RetroBlast.Info has 6 Reviews
Below are the reviews left by other members on RetroBlast.Info. Jump to review form?
Azhy gave it
on 24th Nov 2008 and said:Grammatically, that sentence makes no sense. You could add a predicate [it really only needs a verb], but it would be easier just to make it 'This website was manually created...' etc. Also, I don't quite understand the last bit of the sentece...'residing high school'? Do you mean 'residing at high school'?
Only because I'm a fussy grammar freak would I point all this out ;]
Grammatically, that sentence makes no sense. You could add a predicate [it really only needs a verb], but it would be easier just to make it 'This website was manually created...' etc. Also, I don't quite understand the last bit of the sentece...'residing high school'? Do you mean 'residing at high school'?
Only because I'm a fussy grammar freak would I point all this out ;]Originality:
While I haven't found anything on your site I haven't seen elsewhere, you do what you do nicely and with quality [with quite a bit of quantity]
To Improve:
Honestly, you have a wonderful website. I've only one real suggestion--could you possibly move the link 'Refresh' up to the top of your navigation? This way it's easier to find. Also, I think it would be less confusing to rename it to 'Home' or something similar, because that's where it takes you instead of actually refreshing the page you're on. And of course that sentence I went on and on about xD
Great website! Nice layout, content, resources, etc. I'm quite impressed :] Hopefully my review was useful and expanding to you Aaron :]Grammatically, that sentence makes no sense. You could add a predicate [it really only needs a verb], but it would be easier just to make it 'This website was manually created...' etc. Also, I don't quite understand the last bit of the sentece...'residing high school'? Do you mean 'residing at high school'?
Only because I'm a fussy grammar freak would I point all this out ;]Originality:
While I haven't found anything on your site I haven't seen elsewhere, you do what you do nicely and with quality [with quite a bit of quantity]
To Improve:
Honestly, you have a wonderful website. I've only one real suggestion--could you possibly move the link 'Refresh' up to the top of your navigation? This way it's easier to find. Also, I think it would be less confusing to rename it to 'Home' or something similar, because that's where it takes you instead of actually refreshing the page you're on. And of course that sentence I went on and on about xD
Great website! Nice layout, content, resources, etc. I'm quite impressed :] Hopefully my review was useful and expanding to you Aaron :]Grammatically, that sentence makes no sense. You could add a predicate [it really only needs a verb], but it would be easier just to make it 'This website was manually created...' etc. Also, I don't quite understand the last bit of the sentece...'residing high school'? Do you mean 'residing at high school'?
Only because I'm a fussy grammar freak would I point all this out ;]Originality:
While I haven't found anything on your site I haven't seen elsewhere, you do what you do nicely and with quality [with quite a bit of quantity]
To Improve:
Honestly, you have a wonderful website. I've only one real suggestion--could you possibly move the link 'Refresh' up to the top of your navigation? This way it's easier to find. Also, I think it would be less confusing to rename it to 'Home' or something similar, because that's where it takes you instead of actually refreshing the page you're on. And of course that sentence I went on and on about xD
Great website! Nice layout, content, resources, etc. I'm quite impressed :] Hopefully my review was useful and expanding to you Aaron :]
Originality:While I haven't found anything on your site I haven't seen elsewhere, you do what you do nicely and with quality [with quite a bit of quantity]
To Improve:
Honestly, you have a wonderful website. I've only one real suggestion--could you possibly move the link 'Refresh' up to the top of your navigation? This way it's easier to find. Also, I think it would be less confusing to rename it to 'Home' or something similar, because that's where it takes you instead of actually refreshing the page you're on. And of course that sentence I went on and on about xD
Great website! Nice layout, content, resources, etc. I'm quite impressed :] Hopefully my review was useful and expanding to you Aaron :]
f you want people to actually buy advertisement space you may want to provide at least a way or a screencap in which they can see how many hits you actually do receive. Simply saying "I get blah blah" does not say much. May want to also include what size the banner has to be, if there is any specifications a site has to have to advertise there (does it also have to be a gamer site? can anyone do it? And yes I realize it says the size in the banners themselves but it is rather hard to read and may be overlooked). You may also want to add what payment methods you accept (paypal, credit card, check?). And at least a general estimate of a price is always nice.
> Contact Us <
Could probably include a contact form, makes it easier for one to contact someone. Maybe also include a FAQs page of some sort, that way people do not ask the same things over and over again.> Wanna Work For Us? <
Pretty basic as well. I suggest including certain requirements for each position. Whether it is age, experience, what systems they own, etc.> Articles <
I like that each one is broken up into categories based off the system is runs on. As the site gets bigger I think added other sub categories would be nice (such as review, categories for the game like mmo, rpg, etc.) This makes it easier for the reader to find exactly what they are looking for or interested in. Read some of the articles and they are pretty well written.Conclusion:
Seems like a pretty nice gaming site - so far. I think what you have needs to be edited and changed around a bit to offer your readers much more information, especially since a lot of the content contains barely one or two lines.Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?
RetroBlast's Response:
Erm. Did you put this up by mistake or something? Gaming site? Haha... you probably visited http://retroblast.com... oopsie. =P
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/nickolena.png)
nickolena gave it
on 23rd Nov 2008 and said:I would give you more stars but your site is under a re-vamp! I am kind of disappointed. I have visited your site before and loved it. I hope that you get your site back in order soon! Your tutorials have helped me a lot on my site and I always come back to see what new and cool resources have appeared on your site.
Your layouts are always fresh and unique as well. Keep up the good work!
Using Firefox on Mac | Report This?
RetroBlast's Response:
Hah. Thanks. You shoulda waited. =P
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/Aisling.jpg)
Aisling gave it
on 21st Nov 2008 and said:Okay, first http://holdfire.net/ (my host and personal favourite) or http://www.site5.com/ (also quite good) ?
Your layout is okay. Nothing really catches my eye, apart from the stripes which honestly make my eyes go wonky, so I have to look away.
I understand where the red came from. I understand white and greys. Where the hell did the icky green come from? You have advertisements in TWO (Three, including Spotlight?) places on your site, and they make your site look cluttered.
You need more than one entry per page to balance your sidebar.
Activities: Your Poll does not exist, it takes me to your closing message. Did you make the games yourself?
Resources: Your affiliate links are nice. Pre-made award templates seem a little sad to be honest. Hopefully, if you're going to make an award for someone, you'd put some effort into it. Personally, only the bottom right one in this collection looks like something I'd like to receive from someone. The others look sloppy.
Your backgrounds, for the most part, hurt my eyes. The static ones were simply awful. Also, GOOGLE IS NOT A CREDITABLE SOURCE. It is a SEARCH ENGINE. Please link the ACTUAL SITE that you found the photo on. WTF does Google tell me if I want to find the image? How am I supposed to know what you searched for?
You use celebrity images in some of your graphics, which, I'm sure you know, is illegal. Not only that, but it is unoriginal and tacky. What is not tacky is being creative. Ditch the stolen imagery and use something you've made yourself, please!
Challenges: are an okay idea, but they're using celebrity images, which, once more is actually NOT a challenge. Making a crappy movie poster out of celebrity images is EASY. Making a nice movie poster using creativity is harder, and much more satisfying.
Domain: Pretty typical domain section.
Downloads: Your brushes are okay. Not great, just okay. You should NOT be redistributing fonts on your site. I don't care if you're not claiming to own them. At the very least, link to the original owner, or to dafont (because THEY link to the original owner), etc. Hmm... stolen images, stolen fonts... what's next?
Oh, a link that doesn't work to Free Programs. Okay, 1) posting a link to nothing is never a good idea. It's a waste of time to your visitors to click it. Just leave it unlisted until the section is completed, please! Also, is this going to be like the fonts section? Because, if so, I would just NOT do it. Sure, celebrity photographers and font makers may not be running you down (right now, at least, but they COULD), but program developers are MUCH more serious.
Topsites: Links to another site. So, I will not be reviewing this. Just a suggestion though, it's probably better if your main navigation only leads to pages ON THE SITE. I don't want to go off-site when I'm not done browsing this site. Ditch some of the pointless advertisements, and put off-site links in their space.
Myspace: Ugh. Why does EVERYONE make stuff for MySpace? I don't even know anyone who uses MySpace anymore! But, alas, your section is better than most in that it doesn't provide the crappiest graphics I've ever seen.
And then... more links that I do not care about.
So, we come to the end. My favourite bit was probably your layout, and it didn't even intrigue me that much, but you're off to a good start, and you have put in quite a bit of effort. So, good job and best of luck!
UPDATED 21 Nov 08:
Um. This isn't a review of my site, it's a review of yours.Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?
RetroBlast's Response:
Mhmm... ain't like your site's the bomb. =] But kewl, thanks for the adviceeee, yo.
UPDATED 22 Nov 08:
Kay, I'll take that back. Since people want to be online gangsters.UPDATED 01 Dec 08:
Oh, I know it isn't. It could be compared to yours. That's all I was saying before - I'm over it, though. :)![[img: avatar]](/avatars/RedUmbrella.png)
RedUmbrella gave it
on 20th Nov 2008 and said:Hello Aaron! I'm Kyra :P and I'm going to review your site (of course :X)
First Glance
Well, it definitely gives off the 'retro' vibe. (Which is great, as your site is called 'RetroBlast'!)
The site name has the glowing effect, and so it stands out. This is something I don't see enough of :)Header Image
It's simple, high-quality, and clean. I like it. The colors compliment each other, and it the layout seems bold in it's own way. (Er, that doesn't make much sense, does it?)Sidebar
Okay, it's all good until I see the 'About Me'I'm Aaron. I'm Young. New York City. Family Is Love. Laptop Geek. Straight A Student- Well, Sorta. Bugs, "Ghosts", And Holes? Not In My Book. I Dream And Succeed. Basically, I Love Everything Good In Life; Who Doesn't?
Never capitalize every word...sorry, that really erks me.
Navigation
Let's see. First thing, it's a bit overwhelming (but I'm a easily overwhelmed person, so it may not be a problem) but I can see you have quite a bit of content!
It doesn't seem to be in any order, so I would arrange it in the order you want people to go to (something like that). I usually like having 'Refresh' on the bottom, but it's your choice.Activities
These are cool!
Maybe you could put the final results from last week's poll on there as well?Play a short game of hangman! Can you beat time?
Reading it a second time, I understand it. 'Beating time'. But it still sounds incorrect (I'm a grammar freak). Personally, I would put 'Play a short game of hangman! Can you beat the clock?' or something cheesy like that. But that's just me :)
Resources
First thing I see:By viewing and/or using my content, you are agreeing to not steal anything or claim anything as yours. Everything on this site is made by me unless said so. Please link us back whenever you use something; another way to say that is to please credit me.
'Stealing something' is claiming something to be yours...so you can take away one of those...here is something it should look like:
By viewing and/or using my content, you are agreeing not to claim or redistribute anything as your own. Everything on this site is made by Aaron unless stated otherwise. Remember to link back to use when something is used!Okay, your affiliate icons are cool :) so I'll skip over those.
Your award templates statement is odd.You may use these to save time for making a graphical award for somebody. Credit me back when using! Click an image to see the actual size.
It should be something like this:
You can use these to save time on making graphic awards for people - remember to credit RetroBlast! (Click an image see actual size)Wow, lots of icon bases. Try to get a even-ish amount for all your categories. (Example: You have 45 Hayden Panettierre bases, but only 3 of Alicia Keys :D)
You have 4 textures at the moment. It would be great if you made more :)
Domain
You have a nice amount of writing about you...
But in your 'Ask Me a Question' I think you answer too many of them with 'lol' in it. -yucky!-
If affiliating is closed, I would remove the link completely until it's open again. (Same with plugboard being under construction)
And on My Site Reviews, you might want to put rev.iew.me on there ^^Downloads
-tsks- Downloadable Fonts? If they don't belong to you, don't redistribute them (even if you don't take credit).Tutorials
You have quite a few tutorials (yay!)...I won't review these :D
On your 'Email Link' tutorial, 'prefferred' should be 'preferred' and on the header, 'A Way To Give Your Email Out' should be 'A Way to Give Out Your Email'
And maybe try to add more to your HTML Review.I won't review your MySpace section...because I don't like myspace -.-
Overall
I really like your site! With a bit of work, it could be very successful ^_^ keep at it!
-KyraUsing Firefox on Mac | Report This?
RetroBlast's Response:
Thanks a lot for the review - I really appreciate it =D I'll take all the things you told me into consideration. =)
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/jroo.png)
jroo gave it
on 20th Nov 2008 and said:Design & Presentation
I'm not sure what you were going for with your header image but I don't like it. It looks like you just threw it together and didn't really care what it looked like.I'm not a big fan of the colors you used together. Red, Gray, White, a Bluish Color and Lime Green? Oh and bright yellow for the background of the update? Please do not do this. Use something else that is not as bright and more subtle! I find your font size entirely too small. Visitors shouldn't have to strain their eyes to read your site. You want them to come back right?
Your navigation area is too long. You can combine some of them easily. Your sidebar is also wayyy too long. Some of those things are just unnecessary! The Site stats could be moved to the *gasp* domain page. The Who Is He? should be moved up so people actually look to it or move it to an about page.
You've got two sets of ads, one in footer and one in sidebar. Again, unnecessary! You've got two things to "support" which could be moved to an actual page. Affiliates could easy go elsewhere, perhaps the domain page.
Basically, your sidebar doesn't need to be that long. Figure out what you REALLY want or need to have there and move the rest elsewhere (or seriously consider eliminating some stuff as I would suggest).
Your actual footer is basically pointless. Ads and a copyright notice? Come on. How about a link to go back to the top, a contact page, put your navigation across the bottom again, or anything of substance actually.
Also, given that your header image has that dark grey background color, I would suggest a lighter background color for the entire page.
Content
Under Activities, the games are really pointless. The poll of the week is something that I could see actually going into the sidebar.Resources - I wouldn't use your graphics. Most of them are downright ugly. Some of your button bases are okay but again, I wouldn't use them. I am not surprised to see a bunch of celebrity images here. Maybe you should learn a bit about copyright. Bottom Line: Unless you got permission from the photographers and such, you do not have rights to use these images. Yes, it IS illegal. I'm not sure why you would have favicons. Those are usually personal to a site. Most people don't use just any image and call it a favicon. In short, your resource section is pointless.
Challenges - Eh.
Domain - The About Aaron, Ask Me a Question, Contact Me, and Plugboard really don't have anything to do with your domain. I found your whole paragraph on the domain page riddled with errors and well, funny.
This website, manually created by Aaron Jimenez, a young teenager who attends high school and is also residing high school.
What? Why not something like,
This website was created by Aaron Jimenez, who is currently a high school student.
Simply and much easier to read and also not redundant.
This site also features the blog of Aaron, which can be found here.
You already said that the blog is here so you don't need to say, which can be found here.
I am a guy who likes to be myself, be creative, and unleash the best of the best.
While this sentence is just funny in itself because it doesn't really make sense (and I hope you are not talking about your graphics because that would be a downright lie), this kind of information belongs on the About Aaron page.
While it's good that your About Aaron page is not just a list and such, it sounds like you are trying too hard to be clever. Just be yourself. Talk about you and what makes you, you. You kinda started to do that a few paragraphs down, I think.
Also for this domain page, if things are closed or under construction, don't put the link there. It's that simple. Put it up when you need it there.
I am not going to sift through every sub-page under domain so I'll move on.
Downloads - Couldn't these be combined with resources if you insist on having this kind of stuff on your site? PS Actions: You have quite a few. They look decent. PS Brushes - Ehh. Seen it before. Also, These two pages could be combined. Wallpapers - The only one I would even CONSIDER using is the Ratatouille one. The others are just not good. Fonts - Again, you didn't create these so unless you have permission from the creator, don't do this. Free Programs - the link is there but it doesn't work. What is the point? Further, unless you have permission to distribute them, don't. Stock Images - one image. Seems nice enough. Not sure what I'd use it for though.
Topsites - You should let people know that this is an external link.
Tutorials - Your image wrapping tutorial is okay for people who are still using html but not so for people who are using XHTML and want to do what you did with CSS. Your image tag doesn't have the alt or title attributes. You are displaying the code with a textarea. Try
<code>instead. In the HTML tutorial you say this:
Instead of using <u>the right way to do it is:
<div style="text-decoration: underline;">Your text here. </div>However, that will cause a line break so if you really feel the need to, you may be use<u>as the property.Um no. If you are using HTML,
<u> </u>is proper. But again, you assume everyone is using html. What about those who want to style with CSS? Your PHP Directory tutorial is laughable. Unless you know what you are talking about, please do NOT write a tutorial. What you are really talking about is PHP includes and the various paths you use to include a file.I'm just gonna skip the myspace section because I don't have the patience.
The Review Me link is not necessary as it's own link in the navigation. It could be moved to the domain page.
The refresh link in the navigation is utterly useless. I know how to hit refresh on my browser, thanks.
Music Player - thank you for not having it start automatically.
Coding
Running your site through the validator shows that you have 42 errors in your coding. You at least have a DOCTYPE which is surprising. I am not going to go through all the errors because I haven't the time and you can do this yourself by using the validator.I also ran your stylesheet through the validator, which only had 1 error. In your footer div, you have
font-color: #fffbut font-color doesn't exist. It should just becolor: #fffOverall:
Your design is boring and doesn't really go with your layout. The colors don't go together. Your content is generic and boring. I only picked out a few spelling/grammatical errors but I don't have the time to go through your whole site. I definitely wouldn't come back to your site as it has nothing to offer me.Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?
RetroBlast's Response:
Snap. Am I that bad? Damn. Anyways, uh, thanks for all the "snotty advice". I really appreciate it, haha. First of all, I have the yellow background to catch people's attention - to let them know I might not be present for a while until I find a new host so yeah, thanks for "finding the point" of that. Everything else, thanks a lot... it'll help. (: I'll write more when I can...
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/skykingcat.png)
skykingcat gave it
on 20th Nov 2008 and said:At First Glance:
Looks very neatly designed and organized with well matched colors complementing each other :]
Layout:
Your layout really works with me. It fits the Retro/Techno bill and is fairly well balanced between dark and light. There's enough of both to make it look not too dark, but not too light either. While I'm a big fan of intricate banners, I love yours--it fits the layout wonderfully :]
The only thing I do not like about your layout [and it's quite minor] is that the sidebar on the right with your links, affies, search, etc. is a lot longer than the main content section so that as you scroll down there's a lot of blank space to the left. But it's really not that big of a deal and quite ordinary on other sites.Content:
I like the mix between your blog and resources; your blog is pretty interesting and the resources you make are high quality stuff--very nice :] You're very friendly in your posts too. I've found one grammar mistake that bugs me a little though on your 'Domain' page:
'This website, manually created by Aaron Jimenez, a young teenager who attends high school and is also residing high school.'
Grammatically, that sentence makes no sense. You could add a predicate [it really only needs a verb], but it would be easier just to make it 'This website was manually created...' etc. Also, I don't quite understand the last bit of the sentece...'residing high school'? Do you mean 'residing at high school'?
Only because I'm a fussy grammar freak would I point all this out ;]Originality:
While I haven't found anything on your site I haven't seen elsewhere, you do what you do nicely and with quality [with quite a bit of quantity]
To Improve:
Honestly, you have a wonderful website. I've only one real suggestion--could you possibly move the link 'Refresh' up to the top of your navigation? This way it's easier to find. Also, I think it would be less confusing to rename it to 'Home' or something similar, because that's where it takes you instead of actually refreshing the page you're on. And of course that sentence I went on and on about xD
Great website! Nice layout, content, resources, etc. I'm quite impressed :] Hopefully my review was useful and expanding to you Aaron :]
Using MSIE on Windows | Report This?
RetroBlast's Response:
Oops, haha. The grammar mistake - I probably erased something there because I'm a skilled writer, lol. *Embarrassment* Thanks a lot for your advice - I will most definitely do something about that sentence!
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