Leaving-Town.org

Leaving-Town.org

**--- (Rated by 7 people, viewed by 169 people)

A collection of graphics, resources, and the ramblings of the average American female.

I am aware that the bottom of the flower is covered in IE; I honestly don't know how to fix that (without using absolute positioning, which I am not going to do). I doubt anybody on here actually uses IE anyway. (;

Added by hoberjack in Personal

Leaving-Town.org has 7 Reviews

Below are the reviews left by other members on Leaving-Town.org. Jump to review form?

  1. zippycart gave it *---- on 17th Jul 2009 and said:

    The site has changed a bunch since it was submitted and what it looks like in the screenshot in the description.

    The site is simple with only 4 pages and not much content at all. I do like the purple design in the upper left but not too big a fan of the greyish brown background color.

    Your navigation links blend in with the background and it took me almost a minute before I even realized the site had more than the main home page.

    I do like the basic tutorial you have here http://leaving-town.org/visitor/tutorials/04/ which was very helpful.

    Overall decent but since it is not much I can only give it 1 star.

    Using Firefox on Mac | Report This?

  2. sarabara gave it ***-- on 13th Nov 2008 and said:

    Layout-
    I like how the header has a texture feel with one main focal point. I'm not quite so sure about the background color though. It does make the header stick out but way opposite color. I like how you used the same color scheme throught your CSS instead of off colors for links and hovers.
    Hannah-
    I love your witty sarcasm and details about yourself. You actually have an "about me" page. I myself do not. By the way I loved Legend of Zelda old school nintendo.
    Visitor-
    I like how you offer something for visitors to use. However I've never been to keen on tutorials that basically offer the same effect just a different texture. This is where you can really strut your stuff, show them something they haven't seen on 50 different blog sites.
    Site-
    Again I like how you actually describe the site history and by itself not mixed in with the "about me".
    Overall I like your site but I can't help but think the layout needs something.

    Using MSIE on Windows | Report This?

  3. [img: avatar]
    meggan gave it ***-- on 11th Nov 2008 and said:

    Your site is pretty solid, but there are several things that, if adjusted, could make your site a whole lot better.

    First: Padding! Your main content area feels cramped. It looks like you have about 12px left-right and you could afford to bump it up to about 40px. It sounds like a lot, I know, but it would give your text some breathing room. Even 30px would be better. If you do this, make sure to pad your nav on the right so it matches up with the text. Designing on a grid is good for you!

    Second: Your nav needs to let the cursor change to the hand/pointer instead of forcing it to be an arrow. It gets confusing if you're hovering over what appears to be a link but there's no cursor indication that you can actually click. Annoying.

    Third: Avatars - Other reviewers have mentioned this, but please make sure you are licensed to use the images you use as bases for these. I know you have a credits area, but... saying where you got something isn't the same as obtaining permission from the original copyright holder to use their items.

    Fourth: Your "reviews" link jumps me out into another site. This is an absolute HUGE pet peeve of mine. Follow conventions! Every other nav item takes you to a similar-looking page on your site, and then all of a sudden you're sitting someplace that you didn't expect with no visible way to get back. If you want to make it a main nav item, please link it to a page on the main site that has a blurb about your review site, perhaps your most recent review and/or a thumbnail, and a link to the review site. You've set up a convention for your nav, now follow it! :)

    Overall, your design is simple but pleasing. The colors are attractive and the imagery is nice. There's just not a lot of "zazz" or stuff to wow me, you know? Your icon tutorials achieve a nice effect, but I feel like they're very specific. You can make an icon that looks exactly like that, but that's it. There's not a lot of experimentation encouraged or even really suggestions for the things you could do to experiment with effects. I think that would help spice those up a bit.

    Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

  4. [img: avatar]
    Sewwy gave it ***-- on 9th Nov 2008 and said:

    I'm kind of jumping on the header bandwaggon here: I also really like the header image. The colours work well together, and it's not so terribly distracting that you're constantly pulled away from the content provided. The content box does seem rather dwarfed by my wide monitor: As mentioned by the other commenters, it may be worthwhile to increase the width a little bit so there isn't so much "white space."

    Your about-me content was quite informative and in depth, which is a nice change. A lot of webmasters simply put the basics and leave it at that. It was quite insightful to learn that much about you in such a simple page. Your blog is also quite interesting. I enjoy that you make your entries quite personal, and your writing style is easy to follow. Your regular updates also show you're quite committed to your site, so kudos for that.

    Your content pages are rather generic, but these days it's hard to provide unique content, so i'll just leave it at that ;)

    Overall, it was a nicely designed blog which I enjoyed reading. :)

    Using Safari on Mac | Report This?

  5. [img: avatar]
    Anna_Kirstin gave it **--- on 9th Nov 2008 and said:

    I like your header image. It's very fresh and bright. Its appearance against the stark black of your background is a little harsh. I feel it would look more appealing on a soft dark grey or otherwise slightly lighter background. The link in your footer is really hard to see. Maybe you could consider bolding it or changing it to a lighter color. It is VERY hard to see on hover.

    Hannah: While this page has a lot of information on you, it doesn't seem to flow well. You talk about your kitten, then you go into how you dislike snooty-looking girls, then you introduce your ask and answer page, and then you go back into fashion. It would flow so much better if you talked about your kitty, started a new paragraph to talk about your love of fashion and dislike of snooty-looking girls, and moved your ask and answer to the bottom of your 'about me' section.

    Visitor: Wow. You use a lot of copy-right material. Lyrics, music sheets, and photographs are all copy-righted materials. Unless you created them yourself, you should be crediting the creator and using with permission.

    Credits: I see you use stock images. I am so proud of you. I’m glad you don't go into using stolen celebrity images. The lyrics are still copy-righted.

    Reviews: I wasn't prepared for this to take me off-site or to "another" site. You should warn people before they are taken off your-site - even if it's to another site you own.

    Overall: Your header image is beautiful, but there is so much more you could have done with it. Your text could use with some more padding from the sides and the layout itself makes the text seem cramped. I would expand the size of your layout so that it is not so thin, soften your background color, and organize the content in your about me section to be more flowing.

    Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

  6. [img: avatar]
    Lee gave it **--- on 9th Nov 2008 and said:

    I really like your header image, the flower just looks so fresh! And the background colour just makes the layout pop more off of the page.

    I do agree with Aisling that you can make your layout wider. Myself I design for 1024x768, so it feels to me that there is a bunch of dead space around your layout. Even in 800x600 you can push it further out to fill up the window more.

    As well you can pad your content text a bit more, the titles/headings are fine where they are I just think that if you tightened up your text a bit more it wouldn't look so 'caged in'. Plus if you increase your layout width, it will help to not make your text look like a column of text.

    Content: I like that you put a lot of information about yourself and what you like in your 'About Hannah' page. Just a note that in your last paragraph you say that your email address is below, but there is no email address to be found. I would suggest not saying that something is in a specific area relative to the text (i.e. right, left, top, bottom), but rather have a link to your contact page or your direct email address if you want to go down that path. Also with your subheading for your Q&A, contact form, etc I would suggest making them into a list (and maybe putting them at the end of your info) just to make it uniform with your other pages.

    I love that you offer up colour schemes, they are very nice and an original idea for a personal site. I like that you offer tutorials that are just as you say, "fun and easy". They are great for those who are just starting out and trying to experiment with PSPX or any other graphics program. My only suggestion would be to credit your textures, whether they were made by you or someone else on the same page they are used, or at least linking to your credits page. The brushes are nice, especially the ones that you made from nail polish and your doodles. Myself I'm particular to not using lyrics brushes just because I'm weird I suppose, and I like putting in my own lyrics in my own fonts, but these are great for those who are not as obsessive as me. :D

    So this is a really good start, and just some minor changes. But feel free to take anything I've said and throw it out the window really, when you get down to it, it is your site. :) But keep up the good work, ok?

    Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

  7. [img: avatar]
    Aisling gave it **--- on 9th Nov 2008 and said:

    Okay, so, I love the header, and I even love the richness of the burgundy colour alongside it. However, I think your content area is too thin. I think that if you're designing for 800x600 resolutions as well, that you should still fill the ENTIRE space. That means, I want your content to be 780px wide at least. Anything less is tiny on larger resolutions, and let's be honest, most people are using a larger resolution. I'm using 1280x800 and your site is absolutely tiny.

    Your content could use some more padding. It needs space. The text here is just crammed in this little white space and it is not visually appealing.

    Your navigation is boring. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just... boring. Also, this is a really big pet peeve of mine: it seems like your site is a personal site. And yet, "webmiss," is the second heading in your navigation? If it is a personal site, you should go first. Equally, if it is a visitor-orientated site, visitor should go first. Never ever does your website information need to go first, unless your website is on the topic of your website. Get it?

    The colour you use for bolding in your main body of text is too light, and I often find myself skipping over it, instead of stopping to focus.

    Your About Hannah page is interesting, but I'm wondering why your site page displayed sub-navigation in a list, and this page has it under the title at the top?

    Your icons are nice, although they do use images that aren't yours. ... Actually, I only assumed that the image used in your header was taken by you-- I sure hope it was! Colour schemes are kind of cool-- like your own mini Colourlovers! Brushes are okay, nothing special, but fine. The icon tutorials aren't something that really impress me, but they're not bad.

    Reviews are off-site, so I'm not going to touch them with this review.

    Anyway, this is a pretty good start, just remember to not be afraid of space. And to keep things consistent.

    Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

Write Your Own Review

Leave your feedback for Leaving-Town.org 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.