Reviews
Review #46: One Blonde
Reviewing Carly’s site, One Blonde, in Firefox on Mac OS X Leopard
First Impressions
You say you’re “a web site dedicated to quality web design and graphic design”, but I can think of many other people whose portfolios are, at first glance, far more impressive. This design isn’t TERRIBLE, but it could stand to be improved upon. It’s monochromatic, and in this case is a bit bland. Your text is far too small and centered, and the welcome message just lacks a professional feel.
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Review #45: Lyrical
Reviewing Brian’s site, Lyrical, in Firefox on Mac OS X Leopard
First Impressions
About a year and a quarter ago, I wrote a rather scatching review of your website. I remember you blogged about it; don’t think I wasn’t aware. You didn’t handle it completely maturely, but I was more amused by the comments on the post than by the post itself. Anyway, I don’t take back what I said, nor do I regret it. This time around, though, I sense that I won’t have to be quite as harsh.
Your website has changed rather drastically since my last review, and I’m pleased with what I see. Your layout could definitely use some tweaking, but overall I like it. I’m also pleased by your most recent blog post; you have good grammar, and the post is quite interesting. Let’s hope the rest of your website reflects my first impression!
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Review #44: Leaving Town
Reviewing Hannah’s site, Leaving Town, in Firefox on Mac OS X Leopard
First Impressions
Quite honestly, it’s websites like yours that have turned me into a sporadic reviewer. You can’t judge a book by its cover, I guess, but nine times out of ten, a website with a layout like yours will have content that makes me want to rip my hair out. I’ve written review after review of these teenybopper sites, and they all blend together. What makes one teenybopper submit their website, which is almost identical to one that I’ve just posted a scathing review on? No idea.
The first thing I notice, other than the fact that this is one of those left-aligned celebrity blends, is that the colours are pretty dreary. Colour choice is pretty important, and yours just isn’t doing much for me.
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Review #43: Misplaced
Reviewing Marieke’s site, Misplaced, in Firefox on Mac OS X Leopard
First Impressions
Upon loading your site, I’m not blinded, which is good. I’m also not wowed, which is not so good. My infamous Firefox-tabs test states that, had your website been in a long lineup of tabs waiting for me to read, I would leave upon seeing it. It’s boring, far too beige, and has a few basic flaws.
I’m not loving your title tag. Firstly, “Misplaced.org” implies that your url is, indeed, http://misplaced.org, when it’s http://mis-placed.org. This could confuse people who want to find your website again. Secondly, “never mind the - :)”. What exactly does this mean? Is there a point to it? There’s a reason that most people generally just put their website’s name in the title tag, and that’s because in this case, simplicity is king.
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Review #42: Apple Traffic
Reviewing Sam’s site, Apple Traffic, in Firefox on Mac OS X Leopard
First Impressions
“Moved! I got hosted!” Well, nice to know. You could have told me, but meh. What can you do?
So. Weborexic layout? Check. Randomly coloured words that aren’t links? Check. Badly cut-out images that you probably didn’t take yourself? Check. Tiny font? Bad line height? Sidebar that’s longer than the content? Impossible-to-find navigation? Cluttered sidebar? Button advertising? A MARQUEE, for god’s sake? Check, check, check, check, check, check, and check. Unfortunately. Yes, it looks like we’ve got ourselves a case of Teen Bopperitis.
Your title tag is… bleh. You don’t need the all-caps, or the asterisk, or the [dot] stuff. Simply “Apple Traffic” should be adequate. (Believe me, I’ve been there. I believe I have a screenshot somewhere of my site when the title tag was Clemwalrusness{dot}com.)
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