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Thistudio has 4 Reviews

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1. 

   glorietta gave it on 21st Nov 2009 and said:

   The screenshot of your site is outdated I guess because you've changed your layout since then (:

   I know you're using one of Vicky from AudioRush's premades, which I like. I also know that you edited it around to fit your personal likes.

   Vicky's original version had a striped background. Right now, your background is a solid color. I think the striped background added more flare to the layout. Also, because you have a solid color background, I think that the space between your site name and header border is too big.

   I think the text shadow is an interesting text decoration to add to a stylesheet. However, with your dark purple main color text, I would suggest a lighter, not darker, text shadow. The two dark colors just look awkward to me.

   It's great that you offer free advertising. I don't think this current theme is 88x31-advertising-button-friendly. You have a button right next to your copyright portion. I think it looks out of place. Maybe put the advertising button in your sidebar ?

   Oh, I just noticed I'm under your affiliates for savedxbygrace.info. That site is obsolete. I'm at glorietta.org now, and I also don't have an affiliates program anymore. I would suggest creeping up on your affiliates and seeing if their sites are current ( ; I need to figure out how to get rid of savedxbygrace.info.

   On your Website: History Lesson page, "it was them that I.." should be "it was then that I.." I also think "got a hang of it.." should be "got the hang of it.." Try to avoid using the word "got" -- it's unclear. "I applied at a few of them.." should be "I applied to a few of them.."

   The main visitor page looks too crunched. Add a bottom margin for content titles like "Graphics". I would also add a couple line breaks after every section. (This suggestion goes for everywhere that you have titles and separate paragraphs of information).

   All your buttons have light backgrounds. Mix it up--make some with dark backgrounds, photo backgrounds, non-dotted-borders, etc. I love your bullets (: The quality of your pixel text isn't great. I think they're a mix of pixel text and download buttons.

   I like your smilies too! The pink circular pack is the only ones with pink features. All the other ones have black features. I think you need to shade them better so they look more like faces and not bullets. The cloud smilies don't really look like clouds. They look like postage stamps. You should call them postage stamp smilies !! I don't think anyone else makes those.

   Just a quick question so we're clear: is it Thistudio or ThiStudio or ThisTudio or ..?

   On your Advertising page, the words domain and subdomain do not have to be capitalized. I'd also add periods at the end of the sentences for your rules.

   On your Services page, "Graphics, Downloads, to Tutorials" do not have to be capitalized. "Wordpress" is spelled "WordPress."

   On "Tips To Attract More Visitors," Your first suggestion is to be unique. I don't think your layout achieves quite that. Grammatically, "No one wants their.." should be "nobody wants his/her" or "people don't want their.."

   "Try adding some unusual downloads; brushes for example, why not put them together some how and create a colouring page or something along those lines?" Edit this sentence. It doesn't make sense. "Most likely the person who owns the website you commented on, will be around to return a comment back." That sentence doesn't really make sense either.

   Seems like you have a lot of tutorials which is awesome! I don't have the time right now to go through them, but I may later.

   Generally though:
   1) They all seem like the same tutorials everyone else has, but I think that may be good. You never know what a first time designer stumbles upon your website and just needs to know the material you provide with your tutorials. Also, prepositions are not to be capitalized in titles.

   2) You need to better explain your tutorials. They seem like a lot of just copying and pasting. Some people really want to know "why" they should do certain things with coding.

   3) I don't ever think it's okay to say anything in a tutorial is "self-explanatory."

   Overall, your site is clean and offers a good amount of visitor content. Try taking your own advice by offering unique graphics or downloads. I'm excited to see a new theme you make on your own ( :

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   thistudio's Response:

   thanks for taking the time to review my website. I noticed that savedxbygrace.info had an old blog and whatnot but oh well, I'll remove you.

   the background isn't solid actually, I guess it's too small for you to see it? it's small stripes.

   I did have the advertising in the sidebar, but if you noticed, i use dynamic sidebars so it changes and you go to a different page. It it's fair to have them posted on just the homepage, what would be the point in that? i think it's fine in the footer the way it is. it doesn't distract people at first glance or anything, and it's shown on all pages.

   It's Thistudio

   I know the tutorials need to be re-done. I just don't have the time to and I have said in my blogs that i would be re-doing them, and i have also said it when other people have reviewed me.. so i'm well aware. I think self explanatory is fine since it is, unless there's someone complete stupid that stumbles upon in and doesnt know what "put your URL here" means.. so it is very much so, self explanatory.

   I would be doing something different with my website altogether but like I have said, I have no time. I barely have time to comment people back and write a blog. It's a miracle that even that much is being done.

2. 

   Sillyish gave it on 26th Oct 2009 and said:

   First thing I notice when the page loads:
   The background of your header image doesn't match the background of the page, even though it's obvious that it's SUPPOSED to match.

   I'm assuming that on your computer they do look the same, but you have to be careful about that kind of thing because other computers (like mine) read the colours a bit differently. A good way to avoid this is to make the body's background an image that is a copied square from the background of the header image, instead of using a hex code that matches in your graphics program but possibly not on my browser!

   Did that make sense?

   Okay, moving forward!
   *******************

   General Layout Points
   I would certainly suggest using left aligned text rather than justified. Using justified text requires a lot more care from the author to pay attention to things like character count per line so that there aren't jagged holes throughout the text, or "rivers of white" It also gives the reader a focal point so that they can jump from one line to the next with ease.

   For example, your "Hey there" in the sidebar is set up more like "Hey   there", thanks to the justified text. Not pretty!

   There are a few articles on this here at antipixel.com, here at adamsdrafting.com, and here at webdevblog.co.uk

   I would also suggest using capital letters to start of the headings of your sidebar titles. I understand it's trying to be stylistic but my PERSONAL opinion is that it doesn't look good. However, if you want to wait and see how other reviewers feel about this, go for it.

   I'm also a big fan of using the regular old hand as a cursor on hover of links, not the question mark, which I feel should be reserved for things like the <acronym> tag.

   Under the owner section, there's NO space between the right "random facts/contact me" sidebar and the main about me text. The two sections are bleeding into one another, making it difficult to read!

   Finally, you have valid w3c links on the bottom but when you test, your site comes up as invalid.
   ****************************
   The content stuff
   Starting off under "about", I think for sure you could put a bit more into this. The history lesson seems so... short and uninteresting!

   And it wouldn't be hard to expand on. For example, this sentence:

   then came across a website called Freewebs, it was them that I learned all about HTML and CSS. It was very confusing but I eventually got a hang of it.

   Could be beefed up a little:

   I was eventually introduced to Freewebs by -----, and it sucked me in to the more complicated world of HTML and CSS, which was both confusing and interesting. I became more and more into web design until I decided that it was time to purchase my own domain...

   This is just an example, and I'm not sure how well I'm getting my point across at the moment, but basically: a little more info, and a little more storyteller flair would be so great! Make it interesting!

   ...

   I liked your bullets at your smilies.

   An off topic comment:

   I can personally say that I've commented on sites such as swimchick, vejc-design/justframeless, and not once have I got a response. Why? I think it's because their sites are "popular" and if they don't think your website is worth it, they won't comment back.

   I can't speak for the people you are mentioning, because I don't know them at all, BUT I can say for myself that I rarely return comments and at one point my blog was quite popular and raking in 30+ comments per entry. And my reason for not returning comments? Nothing to do with "They're not cool enough for me." It was just that when I visited the person's site, none of their entries evoked an interest in me that made me want to respond. I only comment if I have something to contribute to what they're saying.

   ----------
   Random point:
   Under tutorials, your redirecting tutorial is in the php section, but it's just a html code. If you wanted the php redirect, you'd use:

   <?php header("location: http://yournewurlhere.com"); ?>

   ANYWAY.

   I'm done now :P

   Hopefully some of this was helpful!

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3. DollieKizz gave it on 10th Sep 2009 and said:

   I am using Firefox :)

   FIRST IMPRESSION:
   Nice! :) This is actually my first time on your site and I love the bright colours, the CSS I think is awesome! I mean the CSS is perfect. The lay out of everything is really good - it just look so pretty x) I'd definitely keep browsing.

   LAYOUT:
   The header is quite nice, there could be more you could do with it, maybe add some brushes? I like the font choice and colour however I don't like the pattern running through the main text. Apart from that it looks fine. I would suggest more padding at your sides!

   DOMAIN:
   :') The lay out for this is gorgeous!

   For you link me page, I would center the link buttons and space them out more. Your pages are fine.

   ARTICLES:
   That's cool that you have tips for beauty and health :D I was actually thinking of making some myself XD Maybe add some picture's in these articles so that people have an idea of what you're talking about.

   Your website related articles are fine. The second one is so short though :S

   I won't review your personal writings... because they are personal xD

   GRAPHICS: (YAY =])
   Your bullets are great.
   Wow your 'little icons' are fantastic.
   You definitely need more here, though :P

   TUTORIALS:
   Your tutorials seem pretty simple. Which is usually a negative, but if we're all honest - simple tutorials (like how to use bold) are what got us started in the first place. Try to add more tutorials though.

   In conclusion, your site is great. My suggestions are to add more content, atm though I'm thinking your site is fairly new though :s? Also to work on your layout header. Step out of the box =].

   Good luck :)

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   thistudio's Response:

   thanks for the tips on the a few things :) I've been working on things "behind the scenes" and haven't put them up yet because I'm waiting for a review to be done. Pictures for the make up articles is a good idea.. never though of that lol, thanks.

   I'm also going to be re doing all of the tutorials over time, make them more proper and more into detail etc.

   This site is new yes, but it has mainly all of the same content as I had on my domain that I just moved from. But yeah.. as soon as the review is done more will be added for sure. I already got the pages set up just waiting to be uploaded lol

   I'm glad you liked it over all though :)

4. 

   xvicky gave it on 9th Sep 2009 and said:

   I'm using Mozilla Firefox with a screen resolution of 1366x768. :)

   I like the simplicity of your layout; it's cute and effective. I think it's a little cramped at the top though. You should more than 2px margin at the top of your container; expand it to about 30px instead. I think you should add a bit more margin at the bottom of your navigation as well; perhaps 10px or something.

   I remember when I used the quote 'simplicity at its best' for one of my layouts, heh. In the actual layout, 'it's' should actually be 'its' by the way. 'It's' means it is, so technically 'simplicity at it is best' doesn't make sense. :P

   Some of your CSS is pretty long and can be shortened. For example you have:

   blockquote {
background : transparent;
background-image : url('http://i25.tinypic.com/b5m9ar.png');
background-repeat : no-repeat;
text-align : justify;
border-left : 6px solid #5f3938;
border-bottom : 1px dotted #fe8570;
font-family : verdana;
font-size : 12px;
padding : 5px 5px 5px 45px;
}

   Which can be shortened to:

   blockquote {
background: url('http://i25.tinypic.com/b5m9ar.png') no-repeat;
border-left : 6px solid #5f3938;
border-bottom : 1px dotted #fe8570;
font: 12px verdana;
padding : 5px 5px 5px 45px;
}

   You don't need to add text-align : justify; as it's already in your container div. Tutorial Tastic has a great tutorial on shortening CSS codes.

   Domain- It's different the way you've displayed your links; I like it. Most of these pages are self explanatory and found of most domain pages. However, this page would be better name About as you've included a section about yourself here.

   Contest- This is a good idea; it keeps the visitors entertained and brings in visitors too. Sad to see you're getting rid of your old domain, though. :(

   Articles- I like your website popularity and hits article, actually. I agree with what you've written about swimchick. I think the popularity has got to her and she assumes she doesn't need to 'interact' with her visitors because they will always come back.

   The main article I wanted to talk about is 'Are there BAD tutorials?' And the answer is, yes. Even though they are giving 'some knowledge of HTML and CSS' they are giving wrong knowledge. What good is it if people are learning the wrong way. It's not going to help them is it? It's not going to help them improve.

   Graphics- Most people think bullets are pointless but I still think they're useful. Yours are cute as well. The little icons are cute, but I think they would be better in packs, that people have to download.

   Tutorials- The basic CSS tutorial doesn't really explain much; you've just told people to 'paste the following code to their style sheet' but if they are new to CSS they aren't going to know what a stylesheet is. You should be more clear and explain what each element does. Also, you do not need the <head> tag in the code. The CSS you've provided is also very long, you should shorten it and I know you know how to because you have a tutorial on it.

   For the button rotation tutorial you should use a PHP random rotator instead. Some people may have JavaScript turned off and people won't be able to see the buttons.

   You don't need to write a tutorial on 'converting bold and italic' it's not rocket science.

   The navigation you've provided for the horizontal navigation block is very similar to the one I use. It's kind of funny how you've used 'navigation3' when I put that so I know if people steal my coding, hmmm. This tutorail doesn't really tell people much, you need to go into detail. Look at Georgina's tutorial and see what I mean.

   Your shortening CSS tutorial is quite similar to way I done mine. I done mine like that because no one else had, but never mind. You haven't explained much either, you've just shown them how to shorten it. You should explain why it's been shortened and how you've shortened it.

   The using containers tutorial could be explained a bit better. It's OK but just explain what each element does etc. Some people would rather know what it does rather than just copy and paste.

   The website templates aren't a tutorial, they are a resource.

   The Paint Shop Pro tutorials are explained a bit better; I'd love to see some layout tutorials though.

   The PHP includes tutorial needs to explained a bit better. If I was new to PHP includes I still wouldn't have a clue what to do after reading this tutorial. Again look at Georgina's tutorial to help you improve yours.

   Your WordPress tutorials are good; but you could add loads more on things people want to know. For example, how to create a theme from scratch or how to convert a PHP layout to a WordPress theme.

   The HTML tutorial is cute. However, underlined text, striked out text, and the last 3 codes are classed as deprecated coding in HTML, meaning you aren't allowed to use it. I'd love to see more HTML tutorials, perhaps some on validating HTML and XHTML.

   Your tutorials are OK; they could be explained a bit better. You need to think of the visitor. Not everyone is going to know everything and some people have never been seen CSS/HTML before. You need to write your tutorials as if you are talking to a beginner.

   Kaytlyn, you have a good little site here but your tutorials could do with a little bit of work. Like I've already explained; just make them a bit more clearer and easier for beginners to understand. I think you should add some layout tutorials, more HTML tutorials and maybe some of XHTML. A lot of people like XHTML tutorials as it's hard to understand for beginners.

   Your articles were good; and I'd love to see more of them. Perhaps maybe you could add some downloads like smilies, PSP scripts and free layouts.

   You've definitely improved over the course of all of your websites. Good luck with everything and if you work on the tutorials a bit more then your website will be great. :)

   Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

   thistudio's Response:

   thank you for your suggestions. I was actually thinking about re-writing everything once i put my new theme up, which can't be done until a review is finished. I didn't realize it was the same as your coding, mainly because i take it out of the CSS I am use, sorry, i will remove it (once again when the new theme is up cause i will be removing / changing a lot of things).

   I would love to add things that visitors can download, but i don't know how. I've tried before and it never worked for me, maybe i just suck :) LOL jk

   I'll definitely take into consideration of the tutorial ideas. Plus, a lot of them are written badly and I do realize that. Most I put for my use and to my understanding, but that's not very fair lol. So thanks for pointing it out.

   On my new theme (and previous ones) i have used the PHP button rotation, i thought it changed it on the tutorial as well, i guess not :/ thanks for telling me :)

   Once again thanks for the review, i will definitely make the changes you've suggested

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