I must say I am a bit dissapointed . (it wouldnt all fit in one post, that is why I double posted.)


Site Name: Knowledge Rocker’s Unknown Universe
Url: No URLs please!
Reviewed finished on: September 25, 2004
Review number: 30

First Impression/Splash
When I first viewed your site it definitely surprised me how simple in appearance it was and I had a few mixed reactions to it. Although it’s great to keep things uncomplicated, if I was viewing your site under normal circumstances I would not be inclined to stay unless you had some amazing content. I felt that it put more pressure for your content to be great than necessary. This and a few other things are addressed in your introduction, which is a little bit wordy, but serves its purpose. No splash or site requirements listed, but it seems to function fine. It looks good in 800x600 but the buttons seem kind of stretched and blurry. Looks fine in any higher resolution with the exception that the text is kind of small.

Uhm, please note that this is my FIRST site, so I was still working out coding and such while making it. Also, if you viewed the news page, I addressed the resolution issue. :P

Layout/Design
Normally I would not have expected black and yellow to compliment, but it seems to work, to a certain extent. Your buttons, text, links, and scrollbar all coordinate with the color black, but not particularly well with each other. The white-yellow of the section title and the navigation and the yellow color of the text are not necessarily the best choice, but tolerable. Scrollbars are usually more trouble than their worth, but that’s just my personal opinion. If you prefer to have a colored scrollbar I would suggest simplifying to just a black color with a yellow outline instead of the drop shadow thing you currently have. Take notes from your Forum which uses the same colors but seems to flow much better.

I like my colors :P I’m wierd like that, sorry :D

The navigation bar is placed slightly higher than the main content, but it would probably be better if it was aligned with the main text, or at least the heading of the sections. Also, the word “Navigation” is not necessary since the buttons are so obviously what you use to navigate the site, but if you feel you need this I would suggest matching the font and style used with the rest of the navigation buttons and maybe underlining it or using some other type of division to distinguish it from a regular link.

I placed it higher for a reason :P The buttons are more easily viewable that way. :P

The layout of the Unknown section reminds me of too much like a xanga and again consider realigning your side bar to match the main content. The use of white is somewhat chancy and probably not the best choice, but, then again, there are few colors that would work well with yellow. One possibility would be to make regular text a darker while using a lighter yellow for the headings, or just switching the white to a darker yellow and not changing the main text color. You might have to play around with this. Also adjust the color settings on the calendar. The name of the month is in blue and secondly the dates have an unattractive grey highlight when I hover the mouse over them.

Well I didnt know how to edit the wordpress files when I started the site, but I do now, and I assure you that my NEXT layout is way cooler

Another little thing I should mention are the smilies, which are so adorable! The only flaw would be that their colors are erratic so I would suggest sticking to one multipurpose color, or having sets in various colors to match the site. Another tip, try and restrain yourself to maybe 4 smilies per page. At first it was cute and amusing, but after about 3 pages it got annoying to read constantly. Lastly I’m not sure why you center all of your text. It’s a matter of personal preference but I don’t see an outstanding reason on why you should have it this way. Also, a few of you link buttons need work. Plug 3 is the best, Plugs 1 and 5 are tolerable, Plugs 2 and 5 are nearly illegible.

I LIKE MY SMILIES! Though the set idea is kinda cool….but it IS a personal site, with ORIGINAL content…and I use MY ideas :P

Content
Some nice things in your Art section, but nothing that stands out in particular. Your rant about internet speak was a little general and somewhat undeveloped, but if you go back and add to this page and the whole section itself it should be fine. From what I can tell you certainly encounter many people you deem “idiots”, so I’m sure your have much fodder for future ranting. Definitely unnecessary, but consider offering your smilies as a .zip file for download.

yes yes, well I’m thinking about converting back to the default smilies since so many people are complaining

A biography, by definition, is the history of one’s life but this section only mentions other people, places, and pets in your life. People don’t know about Delaware? How sad is that? The way you write it is somewhat confusing with constant notes in parenthesis, appositives, and ”…” transitions, but the information itself does not tell me much about you as a person. I suggest writing an account of your life and the events that have shaped who you are. Until then you could reorganize some page into an about section.

Yes it is somewhat confusing, but LIKE I SAID…this IS my first site so I didnt have much thought about all these things :P

Your Knowledge>>KR’s Life Lessons section was entertaining, keep adding to it. Fun Facts was again pretty general undeveloped information that I would not consider “fun”. Your personality quirks, odd habits, or basically anything else is much more interesting than a list of your favorite things. The Vocabulary section was pointless. You seem to have a low opinion of people’s intelligence since the limited list of words you choose to define are pretty much common knowledge and there is nothing particularly unique or entertaining about your definitions.

HELLO, I havnt finished with that section yet…and if you want to know the truth, there are MANY people who are literally ignorant and immature. I do not have a low opinion of “people in general”, but you dont know me, dont judge me chick :P

Good work on the Obsessions section. Although they are a little short and you could probably elaborate more, these sections explained more about you than your biography. To improve this section you need to embellish more on the reasons why you enjoy your hobbies and perhaps include more factual information for those who are not familiar with the subjects.

Yes This is something I am working on

It’s impressive that you have a forum and I wish you great success on getting more members. Interesting topics for discussion, too.

thank you :P I love debating and making new online friends

From your News updates I can see that you’ve added a lot in a short amount of time. In the future, do not rush to add things to your site until you are confident that is presentable because it is better great content added over a long period of time than lots of little mediocre sections quickly.

I do not “rush”…I have alot of free time, I’m a loser with no life okay :D I ENJOY designing websites, therefore 80% of my time is spent doing so :P

Organization
Everything in your site is scattered and many things can be consolidated into one section or at least one link on the navigation bar. If you choose to create an About section it could include links to your Biography, Obsessions, and the Knowledge>>Fun Facts section, so it can reduce the number of links on your navigation. The News section contains the site updates which generally goes on the main page. Adjust your introduction and you could fit both just fine. Your form for Ask KR could contain your answers to people’s questions. It would definitely reduce the number of two sentence posts in your Unknown section and keep that section solely devoted the other types of posts.

Well originally the questions WERE on that page, but I’m currently into tweaking Wordpress to multi-task..and if you saw, the Ask KR section on the blog had its own PAGE! :P The main page just displays the most recent 7 posts from ALL categories.

Errors
Since you have centered your content, the email forms in Contact and Knowledge>>Ask KR are centered as well and the form sections do not align with each other.

ANd I wanted it that way. :P therefore it isnt an error by my part :P

A few spelling errors: “deffinately"(Main Page), “firey” (Digital Art), “restult” (Digital Art), “enlish” (Written Art), “alot” (Written Art), “chiauhua” (Biography), “proffesional” (Biography)

Yes yes, I was in a hurry when typing some of those pages, sue me :D. And when I put (sp?) after a word it means I AM UNSURE OF THE SPELLING AT THAT MOMENT :P

Some gramatical errors that include sporadic capitalization and some missing punctuation of which the majority is in the Unknown section. I’m not saying spelling and grammar need to be perfect, as the tone of your site is light and conversational, but when you have some free time correct some minor mistakes here and there.

First off, the unknown section is MY BLOG, therefore, the place I rant, the place I let off steam, the place I tell my feelings….d’ya really think a person who is extremely angry or in distress is worried about grammar? uh, no :P

No link or image errors and you seem to have a very good and impressive grasp of coding and php, keep up the good work. Consider validating your html if you have time.

I DID validate my html :P thanks, I love PHP :D

For some reason there are points on your site in which you switch between graphic smilies and text smilies, make sure it is consistent.

Consistency is boring :P Don’t like it? I’m sorry, it is MY website, not yours

Overall
You say that the purpose of your site is to have content about you. I would have to say that you site is lacking in personal content that explains to visitors who you really are. I can see that you definitely have talent in coding and your site has much potential. I seriously mean it when I say that you have the basics down but you simply need to add more flare to your site. Since you seem be more content oriented as opposed to design, I would say focus on that and keep adding. Your content and design currently would not draw the visitor back, but if you work on it I’m sure you’ll have a solid website. Good luck on your site and the forum.

thank you :) I’m working out all of that currently. My next layout will be PERFECT in my eyes

I think you did well. Don't sweat it they were just trying to help you improve your page. They weren't rude at all.

do you really have to link your site? lol :P

I dunno I think you should instead of commenting about these things you should overlook your site, I mean this is a valuable viewer's eye view so don't expect a little message in your mind that thinks they should say this and that. If there are some things they missed will fix um up so they won't be missed. I know this YOUR personal site and you have totally every right to do it the you want but when you ask for someone else's opinion this is their pespective not yours :D

that was a really nice- nice as in kind, benevolent, etc- review. like realllly nice! they are generally not that nice. you're lucky your site didn't get reviewed by acidgloss even though you wanted it to, not that i'm saying your site is bad, because it isn't, but it probably wouldn't be "trendy" enough for them to not give you a mean and horrible review.. and acidgloss people are never very helpful.

this review was actually pretty helpful! and it was really.. kind! :lol:

i think on some of the things they pointed out, like spelling and stuff, you got a little defensive [not to them or anything] and i don't know if this is what cherchez is saying or not but, i think they gave constructive criticism and did it nicely so you shouldn't be hurt or upset or anything. that person was nice.

Why do you comment under what he/she said as if it was offensive. I can understand it is your site and you care for it and all. But, she/he gave very VERY helpful tips... much better than the acid gloss crap...

I think it is a fine review.

Yeah that was a fine review. It's your site and all, so if you're going to submit a review, atleast expect some things. It's like grading an assignment. The teacher won't have to there for you to go "No wait this was meant like this" I mean, if you didn't want those comments, don't submit.

yeah, i agree with everyone else... at least this person wasn't a mean you know what when they reviewed your site. and they DID give you some suggestions. I know that you read the acidgloss reviews so be happy that you actually got a good review. good as in polite and helpful. where did you get your site reviewed at?

do you really have to link your site? lol :P

It wasn't intentional, I just copied and pasted, didn't know the link was there, sorry.

I'm not offended. I just didn't know how badly my site apparently sucks :stickout: But like I said it WAS my first real website that I made, so I think I did pretty well, and besides, I'm already working on a new layout with much more content and interactive features. ;)

at least they gave you a few suggestions, even if you are in the process of resolving the issues. Unlike some people...*hackAcid---*

Yes, compared to other review sites, this girl was extremely nice about it. I was expecting far worse, and I knew my site wasnt great to begin with, but the next one is going to be awesome :D I'm getting a domain soon, and the site is going to be my main project for the next several months, yes months, I want to take my time on this one. ;)

Like me, I have been working on it for a while and I'm getting round to making it work now :) At least getting your self out there and you get a few visitors then you can surprise them with an awesome layout!

I got my site reviewed there, and it was nice to see my site through someone elses eyes for once. Gave me a chance to see what was so bad about it, and what I could change. They were alot nicer than acid gloss, but my review from acid gloss wasn't too bad so I can't really complain. My only complaint with them was that the reviewer was some manic coloured scrollbar chick.

I agree with everything else here that people have said. And also, I wanted to add that if you're submitting your website to get a review, you have to EXPECT them to critique it :p They were extremely nice about it, so you're lucky you didn't get some evil person with cruel intentions reviewing your site :p

The review sounded pretty good......*goes off to view Queen's site*
Better then some I have seen! :)

Bah, just wait till I finish the new, and completely different, layout :D MB has seen the basic part of it...shes the only one I showed :D I'm keeping it secret until I finish completely! ;)

MB has seen the basic part of it...shes the only one I showed :D I'm keeping it secret until I finish completely! ;)
woohoo!! i feel special!! LOL!:)