Yuku free message boards

the "equipment" tab is a 404 not found. The "video" tab dumps a user to the forums. I imagine your aware of those, but I would make an "under construction" for the equipment or a link to the handlordz store temporarily, as thats much better to a new visitor whose gaining an impression of your site right now. For the video tab, redirect the user to either De'vo's video thread, or the www.superhandz.com video section until something more permanent is up. Both these options might serve as better temporary proxies than a blank 404 or a forum dump.

The font size is too small, in my opinion. I have slight vision problems (20/30), and have a standard resolution, so I imagine that others will also have the same problem. And because its set in graphic loads and not standard type, it cannot be increased by the user. I would recommend either an increase in type, requiring those sections to be redone, or even better using standard HTML scripting IN CONJUNCTION with the graphic points to maintain the "clean" look that has been achieved. 3rd option would be to add a Java Script click-zoom or auto-zoom to make reading easier by either clicking or hovering the mouse pointer.


In general, the impression I get is a VERY clean and professional looking site. But the advert-like bars containing information at the bottom of the homepage "(like the flashcard show or world XCM tournament, XB II and SM bars) do not attribute to the clean feel. They seem clustered and crowded, and this instantly set me off against the "clean" look of the rest of the website. This is a very minor issue, but it did rub me different than the rest of the site, and that may not be what you want.

As it looks now, the website looks spartan and neat, but that is a good thing. Very... Japanese, or German spartan; it sparks the immediate impression of professionalism. Just... not the bottom.

A solution I could think of is to increase the blank space between them in black, and ditch the little white lines. The lines draw attention to the blocks individually, but they also increase the size in the mind of the reader, and add to the crowded look. Also, offsetting them to one side or another might also restore the feeling of tranquility when looking on the site. That way they would look included, and still draw eyes and mouse-clicks, but wouldn't seem so much like sponsored advertisement being pushed on the visitor. While they OBVIOUSLY have little in common with pushed advertisement anyway, consider that a layman or a new XCMer is conditioned to ignore most of what appears like it COULD BE advertisements of the same.

Lastly the other reason they seem so much like included advertisement is their relative size to the print text. With everything else so small, it creates and uncomfortable dynamic.

Again I'm sure thats a minor issue not everyone will agree with, but it bothered me, and I think it might bother some people who aren't conditioned to XCM. Easy way to tell: grab a friend, sister/brother/parent/relative who hasn't seen it. Then ask them what they think of the adverts compared to the site, or EVEN BETTER just ask them to POINT OUT the adverts. Chances are they will label those links as SPONSORSHIP every time.