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Perfection Design Gallery has 8 Reviews

Below are the reviews left by other members on Perfection Design Gallery. Jump to review form?

1. 

   squigglybee gave it on 13th Dec 2008 and said:

   I used to love visiting Perfection. Up until this summer, I pretty much visited it daily to see if any new sites had been added. More often then than not, I was disappointed to find no new sites had been added. Sometimes it seems as if Perfection is "dead." I know that to a non-member it would seem that way since every site that is submitted is obviously not accepted.

   Another thing that really bothers me about Perfection is how some sites that were accepted are not "perfect" either. I haven't been to the site recently, but I know that some sites that were accepted later switched to free themes or themes that were so simplistic that any decent website designer could whip out but doesn't make it "perfection." It also bugged me to find sites listed that hadn't been updated in FOREVER. Now, I as well as anyone know that sometimes life happens and websites go on hold. But I think to be listed at Perfection you must be required to maintain a certain "perfection" of some sort. If someone loses interest in their site, I don't think they should continue to remain a member, especially if they are not participating in the community and voting on new sites, etc.

   It does sort of seem that Perfection is slightly a little about who you know. Obviously, if you know a lot of members, you have a higher chance of being accepted, but that isn't a guarentee of course.

   I applied twice in the past with different layouts. I didn't really expect to be accepted, but I really wanted to read reviews from "Perfect" website owners. I was highly disappointed with the reviews because most of them gave no legitimate reasons or suggestions as to why they voted a particular way. I got a lot of, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe this girl is older than me. Her colorful color scheme is hideous." Okay, so obviosuly everyone doesn't like colorful things, but this person certainly didn't offer any advice or suggestions. It seems like some members had bad attitudes.

   I think the layout of Perfection is nice and simple but it could definitely use an update. The site has looked the same forever it seems like. It had a lot of nice details, but if Bubs wants the site to move forward, I think it could use a nice overhaul to encourage more involvement and submissions.

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2. kkickball gave it on 10th Dec 2008 and said:

   Grrr. I want to give it a 5 stars, but #1. I don't think you'd accept me even if I gave it 5 stars and #2. I don't think anyone can fully have 5 stars because that would mean no more work should be done on the page. Nothing is ever perfect, (no pun intended) and everything has room for improvement.

   Design
   I love the layout. I do. It's lean, interesting, very very minimal in the way of heavy graphics and it gets striaght to the point of what the site is.

   I usually love smaller fonts, but on a page like this, where the majority of the content is what pages are accepted and featured and a small "about" about the page, the font and size you have is great. It isn't too small that it leaves a lot of blank space or looks odd with the screen caps, yet it is not to big that it overpowers.

   The concept of the site itself is genius, really. I'm going to work towards my site being accepted. ;)

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3. 

   Aisling gave it on 8th Dec 2008 and said:

   I think that Perfection, while lovely, needs a definite overhaul. You can certainly tell that it was designed at the height of the whole "Web 2.0 design," phase. It is essentially the embodiment of the trends of the time-- bevels, reflections, badges, gradients. But, I think this trend has moved on, and is a little outdated. I think it needs to be a bit more subtle to work these days. At the moment, it seems ironic, because Perfection isn't very perfect. ;)

   There are four reflections on the main page alone. And it looks too busy. One reflection, I can manage. Anything more than that begins to irk me. The headings on this page could have easily been styled with CSS and looked just as nice.

   I love the details in the boxes in the sidebar, though, so cute!

   And the site really is well organized and laid out. It is easy to use (the cpanel, etc). Really it just needs two things and number one is obviously a design overhaul.

   Number two is a way to display more activity and get more people involved, I suppose. The community is only semi-active. I know, as a member, it seems more people are submitting as of late. But, if a non-member were to visit the site, they would have no clue. Especially if, say, out of 5 people submitting, only one person is accepted. To a non-member they may see one person is accepted, and think that nobody else has even applied. Perhaps a page of Pending Sites could be a nice touch, so non-members can see the sorts of sites awaiting review.

   On top of that, there is, of course, the question of the members becoming less-perfect over time. Or the issues of non-members believing Perfection is entirely based on cliques, and who is friends with whom. Obviously, we know this is not always true (even I have voted against submissions of people I am friends with), but I think there needs to be more effort to display this to the non-members (or the butthurt rejected site owners, hehe).

   Overall though, Perfection has a nice base. It just needs a little more love.

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4. 

   Muse gave it on 6th Dec 2008 and said:

   I don't like the layout.

   Sorry, that was rather blunt for an opening remark. But I came, I saw, I clicked, and I came to see:

   > one of those rounded sans-serif fonts for the site title;
   > a reflection for said site title;
   > one of those Flickr-pink stickers with a little blurb on it;
   > a gradient (although quite subtle, thankfully) with equally sub
   > one of those brushed-metal menus;
   > rounded corners.

   The fourth point I have no problem with, because it was elegantly done. The fifth point I rather think is a 2001 sort of thing, but it's fine (and it matches your background nicely). However, all the rest seem like unnecessary attempts to conform to a design trend and aesthetic that is easily one of the most hated today.

   I'm talking, of course, about the infamous so-called 'Web 2.0' look. (Some people argue Web 2.0 isn't a design style. I'd like to say there is a certain design style that kind of came hand in hand with the real web 2.0.)

   You know text reflections are overdone if even your mother realizes they're everywhere, and is thoroughly sick of them. As I am. As my mum is. ^^ (Hm, perhaps I shouldn't be dragging her into my review, though?)

   This may, however, actually be what your design aesthetic is. I can't fault that. I must, however, say that I am not particularly impressed with the layout. Your personal site is amazing and has so much character, so it'd be lovely if some of that could be carried on to Perfection.

   So I'd love something to be done about it. I count four images that utilize text reflections on the homepage. One (however much of a design cliché) can be dealt with, but four is a bit too much to my liking.

   Aside from that, however, there are a few other things I'm not particularly fond of:
   > having text in images when it should properly be an h2 or something. And the images look slightly blurry to my eye—not quite as crisp and sharp as I'd like.
   > unnecessarily large space in between the 'What is Perfection?' image and the actual text. The line-spacing there between the first line and second also seems a bit off to me.
   > in the member login, I'm personally not a huge fan of the input fields, perfectly transparent but with a clunky-looking typical form border around them. Same for the search bar.
   > in the sidebar sections, I do love the little illustrations behind the boxes as a subtle background, but they somehow don't fit with the rest of the site—it doesn't feel like something that ties the whole theme of the site's design together. I'm actually not really getting much of a theme beyond the over-trendy web 2.0 aesthetic (which, as I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of).
   > hovering over the menu items in the navigation bar, I feel the blue glow should be toned down a little bit. As of now, it looks a bit too cloying.

   And thus concludes my design/aesthetics part of the review.

   The site itself, and the concept, is lovely. It's more than just an impersonal gallery of 'pretty' sites. These are sites that have depth, and you've noted on the about page that Perfection showcases websites that have clean code and useful content as well—aside from simply being gorgeous.

   And it's definitely set up well as a community, especially with the little comments members give on each others' websites. The focus on personal websites and blogs helps, I think; these aren't sites that really focus on publicizing themselves. Rather, they're sites made by people. ^^

   The guidelines are short and clear; however, I'd actually like a bit more information about each of them. Perhaps you could include why you consider these important. "Easy to navigate"…perhaps you can explain why an easily navigable website deserves to be among the best of the best.

   I noticed in your navigation bar that your home button is actually at the end of it. I've actually seen this quite a bit recently, and I was more used to seeing it at the beginning of a navigation bar. However, this seems to be the new norm, so I suppose I will get used to it. Logically, it makes perfect sense—after someone browses through the main pages of your site, going down the navigation bar from left to right (as people are wont to do) it makes sense they can just come to the end and click back to the homepage. (So, erm, this is more an observation of my own than any actual opinion concerning your site.)

   The thing I realize about your site, though—looking through the gallery, it still seems like a clique to me. Many of the people in the gallery are from a certain 'neighborhood' of the internet. I'm trying to come up with a moniker for it and failing miserably, but it's basically the one that revolves around Snark and Jem (and now rev.ew.me, I guess?). Most of them are of that crowd.

   Obviously, of course, people in the circles you inhabit would be more likely to come across the site and participate it. However, someone from outside this circle would probably feel quite intimidated to enter if they knew a bit about the whole Snark/Jem community, but wasn't a member of that group.

   Your about page states the purpose of Perfection as "a community for passionate designers"; your guidelines page says you showcase "the best of the best". I won't quibble with the last point. However, to me, it really seems like it's a community that won't expand beyond a small, closely-knit circle.

   One of the problems with this, too, is that many of the sites (although lovely) won't exactly be new to the people of this circle. I've seen some of them already, and I strongly suspect if I hung around Snark more I'd know nearly all of them.

   So I'm just wondering. Is Perfection intended to reach across circle boundaries, so to speak, and include people that are new to the group? At the moment it's kind of like an echo chamber. Most of these people know each other. Most of these people talk to each other.

   This isn't exactly criticism of your site at all, but it's just the way I'm viewing the design gallery—as subset of one particular group. An expanded user base can't do anything but good, and it'll definitely mean a wider and more diverse talent pool.

   Cheers. ^^

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5. 

   Annen gave it on 4th Dec 2008 and said:

   First impression
   I must say, that I was slightly confused. I wnated to scoll up to see the rest of that pink badge you place on the imager image, and I couldn't. No offense, really, but I think if you justt moved it so far down you could see the whole "D" it would be much better (:
   The colours are nice in the header image. I find that the blue you're using in the sidebar with the log in features is too light and too shiny blue, but I suppose that's a matter of the eyes that look. To me, a little less britness and more of the beautiful blue from the header would make it more attracting. But - things are stylish and nicely organized.

   Layout
   Well, I mentioned quite a few things in my first impression - thsoe I won't explain any further. the title Perfection isn't quite wrong: Everything fits in, the sizes are good together and the stylish underline shaddows to your headlines are just really neat. a shame you don't use them all over the site, because the really add something. I know it'd be tons of trouble, so I really understand why you didn't do this.. The css is nice, the green that seems to come out of absolutely nowhere fits in perfectly - well done! Getting rid of the glow in the menu style wouldn't hurt, though. It's not half as stylish as the rest.

   Content/concept
   Uhh, see now is what's so interesting about this site. It's like a secret web lounge (not so secret though), brilliant. I have got to say, that the idea is pretty origninal, it's probably one of the sites people are proud to be in, since you have some reasonable but stricht guidelines. You like to keep a high standard, I see ;D That's just fair. I see in the gallery, that I know a lot of these sites and I think of them as good sites aswell. This is just so great (: I want to apply, but I'm just not so sure I can live up to the guidelines you have. Generally I don't believe in excluding people from websites and such, but since the guidelines are so simple and so not to get around they're equally fair to anyone.

   Final comments
   I enjoyed reviewing you site, very much actually. I'll bookmark this! ;D Once my site is worth it, I might just come back to aplly to join (: You're getting 4 stars - which is a great rating - because of your simple, yet very pretty and stylish design, because of the interesting concept and very much because your site is so organized. You have a good reason to believe this will get even bigger. At the time I reivewed your site, we were actually 8 people on there, that's quite a lot, I think. Maybe you're used to that ;b How would I know, I am a first time visitor on your site.

   I hope my review will help you in the furture making of your site :b

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6. 

   verarorato gave it on 3rd Dec 2008 and said:

   LAYOUT

   You layout has contrasting colors. Contrasting color do with the people stays employees at your site. The layout is simple, but it load very fast. I like layouts as your. The colors combination are perfect.

   ORGANIZATION

   Your site is very organized. The sidebar haven't many things, what I guess good. I don't like sites that place a lot of thing in the sidebar. I like to organize things how description, about me, about the domain in pages. It stay more organized. I also guess that it's easy to navigate in you site. Comming Back to the sibebar, it's with things that help the visitants, and don't confuse their.

   NAVIGATION

   The Navigation of your site is visible and also organized. Some site place the navigation in spaces that the visitor can't to find. I hate site that the visitors needs discover where is the things. I know a lot of site like that.

   PAGES

   The pages are good. I liked your css! It's Perfect!

   CONCLUSION

   Your site is good. It's attending what it is. I want to sign up it!

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7. 

   bex gave it on 3rd Dec 2008 and said:

   When I first saw this site two years ago (and joined of course), I was skeptical. Another clique-ish review site with people who could join up and plug their site. I joined anyways - might as well get some moar hitz! (back when I was a bit noobier).

   What makes Perfection different though, is the stringent guidelines for joining, the community of accepted users and criteria for being listed on this particular 'review' site. I think it may be a little unfair comparing it to a review site, since it isn't that really. It's more a site that showcases users who have been accepted among that community and passed the test of "does my website look good enough for perfection - or close to".

   I like the purpose of this site since it's different than others. There are rules that are actually followed to join. When someone joins without a personal site, they don't even get a 'yes' vote at all. Since the vote is from the users who have previously been accepted, they probably know what to look for. Design, mark-up, content and usability are usually taken into account for a yes or no.

   As for the design of Perfection, it's nice. There isn't much you can do in terms of absolute fanciness for a site that's purpose is to display fairly consistent information in a vertical manner. The only gripe I have is the colours. In my opinion, the turquoise and pinks don't go well together. The header also seems a little dark when you compare to the saturation of the pinks and the bottom portion of the main content.

   I love the gallery page - it's nicely laid out. The star rating system is cute :) Of course all the things like updating profiles, user pages, avatars etc. are nice features as well. It's a shame that it seems like not a lot of people come to the site - it's built for a nice community like that I find. The forum also fits nicely into the main layout.

   Great job Bubs, and once again, it's a shame that it seems like it's dying down :(

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8. 

   moneypenny gave it on 3rd Dec 2008 and said:

   I think Perfection had an excellent basis: starting with a few great sites and letting new ones in based on positive reviews from existing members. My biggest problem with it is that as standards decrease, they tend to keep decreasing; it's a snowball effect, IMO. That is, somehow a noticeably-less-than-perfect site gets in (maybe because the owner had friends in Perfection already, who knows) and then others get in that don't deserve to be in there, and so on. It still has excellent personal sites in it, but I feel a lot of sites have gotten in that do not represent what the site was originally intending. I think some have gotten in because of who the owner (the submitting site's owner, not Bubs, who has done a great job with Perfection except for being a softy with kicking people out ;) ) knows, but for whatever reason, the worst part of this is that there is no way to counteract a site getting in. Once you're in, you're in for good unless your site gets deleted or becomes porn or something else like that. It would greatly improve the site and make me more excited about being a member if there were a way to "keep out the rifraff".

   Design- and content-wise, Perfection is a lovely site. You'd expect that from a site that claims to be a design gallery of excellent personal sites. Easy-to-read text, pretty color scheme, intuitive navigation.

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