that we need to differentiate ourselves based on the personalities behind the services (most service industries need to do something similar, actually). Even if something seems cheesy, go for it - you may get a good response, and find yourself a pretty loyal niche market.

If you have a few slogans and don't know which you like better, set several of them up as rotating includes. Have a new one every day. See if any of them generate a strong response.

It's possible to have a business plan that uses a site community idea - but you have to think long and hard about taking that road. Will you be active in that community every day? Do you have others who will likewise be active? If it's a community, how will you keep other designers from joining it and attempting to leach away your client base? Would that even be something with which you'd concern yourself? Running a good, vibrant community is definitely a skill, and it requires a certain personality and mindset. If this sounds like an incredible amount of fun for you...then you probably would do well with it. Your enthusiasm would show through, and that may also attract people.

(Big fat caveat: everything I learned about running a community site I learned from several years' worth of running successful fan sites - which is more than a little different community-wise than a design or hosting service site.)
 
Thanks, yeah I've learnt well from that point. :rolleyes:

By the way, I'm making a flash logo movie thingy, I'll post it once I'm done. As I am not good a flash please don't laugh... and yes I know... it is very important as a web designer, but I'm learning... all I need to learn is actionscript... I know... action is the most important bit... :P
 
Dont worry, not everyone knows everything for the industry they are in.
A lot of long time designers dont even use flash, some, like yourself, only know a little about it.
Its not a problem but its also useful to know as some people do want flash in their site.
You could always have someone else do flash for sites if you don't think you are up to the job yet.
Then you could do the rest of the design for sites instead of taking on something if your not sure you can make something professional enough, it will reflect on your company and image for all work you do
 
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