Archived Review

Hey Jackie. It's Alex, finally able to review you. I'd started earlier today, and had a really thorough review going, but my dad turned off my computer without asking me and I lost everything. I'm really sorry, and I'll try to remember what I'd been talking about before. I really am sorry if the review isn't the best it could be. If you have any other questions, just include them in your response ;)

First Impression:
Looks good in Firefox. Really good that it's centered, especially because you are hosted by Freewebs. Definitely heightens the aesthetic. The cat image is not the best quality; it looks a little speckled, but to me that seems to be what you were going for, so just take note on the quality issue for your next layout. Also, the navigation is kind of just floating off to the side, and it would most likely be better closer to the main content. And not sure if the flowers exactly match either, but again, for me personally I think they are an interesting touch. Nice colors for your text and interesting hovers for your links, too.

Interesting blog. I have Bando friends too, so I sort of knew what you were talking about. You give interesting details into your life without it being too much. Maybe bold and italicize some things in your blogs though, to make it stand out from the blocks of paragraphs.

About:
The first thing that hits me is the music. No! It gets rather annoying, because perhaps I don't want to listen to it right then, and other visitors may feel the same. Instead, make it a music player you can click on like the other two at the bottom of this page, so people can choose for themselves. Or put this song at the top of the page, so people can decide right away.

Having links to your web rings would be nice.

Perhaps break up your about page into sections: a section about your website and a section about yourself, if you don't want to make completely different pages, that is. You have neat info about yourself, and it's fun to read, though all I really get is that you love band. Put some of your other hobbies, perhaps?

Affiiates:
Basic affie page. The buttons aren't all completely centered though.

Archive:
Basic archive page. It does show that you haven't really blogged much though. Since this is mainly a blog site, updates once in a while on how you are doing would be nice. Overall, good job on figuring out a way to get an update page to work with Freewebs ;D

Credits:
Amazing credits list! You go into so much detail; I really want to check out some of those sites on the credits list. And great job for alphabetizing them too. The only inquiry I have on this page is how next to each part that describes the site, it indents and leaves a space next to it that hows through to the background. I don't think this looks very good. It kind of annoys me, but I'm sure it's an easy fix!

Gallery:
It was a good thing you you added that "Note" page. Very smart idea. The gallery does slow down my computer. But it looks very professional with the hovering over the pictures, which is nice. The only thing I'm wondering about is if you are ever going to get hosted by somewhere other than Freewebs, you'll need to find a new way to create a gallery without one of their Widgets. Also, I like your pet pictures; very cute!

Reviews:
I think for your review page, the best thing to do is to say that you only do reviews on Rev.iew.me instead of offering them just by email to be posted on your site. And hey, that was if the people aren't members, you're referring them!

Sign Me:
I am not a fan of guestbooks. Used to have one myself, but they really just don't agree with me anymore. Your's also has tons of ads, and the scrolling is annoying. I'd suggest switching over to some sort of tagboard, such as a cBox, if you would like this form of people writing on your site. But, since it is a blog site, maybe ditch any form of tagboard, that way people reply to your blogs instead.

Writings:
Wow, you have a lot of writings to read! That's really nice! I like the comment system for your writings...I have one too. ^^

With your poetry, it does that same thing that your credits page does, with how it lists them.

I don't have time to read all your poetry, but I've skimmed through and you seem to be a very good writer. I commented on your Writer's Block poem, hehe. I also looked at your "Welcome to High School Poem." Brings me think back to freshman year...haha. Great job with keep your personality in all of it!

I like how you've organized your story into pages. Smart idea. If you have it on one of those writings sites too, maybe link there as well? Or you did already, right?

Anything Else:
Good job with valid CSS!

Also, instead of just having a link button to your site only accessible by a "join to be affies" page, perhaps make a page about your site, and include the button there. If more people can have access to it, there's more of a chance of people linking to you.

Overall Impression:
I think that your personal site has a lot of potential to grow and really become something special! Keep working on your layouts, because presentation is everything for first impressions. Also, add some more visitor content. Writings are really great to read, and the photos are nice to look at. Maybe include a page of stock photos you've taken for other people to use?

Also, since this seems majorly like a blog site, keep up with your blogging. People love updates!

Great job with your site and I can't wait to see how far you'll take it with your own personality and style! Keep up your little mark on the world wide web :D

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