Allieberry

Allieberry

***-- (Rated by 3 people, viewed by 109 people)

Welcome to my little spot on the web I like to call Allieberry. Here you will find many resources, graphics and tutorials aswell as my portfolio, journal and directory.

Added by Allieberry in Graphics

Allieberry has 3 Reviews

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

  1. allison gave it ***-- on 23rd Jul 2009 and said:

    First Impression-8/10-I'm not liking the text all over the place in the header, love your color scheme though but I think you should have included just a tad bit more white in the header. And I'm sorry you got dumped over facebook.

    Layout/Coding-6/10-Coding is good, but your cutenews width needs to be widened a bit, but I feel like not all the fonts are flowing together. Also you can barely read t your blog header, a darker gray would be ideal. One the sidebar the two colored shades of gray just don't really go with the white background, maybe just a border, white background and gray behind your header?

    Content-2/10-Not too much there, definitely add more, but what you acctually have is okay. Most the stuff you have is stuff people can get from tons of other sites, so try adding more stuff and not having such generic stuff. I love your contest idea, that is great. You keep on talking about the rules before your content, what rules?

    Misc.-2/10-Your tagboard should be wider and maybe a bit shorter. Also the colors should go better with your color scheme. Honestly don't have a portfolio if you don't even have anything in it, and the only thing you have in it are photos which should rather go on your about page because people are expecting things you have edit, not photos of you. You about me is written very good. You directory is an awesome idea but once again, don't have it open until you acctually have people in it, i think you should just have a link on your page for people to apply to join it until people are added.

    Overall I still feel like your site has a very long way to go, but I think if you just keep on working on it it can be a pretty great site!

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  2. [img: avatar]
    Eka gave it ****- on 19th Jul 2009 and said:

    Hello! I'm Eka, And I'll be viewing your site in Firefox. :)

    LAYOUT
    The first thing I notice with your layout is that the banner is a bit cluttered. If you're going to go for that style graphic, try making the other words and brushes a little lighter. The site is standing out, but it needs to stand out a little more.

    Kind of pet-peeve of mine is the alternating colors in your navigation. The grey links get diminished next to the pink ones, so either use a darker grey for those are make them all one color. Also, you need to add a link to the home page. Either in the navigation, or link the banner image.

    The blog titles aren't very noticeable. They need to be much darker. The headings on the 'visitor' and 'about' pages are much nicer. Lastly, the gap between the content and side areas is too wide. I would suggest about half it's current size.

    ABOUT
    The 'About Allie' page is written pretty well, and your personality comes through. It could use a little bit more, though. When you say 'black designer jeans', are you implying you're interested in fashion? Which 'kawaii/Japanese' things do you like? As for performing arts, do you play an instrument or sing? Visitors like to know more about the owners of sites they visit regularly, and letting them know more about you can make your site much more memorable.

    On the 'About the Site' page, again, you could elaborate some more. How you got into graphic/web design and so forth. Also, I would recommend linking to hushstar.net. Bolding it is misleading.

    VISITOR
    Tsk, tsk, tsk! You haven't much here! Regardless, these pages look pretty well organized. Also, I agree with Erin's review, that you should still list your rules. I understand that most people know not to steal, but some people might be wondering if they have to credit, and/or where. Listing your terms can clear up and potential confusion, and it's more 'legit'. =P

    Portfolio and directory offsite

    TAGBOARD
    The way the tagboard is set up is pretty unattractive. Try centering it, making it wider, and using a lighter pink for the backgrounds, as the comments are hard to read.

    OVERALL
    Your site's off to a great start, just work on adding your content, really. =]

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  3. [img: avatar]
    Erin gave it **--- on 17th Jul 2009 and said:

    Hello there, Allie, I'm Erin, and I will (obviously) be reviewing your site today.

    FIRST IMPRESSION:
    What strikes me first is the header, which makes sense because it is supposed to make a statement, and it looks very busy with text and various brushes in a style that was popular in 2005. I am not thrilled to see it back. Other than that, I am happy that I can read the text, and I like the color scheme. The combination of gray, white, and pink is always solid to me.

    LAYOUT & OVERALL DESIGN:
    I'll start with header. To me, there is a strange mish-mash of brushes and text. The main font is moderately distressed, so I see how the splat brushes would go with it. I don't understand how the sparkle brushes make sense with that theme. Perhaps they go with the love motif; the text suggests that you're going for a romantic theme in this header. But then I don't get how that matches up with the dominating grungy/distressed appearance. It's like you're going for two very different ideas at the same time, and they're not visually coming together. As for the arrow and 'Paris Bleeds' brush, they just seem kind of random, as if they were an afterthought. Try to go for a more cohesive look next time. Otherwise, your designs look confused, and some visitors will attribute that to a lack of skill - and I imagine that's not an impression you want to give.

    As for the rest of the layout's appearance, the only other significant problem I see is the huge space between the main area and the sidebar. While I'm happy to see that there is space between the two sections, it's too great a separation. Expand the width of the main DIV so that it better fills that space, but be sure to leave some padding so that it doesn't jut up directly against the sidebar.

    CODING:
    I don't typically touch on coding, considering I am by no means an expert myself, but I noticed that you had all of your CSS embedded into your pages. While this clearly works, it's a good idea to use an external stylesheet instead. Here are a few links that to tutorials that can help you understand why this is better and how you can achieve this:
    External CSS
    Creating an External Stylesheet
    Separating Style from Content

    HOME/BLOG:
    First of all, I can't seem to find a link to go back home after navigating to any other page. You should definitely add one, ideally to the navigation.

    Secondly, I notice that you are using CuteNews for your blog. While I am no PHP or security expert, I listen to those who know more than I do - and CuteNews is a very insecure script. It is easily hacked, and seeing as it is already being a pain in the butt for you, why not give it up now and migrate toward a different blogging system? I personally recommend WordPress, although FanUpdate seems to be popular as well (and supposedly quite easy to use for those switching from CuteNews).

    Now I will check out your sidebar and see if there is anything I ought to point out to you...

    Welcome
    I would edit your message so that it actually tells the truth. I can't actually find many resources and graphics, and I can find no tutorials. I understand that your site is new, so these things aren't here yet. But why not change the message to describe was is currently available so that you don't mislead your visitors? I know I hate being deceived! Also, on different note, "aswell" is two words: "as well."

    Site
    I believe you meant to superscript the "th" in "12th," not subscript it... unless you wanted to go against the typical conventions of shortening "twelfth" into numerical form.

    Credit
    Why are you linking yourself? If you're not crediting anyone else for the banner, then naturally we assume that you made it yourself.

    And now I will read your latest blog entry, "(Insert pointless title here)."

    I see that you're acknowledging the space between your sidebar (although I think you mean you can't seem to fill up the space; you wrote "can"), and I viewed your page's source and found this just above your blog: div style="width:420px. Perhaps that's the problem? Separating style from content and using an external stylesheet may enable you to find these problems more easily, so definitely look into those links I gave you before.

    Onto grammar and spelling, and yes, I will point out errors as I see them. It is important to communicate as clearly as possible (especially if you plan on eventually writing tutorials), and bad grammar and spelling can hinder others' understanding.

    "I love reviewing people's site" - I believe you mean you love reviewing people's sites, since everyone doesn't collectively own just one site.

    I also think you mean "criticism" instead of "critisism," as I have found that is not an alternate spelling acceptable in England.

    You should capitalize "Shockwave," since it is Allie's site title. I would tell you rev.iew.me needs to be capitalized, too, but Jem seems to keep it lowercase on the site.

    In the next paragraph, you should add an apostrophe (') to the end of "5th graders." Also, later on, "he done that" should either be "he did that" or "he has done that."

    ABOUT:
    I'm personally not fond of navigating to a page of only links, so perhaps you could find a way to fill this up a bit. Even just a simple description next to the links, such as "Learn more about me!" would make this page seem less bare, and any other visitors annoyed by this might be less annoyed at having to click one more link to get to the information they want.

    - About Allie
    Why is the text centered? Left-align it like on your blog entries. Reading centered text can get hard on the eyes, since there are different margins on each line. It also looks sloppy to have larger blocks of centered text.

    Is your bold text larger than the regular text? That screws with the line height and also gives a sloppy appearance. Bold text by default is more emphasized than regular text, so there is no need to make it bigger.

    "Japanese" should be capitalized. "Happy" and "single" do not need to be capitalized. Also, you should punctuate at the end of the last sentence. Smilies are not end punctuation.

    Overall, this page is very short. You actually could have just put this information on the previous page; it's that short. You could definitely elaborate on some of the statements in this. For example, what is your "own style"? Give us an idea!

    - About Allieberry
    This is also very short. You could easily combine these two short about blurbs onto the first about page. There's no need for people to have to click more links than necessary if they can get all the information on one page. The two sections do make sense together; it's not like you would be combining the Visitor and About sections into one.

    I would also suggest actually linking Hushstar.net in the text, instead of just making it a different color.

    VISITOR:
    - Backgrounds
    What if I don't know the rules? What if I'm a total n00b and don't know anything about online etiquette? While most people know to credit others, perhaps you should make a page about your terms of use and just link it, instead of saying, "You know the rules!"

    Anyway, stripes are a generic pattern; anyone can use them. (I happen to be using vertical stripes myself!) I kind of like the pink one. While I love those shades of green, I'm concerned that they might actually be too bright if used as a background. Make sure to add some variety when you get to adding more.

    Also, try not to use textareas to display code. While it might look neat, it's not semantically correct, and someone might accidentally type in extra text when they actually want to copy it... and then they might get confused as to why the codes don't work if they didn't notice their slip up. I suggest you take a look at this tutorial to learn more about showing code on your pages.

    - Pixels
    Actually, there aren't lots of pixels for me to use. There's only one. Or are the other ones invisible? Maybe there will be a lot at some point, but it just looks silly to say that you're offering "a lot" when you aren't. (Same thing with saying I'll find a lot of tutorials here; not now I won't!)

    Anyway, as for the actual pixel, it's usable. The cyan outline is a little bright, though.

    - What Is It?
    I like this idea at Shockwave Allie's site, so there's no reason I shouldn't like it here. Perhaps you should just ask her if it's all right that you do this contest? I don't know why she would have a problem with it (it's not like she's the first person ever to have a contest like this), but if you're concerned that she might, then it would be wise just to ask.

    You also should probably include a form so that visitors can guess what it is, instead of having them navigate to the tagboard to post it there. That's kind of annoying to do.

    DIRECTORY & PORTFOLIO:
    This kind of go off site (they have a different layout, anyway), so I won't review these. However, I don't see why you can't just include your portfolio using the same layout. It's not a problem, but it's not really necessary, either. (I used to have my writing portfolio separate from my main site, so I don't think it's weird - but some visitors might not be expecting to go sort of off the main site.)

    TAGBOARD:
    I personally don't see the point of tagboards if you already have commenting enabled on your blog entries, but to each her own. The gray text is hard to read on the pink background, though. It's also really narrow, so widening it would also be a good idea.

    OVERALL:
    Your site has a long way to go. I know you just opened, so that can be expected. It's kind of hard to rate a site when there's not much on it yet. Work on your designs, make sure to add a variety of good-quality resources, and try to improve your coding skills. Every step makes a difference. Good luck!

    UPDATED 17 Jul 09:
    Response on 7/17/09:
    I never said you should make a rules page that visitors must "agree" to; I merely suggested you make a page with your rules in case anyone didn't know and happened to care. Then you could simply write "Please make sure you have read the terms of use before using any of these" at the top of the visitor page, instead of restating "You know the rules!" on every page. However, if you are going to assume that people know the rules, then why even bother writing "You know the rules"? Isn't that also a waste of space?

    Using Firefox on Mac | Report This?

    Allieberry's Response:

    Thanks Erin. I feel that I should cover some points. First, I am aware of cutenews being an unstable script and I will not be transferring blogging systems yet. Second, I was meant to add a lot of content the day I made the layout banner but didn't get round to it. And third, I think most people will know about graphic rules and if they don't, that's a risk I'm willing to take. IMO I don't believe doing those stupid 'I agree' things because it's just a waste of space. Thanks for ur view though!

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