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Adam Terrell has 3 Reviews

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

1. Distant_Star gave it on 30th Jun 2010 and said:

   Hello, sorry it took so incredibly long to start this, but college was seriously overwhelming this semester with the workload. Anyway, onwards...

   First Impression: Plain colors, and I don't like the font.
   Layout: Overall I do like it. I like the details like the shadows on the photo of the camera (is that thing a camera?) and the separation of the blog area from the sidebar. The colors are too muted, it makes it look a bit washed out. Your logo and caption should be separate from the blog section a little more. It looks fine where it is, but it needs to stand out more. Make the font fancier, change the color, something. It just looks, plain.

   The sidebar I don't like at all. The text is too small, and it's too cluttered. I think the information you have is useful, but I don't think it all needs to be there in the sidebar. In your videos section, you could highlight your recent videos in their own dynamic sidebar. Your highlighted members could be somewhere else, if they're needed at all. I'm also not crazy about the map or the counter at all, they seem dated in my opinion.

   Your header needs to stand out more, make the font bigger, and change up the colors a little. The links are hard to see against the pale background, they need to be darker. Your serach could probably go somewhere else, too. It doesn't need to be right at the top. It could go in the sidebar if you took some of the other stuff out.

   Your RSS button is really small. If you want it that small, put it somewhere visible.

   I also don't like how you have home in brackets. It looks dated in the sidebar and unnessisary in the blog section.
   The footer is very plain. It works, I think, but the text is hard to read.

   Content: I don't know anything about cameras so I can't comment on anything here, but it is well written, grammatically correct, and you even use punctuation properly (after reading a bunch of peer papers this semester, I'm sad that this impresses me).

   I also will politely not comment on the next blog posts I read because our views are very different. They are written well, and it doesn't matter that I disagree with the content. To that end, I clicked through a few more posts and it doesn't look like you post often, but when you do, you're at least well researched and articulate. I will not let a difference of opinion change the score I give you.

   Sections: About: This page looks less well thought out in the layout. The vote thing is the first thing you see, and if you didn't read that first blog entry (as I usually don't, I go to the about page first to find out who is writing what I'm about to read) than you wouldn't know what it's about, or for. There is also no spacing beneath it, and it's just hanging out by itself on top. If you float it, and give it a caption with the link to the blog entry, it should be better. It's all pretty standard. I think you could explain more on the thing you sign up for at the bottom of the page (like, what you're siging up for). Is that the contact form you mention? If so, maybe give it a header saying so.

   I'm not sure what to make of the video statement, I think if you feel the information is relevant (and I wouldn't honestly know) than it could be moved up above the form, and the red text into the rest of the about page. Give it a sub-header style, and some sort of introduction to it (why you it's listed out like that) and it should be good.

   The recent log entries don't need to be on this page, they could be on the main page only, same with the recent videos, they could be on the video page only.

   The page with a full entry is fine for having one, but the page with the summary could stand to have 3-5 listed on one page (similar to an archives page) so that it's not so empty.

   Contact Me: Um, this page is not laid out well at all. First, you have centered text and that looks unprofessional (Since this is the only spot with centered text, and it's hard to read). I don't know why you have names with numbers there? If that's who sent you a message and how many times, I don't think you really need to tell your visitor that. The form itself doesn't really allow you to enter much information (like your name, or your url ... for your site, the url is probably option, but the name field at least would be useful) and it's not really laid out well. You should style the boxes, and the text, so that it's not the glairing white against the yellowish background. It hurts my eyes, to be honest.

   Guestbook: Well, the form is styled better, but it looks premade. The comment don't look styled either, and it's a really long page. You could probably split them up further so the page is shorter.

   Links: The first thing you notice is the black stripe across the top. Well, grey stripe with black writing that you have to squint to read. Oh, this is all your other sites and stuff? You could probably add this to the bottom of your contact me page. It's all the same idea, content wise. And your placeholders for previews should be made, less placeholder-ish and more photo-ish. The same with your other sections. Your headers are out of place, make them the same (not the ugly stripe) as the rest of the headers in your blog (you know, the ones I mentioned adding color to -- don't add background color, it's hard to read, add text color). You also have a few broken images (Vega and Heustis and Scrnpr97). In whole, this page looks unfinished. Your miscellaneous files don't fit with your site's purpose, but I supposed that's why they're miscellaneous files.

   Videos: The images are grainy on the previews. You have a lot of videos, probably too many on one page. The actual video is a better quality, the acting's quite bad in the one I watched. The music is corny, but I'm not into video making. If this is your style and people like it than who am I to judge. I didn't get the point of the whole "forest of eternal doom" but that's not the point of the review. It loaded well, there were no complications or buffering and it wasn't shaky, so the content as far as I'm concerned is secondary.

   And, I think that's all there is to your site. I gave you four stars because it's well put together, but could use some polishing.

   Edit: Since it says I'm using Safari, I'm going to state that I'm not, I'm using Google Chrome in Windows 7 with a 1920 x 1080 resolution.

   Using Safari on Windows | Report This?

   Atomterrible's Response:

   My site's template is actually completely canned. However, I was able to make all of the changes you mentioned except for:
   a few font sizes (which I can't change without messing up the template)
   the Guestbook looking canned (I'm still working on the spacing issue),
   the search bar is above the blog because it's strictly for the blog (same on the Videos page),
   the RSS button on the blog,
   the white boxes on the Contact page,
   the Link stripes (which I also hate and will try to get fixed),
   the major color changes you suggested (I just like the more plain look.)

   As for the video you watched, most of the newer are not quite so bad. I am guessing you watched it since it had the most views. I have no idea why that is actually. To give you a better impression, may I suggest "Vending Machine," "Asher's Elven," or "Uppercut"?

   Overall, this was the most useful review I've had so far. If there's anything else you'd suggest after my initial changes, please let me know.

   UPDATED 02 Jul 10:
   Update 7-2-10: I fixed the white boxes on the Contact page and the dark header bars on the Links page.

   Otherwise, I either can't change something or like it better the way it is. I know my RSS button absolutely can't be altered in any way.

   Also, there was a coding problem on my blog which made some fonts on the sidebar change which weren't supposed to. They should be more readable as well now.

   Whew, my Contact page looks spiffy!

   Oh, and those numbers on the Contact page was a little contest of who could find the most errors textually on my site. It wasn't how many times certain people had contacted me.

2. 

   Vivace gave it on 23rd Oct 2009 and said:

   Well, you reviewed me, only proper of me to return the favor. :)

   First impression of your layout is that it's a little lacking in focus. Something about that photo just does not draw my eye - maybe a bit bigger or something a bit more colorful would do. I also think it would look more crisp if you did the header in black text instead of the dark gray but I think that's personal preference.

   Your blog makes for interesting reading and your are certainly very thoughtful in your posts. I certainly disagree with you a lot, but that doesn't really impact the review. ;)

   Your About page is short and to the point, not bad. It's followed by the sorts of things I expect to see at the end of a navigation list, though - contacting you, links out. Do you really want to link me out of your site before I even get to the videos? Somehow I don't think that's the case.

   Also, I don't think your Miscellaneous Files are really links per se, and while I don't know that there's a better place for them on your site as it stands, I am also pretty sure they are out of place where they are. The Halo and Jokes files could probably be turned into regular pages with minimal work.

   Your equipment page is interesting but as it stands, very impersonal. Maybe add some short reviews about each piece, why you chose it, what makes it the best in its class, or whether you plan to upgrade. Also adding your own photos of how you store or carry it could be interesting.

   Finally, the meat of your site! I have avoided so many temptations you placed before me to link away from your site and get distracted elsewhere. I'm not going to review your video-making skills, but I did snicker at the tootsie pop one.

   I'm curious at this point what the emphasis on your site is. If it's primarily a blog, putting the video link at the very bottom is silly but not a total wtf. If the videos are the point, as your about page seemed to suggest, well, then I have no idea at all why you made them the very last link.

   Personally I'd like to see more info about your filmmaking, but that's a preference and certainly not a requirement.

   Final: Good blog, neat videos, questionable priorities. Good luck with your film-making.

   UPDATED 23 Oct 09:
   To be honest, I think alphabetizing is overrated and you should put them in order of usefulness. Failing that, "Films" would be the next best option.

   Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

   Atomterrible's Response:

   I see you are criticizing the way I alphabetized my NavBar! :P I suppose I could rename the "Videos" page to "Films," but they're not films since I shot on digital tape and not actual film. Any suggestions on how I would make that more appealing to you?

   I really appreciate the suggestions about the "Equipment" page. I'll be implementing some of those for sure.

   About the Misc. files, those used to be pages, but when they died down after being first introduced, I just tucked them back n a corner to still be accessed. "Links" just seemed the most concise title instead of something like "Links & Misc. Files." They still are links, just not exiting ones. :D

   You are right about the videos being the main thing of the site, but being at the bottom of the list does not make them last and least. Again, any ideas here would be helpful.

3. 

   Greykitty gave it on 13th Oct 2009 and said:

   I'm reviewing in Google Chrome with a 1440 x 900 resolution.

   I can finally review you now that my bandwidth is back! Huzzah!

   My first impression is that it's neat, it's organized and looks very professional. The only thing that really detracts in my opinion is that map at the bottom of the page. I'd suggest maybe chucking it onto another page, or maybe try to find one that's grey scale or would match your theme a little better. I would also suggest switching your updates/blog to the front page so people will know you update often. It IS a typical thing for a blog, but I at first expected the main page to be that. A blog/update log.

   Moving on! I like the Bible verse at the top of the page. Not many people will display much to do with their faith on their sites. Nice to see this! The intro tells plenty about you, this is good.

   I have not seen someone put who has found mistakes before on a contact page, this is interesting. Extras... I think you could put "Inspiration" and bump it further down your navigation. As someone once told me, put your links in order of importance to the page. You want people to stay on your site as long as possible. So I would suggest moving it to the bottom or close to it since they take you away from the site. Also you might wanna go through those links a found several that were broken.

   The equipment page is quite nice, I like that you link everything too. You have plenty of videos to look through. Good luck with getting into it film! Looks like you have a nice start. :)

   Your blog is really nice. I enjoyed browsing through your entries. It looks like you find some pretty good topics. I'll be linking back to you on my blog next time I update. I'm always on the look out for sites with good content.

   Overall I like your site quite a bit. It has nice content, it's neat and organised, looks great in Chrome, and it's awesome that you speak out for your faith! Keep up the nice work.

   UPDATED 13 Oct 09:
   Awesome! Great updates! :) I upped the score half a star now cause I can't think of anything else that would really add to the site now.

   Using Safari on Windows | Report This?

   Atomterrible's Response:

   Thanks for the encouragement. I have implemented all of the changes you suggested that are immadiately changeable. I also added a poll on the sidebar asking how people like the Log as the home page. Thanks for the fresh POV!

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