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In the Rain has 7 Reviews

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

Sillyish gave it on 26th Jul 2010 and said:
OKAY.

I am going to try to sit down and write this review and finish it, because I SWEAR I have started it like three times and then.... I don't know. It's hard. BUT. I have a nasty sunburn now and can't go out to enjoy the nice weather so I might as well stop reloading my website stat page over and over and instead do something mildly productive.

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LAYOUT
I'm going to preface this by saying that I pretty much never really LOVE layouts that are dark. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but even on the most beautiful websites in the world, if I'm reading a blog on a dark background, it just bothers me. I feel like I shouldn't take marks off for something that is so clearly an issue of personal taste, but I have to say it anyway. I think it's a mixture of readability (don't ask why, I don't have a good scientific explanation...) and also this feeling of suffocation. I like open space on a website. And dark colours feel closed in.

So. Moving on to more important things that aren't as much of a personal taste issue. (oo! by the way, I just visited your main domain page and I really like how you revamped it. Looks much nicer than the old look. Also: Nice use of CSS hovers!!! :-D )

Agh. Layout. Back on track here.
Your site relies heavily on typography - there's not a lot of graphics, and the navigation/header text make up the main part of the 'graphical' element, which isn't that graphical at all. I'm all for simplicity, but I think something here needs to be spruced up a little. I think it might be because the body's background image is quite busy, but then the nav/header text is quite simple. The background usurps the header. AND THEN, the slight drop shadow for the main text area seems very technology/future-esque, while the background has a traditional fabricy look.

So maybe my issue here is the clashing features. (This is why I didn't want to review your site. I'm confused by my own opinion :P )

A suggestion, something that I'm not sure if it'll look good or not, but maybe give it a try, is a gradient background that fades into a solid colour. I'm thinking a LARGE gradient, something like this, but instead of the gradient coming out from a pair of socks, having it come either from the top of the page, or from a round focal point somewhere in the middle-left or upper-middle left corner or something.

Another option might be to use a HUGE photograph background (big enough so that large resolutions can't see the edges either.) This is a trend that's just starting to catch on, and I think if done right, it can look good.

But it's up to you. It's just about the balance of the design, and I think some of the themes aren't matching too too well.

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Alright, so moving on from that point... I have some spacing issues that I have to bring up because I'm all about margin spacing.

#1 The text in the main content area starts quite far down from the top of the content area. I would move it up 10-20px, not quite sure how much it needs to be moved, but definitely: UP.

#2 Space between the arrow-y footer thing and the footer bar: They're quite close together. I'd give them a smidgen more space, because right now, they're almost touching

#4 Space between myreads/tags/twitter - not enough ... They're close enough together that the eye kind of follows the links INTO the tags area, instead of going down a line for more links.

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Other things:
I think the copyright note would look better if it were a graphic in the same font (pupcat? I used to always use that font in designs...) as the header stuff. Right now it seems kind of out of place, but having it match the header font would round things off nicely.

I think the footer bar would look better if it were the same background colour as the main content, and if the my reads/tags/twitter were larger. And white, obviously.

IN the comments, the gravatar looks sort of odd - in replies, it's flush up against the edge of the reply box, instead of having some padding. In the regular comments, its up quite high and looks like it could almost belong to the commenter ABOVE the comment it actually belongs to.

Also, the comments are all indented really far, but the main blog entries AND the comment FORM are still far to the left. I think the comments would look better if they lined up with everything else.

I think the textarea for the comment is quite small right now (mostly needs to be wider, but probably a bit taller too to balance things out), and that the anti-spam quiz question could have a <br /> between the question and its input field...

I think that having the 'network' link in your navagation lead to a different website altogether is a bit misleading. I think navigation links should navigate within the site you are currently browsing. If you want to have the network link up there, I'd have it as the last thing, and maybe put the words "go to the main site network", with "go to the main site" above the word NETWORK and a bit smaller...

Just an idea, but you catch my drift.

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CONTENT
Not much to review here since I'm terrible at reviewing blog entries and that's all there is to this site for the most part.

Since, under 'credits' you have site info AND credits, I'd call it "about the site" or something in the link. Because I see credits as a sub-category of about the site, not the other way around.

I thought your about me page was pretty good. Had all the details, plus some bullet points with a bit more. The contact form was very small, so if I wanted to write you a long email, it'd probably be kind of frustrating.

I didn't really read your emo people rant too well because (sorry, but...) I hate reading emo people rants. I think it's overdone and nobody really CARES anymore.

I know that was harsh. Maybe I'm the only person who feels that way, so don't go ripping it down in a rage of injured feelings, but maybe keep it in mind? See if anyone else agrees with me, or if I'm just a big critic?

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CODE
Well, you've already gotten into my whole CSS mouseover thing, so I'll skip that bit :P

When I go to validate, the code definitely doesn't validate. It has a ton of errors come up. When I check out your source code I can see one reason already: You have your doctype declared as html 4.01 transitional, but the meta/link tags in the head section use xhtml notation.

In html 4.01, you don't do this:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />

You do this:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">

The difference being that you don't have the /> at the end. That's an xhtml thing only.

Otherwise, most things look good. One other small thing is that <center> is a deprecated tag.

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In your css, things like this:
background-color: white; background-image: url(http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac327/intherainNET/V6/bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat;
can just be this:
background:#FFF url("http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac327/intherainNET/V6/bg.gif"");
(and repeat isn't necessary since you ARE having it repeat...)

And I'm sure you've heard the old spiel before about relative font sizes instead of using px.

Just a small nitpick.

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ANYWAY.

That is it. I am done writing now.
Hopefully some of the things I said will be food for thought or useful or whatever :-)

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wiwaneko's Response:
liek omg ur so mean ur site sucks way more than mine so u shouldnt be kritsizing me!!!!1! /joke

Thanks for the review!
I was really stuck on this layout because I didn't know what to do for a design since the background was really fancy-ish. I like the gradient idea, so thanks for that.

The 'credit' link was an accident because I forgot that I wanted an 'about the site' section *but I was too lazy to change it har har*.

Ha, the emo article was more for my entertainment than anything else, but I understand what you mean.

Yeah...I used to make sure every piece of code I had was validated, but then I got lazy. :P

Thanks for the tips - I might just make a new layout instead of fixing this one. I'll be sure to work on everything you pointed out. Again, I appreciate the review. :)
cafeamour gave it on 23rd Jul 2010 and said:
First Impression/Layout
Wow it sucks. For one you can't see the links to your site seeing as how they're white on white and the picture is pointless it's really not appealing at all. I don't like the way you have a layout for every page it's somehwat annoying and pointless
TOTAL: 0

Blog
It seems like you have a lot to say but it all seems long and boring and they layout makes the blog seem longer than it is and i don't see how many people will want to read it.
TOTAL: 0

Content
emoticons- boring and simple i've seen ones just like it everywhere
icons- again simply done nothing special or original
your content seems really dull and unoriginal. (at least my site and stuff people will use)
TOTAL: 0

Art
You're artwork is nothing special typical and some not even good. not worth showing off if you ask me.
TOTAL: 0

Conclusion
unoriginal and sad. i don't see how you can go around criticizing other sites when yours sucks this much. I'd give you a 0 if i could but since i cant you get 1 star

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wiwaneko's Response:
Ahaha.

Sounds like someone's a poor sport when it comes to having their site reviewed.
tugboat gave it on 24th Jun 2009 and said:
Hi! I'm Eta and I will be reviewing your site. :o I am viewing it in Firefox.

The Layout
Wow, your layout is so unique! I love the stripes up at the top and the navigation font is the cutest. I'm not crazy about the orange rollover font but otherwise, very cool! Your banner is simple but has a nice look to it, I like the orange line you added in there. Your links are a cute color and the gray rollover is nice. Little things like that are great. I think your layout is simply gorgeous, everything about it is nice!

Rain
Your about the site page is super neat! Everything is well organized and interesting. I think it's cool how you like the rain and made an original name about it. That's interesting that how you mentioned the way people judge others before meeting them and compared it to the way they view the rain.

Trish
This page has a lot on it. I didn't really read through it, I'm not crazy for "about me" pages. I'm sure, though, that others will enjoy reading it, it's set up nicely. The flash content doesn't load on my page and it gives me a horizontal scrollbar for some reason. :S

Stuff
I love your article about emo kids, it's so true. It actually made me laugh a couple of times, nice job! XD The recipes section is cool, it's a nice idea. I'm not a great cook, so I probably won't use it, but it's a nice offer. Your icons are cute and simple, I like them. I don't like the ones with white backgrounds, maybe you could change the color or something. Some of them are a little inappropriate *cough the random icon*. Maybe you should put a warning or something for young viewers. I'm not crazy about swear words, like the one on your cupcake icon, but that's just me. Your patterns are, er, too simple. I could probably make those myself! You should put more effort into patterns if you're going to make them. Your photos are cool, but there aren't enough. I suggest you add more. The quality for most of your graphics aren't terrible, but they aren't stunning either.

Friends
It's great that you have a little description about the links, it's cool. This page is really straight forward.

Overall
I'm not a fan of blogging sites, but you did a fantastic job with the layout. I think it's the best part of your site. The stuff for viewers is lacking, either add more stuff or just get rid of it and be a complete blogging site. I think the smilies are kind of annoying on the different pages, so I would rid of those too, or make them smaller and less apparent.

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wiwaneko's Response:
Thanks for reviewing, and I'm really glad you liked the layout. I plan on taking off the flash thing, 'cause it stopped working. I guess I could put a warning, though if people read my blog, they can probably figure out my site isn't intended for little girls or anything. :D My site's more pointed in the direction of 15 year olds to 20 year olds, but I might put a warning.
I was also thinking about taking off the patterns, because like you said: anyone can make them. I respect your opinion, but I don't think it's too important for me to have a lot of content. I also don't understand how my graphics don't have good quality? Thanks for the review; I'll take your suggestions into account. :)
kinza gave it on 2nd Jun 2009 and said:
Hi, I'm Kinza and I'll be doing your review today. I'm using Firefox on a 1024 by 768 screen resolution.

First Impressions / Layout The layout seems extremely bland for me. Why not try a pretty background to make up for the lack of a banner? I see that you have a small design to the side, but that's not really enough. All in all, it's too simple. I do, however, adore your little Twitter bird (:

What's Rain? What you have right now is great - try making it a bit longer, and it'll be wonderful.

The Girl I saw that you mentioned that you dislike emo people - expand on that, please. Or you can write an interesting blog post on it. It would be a great controversial topic.

Friends I think it's great that you have mentioned your friends in a place of honor. There isn't much to say about this section, however.

Anyway, good luck with your site. If you need any help please feel free to let me know! ~Kinza

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wiwaneko's Response:
Thanks. I kind of like the simple look, though. I'm not into crazy layouts; it's just not me. The emo thing is a great idea, thanks! I'll post about it in my next blog and credit you for the idea. ;)
Thanks for the review.
jenspeaks gave it on 2nd Jun 2009 and said:
I love your site. The layout is beautiful, but you need to get rid of those smilies. LOL I'm sorry but they annoy me.

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wiwaneko's Response:
Um, gosh thanks for the "review"? I don't think I'll get rid of the smilies...
musicluver94 gave it on 24th May 2009 and said:
Hi! I'm Lorena and I will be reviewing your site.
I'm using Mozilla Firefox, but your site looks the same in Internet Explorer and Safari.

First Impression
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Your layout looks nice and simple, and the color scheme goes well with your site's name, as well as the background picture. I really like the font you used for your site's name on the layout and headers in the rest of your site.
I like the bird in the Twitter space, it's cute and even matches the font of your headers.
The colors of your CSS match with eachother, and fit with yout site's name.
Your sidebar looks nice and well organized, keeping it short and simple.
The color of the text on your footer is hard to read, since the footer is also green. Maybe changing the color of it to a lighter green will help.

"What's Rain?"
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Good luck with expanding your site! And even your site is kinda new, looks very professional to me.
It's good that you added the credits there, so you don't have to use another section like "Domain" or "Site" just to put that list on.

"The Girl"
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It's good to know about you and what are your interests, so we get to know you better. About your contact info, you may want to put up a form, since some people are too lazy to write directly an email, so it's easy just to fill out a form.
You may want to try emailmeform.com, it's easy and simple to use, and you don't get spam.

"Friends"
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It's nice that you wrote a little about your online friends, that way shows that they are really your friends, and you keep in touch with them, not just strangers on the web wanting more hits by being linked in your site.

Overall, your site is really nice and well organized, and I hope it keeps on growing. You are making a great work there.(:

Good luck!

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wiwaneko's Response:
Thanks so much for your suggestions! I'll check into the email form. :D
superawr gave it on 19th May 2009 and said:
Hi! My name is Desiree and I'll be reviewing your website this morning. I'll be viewing In The Rain in Firefox with a resolution of 1440x900. I also checked it in Internet Explorer 8 and the layout looked the same.

My first impression of your site is that it's really cute and simple. I love the font you used for the title and sidebar categories. The little flower & raindrops to the left of the blog is cute and really fits well with the name of your website, but it seems to just be floating there. Maybe add a bit of grass or something at the bottom of the flower to make it look more like it's growing out of the ground instead of falling from the sky with the rain.

Your CSS is nice, and all of the colors used go well together. The font size is easy to read, navigation is easy to find. I like that you've put the bit about you and your Twitter stream at the top. It looks nice there and it keeps your sidebar uncluttered. The text in the footer seems a bit out of place, I think because it isn't centered.

Pages:

--What's Rain?--
This is the page about your site. I see that your site is pretty new, but it looks great so far. Maybe you could add a little about why you like to blog or web design. I see that you are planning on expanding with a few other sites - good luck with that :)
You've also added a section for credits, which is nice to see.

--The Girl--
I live in NC, too! My town isn't too bad, though, hehe. This section is full of information about you. I think your visitors will really feel that they got to know you after reading this. It was fun to read, as well; I love the way you wrote about your family.

--Lunch Box--
I know you said that you already know this page doesn't work, but I just wanted to suggest taking the link off until you do get it working.

--Friends--
You've really personalized this section by adding short descriptions of the sites and owners. Most people just have a list of links, so yours is original.

All in all, you've got a nice little site here. There's not much yet, but I like the simplicity of In The Rain. Keep up the great work and good luck in the future!

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wiwaneko's Response:
Wow, thanks so much! Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about my flower image, so I'll get that fixed and the footer. I'm glad you had fun reading about me, lol and that you think my links are original. :D
Thank you for your review!