Mistaken Star has 4 Reviews
Below are the reviews left by other members on Mistaken Star. Jump to review form?
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/Deanna.gif)
Deanna gave it
on 9th Feb 2010 and said:The layout is great. I like how it looks like pastels were used to make it. The website is also nicely organized. Nothing looks out of place.
All of the navigational links came back with errors when I clicked on them which was a big disappointment because I was looking forward to exploring this website.
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iLOVEMILEY gave it
on 25th May 2009 and said:I think it is very good, teh colors seem to blend in well together. The header looks beautiful and it was nicely done, if only the person there was real and mot animated :(
the coloring looks well and ur site is just a beautiful thing. the name is also very unique and creative, i really love it.
the layout is very nice, the coloring scheme is perfect. the content is very good, i enjoyed reading ur blogposts. theyre fantastic and i cn tell u have tons of skill. it worked great on my internet explroer nd google chrome browser.
the only bad thing is that my filter pikced the site up as a malware site. i dont know why :(
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Kiranya's Response:
Hey thanks for your review! :)
What? Malware site? o_o What search filter are you using? Because my Norton, AVG, and Kaspersky filters don't pick up anything. :/
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/katelyn11.jpg)
katelyn11 gave it
on 25th May 2009 and said:Hi Sue! My name is Katelyn, and I'm from Sudden Revelation. I'm very excited about this review being it my first. (Also, my site is down due to some issues with my host's server. However, if you want to contact me about this review, just comment this. )
First Impression
Wow. This layout looks...amazing. It's very original and striking.Site Name
I love it. It's very unique as well. I have a feeling that all of your resources are going to be extraordinary as well.Coding and Validation
I see that in your footer you have links to your valid CSS and XHTML. That shows that you care about your site inside and out. No worries there.Browser Compatibility
Looks great in the major browers.Layout
As I said before, the header image is beautiful and quite unique.Your side bars are well organized. there are two things that I would like to comment on though. 1. I don't think I have seen a separate friends affiliates list. I think that pretty neat. It's great to see that some website owners keep in touch with their best online friends instead of just using them for hits like some do. 2. I'm not quite sure if the background image of the header and the vectors and brushes you used are yours. If they aren't, I personally think that you should link on the side bar who you got those from. However, I'm sure you have them linked on your credit page=)
Content
Site
About Me and About the Site look great. No major grammatical errors=)Terms of Use: I love that you have a terms of use. looks like you've covered everything on it.
Contact Me: Self explanatory. I like the form instead of having just a list of ways to contact.
Advertising, Affiliates, Credits, Link Me: All self explanatory and nicely laid out. (the Link back buttons are adorable!)
Resources
Avatars: Gorgeous! I think I might use one=) the effects you used are amazing.Brushes: It says you made these in your spare time, but wow. They look like you spent forever on them! (The hand drawn flowers are my favorite!)
Vectors: Oh wow. These look amazing. I wish I could make vectors like this. My last ones looked...gross. I am totally loving the way the thumb nails "pop out" instead of opening a new page.
Layouts: They are all nicely done. However, they could be centered. I'm not sure about this though: It looks as if two of them are using celebrity images. Although this is illegal, I believe if proper credit is given to the original photographer, fines can be avoided.
the "Solitude" one us absolutely beautiful!
Stocks: All beautiful! Your photography is excellent!
Reviews Self Explanatory. I love that you have stated
If you’re applying for a review, please be able to handle any criticism. If you’re going to disagree with me no matter what I suggest, then please think twice before you apply.
very important although I am sure people get upset about their reviews.
Final
Sue, you have an amazing site. It definitely shows that you care about yous site. I hope you add more content to the amazing things you have now. I can't wait to see!Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?
Kiranya's Response:
Thanks for your review! :)
Mhm, I agree. I should try and find out where I found the pictures I used. :/ They're old, though, so it'll be hard. But I'll get around to it!&yep. All my credits are on my credits page. No need to worry about that :D
![[img: avatar]](/avatars/Tea.png)
Tea gave it
on 10th May 2009 and said:Hello, I noticed your comment on the tag board, so I thought I'd take the time to review your site. I had wondered the exact same thing when I put my site up and didn't get any reviews for a while, so I know how you feel! Anyhow, I will mainly be reviewing your site on a Mac with a resolution of 1680x1050 and using Firefox 3.0.10.
LAYOUT DESIGN & AESTHETICS:
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I'll be jumping right in (instead of my usual first impressions comments), starting with a few issues, then the areas I like, and finally my overall opinion of the layout design.I noticed right off the bat that your gray tiling pattern does not tile seamlessly at all. In addition to that, the portion that is tiling also doesn't seem like it was tiled well or correctly to begin with. As a result, it looks unbalanced in some areas, squished in others, and choppy as a whole-- all classic syndromes of background tiles gone wrong. As a general note, when choosing things like patterns for a background of any sort, the most important factor is that it tiles well and preferably seamlessly. Otherwise, it can take away the aesthetic appeal rather than add on to it- which is a shame in your case because I think that part of your header would've looked quite nice if a better tile was chosen.
I like that you're using your own vector piece for the header image. It's always nice to see graphic sites try to incorporate their own work into the layout rather than use celeb blends or other people's stuff. The color matches nicely as well. I would, however, highly suggest toning down on the brushes. There's too much going on- swirls, sparkles, brush strokes, florals (not to mention quite a bit of each, all concentrated in one area). As a result, the lady is in danger of being dwarfed by all that brush effect. In other words, she's drowning in the brushes instead of being complemented by them at the moment.
The line of text on the header image: Due to the color, text effects, and the brushes on its background, I can barely make out what it says, and that's after I'm already practically nose-to-screen with my monitor. As a whole, I'm not sure the text is doing any good placed there. It ends up being distracting and out of place, because it doesn't serve well as a design element nor as a text that's readable.
The tiny .com after the Mistakenstar title on the header: I personally feel that this could be omitted completely- either that or make it a real and actual part of the header. Currently, it gives off the impression of being a stray piece that doesn't seem necessary nor does it add to the design. You've made it so small and unnoticeable that I'm wondering why it's even there.
The footer: I'm having conflicting thoughts about your footer. The outline/shadow effect is nice up until it reaches the two ends on each side where the swirls begin. There, it starts to look too blurry and unrefined. I can also see that the cut-out edges are bit jagged instead of being smooth and sharp. It may seem like a minor thing, but to me, it's little details like these that often make or break the quality of a design or graphic piece.
On to the general feel of your layout: I like that you gave a bit of shadow to the gray strip up top- it adds more depth to the overall look of your layout. :) I also like the colors you've chosen for your site. The shades of gray, blue, and white are pleasing to look at, and it grabs enough attention without being overbearing.
I'm not sure I like the way you've set up your sidebar and main content area, as they're not very balanced. Your sidebar has a box of its own, which is a nice shade of blue but it stands out a lot more than your main content area and ends up making the lack of a background/box for your main content area very apparent. That's not to say you need a background for your main content area, but I can't decide if the difference is making your content area look unfinished or bare right now. I'd suggest either toning down the sidebar, give a similar background to the main content area, or don't use a background for your sidebar at all and instead choose to separate the two areas another way.
Looking at your layout as whole, it gives me the impression of being the kind of layout that gives off a general pleasing vibe but is unfortunately falling short of being more than an amateur design. I do think it looks nice, but I also feel that it's lacking the attention to little details that would otherwise tighten up the design significantly. In other words, it has the potential to be more and better than just nice.
I know it may seem like I've nitpicked on a lot of obscure little things in your layout, but to me, it's always the little things that makes big differences. I hope that makes sense. I also admit that I tend to review more extensively on the design when it comes to graphics sites- because it is all that much more important, I think.
SITE & CONTENT PRESENTATION:
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My first thought is that your text size feels a tiny bit too small- likely further contributed by the black against mid-blue tones. Because there isn't a large contrast between the text color and the mid-tone, it sometimes gives off the effect that the text is bit on the small side. Reading a line or two doesn't bother me, but after a while, it becomes a bit tiring.I like that there's a clear division in most areas- like between the sidebar and content area, sidebar sub-sections, your blog's comments, etc. It makes everything cleaner and easier to browse. The listing of sub-pages within your site's sub-sections are pretty straightforward (always a good thing). And finally, I also like that you have sufficient space for your content- definitely a very important thing for a site with graphic content. It wouldn't hurt for the content area to be wider, but it's fine the way it is as well.
A few miscellaneous things to note:
- Might I suggest changing the way you've styled the titles of your sub-pages? Specifically how you've made the first letter dark blue and the rest of the letters light beige. First off, the blue is too dark and the shade too similar to the background blue. Second, the contrast between the first letter an the rest of the letters is too much. As a result, when I look at the titles, the first letter is practically fading from attention- so much so that instead of reading "RULES" and "CRITERIA"... I'm seeing "ULES" and "RITERIA" before I have to backtrack and make a point to focus on the almost-lost first letter. Simply having it all light beige would work out better, I think.
- Personally, I think you've got too many colors going on for your text. Or perhaps it's giving this impression because each of these colors are jumping out and contrast from each other too much, further affected by the different styling and font you're using. For example, looking at your "Reviews" section, I see disjointed subheadings (mentioned in the previous point) that has a reddish brown bottom border, light beige italics text in a different font, super bright and bold white text, and light blue links that's quite popping... all of them against the darkness of the general text color. The final effect looks cluttered and distracting- it's like they're competing against each other and it's also overshadowing your main text, making it even more difficult to read. I would suggest keeping it simple, choose styles and colors that is easily noticed without being overbearing.
- You already have a "Vote for me" section and button on the sidebar... the fact that you've added it to the top of your past 3 blog updates seems redundant, especially when I don't even have to move my eyes to see both buttons within close proximity. It can also be a bit of a turnoff, as it gives the impression of begging repeatedly.
- I would've liked a bit of space between each Twitter update and less contrast between the links color and the normal text color. Also, links on the actual update appears larger than the normal text... which is also larger than the link of the time posted. Is there a reason for 3 different sizes here?
- The link colors for your affiliates is yet again different from the other links on your sidebar. As I've already gone into my thoughts about text differences on your main content area, I'll just leave it at this: Keeping things uniform goes a long way in making things look neater and cleaner, not to mention easier to browse.
Overall, your content is organized fairly well, so it's a shame the presentation is taking away from that. You have your sections divided up clearly and nicely... but the actual content is over-complicated by certain choices you've made and the way you're currently styling them.
USER FRIENDLINESS:
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I tend to think that content presentation and user friendliness goes hand in hand, and one usually affects the other. What I'm trying to say is that the issues I've mentioned previously is all impacting the user friendliness of your site to a certain extent. The following are additional things I've found that could make your site friendlier to visitors if addressed.First, I like that your main navigation links are easy to spot and pretty straightforward in that I don't have to guess what each section contains (with maybe the exception of "Reviews"). I do, however, wish the main navigation links were more easily accessible, perhaps also included on the sidebar. This is mostly due to the fact that the links are located at the very far top of your page... so after the header graphic and the content I'm browsing, it just isn't as friendly to have to scroll all the way to the top every single time to access or see what else you have.
I noticed that you make a lot of your links pop up in a new window. It's my personal belief that unless you really have a good reason for doing so, avoid it as much as possible. Leave it up to your visitor to choose if they want to open things in a new window. I browse with a lot of tabs open as it is, so it becomes very annoying when I have to keep closing the new ones that your site is forcing me to open.
Contact forms- I'm a firm believer in making your email address available if you plan on using contact forms, especially if it's important to you that all visitors will be able to reach you when they need to. In my experience, contact forms don't always work and they don't always work right for everyone either. Furthermore, I've also met some people who simply don't like using forms because they prefer to have a copy of their emails in their own outbox. For the above reasons and a few others, it's always more user friendly to over both choices for your visitors.
Hovering over your links, I noticed you switched the hover hand pointer to the same default arrow for when links are hovered over- not very user friendly in terms of spotting links. Sure, you've got different colors for links, but sometimes different colors aren't necessarily links (especially in your case because you're using many different colors as it is) so having the hand becomes very useful- not to mention the fact that this is also useful for when I'm hovering over an image. For example, I wouldn't have known I could click on your vector art thumbnails had I not noticed via my status bar on the bottom that they're linked. At a glance, I thought you only had the option to "download" but not to view larger. Having the default hand would solve that problem.
Avatars page- I know you don't have a lot of them right now, so this won't seem like an issue at the moment. However, if and when you start adding a bit more, I would suggest you to break them down in different categories. Currently, you have everything from nature, random celebs, anime, text, stock, and even what appears to 100x100 light textures all lumped together. As it stands, it'd be nice to at least break it down in mini-sections within the same page or something. For a personal site, having avatars randomly listed out is fine... but for a graphics site, I expect to see friendlier organization in what you're offering me as a visitor.
Additional miscellaneous notes:
- Honestly, I'm a bit confused about what "ads" are. From what you've stated on the advertisements page, it's really just a link exchange where you rotate the buttons on the sidebar, isn't it? Recently, I've started to see this trend pop up where they're being called "ads" which I always found strange and deceiving. Ads, in general, isn't a welcome thing to be found on websites. Seeing how these links aren't ads (thankfully) and people generally don't like ads to begin with, why name it as such? Calling it "button rotation", "links", or even "links exchange" would make me more inclined to apply or even to click on said links.
- Some of your layout graphics are HUGE. 500 to 600+ KB just for the header image size is really much too big. Not only does it lag noticeably in loading time, it's also not bandwidth friendly. There's no need for them to be that big... I'm sure you could save them in lower file sizes without compromising the image quality. And by the way, your site layout is smaller in size... but I do think it can also afford to be saved in a reduced file size.
FINAL NOTES:
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I'm going to pass on commenting about the coding, seeing as it's validated and appears to be working fine. Otherwise, my review would become endless. Plenty of other reviewers on this site are more qualified than me to give great advice on the coding, so I shall pass the torch to them and spare you the agony of reading more of this long review!!To sum everything up, I think your site has a lot of potential and room for growth, as well as improvement. There isn't enough content at the moment, but every site has its beginning so I'm not concerned about that. I'm always interested in seeing original graphics site pop up, so I would probably be back to visit again from time to time. I think the main problem I had with your site was a combination of a lot of little miscellaneous issues and details. With a few changes here and there, I think your site would be on its way to a great start.
I look forward to seeing what you'll add in the future, and I hope this review has been helpful.
UPDATED 06 May 09:
You're very welcome. :)Regarding the colors, I had a feeling I was being too careless in categorizing them as light beige and reddish brown. Upon closer inspection, I'm guessing they're supposed to be shades of warm gray? Warm gray carry brown tones in them, hence my previous classification of said colors. They're simply appearing more so when said colors are in smaller bodies and also against the blue. By itself and in larger chunks, I'm guessing the colors appear more true to what they're supposed to be.
As for optimizing your images- may I ask how you're currently saving them? I'm going to assume that you use Photoshop since that's credited on your credits page. Choosing the option to save for web instead of the regular save would do wonders. From there, you can choose the image quality... which would give you a range in percentage or something like "medium", "high", "very high" "maximum", etc. The file sizes can vary significantly depending on which one you choose. Pick the best one that has a decent size without compromising your design quality. You shouldn't need to go for maximum, and in most cases, downgrading from "very high" to just "high" shouldn't significantly affect the quality either.
And finally, the links- from what I had noticed, it was mostly your external links that was giving me new windows/tabs. Other than that, off the top of my head, the preview images for your layouts are also opening in new windows. I didn't, of course, click on every single link on your site, so I can't say for sure if there are more elsewhere that I simply didn't notice.
Anyhow, I hope this has helped. :) I'm just relieved you didn't take offense in my review. I realize that I can sometimes be rather critical. :p
UPDATED 07 May 09:
Hiya, I'm going to respond to your two other questions here too since it seems easier to reference what I say, etc.In regards to the Twitter updates- I personally haven't tried incorporating the code and javascript so I may be wrong here, but I took a quick look just now and saw that the code comes with ids and classes. You should be able to use those to style your twitters. You wouldn't need to edit the actual code that's provided. Again, I may be misunderstanding the issue here, but you can give it a try to see if that works?
As for the changed portion of your content area, I think it certainly looks neater and more balanced now. :) It actually also helped make your text look cleaner too, with the body text color change on top of the edits you've made. My only suggestion here might be to give a little more space between the main content area and the sidebar so that it doesn't feel so cramped there. Widening the whole area to give a bit more room (doesn't have to be much) to the main content area would be nice too.
On another note, I think you might want to stop your header image from repeating. Currently, it's doing a little peekaboo and I can see the top of her head plus a few bits of brushes poking out from under your container for the sidebar and main content area.
I noticed the change in the tiling pattern up top- definitely much smoother now. :) And this is something I didn't mention in my review, but I'm happy you changed the orange + bookmarking icon to what you have now. Previously, I have to admit it was looking out of place and also lagged a bit when I hovered over it. :p
UPDATED 10 May 09:
Regarding the header repeating, I'm not sure what happened but it's not doing that anymore now. Previously, I could see the top portion of the graphic repeating and poking out from under your main content box. Maybe it was a glitch of some sort that day. :pAnyhow, I just wanted to add that I went back to look at your site again... and I'm really liking it better after the changes you've made. I hope you do too though. And by the way, I also liked that you added a bit of info about yourself on the sidebar too instead of starting it off with a "vote for me"... it's much more welcoming and personal this way. :)
Out of curiosity, the gray strip you have for the background of your main navigation links up top -- is there a reason why you left a little padding/margin on both sides instead of having it stretch to the edges? Just something I noticed because the 2nd strip behind your layout graphic actually does stretch all the way.
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Kiranya's Response:
Thanks so much for being the first person to review my site. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have known what to change from there.
Might I ask what your color setting is? I'm hearing beige and reddish-brown, but I'm not seeing those colors. :\ and, what file extensions would you suggest to make layout images a smaller size? I've been saving as .jpeg optimized and .png.
I'm going to make those changes you suggested! thanks again. :)
UPDATED 06 May 09:
Oh and also! I'm wondering which links are opening in new windows? I have a plugin installed that would open external links in new tabs/windows, but I'm not sure where some flaws are located.UPDATED 07 May 09:
Okay, I'll make the content box a bit wider. :) I'm going to try and figure something out with the twitter updates.The header image is repeating? o_o That's odd. Where exactly is it poking out of? It's only in one div by itself.
Of course I didn't take any offense in your review. There's no reason why I should. :)
UPDATED 11 May 09:
Oh, the reason for the extra padding/margin around the navigation box was that it I couldn't figure out how to stretch it all the way across on IE, so I figured I'd make it look all the same in other browsers as well. :D
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