crystal clear reviews review

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Ricepaper
#151 - 6/9/03
Reviewed by strawberries

First Impression: I'll be completing this review since Sledge's computer is broken. Sorry for the lateness. No splash page and one isn't needed anyway. Basic tables are used and of course, every browser can support them. So let's move on.

Layout: Well... 'what layout' would be the question here. A solid, white background with grey text is hardly a design. I like simplicity, but this is a little too simple for my tastes. I don't know, perhaps it's just because I don't like white. (I like your first version with the blue and green and it's simple, so it probably is just the white.) On other notes, the navigation is easy to find and use. I like pink, so I like the link colors. The guestbook matches well. Wow, even your journal matches! I feel that more effort could have been put into the making of this layout. It just bores me quite a bit.

Content: Your introduction to your site is excellent. The blog entries and most recent update are listed nicely and in a correct order. Your credits cover everything on your site and are very polite. ^^ I liked reading your thoughts. They really reflect your feelings and I agree with the dancing one. I love ballet. I know only the basics (I only took it for one year), but I still love to watch. I liked reading your stories, too. It seems that you put a lot of thought into them. I like how you have your poetry organized into 'stages' of your life and also how you comment on the coming-froms of each one. Your profiles on your characters are very extensive. You pay attention to detail well. Real thumbnails are used in the galleries, that's good. I think the actual-size images would look crisper with a black border around them though this isn't entirely necessary; they look fine either way. You have lots of different types of links for your visitors to choose from. A wide range from anime-related sites to places that sell Japanese clothing. The profile of the website was pretty funny. I'd never thought of giving a history in the sense of a character profile. ^_^; Ooo, I like the first version of Ricepaper. I like earthy colors. Your personal profile was very extensive and I really feel that I've gotten to know you a little better which is always a good thing. Hmm, reading one of your reviews, I don't get why they claim you need a splash page -- you don't. *Mutters about the incompetence* XD I also don't get how some of these reviews claim they were bored. I wasn't and I enjoyed my visit.

Organization: Back links are presented excellently throughout the site except in one area. In Misc. under Art, both of the two pages need back links. You even provide 'to the top' links. Very user friendly. ^^ I've always felt that a Links page should be the last thing one visits due to the fact that they should see everything your site has to offer before leaving. However, each outside link opens into a new window and that is good.

Loading/Broken Links/Images: In Links, 'Voyeurism,' 'MP3 no Baka,' 'The Noodle Bowl' and '1-800-Download' are broken links.

Spelling/Grammar Errors: Um... *cough* Right... This sucks because I love picking at spelling mistakes. Darn, wish I could find one on this site. You use a spellchecker or proof-read, no? It shows.

Verdict: 3 1/2 stars

Final Words: All in all, I liked this site. I like literature-based websites quite a bit, almost as much as I like art-based sites. The only thing that didn't draw me in was the layout. Again I say that there was just too much white. For your first version, you used a combination of green and blue which was much more colorful. It worked better in my opinion. Anyhow, you have nice content and I enjoyed my stay.

chiiyo's comments :
To be exceedingly honest, this review was one that really cheered me up. Although I didn't get an exceedingly good grade, all in all strawberries was very generous with her sincere compliments and her critiques were not thorny or hurtful. Her comment about my broken links was timely, and taught me that I must regularly check my link page for broken links. Mostly her review was confirming my own thoughts about the website, like yes I don't need a splash page, my personal page was informative, having real thumbnails are good, and so on and so forth. Not so much a very helpful review, but I really liked it anyways...



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