Please help some thing not right, my site needs some thing, but don't know what ,please Critique site

[Mary Jane Peterson]

hi

I have a http://b-yond.ning.com/ but I do not like it, some thing is missing and I don't know what, Please can you help and let me know what it needs

[Armani Rouse]

Nice network May Jane! I spent some time there and what I can say that you have working for you right now is great individuality! What I mean is, if you look at other ning networks you'll notice a lot of them look the same because everyone's sharing tips and adding the same stuff to their networks! I admit, I add a lot of things from creators to my site as well but as of late I've shied away from using tips from here and creating my own hacks and modules so that visitors are not able to decipher my site as a ning platformed built site because of my tabs :) What I like about your site is the simplicity of it. Sharing with the people and things that matter the most to you, family, friends and business! I like that. Your site is very clean and easy to navigate. I would refrain from adding a lot of animated GIF images and widgets though. I noticed you have a thing for animated images which are awesome!, but they can in fact slow down your network if you have a lot of them on different pages, especially the home page. Your home page is your pot of gold. What you add there is whats going to make the difference in your networks success and traffic. The fact that it's clean and simple now makes it appealing and easy to navigate, I went from page to page with ease which brings me to my next point. You may want to modify how many pages on your network are open for everyone to see. I believe I was on the admins page looking at everything and it didn't look like there was anything on the network I wouldn't be able to see! Certain things you want to entice the visitor to sign up to see and there are plenty of discussions on creators as to how to modify your pages and content so that not everything is so readily available for everyone to see. Just a suggestion. Lastly, the first thing I noticed when I got to the site was your "B-Yond" logo. Very simple and smooth but it lacks that "ummmph" that would make one want to come back to your site just because of the eye appealing part o it. The background is very unique, the black links I love and it reminds me of what I did with my network! I didn't go with the generic ning based theme and background, I found one that was unique for my network in which it looks like you've done the same. Only thing I would change is making the B-Yond logo a bit more appealing, maybe bolding it more and adding some css so that maybe it has a shadow effect or some type or effect to it. I have many friends I can get you help with this from so fret not! Other than that its the grey modules, I would suggest making those transparent so that they appear clear and you only really see the beautiful black background you have now with the links. Give that a try and see if you like it. If you want help with your logo, a member on my site does custom logos for $50 and I can easily have her whip something up that you'd like. Let me know and continue on with your network. You're doing a great job!

[Mary Jane Peterson]

Hi 

Thank you so much :)  I have made some changes to my site, please come and have a look 

http://b-yond.ning.com/ thank you for your help and support

[Kos]

Hi Mary Jane

1. I initially had no idea what the site was about until I scrolled further down the page and saw your badge.  You only have a few, precious seconds to get their attention and I think your sub-header on the right isn't doing you justice where it stands.  I would enlarge the sub header and make it stand out to first time visitors [maybe even move it left below your site name] or insert a "description" box [found in Features Layout] in the center front above Activity. 
2. The tabs running over into a 2nd line looks a bit *wonky*.  Maybe take one of your other tabs and make it a sub tab so that they all fit in one row?

[Mary Jane Peterson]

Hi 

Thank you so much :)  I have made some changes to my site, please come and have a look 

http://b-yond.ning.com/ thank you for your help and support

[Debbie]

MY SUGGESTIONS :)

1.  Create a graphic 'Header' for your site or move your 'Network Name and Tagline' further away from your 'Navigation Bar'.

2. Center your 'Navigation Text' with this code:

/*CENTER NAVIGATION TEXT*/
.xg_theme #xg_navigation ul {
text-align: center;
margin: 0 auto;
}

3. Center your 'Module Header Text' with this code (You might want to consider adding a border, background color or image to make your Module Headers pop out.):

/*CENTER MODULE HEADER TEXT*/
.xg_module_head {text-align: center;margin: 0 auto;}
.xg_module_head h2 {display: -moz-inline-box;-moz-box-orient: vertical;
display: inline-block; *vertical-align: middle;*display: inline; text-align: center;float: none;
}

4. Balance graphic and text placements in each column.  Your goal is to make your site 'less busy' to the eye and more focused and relaxed.  Choose smaller member profile pictures for your main page and maybe a scroll box for your activities (adjusting the code according to your specifications).

/**SCROLL YOUR ACTIVITY BOX**/
.xg_module_activity .xg_module_body {
height: 200px;
overflow : auto;
position:relative;
margin : 3px;
text-align : center;
font-size : 12px;
font-family :arial;
background-color:transparent !important;
}

5.  Balance the bottom of your page so that one column wont be longer than the other columns.

I am sure I could come up with more ideas but in the end, it is about your unique site and how you would like to present it to others.  Good luck!