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Simply Jic has 5 Reviews

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1. 

   Cindy gave it on 8th Mar 2009 and said:

   Hey, I'm Cindy and I'll be reviewing your site. I use Firefox with a 1280x800 resolution on Vista. :)
   -------------------------
   LAYOUT:

   Normally I'm not a huge fan of swirly brushes in bright colors, but I think that's because most people combine those with equally bright background and text, thus creating an eyesore. I'm glad that you avoided this, because you've got this nice blast of color that against a grey background. And I love the swirl on the sidebar.

   However, I feel that the black trees/brushwork behind the top purple/blue swirl are a bit distracting. The main swirl is great on its own, and I think that your site might look a bit cleaner without it.

   One thing about the background: notice how you have this soft, cloud-like grey pattern from the very top, and then you can see this abrupt change into a darker grey color. A smoother transition from the softer clouds to the solid grey would tie the whole background together instead of having it look disconnected. I'm also not sure about the bottom gradient from grey to black, because I don't think it really adds anything special to your layout.

   For the "Simply Jic" on your layout, the font choice is fine but the spacing between i and c in Jic is odd. Right now, i and c are squished together so that you can barely make out the i. I'm not sure if this was meant to be stylistic, but it's confusing to read.

   Good call on using a clean navigation bar at the top. The one thing I would change is the position of the RSS logo. It looks odd standing placed at the right, while you've got all the other links on the left. I'd suggest putting it on the left with the rest of the links so it's more noticeable to the eye.

   On the sidebar, I don't really like how "Simply Jic" is placed on the photo under "Yours Truly". It's a great photo, so why place the site title directly above it? The viewer should already know by know that this is Simply Jic without having to look at a photo of you. Also, one thing to consider is that the viewer may not know that the photo links to the Designer section. A short teaser about yourself with a text link may help the viewer in this regard.

   Also with the sidebar, make sure there's a big enough margin/padding between your Twitter status and the main swirl. Right now, the Twitter text is really, really close to your swirl; a bit of space will make the layout look less cramped.

   CONTENT:
   Designer: Just a couple grammatical things to fix:
   - "which a lot of my friends doesn’t know until probably 2 years until after they have met me" should be "which a lot of my friends don't know until about 2 years after they've met me."
   - "But it’s hard because my hands never blocks the ball." should be "It's hard beacuse my hands never block the ball."
   - "As more music" should be "As for music,".
   - "there’s a lot of things about yourself" should be "there are a lot of things about yourself"

   A suggestion would be to have the sidebar photo in this section instead of the sidebar, because a photo in the actual section gives the viewer a visual sense of who you are. Also, a photo on the sidebar doesn't necessarily let the viewer know that there's a link, as opposed to using teaser text.

   Works: Again, more grammatical details:
   - ", and of course there is more." to ", and much more."
   - "BudzList is a social network site where people come together that has one main thing in common, and that is marijuana" to "BudzList is a social networking site where people come together with one main thing in common: marijuana."
   - "I created a simple fluid flash header for the homepage, with several images fading in and out, Last image stays static." to "I created a simple fluid flash header for the homepage, with fading images and a static final image."
   - "I troubleshoot cross-compatibility issues" to "I troubleshot cross-compability issues" OR "I had to troubleshoot cross-compatibility issues"

   Try to space out your different works more. That is, try to prevent your Works page from looking like a mere listing of text and a thumbnail image. Otherwise, it'll look as if you're trying to cram a bunch of information. Consider using dividers to make this page appear cleaner and applying more margins/padding under each entry.

   I'd advise against explicitly mentioning any browser compatibility problems, especially since this page is functioning as your portfolio. You shouldn't bring to attention any problems that you run into as a designer; otherwise, potential clients might be a bit more hesitant if they see that you've run into "browser compatibility issues due to positioning of elements and PNG transparency fixes" Focus more on your strengths, as opposed to stating your weaknesses. This is your site after all --- show off your abilities!

   Contact: Nothing wrong with your actual contact form, but the page itself is very bare. As a designer and a blogger, you want to come across as personable. You do a good job with this in your Designer page; I can get a good sense of your personality. However, even with your contact page, you still want to come across as approachable and friendly. Keep the form you have, but consider adding clear contact details, such as a link to your email, your Twitter, etc.

   CODING:
   XHTML: In any unordered list ul, you HAVE to enclose every element with li. Your on the sidebar does not follow this, so be sure to enclose that div with the li tags.

   Again, with your Twitter -- enclose it in li tags.

   CSS: -moz-border-radius: 3px;
-khtml-border-radius: 3px;
-webkit-border-radius: 3px;
border-radius: 3px;

   Check your .wp-caption. Those elements do not exist in valid CSS.

   CONCLUSION:
   I see definite potential here, but be careful about details on your site; they're just as integral to your overall site! This is "Simply Jic", so it's obviously a site about you. Infuse the same personality in your Designer page into the entire content. If it's a site all about you, let the reader get that impression through your presentation. Also, I highly recommend that you check out this article: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/04/creating-a-successful-online-portfolio/ , which is a great resource for anybody looking to make their portfolio stand out. Good luck!

   Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

2. 

   aeris gave it on 6th Mar 2009 and said:

   (using: Opera & Firefox, 22" monitor with a resolution of 1680x1050, 1Mb wireless connection)

   Visual (3/5)
   First, let me just say that I like your site. But compared to the ones in your portfolio, it doesn't look as smooth. I think the biggest reason is that contrast between content box and background is too sharp. It doesn't make people feel comfortable reading a blog. I'm not a fan of the script font either. The swirls look nice, but there are too many of them below content box and the background doesn't compliment them. Or tile, so it looks like this on my monitor
   The feed button is jaggy and looks out of place in the top right corner. Nothing major, but even little things like that add to the overall look.

   Content (3,5/5)
   I prefer quality over quantity. So I'm not going to tell you to throw something together just for the sake of it. But because you have something worth seeing, of course we'd like to see more.

   Coding (3/5)
   A few errors, shouldn't be hard to fix.

   Using Opera on Windows | Report This?

   simplyjic's Response:

   I'm not going to do anything about the content, why? because it's mainly a blog. Where I just feel like ranting. :)

   But in the near future (hopefully) I'll add photography, drawings, paintings I've done.

   The invalid coding is from a plugin for wordpress and twitter. I changed other things to minimize errors. But I don't want to change the rest because I don't to plugin and twitter to not work.

3. 

   Greykitty gave it on 6th Mar 2009 and said:

   Layout

   Right of the bat I don't like your navigation. It's too far up on the page and I almost missed it. I would move this down into the actual layout, either right above the white content box or just inside it at the very top. It will look nice and I would suggest making it some kind of spiffy css navigation.

   The title on your site is WAY too dark compared to everything else, you should consider making it bright and light like the other graphics you have overlapping your content box. Aside from those two things I like your layout. The colors are lovely, two of my favs, and I really like how you have a vine type thing wrapping around the content box. It's neat.

   Your font is a good size, huzzah! The side bar isn't all that cluttered, so nice job there...I really don't have much else to say about the layout. I like it. :D

   Your coding isn't too bad but you do have a few small errors in the validator you may want to check out.

   Content

   Designer - Yay she has lots of text content here, boo nothing to break it up. Large blocks of text like this are sometimes a bit off putting to your viewer as most people prefer to browse a site and it's eye candy rather than reading everything right off the bat. I would suggest breaking up your paragraphs with some kind of graphic, whether it be a spacer or just a couple photos of you or photos of the place you live, a pet, anything.
   Aside from that your about page is nice, it's full o' info and I have but one suggestion, add some info about your opinions and beliefs. Sometime's it gives the viewer a better picture of who you are. Especially since this a personal site.

   Portfolio - Nice! I'm impressed by the sites you have worked on. I would really love to see any other things you do, drawing, writing, photography. Please do post this! I think it's really important to show off more of what you do for not only prospective employers but also to give the visitor more stuff to look at.

   The Blog - You blog fairly often, this is great, and you have fairly interesting blogs, though from what I have browsed through you normally just blog about everyday events, might I suggest tossing in other things? Like reviews, opinions on current going ons in the world, or anything like that. It will really add spice to your blog and draw in readers as they will have more they can comment on. Maybe get into a Friday Five type thing.

   Overall

   I liked your site, but I felt it was a little too bare. It has huge potential though. I think if you were to add more of the things you do, ie drawing, photos, etc this would help improve your content immensely and also adding more about yourself, like your career, your beliefs etc. Your site left me hungry for more is the best way I can put it.

   Using Safari on Windows | Report This?

   simplyjic's Response:

   Thanks for the comments.

4. 

   Theresa gave it on 6th Mar 2009 and said:

   First Impression/Aesthetics: I was (almost) awestruck when I saw your layout. Being a fellow girl, I absolutely LOVE the purple and blue colors blended together. Very beautiful colors. I also love your choice to put these colors in front of a dark background, it makes them pop and gives your site a feel of elegance.
   I do find that your main text is a bit on the small side for my taste but it's clearly visible on my monitor, so I can't talk too much smack on it.
   I do find that your menu is a bit on the boring side. The rest of your site is so pretty and well laid out, but your menu is sitting at the top almost incognito with no style or flare. Like a shy teenager at his first school dance.

   The Code: You may see a lot of people analyze your HTML and CSS codes, and I am NOT going to do that. I glanced at you HTML, it looks clean and you only have a few warnings, nothing too serious. Your CSS has a few error, once again, nothing serious, just your hacks. I do want to add something to what Natalie said about your coding needing to be valid for it to behave properly, that's not true. You can have completely "valid" code and it still show up jacked up on someones computer.

   Designer: This section shows your personality a bit, just by the choice of words. You tell us some information in a not so typical way, I like it. You've given enough information for me.

   My Work: I find your designs nice, clean. Pretty easy on the eyes and always professional.

   There's not a whole lot here but it's a personal blog mainly, it seems, which IS the content. I find that you've done very well but the lack of content didn't leave me hanging out very long.

   Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

   simplyjic's Response:

   I left the navigation only because it seemed right to put it there. And if a navigation is going to be on the top, I don't need it to have style and flare. The attention should go to the blogging area.

   I didn't want to put the navigation close to the banner because I don't want it getting lost.

   Thanks for your comment :)

5. 

   Natalie gave it on 6th Mar 2009 and said:

   Hello there. I'm Natalie and I will be reviewing your site today. I guess you probably already know that. Anwho, just letting you know, that I will try to only use constructive critiscism if it's nessessary ;)

   First Looks - Although, I try not to judge a book by it's cover, I must say that you layout of your site looks quite nice and professional, however the only thing that is letting you down is the fact that your normal text is quite small, so I may need my reading glasses.

   Coding & it's originality etc. - Evidently, your not into validation. I do not mind this, as your site seems functional to me. However, this may not be the case for many other viewers, that is why it's best to try to make your site as valid as you can, so that it would work for other browsers, this is a handy link if you want to consider validation, but that is fine if you don't. As for your originality, I have seen this style of layout for a blog before, but you have worked it well.

   Designer - Not much here, but then there does not really need to be. Maybe you should include some of your hobbies. Do you play sport? Do you like music? - What types? Do you like singing/dancing? Do have some abstract habit? I love to know about the person who I review, it sort of gives me a better insight, so perhaps include more, other than what you have now.

   Works - I see this is portfolio. Perhaps you sould label it that, becuase I was confused, but that was probably just my idiocy showing again. I like the designs you have used for the other websites you have designed / created, but why not just use links instead of screenshots. Unless of course those sites have closed, which would be a shame, as I and many others would probably like to see them.

   Message - I really don't think I can review this page, so I don't know why I have even mentioned it.

   Archives - Personally, I don't have much time at the moment, so I won't read these, but I must say, they have been organised well.

   Overall - Wow, this is going to be a short review... But overall, you own a very cute site and all I recommend for you to do is just to work on a bit of your coding and adding a few more things here and there. I'll pop by occasionally, and maybe I will update this review when I do. It will be interesting to see what your website looks like in the future and how you take your designs to a whole new level. Oh and I have just noticed, visitors have no ther way but text links to link you by. Why don't you add a link button or two? Alright, you get a hardy 3.5 stars, and that may go higher in the future if you continue to improve.

   Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

   simplyjic's Response:

   Even if a site was validated correctly, sometimes it doesn't look right on other browsers. I know my cross compatibility issues because I've done jobs where I needed to. There's a proper way of coding. And there's an acceptable way of coding. To make a site look perfect in IE7 IE6 and FireFox I needed to use conditionals not to validate my code.

   Works? What else would you think would go under works?

   I changed the font size to a pt bigger.

   What I have is what I have. It's a blogging site pretty much. I don't have time to do anything else to this. If I had time, I'd add so much.

   Thanks for your comments. :)

   UPDATED 06 Mar 09:
   There are links to the websites. Click the name of the website.

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