(Rated by 6 people, viewed by 140 people)
void-star.net has 6 Reviews
Below are the reviews left by other members on void-star.net. Jump to review form?
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/Mimi.jpg)
Mimi gave it
on 22nd Nov 2008 and said:Reviewed with:
Mozilla Firefox 3.0.4 | 1440 x 900 Resolution| Windows Vista
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------First Impression:
I am going to honest when I say at first glance, I thought it was going to be a horrid Neopets site. However, I took another look and felt like a complete idiot for thinking that in the first place. *bonks head* I feel as though my childhood days on the internet were branded by Neopets and anytime I see an animal CG I automatically think "Neopets, zomg". I wish I could get that crap-assumption out of my head!
So after I realized that was a stupid error on my part, I thought the setup looked pretty nice. I like how you have the sketch behind the colored image, and I am assuming it's some art of yours which makes it even better.
The whole (censoring myself so the site passes filters) "Eff. Effetty eff eff EFF" thing in the title bar made me choke from laughter whilst drinking my soda. X)
Coding:
Your site passes as XHTML 1.0 Strict but there are 3 errors and 7 warnings for the CSS, in case you are interested in fixing that. One of the errors is just that a 0px was accidentally switched to be 0xp so it's nothing really major. You also passed as HTML tidy in case this is of interest to you as well.
I am not quite sure what this "Membership" thing is about but it seems as though (correct me if I am wrong, of course) you have written it yourself? I read your response to a review below this one about why you don't use Wordpress. See now, I envy that.
Seeing as though you are going through a major over-haul (according to your blog) I won't make this one of my famous 1000 word reviews since you are changing it right now anyway. I think I will just point out little things that might be held in consideration for future designs?
Design:
- I agree that the character's colors don't really match the layout scheme at all (save for the cape) and I saw a couple of other drawings that would have fit it much better.
- I think the diagonal stripes around the layout are a bit out of place simply because the rest of the layout is so smooth that the hard, pixel edges seem to stand out.
- I love love and LOVE your art. My one gripe is that when you click to see the full-view, if the picture is bigger than the width of the layout, it just continues to go over the layout on the right side.
- I think the external link image is a bit big, it sort of demands your attention to these links which kinda sucks because if they are external it means people are drawn to see things that take them away from the site. :(
- I know Aisling pointed out the bottom text being a bit too pale and matching the links, but I wanted to agree with that.
Over all it seems you have a great sense of aesthetics (Well, duh,you are kind of an artist after all) and it shows on your site. I did read into your fanlistings page simply because I have never seen anyone go into detail as to why they joined certain fanslistings and found out that you have indeed written the nice codes for your site. That is very awesome indeed.
Content:
Uber art, uber system. I am confused still as to what the point is for joining or if it's just to keep track of things? There is a lot to read and you have some nice art.
Going to keep this short and sweet, though.
Final Thoughts:
You seem very interesting but also very smart and confident, which those are the people I initially shy away from on the internet simply because I feel weak in their "glory". :P However, I shall most likely continue to stalk your progress from afar and come in and comment when feeling especially brave. :3 Sorry for the pretty lame review but I just don't really see the point in me tearing apart a layout that's going to be overhauled so soon, ya know? :) I hope my little nuggets on information made you laugh at least.
Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?
Dee's Response:
Thank you for the kind review! I figure I should answer a couple of things, so...
1) The HTML and CSS errors... yeah. The typo is a bit "d'oh", but the layout isn't going to survive the migration, so for the moment I'll live with them.
2) The sk.log CMS that v-s.net uses (not for much longer; hur hur) was started wa-aa-ay back in 2001, when the I guess you'd say tropes of what a blog "should" have weren't yet established. The memberlist comes from that; earlier versions of sk.log even had things like a forum before it occurred to me how stupid that was. It's just kind of... stuck around from version to version, for no real reason other than as linkbait for registered users. :P
3) The title image was originally going to rotate through a selection of different pictures. As it turns out, I did Ulfrun first then never got around to expanding on the idea. D'oh. So, yeah. I was kinda originally relying on the rotating image to take people's minds off the fact that the colours aren't 100% harmonious.
4) Everyone is so mean to my too-pale text. Sniff. Maybe I don't WANT you to read it! Hah!
5) I stole the fanlisting page idea off someone else. I mention it there, but I feel like pointing it out again so people don't start thinking I was in any way, like, original (burr!) or something.
6) Feel free to drop by any time! I'm pretty boring, though. I hope you like posts about PHP, Lex Luthor and crappy sketches... ^^"
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/Aisling.jpg)
Aisling gave it
on 9th Nov 2008 and said:I reviewed your site on ys.nu way back in the day, and... well, on a first glance basis, it seems that nothing has changed! Quite simply, I don't know how you don't get bored, as I grow tired of my own designs often before I even put them up! Perhaps you have more patience than I do. I would love to see something new from you. My last review was written around the end of 2007, and it's now the end of 2008.
The art is still interesting, but the main text on the site is tiny. I can still read it, but with particularly long entries, I do begin to feel a bit of strain. The links seem very light as well. I can't easily read them, so I often find myself skipping over them. I also have no clue what your footer says because it is tiny and in the same colour as the links.
Your biography still flows nicely. Your list of ways to contact you all over the Internet is pretty handy, although I would have no idea where to begin. Oh, look, something new! Twitter updates!
Onto the Site side, your articles are still awesome, your made-up FAQs are still relevant.
Honestly, your site is still really well done and organized, but the fact that virtually nothing has changed or evolved in a year is sort of upsetting. You have so much content built up, but that doesn't mean it needs to stay the same. I don't know if you're just too busy to update, or can't be bothered, and really that is your business. I just know that I, and probably others who have visited your site over the past year, would enjoy a change by now! I would like to see more of what you can do!
Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?
Dee's Response:
Yeah, in between being a Really Real Adult with a 9-to-5 job (nowadays more like a 9-to-7 job), looking after my husband, looking after my house, reading porn, writing porn, trying to get a publishing deal for my book, reading more porn, drawing, playing WoW and reading porn, v-s.net only gets a look-in once every couple of months. It's slow going.
Actually, there's been a truckload of work done on the site over the last year but it's all been in the back end. I'm not a designer -- I honestly hate designing websites -- but tinkering in sk.log's PHP keeps me happy.
... I just kinda forget that no-one other than me actually sees that. Oh well. My genius, once again, goes unnoticed.
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/belinda.gif)
belinda gave it
on 9th Nov 2008 and said:I like Ulfrun, then again all my RL friends who play WoW are kinda obsessed with the Horde, so I hear a lot about trolls and what not. :P I've always been super impressed that you coded your whole CMS from scratch. The member section is handy for frequent commenters like me. :D I think my favourite aspect is how the comments are laid out and nested with ease; reminds me of LJ and it just looks so... efficient. It's difficult to emulate with wordpress (for me anyway) the existing plugin, to my knowledge, is unwieldy and breaks easily. My only recommendation is to place a link near the actual comment box to the log.code page; because you don't use standard HTML, people won't know what log.code is without going to the site section. Sure they can turn it off, but I think it's on by default?
Content-wise, there's a solid amount of content in your blog, with all the requisite site information, personal information etc. You've got a lot of non-personal content on other sites anyway. Like most blogs, the meat of the site are the entries, and I've always been a fan of the things you write. You write maturely and about things that I'm interested in and happen to agree with a lot of the time. That's completely subjective I guess though. 5 stars from a fan. :)
Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?
Dee's Response:
*High-fives!*
You kow fan opinions are the only ones that really count, right? ;)
memorylast gave it
on 8th Nov 2008 and said:/*------------------------------------------------*/
Reviewed Using : Mozilla Firefox
Screen Resolution : 1280x1024
Platform : Windows Vista
/*------------------------------------------------*/--- FIRST IMPRESSION ---
I don't know why your site takes a long time to load for me, it took around 10 seconds for it to completely load. When I first saw the layout, I guess it wasn't something that really blew me away. But your site seems to be pretty well organized.--- LAYOUT ---
I'm not too fond of the layout. The CSS looks okay, but it's not something that's exactly very interesting or different from other CSS. The header image pretty much ruined it all. The design of the whole thing just isn't too aesthetically pleasing from my end. I mean, the concept could have been better. And I don't think the diagonal lines in the background really works. I liked how your navigation showed that arrow when you hover. However, I'd suggest making the link of the box fit the navigation box, because if I click a little higher, it doesn't work. I have to precisely click the link.--- ABOUT ---
You included a little information about yourself, it's not too in depth but it still explains enough and helps the visitor understand more about you. Your artwork was amazing, you're talented at art (: When it comes to the whole About section, I think you should make it a whole page instead of links to separate pages. I don't know why your site takes quite a long time to load each page, so I had to wait for each page in your About section to load which I'm not patient enough to do. Even if it does load fast, I'd prefer it if all the information was all on one page instead. Or instead, you could make it like when you click the link, it expands and shows the information.--- SITE ---
When it said Site, I thought it would be about your site rather than the content I found in there. That's a little confusing since there are Articles inside. But anyway, your Articles are quite interesting to read. I like your writing style. And most of your articles are original, since they don't appear on every site.--- OVERALL ---
It was quite good, based on an aesthetic sense, I suppose you could have done better with the whole thing. Not just with the header but the CSS as well. I'm sure you're capable of doing better than that. As for the content, I thought that it was good, some of them were interesting. I liked your writing style, it made me interested in reading some of them. Your pages took a really long time to load, I don't know if it's just me. I'm personally lack the patience of waiting. Other than that, overall I could say you have an okay site, hence the three.Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?
Dee's Response:
It's interesting you mention the page load time. It... is and isn't just you. There's quite a bit of bulk in the back-end code; the .htaccess file takes a million years to parse out, for starters, and the site's hooks into Project Honeypot (it's an anti-spam RBL) slow it down considerably.
It's bloat coding, really, and it's one of those, "Blah blah why don't you use WordPress like everyone else?" things. Well, because I'd have to write a whole slew of plug-ins to get the site working right, that's why.
And I'm too lazy.
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/Yos.jpg)
Yos gave it
on 8th Nov 2008 and said:First Impression: Awesome color combinations and A MONSTER!?
Header: Your drawings, are amazing, I'm a big fan of your illustrations. But out of all your amazing drawings, why'd you choose the purple creature? I like that drawing, but I do think that it is a poor choice as the header. The purple color of the monster doesn't really fit the cozy green look.
Background: Those stripes bugs me, I think it would look better to remove it, or look for another pattern, but that's just my opinion.
Navigation Bar: Your navigation bar looks awesome to me, especially the metallic feel it has, and those little arrows is a nice touch.
Container: I really like the whole look of your container, it's very unique, easy to navigate around, and it fits with the fact that you write big long posts. The choice of colors are wonderful, very easy on the eyes.
Footer: I actually wonder why you had to have a super-light pastel green to be the font color for your footer, it doesn't really balance out the whole soothing green look. And I can't really read it, a darker color for the font would be nice.
Overall: I really like your layout, the content is great, and I'm a huge fan of your illustrations!!! But my review just concludes some stuff that has been bugging me for quite a while since the first time I visited your site.
UPDATED 08 Nov 08:
Edit: oh, and I have a question about something that has been bugging me for a long time. Why do you have a capsule for your favicon image?Using Safari on Windows | Report This?
Dee's Response:
No-one likes Ulfrun; so sad. She not a "purple creature", she's my Troll shaman in World of Warcraft. ;_;
To be honest, the header image was originally going to rotate through a bunch of different art. I just... never got around to making any more images. o_O
The pill as the favicon comes from about a zillion years ago when such things were cool. It's probably best not to ask, really.
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/Annen.jpg)
Annen gave it
on 7th Nov 2008 and said:For starters: I'll be reviewing you with IE 7.0 :)
First impression:
Uhh, looks cosy. I scrolle down to read your blog while the image was loading, then I scrolled up to see your header, and I was sort of dissapointed. The colours of the background, the style o the css and all just indicated a more proffesionalheader image. I think you should make some more interesting; I like your drawings though, it's just the whole set-up of the image thatmakes it less interesting. Hmm, did you make those? They're really good :P I guess I'll find out once I reach the content ;DLayout: I've already told my honest opinion about your header, and I mentioned the rest of your layout. I'll make it more clear to you, how much I like the css, though. Mostly the menu. It's so cool :) The striped frame around the content box is really nice. It's original, and it still discrete. The rounded corners just adds the final touch. Way to go, girl! :b
Content: Ehm, In started out by trying to find out, who actually managed the site. I failed at first :o Because your descriptions were so long, I didn't realise the headline was clickable. Hmm, not good, because you've done some quite good content, and it's such a shame if anybody missed it ;) Oh, so you DID make the drawings. God, I'd die to be an artist like you! :D Look over most other sites. Really nice (: You're qite organized, and I'm SO into that! (:
Final words: You should keep up the good work, work on a more interesting header, because from your art I can tell your header could be cooler :I
Unable to detect browser/operating system | Report This?
Write Your Own Review
Leave your feedback for void-star.net 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.