Victimizes

Victimizes

**--- (Rated by 8 people, viewed by 140 people)

Resources and tutorials website with personal blog.
I recently switched hosts and lost all of my files, so I've had to start over and I would like some feedback on what I have done so far. :)

I also wouldnt mind some suggestions on what to add.

Added by Victimizes in Graphics

Victimizes has 8 Reviews

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

  1. ichabod1799 gave it ***-- on 14th Apr 2009 and said:

    Hello there, I started writing the draft to this very late last night because I refused to go to sleep. Then I ended up falling asleep just as I finished, but it was fun. Please don't take this too harshly, I thought it would only be fair to give you a fair review, but I'm really impressed what you've managed to do for someone your age. The site is boarding on a really professional quality.

    First Impression:

    Nice, I've come to a site that's improved (judging by what other reviewers have stated,) the layout really grabs my attention at first. You look like you're going on the right track. But as I look further around the index page I get curious to what this site has and if it needs improving.

    Layout:

    That's very annoying that you've changed your layout after I had written up my draft. I just went back to your site to double check some things and it's all different. So I'm going to briefly review your new layout now, but I'm very annoyed, so it isn't going to be too detailed and might be very brief.

    It's good, it's improved from your old one. The rest of the layout fits a lot better with the background title and together brings its own contemporary look. This concept looks rather neato. I really think this works alot better than your old layout, it fits better with the simplicity and lack of css effects and colours.

    Here's what I had already written about your old layout:

    _____________________________________

    I'm loving the header image, it's awesome and really eye catching (good work) but the rest of the layout is too plain compared to it. It needs more for the whole layout to be balanced, for example you could have a simular effect for the footer. The layout is too top heavy because of it, it's just "BOOM" then "FAIL."

    Your colour pallet works well, not much of a fan with the browns and the white background (that's just my personal opinion) but you've managed to pull it off well. I personally would have thought those browns would look better on a lighter brown background or a creamy mustard colour.

    The rest of the layout isn't that exciting really, it just looks too plain. If the top links had they're own background colour it would spice the layout up slightly and be more noticeable as well. They just blend in with the rest of the content that they're really not that noticeable as all your content pages.

    By the way well done for coding a Wordpress theme, I'm still having trouble with that, and you're 14.

    _____________________________

    I still think with your new layout the top navigation still needs to stand out more, maybe if they had a light grey background.

    I'm going to go on with the rest of the review of what I had all ready written. I assume you haven't changed the rest of the content around too much, if you did, too bad.

    Content:

    I find it kind of annoying first of all and amateurish when you have a main link that opens to a whole page of sub links in that category. Visitors can easily get lost in this system, not to mention the space you're wasting. If I may suggest, a drop down menu system. Or just putting all your links in the navigation but under headlines.

    By the way I love how very little content there is so far. I'm not being mean. It's just that I'm really tired and I just want to write this. It just makes it so much easier because I get really bored quickly on the internet so it's good that you don't have overwhelming amounts of content. Though after being through your whole site however, you don't have much content at all. There is nothing much to keep visitors coming back.

    About -

    I don't know why it's called "About" when there is nothing about this site or anything at all here. A more appropriate title would have been "Site" or "Domain."

    Advertising -

    Nice idea this advertising section, meet new friends and gain hits back. But you're not really giving these sites a fair advertising display. I bet hardly any people will care about this page unless they're looking to plug their site as well, and even so they wont click on any of the banners at the very bottom of the page. It would be fair to have them advertised on the side navigation on every page, maybe use a random script generator so it randomly displays them, or at lease move them to the top of this page.

    Your contact and affiliates pages are really plain and pretty much the same. It's starting to make your site look less like a human made it and more like it randomly appeared there by a robot. You could merge these two pages together since all there is, is a contact form.

    Credits -

    Good, the right thing to do, but they're very brief though, and there are alot of them. I guess it's for all your other works on your site. We'll find that out later.

    Resources:

    Not much really here. I guess you're just starting fair enough since you said you lost all your files since switching hosts. That's probably why it's a good thing to have back-up work on your main computer.

    Nice work you made your own font, this is awesome and it brings something unique to your site that will bring visitors back. I suggest you make more, it will make your site stand out a lot because I don't believe any other site makes their own fonts.

    Your icon bases seem pointless. They take a while to load and all they are, are cropped screenshots that anyone who wanted to make icons could do themselves. What if you actually turned them into icons with effects and text and stuff?

    Tutorials -

    I'm kind of disappointed. I thought there would be tutorials of HTML, CSS, Photoshop whatever, (I always enjoy looking through HTML, CSS, Photoshop tutorials, to give me ideas.) But all there is are simple Wordpress ones that I'm sure are also in the help page of any wordpress installation.

    You should post a tutorial on how you did that awesome header image on your previous layout.

    Lyndsay:

    Wow you're 14, you've achieved a lot for a 14 year old, I'm proud. You should however write more than a generalized paragraph about yourself. What are your inspirations? Other Hobbies? What do you hope to achieve out of your website and web design in general? How did you get into web design in the first place?

    Coding:

    I went through all the effort to check your coding too, but you've changed your layout so I'm just gonna run it through a validator. You have 24 errors and I think they're still the same as last night. Stress less though, those validtors are evil and take the fun and creativity out of web design. {link} some of them you might not understand, some you might, it's no big deal. Since I'm still not that experienced in the whole validating thing and pretty much fluked it on my own site, I don't wanna attempt to come up with solutions that might not even work. So I just posted the link and maybe you can learn from there.

    Your CSS has five errors, {link} but other than that it looks all neat.

    Final Thoughts:

    I took a quick glance at what other people have written, it seems that there was alot more content, but I just remembered you lost stuff in a move. All the old content sounds really good, Myspace layouts? (I assume you had pre-made layouts) That would have made your site very popular, that and more tutorials too that aren't Wordpress help topics.

    Though I'm a little annoyed about the layout change, I have to say your new layout works better than the old one, though the header effect on your old layout was amazing, the rest of the layout couldn't live up to that standard and so the two couldn't mix together. Though your new header image isn't as awesomely cool, it's simplicity suits your layout better and the whole site looks much better, this was a really good improvement.

    You need to incorporate more content, so your site has a reason to be on the net. At the moment it's really plain and it seems that you're just going to get used as a means for other people to plug their sites. With your graphic skills from your previous header image you could have so much graphic content that will popularize your site.

    I'm really impressed with what you've managed to do with your age, well done. I remember when I first started about that age too, my design and graphic skills were disgusting. But of course back then web design was more about fun and expression and thinking out-side the box, there was no Valid HTML and CSS back then.

    Though your score might be a bit low, it's not really a bad thing. You've done really well and you're on the right path already with your sense of design and graphics. I wish you the best of luck on your site for the future.

    Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

    Victimizes's Response:

    I found your review really helpful, thank you!
    I will look at everything you said again and hopefully make my site better. I'm really sorry I changed my layout while you were writting the review, I know there's nothing worse. I didn't think people would still be reviewing my website! But thank you! :)

  2. [img: avatar]
    reeshas gave it ***-- on 28th Mar 2009 and said:

    Hi there, I saw that you had 2/5 stars but your site name sounded cool, so I came over, I don’t know why people are so mean when grading sites, I try to be careful not to hurt you in any way, because no matter what, words to hurt right?! And since this is my opinion, I hope my words don’t end up hurting you. When I first see the site, my eyes go right to the top, the burning word Victimizes looks FANTASTIC! I’ve never seen that anywhere on the site, it looks so read and just mind-blowing, if that were a movie, I’d watch it even if the ticket was $100! xD ok moving on, first I have to make some comments on your overall design and css stuff, I don’t go snooping around in your codes, I don’t really care what your codes are, I just want to see a nice design, SITE review me site, NOT CODES.

    -HOME: the design is very very impressive! It matches with the rest of the site; the colors fit the background, and the headers. Now the font in the headers is also looking good because they serve as a header, title, and a divider! The regular or paragraph font is kind of small for a design that so roomy and pretty average sized. So why is the font so small? The video is super funny! I freaking love it! I B hatin’ ‘em hat8rz 2 mon! xD wow, I hate writing like that, and when it comes to reading that crap…I skippi di do. Alright, that’s it for the blog this week xD, ohh you need to update the bottom still says 2008. Alright next: I see the Ads right away at the top; I don’t think that’s a good way to set up the menu on the side. Ads are normally on the bottom and you should keep them there. Next you have the list of friends which are your exchanges or so. You have so many I wonder if you even talk to them.

    -ABOUT: this page doesn’t have much about you Lyndsay, you should add more about yourself, you gave us a vague description about yourself which doesn’t make me think you’re friendly. Add a listed profile, tell us more about yourself. Sometimes having things in common with the owner helps people apply for friends.

    -TUTORIALS: you have very good tutorials; you’ve shown different coloring schemes and detailed info on the avatars. You should do more tutorials.

    -VICIMIZES: I like the advertising page, it’s funny that all 3 choices are the same xD but that’s very nice. I’d like to sign up for advertising but for now I have to finish reviewing. You left a lot of space between the forms, I’m wondering why that is. You affils form is easy to use but you should have a list of rules before the form. Where are you rules, you let just anyone apply? The contact form page is perfect; you also added your email, great! On the credits page, you should link the sites in a bullet list form, not in sentence format like some blog.

    -RESOURCES: NOT WORKING- Page Not Found.

    -MYSPACE: wow, that’s a lot, I mean A LOT OF LAYOUTS! You worked really hard on those; I like the dark red one very nice! You should customize the MySpace layouts more than just the backgrounds you know. Take your time on them.

    Well that’s all there is to grade, since one whole page was missing, I’ll have to deduct major points. Thanks for reading! =D

    Using MSIE on Windows | Report This?

    Victimizes's Response:

    Thanks for the review :D I will take everything you said and hopefully make my site better. I've fixed the resources link and I will add more to my "about" page.
    Thanks again. :D

  3. [img: avatar]
    cecelia gave it **--- on 30th Dec 2008 and said:

    Hi, my name is Cecelia and I’m going to review your site (surprise!). English is not my mother tongue, so I apologize for any mistakes. I am only going to focus on the layout and I will do it by giving you some tips for how to improve your site. I hope you don't think I am being too harsh, I really don't mean to be, but it's just so much easier to criticize than to praise (and also praising won't make your site any better)..

    - Your links should stand out. As it is right now I can't tell the difference between the links and the rest of the text.

    - You need to do something about your navigation. You can't have it overlapping the top of the layout like that - I can't see what it says!

    - You need to have more white space! White space is the space between graphics, columns and so on. White space is an important element of design and a site without white space is often busy, cluttered and difficult to read. (More about white space)

    - Your sidebar is very narrow - so you should either delete it (the links can go to a separate page) or put some relevant information in it and make your entire content area wider.

    - If you want a footer you should use it. The one you have on your page doesn't really do anything. Either put up a graphic there (possibly matching the top one) or links to the top of the site, a sitemap and your rss feed (or something like that)..

    - Also your site would probably benefit from a bolder choice when it comes to colour.. Right now everything looks sort of blah, but a header with a bit more colour and some styling of the links, headings and so on in matching colours would probably work wonders!

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    Victimizes's Response:

    Thanks I'll take everything you said into account.

  4. rockcandy gave it **--- on 30th Dec 2008 and said:

    First Impression/layout:
    First of all, I don't like your navigation. It's small, and hard to read. The huge white bar intersecting with it ruins it. Try repositioning it to somewhere else, perhaps maybe at the bottom of your header image? Putting it on top of your header is an unlikely place someone would look for the navigation. If you insist to keep it at the top, get rid of the white bar from your header, because it ruins the navigation a lot.
    I like your header though, it's simple but nice. Good job.
    Your sidebar with the affiliates/friends/etc looks like a mess. Clean it up. Use a table or a list or something, instead of making a huge link clump of names.
    Also, put the 'affiliate/advertise' link at the bottom of the list. It's easier to find it that way.
    You should also add more to the sidebar. Maybe add some site statistics or a brief description of the site?
    Overall, your layout is pretty neat I guess, and the text is easy to read, which is good.

    Content:
    You don't have much content, so I would first suggest that you put up more content.
    Your tutorials are quite good, they're helpful, and are color techniques that I would use.
    For your tutorial directory, I would suggest putting your tutorials into categories (once you get more), and sort them out by say program like PSP tutorials, PS tutorials, etc.

    Domain/Site:
    For your advertising, just say that advertising is free in your description, rather than writing it 3 times for each plan.
    For your credits, again, don't make huge link clumps. Use tables or lists. It looks more organized that way.

    Overall, your site is okay, you do need to make some adjustments though. Good luck though :)

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    Victimizes's Response:

    I'll take everything you said into account and try and change a few things when I am online tomorrow.

  5. lawlzz gave it ***-- on 29th Dec 2008 and said:

    Hi, I'm Maggie. I'll be reviewing your site ;D

    Layout / First Impression:

    The layout header is very nice. I like how it's simple, but the textures and complicated font make it more interesting.

    The number one thing that is bugging me the most about your layout is that there isn't nearly enough padding in the columns (the words aren't far enough away from the edges of your columns). Your text needs a little breathing room, so add about 10px of padding.

    Speaking of text, yours is easily readable and the line height is reasonable. Good job. =)

    The navigation has me off a bit. I actually like the idea of having the navigation bar move with you when you scroll (I believe Jess at swimchick.net was the first siteowner I saw use this, so I'm pretty sure she started this trend...Kudos to her). Maybe this type of navigation wasn't the best idea for this layout though. I didn't realize what it was at first; I thought the coding was just a little screwy or something, making the navigation overlap the top of your header image. But then I scrolled down and figured out that it was supposed to look like that. Maybe if you moved the header image down a little so it didn't overlap it would help this problem.

    Your headers should be a little larger, in my opinion. They don't draw enough attention to themselves as it is.

    The only thing you have in your sidebar is a ridiculous amount of affiliates (lulz @ the three Jessicas and 3 Vickys). Maybe it's time for an affie clean-out. Or you could just keep a few of your closest affiliates on the sidebar, and move the rest to a separate page to save space.
    You could add a short auto-bio to the sidebar, and maybe some site stats or layout information.
    Actually, now that I think about it, you don't even state your name anywhere. A full autobiography would be the first thing I'd add if I were you.

    Domain:

    Your affiliates application and contact form are basically the same. Maybe you could have one contact page with a drop-down menu for visitors to choose what to contact you about (apply for affiliates, contact, advertising, etc.).

    Resources:

    Hmm. Not much here...just icon bases (which there aren't very many of and are copyrighted images anyway).

    Tutorials:

    There are only three tutorials here =( They are pretty decent, though. I can see myself using them. You should really add more.

    Well, that's really all there is for me to review. I think your skills are very evident, but you just need to add more to the site to display your talents. There are a few little things in the layout to be tweaked, but the overall appearance is fresh and simple.

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    Victimizes's Response:

    I actually never saw the navigation on swimchick, I saw it in a css tutorial and thought it would be interesting, but yes I have seen it creep up in a few sites I visit.

    I'll do an affiliate cleanout and I'll organise them when I am online next, thanks. :)

    I know there are only three tutorials at present, but it is because I can't be bothered with making all those tutorials that are easy to find on basically any website.

    Thanks :)

  6. [img: avatar]
    OhPanic gave it ****- on 29th Dec 2008 and said:

    Hey Lyndsay! Thought I'd review you :)

    I do love the layout, as I love all of your layouts. However I feel it's kind of dull? Not the header image itself as much, but the CSS. You've only really used one colour for your CSS, I think it would have looked better with more colour, on the headers or the links or something.

    You do have a lot of affiliates, I'd suggest having a 'more' page, and do something with your affiliates with some nice CSS.

    I'm not very keen on the navigation, I like it, but it doesn't look right. When I first come onto your website, the navigation looks like this, screenshot. The layout cuts into the text! I'd move the layout down a bit by adding margin-top : 25px; (maybe increase it more) to your container div.

    You definitely need some padding between your sidebar and content. It's all squashed together! Add padding: 10px; to your content div, that should do it.

    Your XHTML isn't valid, even though you are using a XHTML Strict docotype you are using <BR>, not only is it meant to be lowercase it's actually meant to be <br />. Your XHTML has 37 errors, which you can view here. I'd suggest fixing those, it will help you site work better in all browsers. You can follow a tutorial at tutorial tastic to help you validate it.

    Also your CSS isn't valid, view here. You have 4 errors and 10 warnings. Again, you can follow a tutorial at tutorial tastic to help you validate it.

    On your advertising page you have stated 'I get 100-250 unique hits daily.' But you haven't shown any proof? People may think you are lying!

    I know you are probably more than aware that celebrity images are illegal, I would suggest removing them, for that reason, however that's entirely up to you. Your icon bases are good though!

    I like the fact your tutorials are original and you haven't got loads that are on every other site, so well done there!

    I know you've just got your site back up and I remember how it was before too, so I know what you are capable of. I can't wait to see what you add to the resources and tutorials sections!

    The only reason I have given you 3 and a half stars is because of the coding & CSS not being valid. I took into account the fact you lost all your files, hence why your marking is higher than the previous two reviewers!

    Fix the coding issues, and get some more resources and tutorials up. I'd recommend getting rid of the celebrity images, as other reviewers are harder on that stuff than me. You have a lot of potential and I know you can do it! Hope you found this review some what useful!

    Using MSIE on Windows | Report This?

    Victimizes's Response:

    Thanks for all the coding links, I never realised that my coding was invalid. I know about the 's to be honest I have a mixture of the two from habit before I switched to Word Press. :P
    But I'll be sure to try and fix this.

  7. [img: avatar]
    Greykitty gave it *---- on 29th Dec 2008 and said:

    I have noticed a few sites already with this overlayed navigation, must be the new 'in' thing. I find it a bad idea personally especially here as your layout cuts into the text and I can barely read it. My friend was looking at it too and was all what nav I don't see it and I had to point it out to him. I really suggest incorporating that into your layout design itself.

    I find the padding between your two text collums too small and it makes your font annoying to read. I'd spread it out a bit more add a few pixels. I would also suggest chaning your link colors or bolding them, because at the moment I cannot tell what are links and what aren't until I hover over them with the cursor.

    All the friends to the left is really busy and looks jumbled. I would suggest either removing this and putting your navigation there or using small graphics to represent each person. The best thing I think would be to just make a seperate page that way each person has their own line for the link and it's easier to keep track of who's link you clicked on. As it is now, it just looks messy.

    Otherwise the layout is ok, maybe add some more color to it. Right now it's a bit on the dull side.

    So now moving on to the content!
    Two icon base sets in resources and all they are is movie screencaps. First off it's copyright infringement and second it's unoriginal. Try taking some of your own photos or finding some good stock ones. Make your own textures, you already know how to use photoshop so I'm sure it will be easy enough.

    Tutorials, it's nice that you have them, but this coloring and desaturating tutorial is really hard to follow. There are much easier ways to get that effect and you don't have to mess with numbers. Really don't have anything else to say on that.

    It'd be nice to see a link to your archived blog entries or updates. At first I didn't see the before link. I'd suggest adding a page about you and the site, explain why you made it, how long ago, etc. More tutorials and making them easier to follow would be nice. If you need examples just browse around on google. And coming up with some original textures, buttons and icon bases would be nice.

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    Victimizes's Response:

    I'll try and take everything you said into account. I'll change the nav etc. :)

    I know my current layout is very dull, because my last one was very bright so I thought it would be nice to change.

  8. [img: avatar]
    goodwin gave it ***-- on 29th Dec 2008 and said:

    A nice-looking site - the header image is admirable; you're clearly a "dab hand" when it comes to Photoshop.

    However, I think there could be a bit more space between the two columns. Right now, they're squashed together awkwardly like two whales in a sardine tin. And it's a little bit annoying that the links in the "Friends" list are all "inline", as opposed to each separated in an orderly fashion.

    The title tag... why is the phrase "I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity." in it, in every page? I'm all for a bit of random lyricish mystic stuff, but put it in the footer please... I like the title tag to tell me what page I'm looking at.

    I'm also not keen on the navigation bar. Having it in the same place is a good idea, but make it fully opaque and add a bit more of a top margin to the container div.

    It would be nice if the blog post titles were "permalinks", and also if the header linked to the home page. (For the latter, I suggest something like "CSS Sprites".

    Oh, and I'd suggest backing up your site lots, so you don't lose stuff again.

    Otherwise, good job - I've subscribed to to the feed, which must be a good thing, cause I don't to that to websites I dislike.

    Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

    Victimizes's Response:

    The title is that because I don't know how to change it. But you can see which page you are viewing by the content headers.

    I'll check the other things out you said. :)

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