Site reviews

V5.0 reviewed by Rinoa at doenut reviews.

Reviewed On: 02.13.03
Owner: Gen
Site: Blown A Wish

First impression :

The splash page is simple and to the point. It is a bit plain but that doesn’t really matter. The layout is black, the splash is white. It would look better if both were black or both white. Preferably black.

Layout :

Other then the splash page and main layout not matching in background color, I like the use of colors and lines. I like the arrows that point to the windows. Makes it easier for blind people like me to see where they need to look. Although I would suggest putting your tagboard on its own page. The window for your content is small, too small. Next time try to make it bigger. Makes for less scrolling and less eye strain. The window for the tagboard is way too small and cramped as well. The tag button is hard to find. If you could get hosted it would be nice. The geocities add gets annoying because it takes up the whole window.

Content :

about - Is there any reason why you have a Þ in front of tagboard? This section is self-explanatory. It’s good to know why you’re putting up with geocities. “Fear not, I haven't got a guestbook” should be “Fear not, I don’t have a guestbook”
me - Is there any reason why the name, age, location, etc. list is in a different font color then the rest of the page? You should change it to red. On this page the scrolling arrows are hard to see. The “I list” should be in regular font, not bold. You don’t need “mwah x©x©x gen” at the end of every page. The “be afraid. be very afraid ” link should say what it leads too. “i guess my style is a mixup mishmash thing;” should be “i guess my style is a mixed up mishmash of things;”
my stuff - There is no way to scroll on your journal. As for the disclaimer, I wish I had this a few weeks ago. Its nice to know other people outside the US know that he “cheated his way into office” and don’t assume we are all war mongering morons. The “avoid me” link doesn’t give me much of an idea on where it leads, but apparently it least to your to do list/calendar. That is quite an original way to put your FAQ’s. Though it’s more like A’s since you don’t provide the questions. The stuff page is organized nicely. I like your how to make jen mad list, but I don’t think asking people to not send you forwards is mean, I hate it when people do that to me. The 50 things list you repeat I spend too much time online. Number 13 and 32. I like your pretty things page. It’s not something you would find on a typical personal site. You have quite a collection of pretty things. I hope you get more soon.
expression - Your “Rantcicles” are well written. Cheese-eating surrender monkeys" had to be my favorite. Though the second part of your “War on Arvril” rant I have read the second part of it somewhere before starting with “Kid grows up listening to Blink 182...” it was a long time ago so I don’t know the URL of the page that I saw it at. I know that’s not much help but seeing that it fits your style of writing I a assuming someone copied and pasted it on to theirs. So be on the look out. (if I do happen to run across it again I will let you know) Your prose section provides some interesting reads. “you follow yr life accordingly, on a set path [defined by you or something else, fuck knows, i'm not a philosopher].” Should be “You follow your life accordingly, on a set path [defined by you or something else, fuck knows, i'm not a philosopher].” I am curious to know if you actually sent in “A Day In The Life Of A High-Powered Admin Chick” to Cosmo. You have written a lot of music reviews and interviews.
site - General – This was short and to the point. You could put more facts about the site but somehow this just seems to sum up everything that is important to know about it. Hosting – This is good to know. Current layout – its nice of you to design for the smaller resolutions. Scroll bars may be evil but it makes viewing all that text easier because people don’t have to search for the scrolling mechanism and those new to the net may not be able to figure it out. Reviewed – Usually people who post their reviews like to make their own comments, but it’s nice that you just post them and respect their opinions. It’s also a plus that you link them.
exits - This is nicely organized by category. Though under reviews you should add a form for people to send in their URLs, not everyone uses Endor and people are often to lazy to open up their emails. You can get a simple and free form from freedback.com Fire exit – Do you change the link yourself every now and then or does it only lead to FFF.com?

Reliability and technical :

“Fear not, I haven't got a guestbook” should be “Fear not, I don’t have a guestbook”
“i guess my style is a mixup mishmash thing;” should be “i guess my style is a mixup mishmash of things;”
S-h-i-t-e is spelled s-h-i-t. [heh no it's not ;) - british gen] Be sure to fix the non-existent mouse over scrollers on the sites page.

Overall :

You don’t need “mwah x©x©x gen” at the end of every page. Try to avoid giving your links ambiguous names, stick with the straightforward names. After a while it got annoying trying to read everything in such a small frame. Next time please make it larger; your visitors will appreciate it. After a while your links got hard to read. The text was too small to be in italics. It hurt my eyes. If I had to offer only one piece of advice to you it would be to be careful when designing your layout, always be conscious of the content window. Be courteous of your visitors they will have to view our site and you want to make it easy on their eyes. That and next time use regular scroll bars and avoid mouseover scrolling. It got annoying after the first few pages. After reviewing your site I decided I liked your site. It is obvious your not trying to follow any trends and your personality really shines through. I enjoyed reviewing your site and reading your opinions and everything else. I'm impressed with the lack of errors on a site this size. It shows this site is a labor of love for you. Thank you for taking the time to link me.