revolutionary reviews review

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Site: http://ricepaper.mirrorsoul.net
Site Name: Ricepaper

Reviewer: Utena
Date: June 03, 2003

Wow! Your site reminds me of the set-up of either moveable type (those darned people, didn't let me use their blogging system) or b2 or was it...pMachine. Anyway, it's very generic css-y...type of layout with much text and line elements to separate. I can't quite decide between whether your layout is tastefully bland, or just bland...

Trying not to offend, but the total lack of graphic is very primitive. It's as if you're afraid of putting on one piddly graphic, like not even a piddly banner? Or a splash of colour, hey I know pink is a colour BUT like you might have been told as a child, grey and black (dark-grey?) are shades. Nonetheless, I do admit having some amour (lol) for the "layout", it's not really a layout exactly since it's mostly text arranged with lines separating them...

Anyway I'm not sure why you stuck to a pink/orange-pink theme for links and visited links...I think it would be much nicer if you had a banner at the top of your page where "Ricepaper" was to coordinate with the links. That would look more complete.

Um...one suggestion, I don't think you require the link blog to the left navigation which takes you further down the main page...since naturally most people would scroll down and find the blog. But then again, a separator of the updates and blog that is easy to visually define would help since for little second I was just slightly confused. I suggest a heading of some sort that really stands out to divide the updates/intro and the blog...which will not require the blog link anymore.

Now about your tagboard, the colours stand out a bit too much. I know you were trying to match them as closely with the links as possible, but with your current design a grey/white themed tagboard would have sufficed. Oh yah, another picky thing...in the input boxes and submit button under the tagboard, you should change the border surrounding both (or colours if you want to mess around with css) to blend in the design even more. Not that it matters too much, but I just thought I'd bring attention of that to you.

Darn, so you used GreyMatter...same schniff..be careful with php if you use GreyMatter! I have to admit, when there's more pink the page the layout suddenly looks brighter...which suggests: have more images, even if it's just a faint rice grain in the background, or asian lanterns (I really like those, esp. square ones in asian gardens anyway...), something that reminds people of rice, and the antiquity of it.

Although more people are having credits now, yours is probably the most comprehensive, though I found the way you list them "dreambook for the guestbook, tagboard for the tagboard..." a bit redundant. I'm sure if you just left a list of credits people would know what they are, but since you like explaining stuff I guess it works too.

Hmm...I noticed that when you click on archives you get taken down to the bottom of the page, that works in concept but it wouldn't hurt to place it on the side nav. (I know, like millions of other people), so that you don't need links taking you a bit further down on the main page. In your thoughts section, you don't need "go to top" since the amount of links you have does not require scrolling, but it would be good if you had a whole bunch of links going down, otherwise right now if you click on top nothing happens, ;D.

It was very interesting to read your thoughts, they were well written and "thoughtful". I can see you have a lot of philosophies about things and you word them in a way that's easily understandable to the outside person, someone who doesn't know you very well but has enough of an inkling after reading your thoughts.

Definitely your stories are worth reading, and you supply enough background info. If the reader is confused, but I wanted a short little summary on some of the ones you didn't really summarize. Wow, you are a meticulous person, you even explained every one of your poems. Being the design your site utilizes, I highly recommend usage of PHP since the look of everything else is the same, just the content area changes, but I think you mentioned SSI so yeah, either SSI or PHP.

The photos (esp. black and white) were interesting to see, I think you should put more on if you have time to take any since not very many people have an all encompassing site with writings and art. I dig your taste in anime music =), go you. And it's very nice of you to share your links in great detail, very indeed.

All in all, one would not think too much when they first go on your site due a lack of graphics and vibrant colour. But upon further investigation they will find that it is a high quality content-oriented site, and perhaps forget the lack of imagery. Though I highly suggest just one tiny picture in the background, on the side or if you decide to have a splash (personally your site wouldn't exactly need one, but you can use it as an excuse to have a graphic if you do not want the main site to be graphically endowed), it would help.

Reviewer: Kirsty
Date: June 02, 2003

Utena:: Anymore reviews you've done? Like those other two submissions? *nags*

Kirsty:: No..I'll do the next submission..Mmkay?

Utena:: Mmmokay...^^

Kirsty:: Gah! Stop copying my word! -_-;; *looks at her av* MY PERSON LOOKS LIKE SHE'S PICKING HER NOSE! *cough*...

That was a short intro...to lighten the mood before we begin the ride to hell. Mwuahaha! Jokes!

To start, where are thou splash? I have a fetish for splash pages...and this is how you repay me? Err...I'm kidding. You don't have one, get one. I don't care how simple...one small step for mankind, one giant leap for you. If that made any sense. I'm not going to go into why you should have a splash and stuff because we all know why. In case you don't know you need it for stating the requirements etc. before your visitor enters.

*yawns* I fell asleep looking at the layout. You might want to have an image that won't bore the visitor to death before they even start looking at the site. However, I like the simplicity you aim for. The colours are alright but you truly should have some captivating image that will not let the visitor fall into a deep sleep the moment they enter the site. I also suggest customizing the scrollbar colours.

Your credits page goes under the site category. Yes, I'm sorry, it does. Good cheesy credits. You like cheesy? Mmmkay. For one thing, you don't really need a top link on your pages which are short. That's useless. I mean we can already see the whole page...there is no need for that. Good writings I actually enjoyed reading them. Well, hurray, there is something on this site that didn't bore me to death. I'm glad you like putting time into them and it is more certainly apparent you did. I salute to you?..Yeah right, not yet. I can see that you like putting descriptions on to everything you put up. How nice and thoughtful of you. Now I'm going to frolic in the garden and prance around. Ha. No. But yeah, it is nice to see the descriptions. You have good work. I like the photography especially. A lot of thought and effort put into your work and most of all the site. Wow! Will you look at that? I'm not as bored anymore. If I was going to be really picky I would say that the about would go before the links but that is a personal choice. I suggest adding more funny content? Interesting reads besides all your writings. Though it pretty much keeps the visitor busy with all the pictures and reading.

To make a timeline for my experience at this site I would say:: Dead bored, still bored but not as much, getting more entertained and finally, satisfied. So I wasn't wowed but I was satisfied. In fact, nothing much really wowed me at this site but maybe the photography. Maybe, just maybe. Well woop-dee-doo. Fix up on the layout. I don't see why you can't make an image. Lazy? Probably. I can tell you have the skills to. So do not be lazy... if you have the effort to put all that stuff on the site you can at least make an image for the layout. Well, keep on moving forward and sooner or later, you'll get there. I would come back to this site...and hopefully next time I do, I won't be dead bored in the beginning.

Verdict: Red Star (You have the basic idea down, but you lack a few things you need to remember or take care of. Suggestion: Look around on sites you admire, with decent design for inspiration and tricks.)

chiiyo's comments :
To be brutally honest, I was pretty offended at some points when I read Kirsty's review. Although I know she put in work to review my site, and she did bring up some valid points, and she was being brutally honest with me, in some ways she had offended me with her words. I think it got to a high point when she mentioned that I was lazy, something which I willingly admit to being in other areas except in my work, and I really put in a lot of work for ricepaper, so it stung, because it wasn't true. It also didn't help that I felt she was being a little irrelevant at times, I mean, frolicking in the garden? Maybe she was trying to lighten the mood. But I wasn't very impressed with her review. (Okay, enough ranting...)

After calming down though, I must say that I really appreciated Utena's review, and I could see the valid points brought up by Kirsty. The one very important thing that both their reviews taught me was that I have to explain my webdesigning ideas to others if I don't want to be misunderstood again. I really work hard at both the design and content side of my website, but if I don't explain why I do what I do, people would tend to think I'm being lazy for not decorating my website more. The idea of separating the blog archives and blog into separate pages I have retained and used in this version. And in the end, I get the feeling the main reason why they didn't really like Ricepaper was mostly caused by design, and that they actually liked my content quite a bit, which was encouraging.



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