Game News For You has 4 Reviews
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![[img: avatar]](/avatars/mary.jpg)
mary gave it
on 28th Nov 2008 and said:FIRST IMPRESSION
(layout) Looks cool. The grungy/asphalt-look strengthens the 'rough' feel. I guess it works for me because it tells me to expect the site to have something about gaming in all it's rough and dirty glory. The color scheme is also okay for me. It's blood/rust-y orange on dirty/gun-metal/whatever blue but they don't hurt my eyes despite their violent color names.
(the feel) Since the layout looks well-done, I'd say that at a glance, you did get the 'this-is-a-professional-site' aka 'we're-no-noobs-at-this-thing'. There are no glaring errors in your spelling/grammar so that's also a plus. It does have an empty look though. I'm not sure if this is due to the lack of gazillion ads which most game news sites have... (on second thought, I'm pretty sure that's the reason for the 'apparent silence').
That's a good first impression but don't start jumping just yet.
GENERAL COMMENTS aka in-depth nit-picking
In my most humble opinion... you MUST find a way to stop that recent-news thing from switching banners every 7 or 8 seconds. I swear, it's making me dizzy!
In your recent comments sidebar, you should differentiate the text link from the plain text. I got confused when I couldn't find a difference between the names "A.Prof" and the link to the comment on Secret Service : First Images and Information. But clicking on one of them leads to a different page while clicking on the other doesn't do anything.
I know that you're using a darker background upon a cursor hover BUT aside from the fact that the background change isn't very obvious, there should be a VISUAL CUE on what is 'clickable' in the first place. For example, it's better for us visitors to see immediately (without the need for hovering) that the commenter's name do not link to anything without us having to hover on it. Suggestions include (note this is OR not AND): underline, different text-color, font-weight, etc.
OR better yet, just turn the whole thing into a link. You're not linking to a different location using the names anyway. Save us the confusion and turn the whole thing into one link.(Tried to validate a random page, it passed. Yey for that)
BUT there is this small matter of error in your css (actually there were five errors, anyway)... The validator's error:
display bock is not a display value
The code:
#recentcomments li {
display: bock;
border-top: 1px solid #36423F;
...
I'm pretty sure that's just a typo. Add an l in bock and you'll get less errors. The other 4 errors I won't discuss as they are stemming from the fact that you're using CSS3 and I'm an old-outdated-hag who uses a CSS2.1 validator. (Someone mail me a knitting kit for christmas.)A small comment: the 'professional' & clean look the site is aiming for might go better with capitalized sidebar categories. (ie Recent Comments, Archives, Links, Who's Online instead of recent comments, archives, etc.) This scheme also matches your top (horizontal) menu perfectly, don't you think?
Some comments on your Advertise Page
The heading: Why GameNewsForYou.Com? --- didn't register quickly with me. You might want to change that to Why Advertise at GameNewsForYou.com? (no need to capitalize the .com even if the 'c' came after the '.' --- this is the time to forget english grammar as it was established before url naming was invented) To have less confusion, just remove the .com altogether. Try: "Why Advertise at GameNewsForYou?"
... incidentally. I was wondering at this weird wording of your advertising page, it didn't seem like to fit your writing style, sorry. A quick Google search showed GosuGamers with THIS in their advertise page:Why GosuGamers?
# Large group of potential customers for a good price!
# Specific target audience - no need to waste money on people who are not interested.
# Advertisement published on GosuGamers offers you the chance to connect your product or service to a positive online community.... which looks strangely similar to this:
Why GameNewsForYou.Com?
# Large group of potential customers for a good price!
# Specific target audience - no need to waste money on people who are not interested.
# Advertisement published on GameNewsForYou.com offers you the chance to connect your product or service to a positive online community.Aside from the fact that some of those statements need some polishing (what do you mean by positive online community, and that second statement sounds like you're SELLING CUSTOMERS, not selling TO THEM) I'm sure your site will do better if you write something on your own that fits your site (who else knows better?) rather than copying some other gaming site's advertise page.
To backtrack on those harsh words, I'm assuming that since GosuGamers has been there since 2002, they have an older advertise page than GameNewsForYou (which was founded November 2008).(I don't want to check every page/article but I'll give you an example of why checking your content before publishing will help.) This is your current about page (dvd or unedited version):
About
GameNewsForYou.com was found November 15 , 2008 by myself (Ozheen Maruf ) . I told Azhy about the site and he decided to join me as the Co-owner. I used to go on allot of gaming sites myself but I always got irritated by the fact that the sites post about the smallest and most minor things , so you could say by the stuff nobody actually reads. So I decided to make a Gaming site myself to offer the readers something WORTH reading and the result is GameNewsForYou.com , a site which provides you with the latest news in the world of Gaming. Not only do we provide you with the latest news we also provide you with Reviews on your favourite games weekly!
These are some comments on your about page:
- founded means it was established, found means... well it means you lost it before. But that word usually applies to odd left socks or car keys, not to sites you established.
- There is no need to put in double spaces or extra spaces between your name. Even if you want to emphasize yourself as the founder, there are healthier ways of doing it: use a different color, underline or italicize your text, etc. Spacing it out makes it look like a typo.
- a lot means 'a gallon of ice cream all to yourself'; allot means 'give or set aside a portion of something for someone' --- like saving half a gallon for the reviewer who won't shut up
- Spaces are put AFTER commas and periods. Not before.Here is the suggested about page:
About
GameNewsForYou.com was founded on November 15, 2008 by myself (Ozheen Maruf). I told Azhy (insert some info about Azhy here; he's a co-owner too) about the site and he decided to join me as the Co-owner. I used to go on a lot of gaming sites myself but I always got irritated by the fact that the sites post about the smallest and most minor things or the stuff nobody actually reads. So I decided to make a gaming site myself to offer the readers something WORTH reading. The result is GameNewsForYou.com: a site which provides you with the latest news in the world of gaming. Not only do we provide you with the latest news we also provide you with reviews on your favourite games weekly !
... There you go. That is the suggested correctly-spaced-and-worded-about-page. I refrained from editing it too much because you should develop your own writing style. (and because my blog-ish way of writing might not suit your site's professional-feel.)
AT LAST
Despite the fact that you're establishing an info site where people can get reliable BUT in-depth (aka personalized and not boring) news on their favorite games, you have to work harder to get loyal visitors! There must be a lot of gaming sites out there trying to do the exact same thing so be obsessive compulsive --- check your grammar and spelling. The less mistakes you make, the easier it is to understand what you're trying to say. Of course once you overcome that english-lesson-like obstacle, there's this problem of making sure your content is 'want-able'. Otherwise, what's the point?I've read your articles and they DO sound like you're interested in what you have to say, but not everyone is a reviewer and is trying to find a good point in your site. I know that you're an active updater/commenter/writer in other gaming info sites so use your experience to learn from these huge sites (in terms of how they get a lot of visitors, how they manage a lot of content, etc) AND THEN beat them in they're weak spots (ie plain white layouts, messy sites with too much ads, 'boring' gaming articles).
I know that your site is less than 1 month old so let's see what you can do after a couple of reviews. =]
*source of scoring: we both know there's still a lot left to do since the site has just opened (writing articles, proofreading pages, tweaking some css) but I gave you 3.5 for the almost-perfect-code and the violent-but-it-works-for-me color scheme*
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![[img: avatar]](/avatars/Naco.jpg)
Naco gave it
on 23rd Nov 2008 and said:First Impression:
I agree about the popups, they are rather annoying. Generally speaking if I visit a site with popups and my popup blocker does not block them I usually leave the website. I myself like to play games and enjoy frequenting may of the gaming websites out on the web, so finding a new one is always nice especially if they bring different elements to the table.Design:
I like the design itself, I think it;s a nice one for a game site. I like how the main page is set up with the various recent posts shown. I think for the advertising blocks you could put something there, at least a banner that says "advertise here" or something along those lines.Content:
> About <
I agree with the other viewer, two lines of text is rather boring. Maybe include a bit more information. Such as who owns it, who writes for it, why was it made, what are the plans for the site, etc etc etc. You do not need to have a huge essay on each writer, but a bit of information is always nice (such as what systems they own, games they play the most, most favorite or least favorite game etc).> Advertise <
If 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?
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/Shadow.jpg)
Shadow gave it
on 23rd Nov 2008 and said:First Impression
Russian site popups. Nice! Hmm...the layout is...confusing. There are so many boxes that I don't know where to start! I believe those are blog entries? 8 boxes of them. I would suggest only showing the latest 4. It's also too dark for my liking. I do like dark themes, but this one is darker than I'd like.
Blog and Sidebar
Like I said, way too much going on in the blog. 8 entries are way too many on one page, no matter if they were in small boxes or not. I will give you props for a lot of line spacing in the entries though. Makes it easy to read, but it still bugs.
Why do I have a feeling that this was a premade theme? Why do I say this? Because in your sidebar, you have empty 125x125 ad spots and on top a 468x60 banner spot. There's nothing there now; you don't need it. It's just taking up a lot of space right now. You can move the other important stuff up.
The other pages
About: That is a sad piece of about page. We know that you're a gamers' blog, but there should be more about what someone should expect to get out of this site. Explain more! Two sentences isn't enough.
Advertising: Two sentences again? Where are the prices? Contact form? Something! You only say that you have 400-500 visitors a day. Some people would like to see proof of those visitors.
Contact: A proper contact form would be good here. You have your email address here out in the open which opens you up to more Russian advertising...um...spam. :D
Wanna work for us?: You need more information on what the jobs encompass. What are the employees expected of? Is this a paid or unpaid job? You need to explain more.
All in all...
I left unsatisfied. I understand that this site is relatively new, but when you open a site, the content is very important before you even launch. It didn't help that I came here confused with all the boxes and the like. You need to expand your content further. At least the about the site page for the time being.
Oh, and get rid of those Russian popups please?
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![[img: avatar]](/avatars/Theresa.jpg)
Theresa gave it
on 23rd Nov 2008 and said:First Impression/Visually
BAD! Your site is riddled with pop-up ads. Not one but TWO? And then when I to close the second one, another prompt pops up. That's BAD BAD BAD for a site.I think that background at the top of the page (the appearance of asphalt) is a good concept but it was made to look way too shiny, which is not good. Maybe tone it down a bit?
I like your menu a lot, it's very nice and organized and the colors that you used throughout this site work pretty well. I'm not too fond of the deep red for the headers and the menu, they don't seem to contrast enough from the background colors.
I think the title of the site looks REALLY out of place. You've got this whole "Web 2.0" look going and the pixel text doesn't really seem to flow very well.
The banner at the top left (which appears to feature a Call of Duty" screen shot of some sort) has arrows to the left and to the right that don't go anywhere.
Your menu on the left, the deep red bullets are a little hard to see and the only way I noticed them was because of the white arrow within them. I do like the green they switch over to though, it really highlights the hover effect.
Word on getting those ad sections filled too and center your footer. ;)
Content
There seems to be a lot of content, but let me dive in deeper.About: There's hardly anything on this page. On my monitor I am displaying a whole TWO LINES of text. Defiitely tell us more about the site! Maybe even more about you or anyone else that runs this site.
Advertise: Get into specifics here. You should list prices and things like that. Once again, two lines of text.
Contact Us: TWO FREAKIN LINES OF TEXT!? Why are you putting all of these things on separate pages? All of the pages that I have listed could fit into one and STILL be lacking.
Wanna word for us?: Are you offering money? If not, let people know that. You should also have some requirements for the job. Explain what you expect of the "employees" that you plan on "hiring".
Featured Articles: There's only one, it's supposed to be "Articles", with an S.
Various Other Systems: It really looks like you just recently put this site up because there isn't much content. Everything on the sub-pages for the game systems can be found on the front page as well.
I gave you three stars because while it shows that you've put much effort into this site, it just doesn't seem to do it for me. Some minor things, in my eyes, need to be changed and your content needs to be expanded, which will come given time. I didn't find it to be extremely useful as of yet.
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Azhy's Response:
Thanks for your review i will remove the pop-ups right now
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