Hi,

I'm quite new to running a website, especially for the target market: teenagers.

What we are talking about is thinkteen.co.uk, a new multimedia site for teenagers. Currently, the main aspect is the forum, of which we are attempting to detach ourselves from (since we "depend" on it).

We would like to spice up the content and through this, gain new members. We currently have an AJAX startpage in the roll, but since none of the team are professional website designers nor do we know any Javascript or XML, and we don't have a source of good funding, we are struggling to complete it.

What do you think attracts teenagers? We were looking at ypmania.com, a rival site of ours, however, they have paid for their site to be done (I think) and their layout is far more exciting than ours.

What can we do?

Thanks,
ct2k7

Also - the site is currently down as there are problem with the DNS settings that we currently can't resolve and Namecheap/eNOM have dissappeared for the night... :(

EDIT: I've uploaded a screenpic of the site's front page

Hi "ct2k7" :wavey:

I'll tackle comments about the layout, because this part is easy to discuss.

I think what strikes me the most about the screenshot you posted (in an offputting way) is that it seems to be comprised of two completely different visual design styles that do not complement each other.

The header is shiny, slick, curvy, 3-dimensional, and the colors are from a bold pallette on a black backdrop.

The rest of the site uses very dull, muted color. They are from a pastel pallette, and completely different from the header. Everything is squared off, whatever gradient features are presented are dull instead of glassy.

The combination of these two is visually very awkward. Commit to one style and see it through to its conclusion! I would venture a guess that two different people contributed to the design - one did the header and navigation, and the other did the rest. Am I right?

Choose one ;)

You are right - I did the header but then I became tired and passed the rest onto someone else. We'll attempt to conform the the one style of a rounded, shiny 3D thing. I agree that it's a bit dull - what I find annyoing is that dreamweaver totally wrecked the site after I had to reperfect it's layout in painstaking Expression Web.

With the new design, we hope to be following the Web 2.0 standard, which I intended in this design.

That's no surprise. WYSIWYG editors are notorious for wrecking things (not always, and not always badly, but often enough), and Dreamweaver is considered one of the best. You already design by hand. So code by hand :)

With the new design, we hope to be following the Web 2.0 standard, which I intended in this design.FYI, if you're looking for a standard called Web 2.0, you won't find it anywhere. Web 2.0 is just a marketing term. At best, it describes some common visual characteristics. But there's no standard for it. If you're talking about creating something that visually reflects common "Web 2.0" style, then you're onto something, and your current header isn't a bad start at all!

Thanks the_pm, I haven't tried coding by hand in a long time actually. Better brush those skills!

I was referring to something that visually reflects the common "Web 2.0" style :)

Thanks - you've given me more confidence :)

EDIT:

After design, what could we do for content?

Free online games, funny video clips, jokes, community, forum, fun facts, gallery... just a few things.

We have free online games which are available to members only - so far that has attracted some members. Funny video clips is something we intend to do. Community/Forum already exists. Fun facts, a bot posting possibly? Gallery of what though?

Thanks ObiKanobi :)

For younger teenagers, the forums could be a valuable asset if you promote it well. I'd push heavily for video clips and pictures. They can suck if you don't a high bandwidth on your hosting though.

Maybe each member could have their own photo gallery. Video clips seems to be popular.

Own photo gallery - that should be doable with vB 3.7? Video Clips - I need to installed the youtube bridge :)

games, funny video,music,more and more news things.
Of cause you should add community or forum functions.

ok, the site is now up :). thinkteen.co.uk offers:


A Forum
Video sharing
Shoutbox
Games
Own User Gallery (Via vB 3.7)
Online TV viewing and Radio Stations
Blogs
Radioteen.co.uk
Site is not fully functioning, however, this will be a free radio/podcast thing for teens to listen to.Those marked in bold require the user to be a member and to be logged in.

We are hoping to find a couple of volunteers that'll help us build content by writting frequently about recent news, however, we don't know where to advertise for such people?

+ There are many voluntary "job" vacancies available, which we hope to fill in due course.

Im finding it hard to find 1 volunteer in a community of 1 000 000 users lol...

Seriously, Lots of people are prepared to do stuff but often you have to tell them exactly what to do and then sometimes its faster doing it yourself :P

Try looking at your closest friends and see if there isnt somebody that you trust to do a good job that can help you out.