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Absurdist.Org has 4 Reviews

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

1. 

   wiwaneko gave it on 13th Jul 2010 and said:

   Hey there, buddy. :) I know you just got your new layout up, so I'm going to review you. I'll try to be honest and not shower you with how much I love your site...because you know I do. :P

   First Impression/Layout
   I have to say that I'm not a fan of the colors, but looking at the flower I can see that you made them work well. I like how everything is shaped (the header and footer); it's not just your average rounded-corner template. I also like how the site is organized - it's simple and easy. The way you have main links at the top and the basic ones at the bottom is very smart because you have several posts on one page - it makes it easier for visitors so they won't have to scroll all the way to the top. The quality of the graphics is pretty good, but there's some graininess in the images (not much you could do about that now).
   4/5

   Blog
   I've always thought you had interesting blogs, so you're pretty good on that. I think it's really nice how you have things set up: the title, body, and comments are very neat and you added some "spice" by making the corner a graphic. Your tutorials and articles are actually interesting and not the usual "how to make shit glow in ps7".
   5/5

   About & Contact Sections
   Not much to say about this except that it flows well and a visitor can get a decent view on what kind of a person you are. I also like how in the Contacts section you provide a form and your e-mail, not just one or the other.
   5/5

   Conclusion
   Overall, I think your site is fantastic. It's organized, unique, and interesting. Keep up the good work and great blogs~! I'm sorry the review is so short!
   Score: 4.5/5

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   yui's Response:

   Thanks for the review!

   The color scheme is something I've never tried before. Incidentally, lavendar + pale green was my favorite color combination when I was in middle school xD Overall, this layout is much more "girly" than my usual stuff.

   I usually don't notice when my images are grainy because my monitor has a very high resolution-to-screen size ratio, so my pixels are very small and all of my images look really sharp. I did try to re-save the header image in higher quality after reading your review, so please let me know if it looks any better now.

2. 

   InkedByErin gave it on 4th Jul 2010 and said:

   I really like your layout. I love how the comments look and the banner and everything.

   I don't like the sidebar though. The colors for the navigation are very contrasting. I know that you were trying to create something unexpected but I still don't think that this is very unexpected.

   The fish in the header is really cool. I like how it is a picture taken from above and you have it fading out. I've tried to do that and failed. Hahahaha. I'm still learning with GIMP and I'm about to buy photoshop cs5 in the next week or two. So, yeah, I'm still learning! :)

   For your about page, it would be wise to keep you and the site separate or at least tell people any plugins you use and any credits you have for your content and layout. That way you don't clutter up your sidebar with all of these credits that aren't needed.

   Your blogs are very interesting. I love reading them. :) I'm going to comment on your latest one and then go from there. I hope you can keep this one running!

   I love how you have your forms set up. They are unique.

   The hosting section is nice and neat. You have everything a person may need. I would just suggest that you add packages. When I go to a hosting site I like to look for the packages that people have so that I know exactly what I am getting when I apply for hosting at site. Having a separate form would also be nice for the hosting section.

   I don't understand the purpose of having the "meta" in your sidebar. In my opinion, it is just wasted space. I mean, no one pays attention to those links and they are irrelevant to visitors. So, I would take it down if I were you.

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   yui's Response:

   Thanks for the review!

   Hosting isn't really a main focus of my site and is mainly something that I do for friends and anyone else looking wanting to host a small personal site with no ads, a somewhat unique and interesting url, and modest hosting needs. As such, I don't really see the need to put together hosting packages or have a dedicated hosting application form.

   The "Meta" section in my sidebar is mostly for my convenience, as it includes an easily accessible login link for my blog's admin panel. Some of my visitors may also be interested in subscribing to the Entries and/or Comments feeds.

3. 

   Vera gave it on 26th Jun 2010 and said:

   Hi Yui, seeing your sites' designs reminds me of the nicer sites from when I started out. Haven't seen such a thing for quite a while.
   I have read Rose's (Sillyish) review, so I'll try not to repeat (too much) of what she already mentioned.
   Oh yeah, I have a really bad tendency to ramble on and on... and just get lost in it all, and forget the initial point. I just thought I should warn you :P

   = First Impression =
   ------------------------------
   I like it. Quite a lot. It really makes me want to browse it and see what's all there.

   = Presentation =
   ------------------------------
   As I said before, I really really like your layout. It's a very familiar design, and one of the precious few that does not current trends, but rather past ones. Upon, further though, however it doesn't remind me of you. It actually reminds me of a very similar WordPress template featuring a turtle. Upon reading Rose's review, I did remember that it was in fact a template created by Becca of Beccary. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find that particular one. The closest I can find is : http://beccary.com/demo/?wptheme=remember (yes it's broken).

   Regardless if it reminds of Becca or not, I still like the design very much. Unfortunately for you (I see that your also have a design site using a very similar style), it's not a particularly good thing that some of your visitors think of someone else, when going to your site.

   So while I said that overall I like the design very very much, there are a few things which I'd change.
   First and foremost, the headings on the sidebar. They look very much out of place. It sort of reminds me of my university lectures, after I've underlined and over lined them with markers. I like the effect you were going for, of the rectangles not "fitting" into the allotted space, but am not too keen on the execution. I'd up the height to about 2.7em (from the 1.7 you have now), change the background color to something similar to the sidebar's background, and have a rounded right corner. Possibly a light gray border around it wouldn't be so bad either.

   Your text's color on the sidebar, is not always the best. For example, right at the top, near the fish's tail, it's very hard to read. I'd suggest adding a heading like the ones below, and moving everything a bit downward. That way, the text won't be overshadowed by the header image. I keep having the urge to just look at the fish, instead of reading what's already there.

   I think you could shorten both the search input box and the search button, so that they both fit on the same line. I would also suggest trying to style the button a bit differently, so it's clear that it is not an input box. Of course it's rather unlikely that people will confuse the two, but I'd try to make the button look different, anyway.

   The light blue link color on the sidebar can be sometimes hard to read. Once, my eyes got used to the color combination, it's alright, but at first, my eyes slid right over them, focusing more on the white colored text below one of the links. I'd suggest a darker, more contrasting color for the links.

   I quite like the notebook background on the left side. Pity you don't have this background go all the way to the sidebar. Speaking of the content area's background, I'm not too fond of the bottom gradient of the individual posts. I think you can easily get rid of them. The spacing between the individual blog posts is enough, to provide enough separation between them. Alternately, if you want some sort of separation, I'd suggest a signature type of image, like how Vixx of Furious Angel has.

   Another thing, that is somewhat awkward is the RSS image. Like Rose said, I think you should get rid of the text, and just use the image as a link. However, the way it is now, seems to be part of the header image, and people would probably not think of clicking on it. I'd make the shape (i.e. the circle and the curves) orange, or perhaps a shade of orange that matches the design.

   And that's about it. I still quite like the design, overall... but would make a few changes: to the sidebar mainly.
   I was initially going to make some suggestions about the fish too, but somewhere along the way it sort of grew on me. So I'll leave that be.

   = Content =
   -----------------------------
   I'm one of the mean and egoistical reviewers that can't (read: doesn't want) to review a site keeping only the design in mind. You can have the loveliest design ever, but if your content bores me to death I'll never return. Let's face it: my attention-span's not that large so I'm unlikely to spend more than 5 minutes staring at the most beautiful of designs.

   I read some of your blog posts and I quite like them. You're the third med student whose blog I find funny and witty. And I don't even LIKE stuff relating to medicine (I'm assuming watching House MD doesn't count :P). I'll definitely return to read more of your blogs. Possibly even comment, when my laziness is not overpowering me :P

   Your about page amuses me to no end. It's very funny, which is why I'd suggest removing the second sentence altogether (about not knowing what to write). I might start developing an eye-twitch if I see that phrase once more. Everyone says it.

   I was about to "call it quits", thinking this is a blog only site, but then I saw the categories, and clicked on the articles subcategory. And I'm greeted with one result and this huge search input box. Seeing as you have a search box in the sidebar at all times, I think you can safely get rid of this larger one.

   = Coding =
   ---------------------------
   Being a web developer by day, I get indecently trigger criticism-happy when I get to this part of the review. Yeah, I have strange hobbies. :)
   Very nicely indented and commented out. Great job. So few people have both nice design AND a great coding technique.

   Score: 4.5/5

   I like your design (for the most part) and I find your content really witty and funny.
   It's not 5, because... I'm one of those annoying people with short attention spans, who needs lots of varied things to be entertained. So all in all: good job on the great site.

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   yui's Response:

   Thanks for the review. I made a few tweaks to the layout. Hopefully the new RSS button is a little more reasonable, the sidebar headers are a little nicer looking, and the sidebar links are a little easier on the eyes. I elected to keep the gradients and a few other things because I didn't like how it looked when I tried to change them.

   I'm surprised that so many people are comparing my layout to Becca's work. I had never heard of Becca before Rose mentioned her in the other review and, since I haven't seen the layout that you're talking about, I can't really judge whether it looks similar to mine or not. I don't really see the resemblance to one you linked me, though, aside from the use of goldfish imagery. I will say, however, that this layout has a somewhat different feel from my usual work (on the other hand, I feel like my graphics site's layout is fairly typical of my work).

   I'm glad you like my writing. I've tried and failed to keep a blog several times in the past, mostly because I found my own writing boring. I started this new blog with the intention of cutting out all the useless life-related drivel and only writing when I had something interesting or worthwhile to say.

4. 

   Sillyish gave it on 22nd Jun 2010 and said:

   I'm honestly not a huge fan of this layout.

   I know, that's a horrible way to start off a review, and I feel guilty even typing it. And I promise it's not a revenge comment based on telling me that my photo isn't professional on my portfolio :P

   The idea for your layout is along the right lines, and it reminds me a lot of site layouts from a few years ago, especially some of Becca Wei's older layouts (screenshots of which I can't seem to find, so I can't even really rest my case here :P )

   BUT ANYWAY,
   there are some things here that bother me, so how about I stop waffling around.

   #1 - The goldfish.
   The idea of taking a photo and then using, say, a large paintbrush eraser with soft edges to get rid of the are around the focus of the photo = amateurish looking to me.

   #2 - The white lines
   There are two white lines -one under the title, and one under the navigation. It's hard to tell if they were done on purpose or not, because it almost feels like they're there in error.

   #3 - The RSS feed link
   I think it would look better if you got rid of the text, got rid of that huge rss feed background image, and just had a small rss feed icon up there that can be clicked.

   #4 - The colours in the sidebar.
   The pale green on red-brown, as well as the sidebar header colour choice looks SO clashy to me. In fact, the entire colour scheme of this site really doesn't sit well with me, and might be a major reason for why I'm not digging the design so much.

   #5 - The sub headings in the various content sections..
   Nothing major here, just thought I'd say I though there was too much space between the headings and their text.

   #6 - Something I like: The contact form :-)

   #7 - I hate justified text.
   I have written multiple articles on it, none of which are published at the moment. If you google something like "justified text for the web" you will find a lot of articles like this one and this one.

   --------

   So there are some things that bother me. Some of which could be changed, some which couldn't.

   I guess the bottom line is: You're obviously very proud of this layout, I can tell you put a lot of work into it, and I don't want you to feel like you have to tear it all down because *I*'m super mean and rained on your parade :)

   I'm wondering if other people feel the same way as I do, or if most people really like this layout! Maybe it's just a matter of personal taste.

   The layout isn't by any means unreadable, or so ugly that I wouldn't ever come back, and it doesn't make you look like a beginner or anything like that, so don't take this TOO harshly.

   And maybe just wait and see what other people have to say, too :)

   Good luck!!!!!!!!

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   yui's Response:

   Thanks for the review-- I appreciate the honesty.

   The layout was something of an experiment and, while I know it isn't the best I've ever made, I'm glad to have taken some of the risks that I did. The color scheme is unusual, and some of the colors are meant to clash. My goal was to create something unexpected, so I suspect that it will elicit a lot of love-it-or-hate-it reactions.

   I'm not sure what you mean by "amateurish looking." I know it doesn't look professional, but it wasn't really meant to-- it's a personal site, after all.

   Thanks for letting me know about the justified text-- I hadn't been aware that it was a problem. That's now been changed.

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