Irrelevant Reviews

Reviewer: Alyssa (Website)
Date: January 02, 2007
Layout: Spring Silhouette

Overall Design
It's cute, but a bit...boxy? I like that it's centered, but teh two blue bars under the main image are unnecessary, or at least the bottom one is. The sidebar is a bit overcrowded.

Boxy? I prefer to refer to it as 'simple yet clean'. However, looking at the review site (and your personal site at that) it's both just as boxy.
The blue bars under the header image are there to split the header from the content area, I think it looks good this way so they're going to stay. The sidebar is just showing a menu, the lastest poetry, scribblings and photography as well as a calendar. To me that's not overcrowded, it should make it easier for regular visitors to find my latest content.

Content
The "About Me" page is well-done. You've set it up well for those with short attention spans like me. The navigation to the left is kind of odd. It took me a minute to notice it. The "Book Challenge" is interesting, and it's great that you have a recommendation form at the bottom. I think I shall recommend some books :). But the form doesn't seem to work. The "Adobt a Butterfly" in the visitor section is a bit odd and useless. The "Crochet" link looks as if you'll teach the visitor how to crochet, but it's really only about you. I don't think you understand the meaning of visitor content. All of these things should be under a page about yourself. The "Domain" information is ordinary, but I'd expect it to be. It's content is spread out on too many pages though. The "Dailies" page is a bit wordy and uninteresting to the visitor.

How much clearer can a navigation get? You press a button that says i.e. "Personal" a site opens and voila, it states; You are currently browsing the PERSONAL section. Than you see a list of links that you can click to actually browse the section.

The Book Recommendation form works like a charm. I tested it after reading your review and after hitting the button to send it, I get taken to a new page where it says; Thank you Chans your email has been sent succesfully. After a few minutes I hear the new email notification. Low and behold I have an email in my inbox with the subject; SB Book Recommendation. So as you can see it works fine. And as far as I'm aware it has been working since I set it up, people have been eager to send in their recommendations.

The Adoptables are there for people to adopt; to put them in their toy box on their website or wherever it is they keep their adopted pixels. So it makes perfect sense to have them on my site. Also, if you took the time to read through the crochet page completely you will find a line at the bottom that says; I will soon put a tutorial up with photos so everyone interested can make their own scarves. Unfortunately soon took a bit longer than expected, my offline life has gotten the better of me and won't allow me the time to take the photographs for the tutorial.

I clearly understand what visitor content is, you just won't find your ordinary brushes, tutorials, copyright violating avatars and the like here. My site is first and foremost a personal site. A place for me to post and share my writings such as scribblings, short stories, poetry and my (usual) rantings. There happens to be a section called Visitors where you'll find the above mentioned writings so you can read them and comment on them. Interactivity gallore I say! I can't name this section "Writings" because it contains a little bit more than just that.
I find it insulting to hear that I don't know what visitor content is, just because I don't have a regular let's offer them all the regular copyright violating stuff kind of website doesn't mean I don't know. I just have a different view of visitor content than you do!

The Dailies page is a place where I spotlight my dailies, they deserve a spot of their own, and they are really worth a visit. Wordy? Maybe.. But some might find it interesting to read where / how I came across my favorite sites.

Coding
Your XHTML is valid, but your CSS has a few errors.

I can only agree with you here; two minor errors in the CSS which are now fixed. Sometimes I change a little thing in the CSS coding and forget to validate it. I really should make a note to not forget validating after making changes! However, because it were only a few errors I would have expected you to tell me how I should / could fix them.

Rating
Your design is mediocre, and your content just isn't good.
2/5

My Review of Irrelevant Reviews
Let's face it; if you read my comments on this review you can tell I'm not impressed. I found it very short and without any other information than what's clearly the personal opionon of the reviewer, without any objectivity and tips on how I can improve my website.

I get the idea that some pages are only half-read if read it all. Whether that's due to lack of time, interest or anything else from the part of the reviewer, I don't know. All I can say that this review site does it's name honor; to me it really is irrelevant.