Review from Winter Days
This is a requested review from Winter Days that was received on 04/12/09. All of my comments are in blockquotes like the one below.
Unfortunately, this review was kind of disappointing. While there are a few critiques and suggestions, I wish the most important part of my site wasn't skimmed over with literally no comments. The content section lacked depth, and I'm left with vague comments like my site needs to be "extra special".
The layout looks well made and organized at first glance, but the navigation stands out the most making the layout feel unbalanced. The main image is a perfect size, not too big or small and shows a good representation of what kind of site Aqua Cure is. So far, Aqua Cure seems to look like a well organized website with a wemistress who pretty much knows what she's doing.
Layout
So, as I said earlier on my first impression, the layout looks unbalanced. Since the navigation has a while background and the content background is the same background for the entire web layout, my eyes get distracted by the navigation when I'm looking at your content area. If you had a different background for the content area or if your navigation wasn't so bright, maybe a green or a blue- a colour similar to your entire background, then it would feel more balanced out.
I see your point about the navigation standing out, although the whole top of the layout is also white, so it does match in some way. I don't really like the idea of making the whole layout look the same color (blue/green). I'd rather have contrast than none at all.
As for your colour scheme, it's pretty simple, there's nothing mismatched, and it's pleasing to the eye. What really bothers me is your typography. I really dislike the two different fonts on the main image and on your navigation. I don't think they go well with each other. If you stuck to one, preferably the non-cursive one, it would help stick to the theme of your website. Overall your layout is easy to navigate, simple to look at, but needs something extra to make it more interesting.
I thought it looked too boring with only one font, but I can see how that could look mismatched. I will keep that in mind for future works.
You mention I need something "extra" to make the layout more interesting. What do you mean by this? Examples? Suggestions? That is far too vague to work on.
Content
If I have skipped a section it means that I don't really have any comments to make. Ex. Contests, Links In/Out. Site: Under 'Information' I like how you go straight to the point in your "About the Site" section. I know it's an odd thing to say, but I've found that many websites talk about random things like...things that are random. >>; Anyways, it's short and simple, and has personality. Same thing goes for your "Webmistress" section. For your "Current and Past Layouts" section I like how you talk about how you created your current layout and how you credit specificly what resources you used for it. You should also have a written section about your past layouts for those who are curious for whatever reasons. Like me. =P For the rest of this section, Information, I don't have any other comments to give.
I'll consider that for the Past Layouts. I normally add my comments onto my layout archive site, but I guess that might be annoying to refer to if it was on another site.
Video Games: I honestly don't have much to say about this section. I think everything is fine and I can't see anything that needs improvement. Instead of just commenting how I like this or that, I will have to stop here since I seriously don't have anything else to say. But I do have to say that I love your first two layouts, Hidden Talent and Determination. ^^;
Anime: Since you have sub-categories for the video game layouts, why not have sub-categories for the anime layouts as well? Just like the 'Video Games' section of the review, I don't have anything else to comment on. I think that's a good thing. It shows how perfectly fine your site is but shows my inability to help you out. >>; Sorry about this. Heh.
I actually debated whether or not I should have done that for the game section yet. I plan on growing those layouts to 8-10 pages, thus needing the sub-categories. I don't plan on making the Anime section any more than 2 or 3 pages. I know it probably looks odd like this right now.
It's disappointing that at the time of this review, I had 30 graphics on the site, and you only had comments for two of them. This is the main portion of any graphics site: the graphics they offer. A review is not just to point out errors and try to fix a site's organization. If you wrote what you liked on my graphics, I would know what to keep doing. If you wrote what you didn't like, I would have known what to work on. Instead, I got pretty much nothing here.
Coding
You have neat coding... Funny how I'm commenting on your coding, especially since you're a programmer. >>; Anywho, according to the W3C CSS Validator, you have no errors! Surprise, surprise. =P But, you do have two warnings where my vast knowledge of coding tells me that I have no idea what the warnings are about. As for your HTML validation, everything is perfecto and Browsershots doesn't show otherwise.
The warnings are for using the same color in multiple places. In terms of style, they shouldn't be combined to avoid that duplication.
I don't mean to offend by this, but you should consider removing the Coding portion of your reviews if you're not strong in coding. Anyone can stick their site into a validator. If you don't know enough about the warnings and errors, then this is of little value to people.
It is also a problem if you give poor suggestions. A quote from your review of Flawless Secrets (added bold for emphasis):
"It should be <ul>, which is an unordered list, and then when you want to start listing things you use <li> without a closing tag. Once you've listed everything, you close everything with the tag </ul>. So it's basically: <ul> <li> Apples <li> Bananas </ul>."
The very basic to writing good and proper HTML is: you should to end ALL of your tags. Those list items should look like: <li> Item </li>
Poor coding suggestions only lead to more people coding poorly. Please remember that a coding section is never a requirement when giving reviews.
Summary
Can I ask you something? And you have to answer! Why did you ask for a review from me? o_o; Aqua Cure is pretty perfect except for very very minor things, which aren't even that important in the first place. The only thing that can be improved is just plain old designing abilities. I feel like I haven't helped you out with this review since, like I just said, your website is fine.
No one's site is perfect, including mine. I am always looking for ways to improve. You say that my designing abilities can improve, so you should have expanded on that. I'm very open to opinions on my works, and if you wanted to be helpful, that's where you could have stuck in pointers and your thoughts.
The only other thing that I can think of is, just make Aqua Cure extra special. As in, make it more interesting to visit because right now it's just another website out there with very organized and well presented content. How you would make it have an extra kick, I don't know, but to me it's a bit plain. This is definately an opinionated reasoning, but there is most likely other people who think the same, and others who don't and who love Aqua Cure.
Reviews are and will always be opinionated. I wanted your opinions. I'm fine that you think the site is plain. However, "extra special" is so vague, I don't know what that applies to. My graphics need to be more special? The type of content I present needs to be more special? How does this site need to step up to be less plain? As much as I'd like to make the site less plain, just saying I need to make it "extra special" means nothing to me.
So, I hope somehow, in any way, that this review has helped you out. At least it has given you another perspective of Aqua Cure..? ^^
I appreciate your time on the review, and I really did want another perspective of my site, especially from another graphics site owner. However, this review would be more successful if you spent less of it sounding apologetic and had more to say than my site is just "fine". You seemed defensive on voicing your opinions, yet that's an important part to reviewing. If I don't know what people think about my graphics, how will I ever improve?