The Articles of this site doesn't really get that much activity. I have a few ideas that could make Articles get more activity. I came up with these ideas using the things I learned from my Web Design class at school.
I may get more ideas from the things I learn in the Web Management Class I'm taking this year. I'll also add those in.
If you guys ever redesign the site or feel like changing anything, please keep these ideas in thought.
1. Show the article previews in the /forums page.
If you want people to view something you have to advertise it where they are the most. Most of the members navigate to the sub forums by using the /forums page. If you guys were to add the article previews from the homepage to the bottom of the shoutbox, members would be more likely to view the Articles.
(this is what I meant by Article previews)
This is kind of what it would look like This would not remove the sub forum listings. They will just be right below this
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2. Link Newest Articles in Shoutbox Notice.
You guys do this sometimes but you don't do it constantly. It may seem like there are not that many members in the shoutbox but some members still see the Shoutbox without chatting in it. This helps out more than you think.
Remember when you guys had the NGU PlugDJ link in the Shoutbox notice? There was always someone using it. Now that it is not in the notice anymore, it is inactive.
3. Make the Article Thumbnails more visually pleasing
Some of the article thumbnails are pixelated and resized out of proportion. They actually repulse people from clicking on it. The circle crop doesn't work for every picture and that might be the reason that some pictures are pixelated. Do a little Photoshop to make the thumbnails look decent.
It's kinda of like Youtube. If your video has a unattractive thumbnail, people will most likely not watch your video. Same will happen with Articles.
4. Better homepage ticker
I don't know what happened but you guys had a good ticker back in 2013. The new one is sort of static and...bland. If there is a way to get that one back you should really consider getting that back.
this was the ticker in 2013 if you forgot http://web.archive.org/web/201305021...genupdate.com/
5. Have the Trending Content on the side of threads
When members are done looking at the thread they could simply click on the Article.
Thank you for reading and I hope you guys try to implement some of these things. :p
I may get more ideas from the things I learn in the Web Management Class I'm taking this year. I'll also add those in.
If you guys ever redesign the site or feel like changing anything, please keep these ideas in thought.
1. Show the article previews in the /forums page.
If you want people to view something you have to advertise it where they are the most. Most of the members navigate to the sub forums by using the /forums page. If you guys were to add the article previews from the homepage to the bottom of the shoutbox, members would be more likely to view the Articles.
(this is what I meant by Article previews)
This is kind of what it would look like This would not remove the sub forum listings. They will just be right below this
2. Link Newest Articles in Shoutbox Notice.
You guys do this sometimes but you don't do it constantly. It may seem like there are not that many members in the shoutbox but some members still see the Shoutbox without chatting in it. This helps out more than you think.
Remember when you guys had the NGU PlugDJ link in the Shoutbox notice? There was always someone using it. Now that it is not in the notice anymore, it is inactive.
3. Make the Article Thumbnails more visually pleasing
Some of the article thumbnails are pixelated and resized out of proportion. They actually repulse people from clicking on it. The circle crop doesn't work for every picture and that might be the reason that some pictures are pixelated. Do a little Photoshop to make the thumbnails look decent.
It's kinda of like Youtube. If your video has a unattractive thumbnail, people will most likely not watch your video. Same will happen with Articles.
4. Better homepage ticker
I don't know what happened but you guys had a good ticker back in 2013. The new one is sort of static and...bland. If there is a way to get that one back you should really consider getting that back.
this was the ticker in 2013 if you forgot http://web.archive.org/web/201305021...genupdate.com/
5. Have the Trending Content on the side of threads
When members are done looking at the thread they could simply click on the Article.
Thank you for reading and I hope you guys try to implement some of these things. :p