Archived Review

My first suggestion is to try and be receptive to what people have to say (especially as some good points have been raised). Dismissing a well-written review based on the reviewers knowledge of “PHP and CSS” is baseless. All reviewers have a broad range of strengths and weaknesses. That is what makes rev.iew.me so brilliant. Many people with different niches and different credentials can pitch their thoughts to make a complete picture.

That said, I consider myself a design theorist (and yes, my career choice in design is a valid one and does constitute as 'having a life'). My strengths lie in perceiving the integrity of design and its many components, including the communication and consideration of visual elements. I generally do not code. I do not have a fixed criteria for personal content. Therefore the focus of my review will be on the visual elements of your website, and what you can do to improve your skills in the long-term.

The use of colour in this design is pleasant, and well executed in that it is used to highlight relevant text and provide sufficient contrast. However the design has many fundamental flaws, such as the lack of a grid system and unclear typography. With a basic structure in place and a more considered approach towards the type, the quality of the design would quickly improve.

I will address the lack of a grid system. Imagine a website as a structure, where blocks of information fit together to form a whole. Draw lines between each of these blocks of information (the text, the padding, the widths of the navigation/content) and the grid system is revealed.

As it stands, the current design is unbalanced as different areas of information have irregular amounts of white space (padding/margins/non-areas), varying alignments and unrelated sizes. Drawing up a basic grid with fixed margins and widths would clean up the design. Here's a few good resources on the subject:

http://960.gs/ (an excellent resource which gives you a free grid for download, and shows examples of successful design using a 12-column grid)
http://tutorialblog.org/grid-systems-in-web-design/ (this lists resources in an order which will walk you through grid systems – starting with why they're important up to how to use them practically in web design)

The next weakness in this design is the typography. It is ill-considered, but fortunately not difficult to improve. We have a sans-serif typeface in all capitals, a script typeface with a tag-line in a lowercase serif typeface, then a variety of line-heights between the navigation and the content, mixed serif and sans-serif headers with dodgy first characters and the emboldening of affiliate links in a small sans-serif typeface. All on one page! The impression it causes is one of disorganisation which creates unclear focal points.

The key to excellent typography is to keep it simple. Instead of using four or five different typefaces on one page, try using two. Don't use emboldening or uppercase for styling – your use of colour is sufficient emphasis. Save emboldening or uppercase for emphasis within bodies of text. Also, use a consistent alignment. Flush left with ragged edges has always been my personal preference, as done in Swiss typography.

I will also point out the use of justification as it decreases on-screen legibility. When we read we perceive the spaces between words as pauses, and justified text places varying spaces between words. Unfortunately it is the nature of the medium, as browsers render justified text sloppily. The best thing to do is simply not use it.

Another problem caused by the inconsistent typography is that there is no real typographic hierarchy. A previous review mentioned that the navigation on top did not seem obvious enough. I will explain why – using a large variety of sizes and styles confuses the eye so the user makes assumptions about what information is important.

For example, the focal point of the homepage is the header because it is large and centralised (and inconsistently titled as “when the leaves fall”?). From that we follow the page downwards onto the content and miss the navigation altogether. Users have to purposely look for the navigation. Considering the attention span of most web users, this could be something that is causing your sub-pages to lose hits.

A clearer hierarchy could be easily achieved by using a relational amount of sizes in a descending manner. So the largest size sits at the top, with the smaller sizes descending from it. It is a basic rule, and one that can be broken, but the idea is that learning the basics will lead onto more complex design. Here are a few valuable resources I refer to:

http://www.markboulton.co.uk/journal/comments/five-simple-steps-to-better-typography
http://ilovetypography.com/2008/02/28/a-guide-to-web-typography/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/18/10-principles-for-readable-web-typography/

In terms of content, as aforementioned I do not usually review content. However a few odd parts stood out to me so I feel inclined to mention them. The first is the structure of the 'About' page. You have categorised this website under 'Personal', yet my impression of this page does not imply that.

Your website history is riddled with the word 'boring' which in turn creates the illusion that this website is boring, which is probably not the case. I believe having something about you personally (or a more positive ethos) would be fitting and would also clear up any confusion relating to the purpose of this website.

I also find it odd that you have a section in your navigation dedicated to social networks when you only have two listed. Would it be possible to work these icons into the blurb at the top of the navigation? They would also be more noticeable there rather than underneath the fold where they are less likely to be seen.

Obviously you can dismiss my advice on the grounds of me being a professional and you being a hobbyist. I can only hope that you will change your mind and take a bit more pride in the things you do, even if they are just hobbies. Good luck in your future endeavours, both on and offline.

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