Perhaps it's because I'm new. But I think I speak for most guests that it's hard to navigate throughout the forums. When going into the main page. (sportstwo.com) It's hard to get into the forums. I know main pages can be effective but I don't think that CMPS isn't the answer. This is primarily a sports forum - yes? Perhaps the main page should be directed straight to the forums. I know sports two has many features, which is why a sidebar could be implemented to bring navigation to other features. But right now this layout is hard to get around. I'm sure how great my feedback will be put into consideration. But it's my two cents. Nice work on the forum guys.
I use the New Posts link at the top of the page to do most of my navigating. It is simple and convenient imo.
I know, but there are so many posts that don't get activity. That's what many people are missing out. I think most great forums navigation is easy and user friendly for all users. Just my two cents though.
The landing page needs work, but I know a lot of users bookmark directly into the forums to bypass it.
Yes, but that's the problem. Guests would have trouble navigating through the pages. And current users are not having trouble. It's fine though, if users are wanting to post on the forum. They will be willing to search around and register.
Not all users have a large knoweledge of the internet though. A website should always cater for every type of person.
"Forums" in small font in the top left corner is nowhere near enough. Whether or not we have a splash page, there should be some indicator that you can go to forums for various sports and stuff. Buttons, logos--anything.
CMPS isn't the best thing to use IMO. Being a sporting forum, I think the first priority is discussion. The main page doesn't achieve this. The forums link are small and limited in being viewed. I just think the forum would benefit and more registrations will happen if the forums had some more viewablility. Right now it's pretty much hiding, you need to let the beast out the closet. lol.
Appreciate the input. We're going to add a giant graphic/button to get to the forums. A lot of forums use the forums index as the home page and struggle for a better home page for years. If we want to be different, we need to look different in some way.