Tradingurus isn't a traditional blog. In fact, the Tradingurus blog page is merely a Mamblog blog component for Joomla, the platform used for the site. This review is actually a blog review and non-blog review all wrapped into one.

This is the second review for Franklin, the other being Blog Review: The Politics of Debt at Untwisted Vortex.

What is "Tradingurus" all about?

Borrowing from the site's tag line, it's "The Social Site for Traders and Investors". It includes stock picks, market opinion, and much more. The "goal is to create a space where traders and investors can discuss their views on the markets and where they can rant about everything else, from the life on the trenches to their last trade. As in many other social networks, you will have the ability to create groups and build communities", taken directly from the front page.

Site Design

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know how Joomla works. Regardless, the appearance leaves a lot to be desired. When I moved from the main page to the blog page, the left sidebar narrowed, causing previously unwrapped items to wrap.

There's no whitespace surrounding the pages, which would make for better readability. Even with my widescreen display, the sections look almost like they're running together. In my opinion, there's too much going on, on each page. The site would be better served if there was LESS information per page.

The site isn't colorful, nor would I expect it to be. Subtle changes in the backgrounds for the header, footer, main content, and sidebars could do a world of wonder for readability, in my opinion. White for the main content and "off-white" shades or shades of gray for the other areas would work very well.

Article and Post Content

The Tradingurus opinion page is full of interesting articles and I can't even begin to describe the quality. The only problem I see with any of the content is the fact that most (if not all) are distributed reprints. I really don't have the time to look at all of them.

At least the short paragraphs of the Tradingurus news page look original, as well as the content on both blog pages (one being a community blog).

My Overall Opinion

If you're into trading and investment, this is a site that could help save you some money along the way. It's not my "bag", so to speak, but it could be yours.

Other than the design, I don't see any problems with the site as is. I know Franklin could do a lot better with it, but he'll have to put quite a bit of time and effort into making it aesthetically pleasing as well as useful.

Personally, I believe he'd be much better off using B2Evolution as a platform instead of Joomla. From what I've seen, B2Evolution can handle the CMS part of the site and then the blogging part would be easier and more attractive for both the author(s) and the readers.

Would you like a Review?

My reviews are not the best, and I won't pretend they're even close to being the best, but they're free! You can't beat that with a stick. Submit your blog on my Request A Blog Review page and I'll see if I can do your blog justice.