Silencios

Silencios

***** (Rated by 8 people, viewed by 448 people)

A blog full of very random observations. Sometimes with imagination-aiding diagrams. 65.32% lolfest.

I'd like feedback on my new layout :)

Added by Lene in Personal

Silencios has 8 Reviews

Below are the reviews left by other members on Silencios. Jump to review form?

  1. [img: avatar]
    Vera gave it ***** on 2nd Apr 2009 and said:

    Reviewing friends' sites is always so difficult, I tend to ignore some things because I'm so used to them. Ah well, since you requested my opinion *flexes fingers*

    = First Impression =
    -------------------------------
    It could be summed up as: small, impressionism, blue.
    I'm not particularly keen on this layout, but it does intrigue me. As for the blue... I'm not too fond of it, but in certain designs I can find it suitable.

    = Presentation =
    ---------------------------
    My first thought is that you remind me of the impressionism artistic current (think Monet). That automatically spells out sophisticated to me. Unfortunately, it also reminds me of how much I didn't like studying about it, because I much preferred "traditional" art (Renaissance).

    I like the rounded edges of the content area, but I believe that only one entry per page is way too little. Most especially if I want to read more than one entry (this is often the case, as far as I'm concerned).

    An interesting fact is that you seem to have ditched the traditional idea of a header image, and chose to only maintain a logo. Despite this, given the number of scattered cute drawings around the layout, things don't look drab or boring at all. I'm particularly impressed that you managed to pull off the patterned background so well. See I'm always on the lookout of the perfect patterned background, but can't really seem to find it.

    The green frog is absolutely adorable, and it makes me want to see a well. Care to draw one? Have no idea where you'd fit that in (I'm not that artistically inclined), but the greeness and the yellow crown remind me of the Grimm fairytale.

    Your hover images do not load at the same time as the layout, which causes the image to disappear when I first hover my cursor over them - the title and the navigation links. Sure, at the second hover, they do show up... but it's still annoying to have them suddenly disappear on the first loading. You might consider pre-loading the relevant images. See: http://www.zeldman.com/daily/0203c.shtml The paragraph referring to pre-loading hover images is towards the bottom.

    As I said before, I find most of your doodle-icons quite adorable, nevertheless, they also have they drawbacks. Most notably, the search form. Sure the magnifying glass does quite heavily hint towards its purpose, and the default text also does this. Nevertheless, I'm more prone to think "oh look, a cute magnifying glass" as opposed to "I can type here stuff to look for". I'd suggest, you use the magnifying glass image as background for the submit button, and specify a dark red thin border for the search text input (and leave the pink rounded background). It will not look as well integrated as now, but IMO its purpose will be much clearer.

    As far as personal preference goes, I can't say that I like your current layout very much (preferred the beige/brown one more), but it's clean and organized which makes it perfectly usable, so it's not such a big issue for me.

    = Content =
    --------------------------

    - Home -
    I love reading your blog: it's always so funny and carefree. I generally leave from here with a smile.

    - About -
    I've never heard about being passionate for something. It's passionate about something, right? The sentence "I’m almost passionate for them both (biology and anthropology)" sounds rather weird to me.
    Shouldn't it be a "routine job" instead of "routinary"?
    Your self description is a bit short, as in "I'd love to read more about you". It has plenty of funny parts, my favorite being you putting passion for sleep before passion for your field of study (I can relate to that :P ). However, as a whole it seems to me as if you're jumping from one thing to another. Maybe spend a bit more on some aspects that you address? It doesn't necessarily have to be anything long and/or meaningful. The general impression I get here it that you don't really know what to write about so you take a bit of this and that and.... well hope that there's something to link them together.

    I see you have subpages in this section. Sure the links being bolded and differently colored help me identify them. Nevertheless I'm one of those people who like to have a clear space that constitutes a subnavigation. The fact that I only see links scattered around the description makes me think that these pages are not that important... On the other hand, if you bothered to put them online, they have to have SOMETHING of interest, seeing as you claim that you don't have time for boredom (and implicitly wasting time).

    I like the short quirky comments you posted for the books. Perhaps you might also consider writing a short description in the same style for them? After all you ask people to give you suggestions. So why not try and do the same to others?

    Oh, past layouts! I love these pages. I'm a bit disappointed that you didn't include a description for these versions. I love the high quality screenshots, but the fact that they're so large made it difficult for me to navigate properly. They were making my browser sidescroll (1280x1024px resolution). I'd suggest you lower the sizes of those that are too large. In the end, the only pro I can see in maintaining the original size is the readability of the text. But seeing as this is supposed to be just an archive of your past layouts, I don't think it's that important.

    Ah and this is where having a clearly labeled subnavigation would have helped me. I don't much like using the back button on sites I review. I feel that I always miss something, or maybe click on it too often... Sure you have the breadcrumb which is a link, but it's so small and light colored that most people will likely overlook it. The only reason I suspected it of being a link, is because I'm familiar with the plug-in. Not everyone will think of it being a link though, so consider putting a bit more emphasis on that text.

    - Artwork -
    Wow... just wow! I'm so envious of your talent, and I totally ADORE the photography section. I especially love the balck and white pictures.
    My only complaint here is that the pictures don't seem to be part of an "album", so I can't navigate with the back/forward arrows that lightbox offers. I'm a rather comfy specimen so I like to make as little effort as possible :P

    - Writing -
    Having been in the reviewing scene for so long, I tend to be really disappointed in the writing section of most websites. As such it is a welcome change to see articles that I haven't yet read before. That is not to say that no one's ever thought of these, just that I never stumbled across these. I rather enjoyed the "Styling your text properly" one.

    In the article about website review standards:
    "Some time ago, when this website was still on diapers"
    on diapers should be in diapers.

    "they are created by a bunched of bored people"
    bunched should be bunch

    Your article about customers in a bookstore are hilarious. I never thought you'd find so many sex related magazines/books in a children's section.

    - Links -
    Very organized and multiple column lists (I'm a big fan of those :D ) . Oh and you link me, which is automatically grounds for bonus points (j/k).

    = Coding =
    --------------------------------
    I don't validate: mostly because I can't be arsed to go through every possible mistake, but mainly because I care much more that the code makes sense from a logical point of view.

    Nicely indented and semantic. CSS declaration split into sections and well commented: neat :D
    My only nitpicking is that for proper separation of content from style, you should put all your javascript into js files and reference said files, rather than put the code into every page.

    Yeah, I know the code is probably like that within the plug-in, but that by no means stops me from being an annoying nitpicker *cue toothy grin*

    Score: 4.5/5

    When I started the review, I thought "oh well, another blog, with a layout that I don't like that much". And you managed to surprise me, with content I hadn't thought you had.

    The half star is docked because I'm a professional nitpicker :P Good job, Lene!

    Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

    Lene's Response:

    Thank you so much for the review, Vera! It was very helpful, and I already started fixing some of the things you pointed out. I lol'd at some of my own dumb spelling and grammar errors, but they're fixed now, I think *hides*. You made me want to rewrite my about page. I read it again and it does sounds a somewhat choppy and random. I'll be working with the rest of your suggestions soon, thank you again! :)

  2. [img: avatar]
    adam gave it ***** on 21st Jan 2009 and said:

    Hey! My name's Adam, and I shall be writing a review on your site using Internet Explorer.

    First Impression
    Wow. Your layout looks so simple, but I mean that in a really good way. I really like it's design, and I think that the bee, flowers, and ladybug are a really nice touch.

    Navigation: About
    It's nice that you included a page about you, however, I think it would improve it alot if you added images. Not saying you need any images of yourself, but maybe random stuff aligned to the left or right of the text.

    Navigation: Artwork
    First off, I really like that the images open in a lightbox.

    Traditional Art
    Woah! You are sure talented. I think those look really good. I wish I was that good. :-D

    Digital Art
    Again, I cant say how talented you are. They look amazing!

    Photography
    Very nice variety of photos. It's nice that you included what camera's you took the photo's with, and it looks really good.

    Navigation: Writing
    I like the fact that they are really detailed, unlike articals produced by some people. I read a few of them, and I must say that 'Junk content' is a fairly interesting one.

    Navigation: Links
    I like the organization of this page, and I like that you divided it into two colums.

    Sub Nav: Contact
    I really think this page is good, in the fact that you have a form. Alot of webmasters cheap out on forms, and I am glad you included one. I think the page itself is somewhat boring, but hey, its only for people to contact you. :-)

    VALIDATION
    You included the DocType in your page, which is good. Testing at http://validator.w3.org/ produces no errors, which is something alot of people do not think about when owning a website.

    What can be improved...
    I can say one thing... Not much does need to be improved! I think you have done a fantastic job, and I would have given you a five out of five, however, it would be great if you had more content.

    Thanks for reading my review,
    and you've done a great job on
    your website!

    -Adam

    Using MSIE on Windows | Report This?

  3. Lexxi gave it ***** on 4th Jan 2009 and said:

    Hi Lene! I will be reviewing you on Firefox using 1280x800 resolution.


    Layout    : My first impression is wow! Your layout feels fantasy and dreamy like. The colors are soft and go very well together. The first problem I noticed was that your main image doesn't align all the way to the top of the page. See here. It's only a minor problem, and I didn't notice it at first, but it's one of those things when you do take notice, it becomes quite annoying. It's only like 5 pixels from the top so it should be easily fixable. Other then that, I find the layout to be very attractive and the font size, padding, etc. to be perfect.

    Content:
    About- This section is very humorous and interesting. Grammar and punctuation is good. The only thing I would suggest is to revise the fourth paragraph starting with "I'm easily annoyed..." The sentences seem very short and choppy in that paragraph. Your books section is impressive. 19 books is a lot and even if you didn't meet the challenge, I think nevertheless you should still be happy with the result. My only gripe about this page is that you say if we have any comments we can do it at the bottom of the page, yet there's no comment form or anything.
    Artwork-
    I was going to critique each art section but I decided it was best not to. I'm no artist so I wouldn't know any technicalities. Some highlights to this section: I thought the poop drawings were hilarious. You made poop cute, which I thought was impossible. I love your digital art of sailor mars. It's really pretty!
    Writing- I'm going to start out with the most relevant article, "No Standards for Reviewing." I have to say, it's a very good article. I've noticed a lot of people on rev.iew.me giving horrible reviews and deducting points for the fact that they don't offer content like "premade layouts" and stuff. But anyway, it's a well written article and you back your points with evidence. Now on to the "Styling Your Text Properly" article. I really like how you use the examples to show people what not to do and what to do. Visual images stimulate the mind and will make the problems you are addressing more apparent. I'm going to be honest with you, I didn't know about adding the "sans-serif" on the font family in the coding to trigger the next sans-serif font. So your article taught me something. Thanks! I'm not going to review all of your articles since I don't want this review to be too dragged out and long. But I did skim through your other articles and it had the similar format as the two I reviewed.
    Links- ooh yay! I say that because you separated your links into columns. Too many sites make the mistake of making their links one column and it drags on and on, but it makes me happy to see that you thought about your visitors and what would be pleasing for them.
    Blog- I hate reviewing this section because a lot of times it can be very subjective and I feel the blogger should write about whatever she wants to. So I'm only going to comment on functionality. The title is cute and I love the little circles of color on the right side of the title. It would be nice if you had more then one blog entry on your page though, since I wouldn't really want to be bothered with clicking the numbers over and over again to view your entries.

    Overall: Your site is pretty and I love your organization and your content. My main problems was that there wasn't enough blog entries and the header image not being aligned to the center top. Those are small, easily fixable things, so that's why I give you 5 stars!

    Using Firefox on Mac | Report This?

    Lene's Response:

    Thank you so much for this review! I hadn't noticed the little gap between top of the page and the header, thanks for pointing that out! It wasn't there originally, but I cropped 3px off the header image and that created the gap at the top. It's fixed now.

    Also, with my old theme commenting was allowed on most page, but with this new theme, commenting is disabled on pages. I forgot to take down the invitations to comment on the pages, and there might be others around the site. Thanks for pointing that out too! You actually made me consider adding the commenting-on-pages functionality again.

    I'm glad you liked my site, and I thank you once again for taking the time to write this :)

  4. [img: avatar]
    Mimi gave it ***** on 21st Nov 2008 and said:

    Reviewed with:
    Mozilla Firefox 3.0.4 | 1440 x 900 Resolution| Windows Vista
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    First Impression:

    My first thought was that I probably won't have much to say for the review because everything is so.. neat... and nice... Oohhh! I was pretty much just jealous because the layout is extremely impressive!

    Coding:

    Yep. Validates for XHTML and CSS. Your site is also HTML tidy. Your actual coding is nice, I took a peek at it. Most of your CSS is in shorthand, but I saw a few things (For unordered lists specifically) that could use some shorthand. Other than that, nada! I have nothing else to say! *is in shock*

    Design:

    Really, all I have to suggest are little bitty nit-picky things. So I'm not trying to sound like a nag, I'm pretty much just trying to find things to review! HAHA Sometimes I prefer sites that need a lot of assistance but then sometimes they just wear me out. :(

    Anywho, my first nit-picky thing was just the color of the post title and the Sub Navigation. The hue doesn't match your layout really at all, so I was curious as to where it came from. The rest is all browns and yellows/creams and then there is this greenish title. Like I said, nit-picky. ^-^*

    I was also wondering about the top navigation. When I hover over it, the background changes but unless I am literally hovering over the word itself, the words won't change color. I thought it might be nice if once hovered over, the background and the font color would change simultaneously, without hovering over the word itself.

    I think that the list images are a bit too yellow and I think they would look fantastic if they matched the yellow you used in that shape in your header! It's a little bit more pale than the list images.

    The only other real nit-pick I have is half and half for me... Err, let me just explain so you know what I mean. Oiy! I don't particularly care for the sidebar thing stopping once the content is over, just because on the main page (for example) it's so short and then when the blog post is long, it looks kind of funny. However, when it's longer on the sub pages I noticed it looks just fine. So I don't know what you want to do with that little nugget of information. O.o

    I can't really go through and tell you what parts I like a lot because umm.. I like it ALL a lot. *blush* I am definitely subscribing to your feed!

    Content:

    Oh wow, I wish I had read about the 28 books in 2008 sooner. I really don't have time now, do I? Haha. Hopefully I can do the 2009 version, if they have it! I simply adore reading. I did notice that the button you used at the top there to link the Crystal's page describing the challenge is a broken link. The text link you provided works fine, though.

    I did notice that the sidebar on the FAQ page changes, but it no longer lists the links in the about section. That made me sad since I have to use allll that effort to push the back button. ;) Heh, we are breeding lazy viewers these days, I swear!

    I really liked the previous layouts page simply because I loved to see how you improved your skills over the years. It was super neat and I think I would like to start keeping track of mine as well. :)

    Hmm... you are an extremely talented artist in all fields it seems. I can't believe the shading detail on the traditional art for your class. I envy that! The poo scares me... was that second one done on a table?? I know of a couple of restaurants in our city that have paper on the table and they give you crayons... That would be so funny if that is where you drew that poop, saying dinner is served. Oh, goodness.

    Your articles look interesting although I've seen quite a few on the text of a website around certain circles of people. I think it's important for people to know, but it's beginning to be run-of-the-mill anymore for articles like that to show up. If there is one good thing though, it's for run-of-the-mill things to be HELPFUL things. So I'm not complaining at all. I used to be so (x23114) bad at making sites. Now, I am still working. I don't think I will ever stop reading helpful articles and improving. So it's important that these be all over the place so we can hopefully reach some of those who are... not very good at making websites. :x

    I am going to have to come back after I finish this review to read the rest of your articles. I did skim through the "No standards for web reviewing" and I can honestly say I am very pleased that I don't do reviews like that. Although I'm sure a lot of people think my reviews suck because I add humor into them, I hope you won't judge me for that. I also love smilies! Oh well. I simply cannot believe that you saw these comments on real reviews. What on earth possesses them to start reviewing in the first place? Obviously them somehow feel that they are better than most sites out there, but what would they do if someone who was really talented requested a review? I bet they wouldn't know what to say.

    Links section made me confused simply because you are linking all of these people that I know and love yet, I have never been to your site that I can remember! I just don't understand how I didn't come across you sooner. Well, I am stalking your blog now so that's not a concern. :)

    Finaly Thoughts:

    I really wish I could have given you more to work with and I apologize for the stars in my fan girl eyes. I truly admire your site, your art and your talents. I will be seeing you around the comment section!

    5/5 Because, dangit, I was left somewhat speechless. :|

    Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

  5. [img: avatar]
    Aisling gave it ****- on 9th Nov 2008 and said:

    This is going to be a short review, I bet. Perhaps I should add some filler. HI LENE! How are you today? I still think of you every time I eat alone. Okay! Onward!

    First off, the smallest detail: your favicon makes me laugh. I remember when you first introduced it. H! makes no sound, right? Hahahaha.

    Your layout is very elegant and classy. It's subtle, but still manages to make a great impression, even after all these months! I love how everything is spaced out. The text is nicely spaced, you don't have a cluttered sidebar, recent entries/etc bar stands on its own nicely, Flickr photos look nice even though everyone displays theirs in a similar way, and your footer is presented nicely. Um. Yeah. My only complaint layout-wise, is that you're making my review sound like a buttkissing piece of crap. :P What the heck am I supposed to say to this? Next time you should be more considerate, and include some errors so I can judge them.

    Ooh ooh! I wish I could click anywhere in the navigation box and go to the page! THERE! CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM! I find it far too difficult to have to aim for the tiny word. I want to click the box!

    Your About section is concise, well written, and you come off as incredibly intelligent. Technically, I think Artwork is not something I can review. I am not qualified for that. But it looks lovely to me, at least!

    Ooh ooh! I have another one! I HATE "Comments are closed," at the end of content pages. I KNOW they're closed. They're not a blog entry, they're a page! It seems redundant to me.

    Your articles are interesting and well-written. The dreaming ones were especially interesting to me.

    Your links list is just as beautiful as the rest of the site (oh, look, there's me! I love being linked :D ). Blah.

    What else can I say, except, how dare you make me look like a substandard reviewer with your amazing site. :(

    Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

    Lene's Response:

    Thanks Aisling! I typed a response earlier but dummy me deleted it. I need to get used to this response system!

    However, I made the boxes clickable (since everyone who has reviewed my site hates them too) and I got rid of the "comments are closed" thing.

    Thanks again for your review, it made me laugh a little :D

  6. [img: avatar]
    Chien gave it ***** on 7th Nov 2008 and said:

    Loading your site takes quite a while for my current connection. Usually at 2am my time it loads fast, but after my computer reformat now it's the afternoon and my ISP is having issues, so I've waited for a looooooooong time. *kicks ISP*

    Anyways, starting with the design. I think I'm biased since I've visited your site way too often, but seriously, your site design is fabulous. All your designs (that I've seen) are really pleasing to the eye. Even though your footer is really big, it seems to just fit in place.

    The only thing I have to point out about your design is your navigation. It should be a block one instead of just the text, since most people usually click on the whole block rather than the text (lazy people ftw) :P *scrolls up* Seems like others voiced their concern about this too D:

    I love your blog entries. They're usually humorous (like the latest one!) You include some pictures / graphics into your entries and I really enjoy those.

    Overall: I love your site. The navigation issue isn't that much of a problem, so I don't really care. And that's it! I've given you a five star rating ;)

    Unable to detect browser/operating system | Report This?

  7. memorylast gave it ****- on 7th Nov 2008 and said:

    /*------------------------------------------------------*/
    REVIEWED USING
    Browser : Mozilla Firefox 3 (newest version)
    Platform : Windows Vista
    Screen Resolution : 1280x1024
    /*------------------------------------------------------*/

    -----------------------------------------------
    FIRST IMPRESSION
    -----------------------------------------------
    Very simple layout, easy for the eyes. Everything seems to be neat and organized. I love how your site makes me feel peaceful and at ease.

    -----------------------------------------------
    THE LAYOUT
    -----------------------------------------------
    I love the layout, it's simple but it's not like a boring kind of simple. The colours you used gives a very peaceful feeling. And the whole colour scheme pretty much matches. The CSS you used is brilliant as well. From my browser, I can see that everything is coded very well, and there doesn't seem to be any problems with the coding at all. However, for the navigation links, I'd suggest making it more of a block navigation. Because I have to click the exact text link in order for it to work. Since your navigation box it pretty big, I clicked on the blank space of the navigation (not the text link) just the box thing, but it didn't work. It was then that I realized you had to click the actual link.

    -----------------------------------------------
    ABOUT
    -----------------------------------------------
    You provided quite a lot of information about yourself, it was a bit basic and wasn't too uniquely about you, so I'd suggest improving more on that area. However, it was easy to read everything, which was good. And your writing flowed quite well, so that made it easier for me to read the text, I'm not really one that reads big chunks of text, perhaps because I'm lazy or because I have a seriously short attention span.

    -----------------------------------------------
    ARTWORK
    -----------------------------------------------
    Your artwork is very organized, and they're great as well. I loved them.

    -----------------------------------------------
    WRITING
    -----------------------------------------------
    Some of your Articles are very helpful, especially the Internet Related ones. But I didn't think it flowed as well for me reading-wise.

    -----------------------------------------------
    LINKS
    -----------------------------------------------
    Very organized, they're in tables and it's very easy to locate each one.

    -----------------------------------------------
    OVERALL
    -----------------------------------------------
    You have a very beautiful and simple website, it's very organized and aesthetically pleasing for the visitor.

    Unable to detect browser/operating system | Report This?

  8. [img: avatar]
    Tiffany gave it ***** on 7th Nov 2008 and said:

    I can't get enough of seeing this layout. I really love how the monochromatic (ish?) color scheme isn't dull at all and the floral details are extremely classy.

    I like how the whole layout is very streamlined and how it flows from top to bottom. The navigation/header is simple but it looks so good next to the content, and when you get to the footer, I can't have enough praise for it. Everything is so organized and easy to look at. I love how the hovers are done and how they still maintain the color scheme.

    The only negative is how the navigation isn't entirely clickable.

    Unable to detect browser/operating system | Report This?

Write Your Own Review

Leave your feedback for Silencios below, and remember - the longer your review, the more points you receive. Don't forget to look at things like style/design, content, coding and originality as they will all help to improve the quality of your review.

You have to be logged in to write a review.