retrospect reviews review
(No longer around)
Site Name: Ricepaper
Site Owner: Lili
Reviewed by: Jessica
Finished on: 06*15*03
First Impression: Hey, you're hosted by Melcena! :) I don't really like the layout on the main page; it looks extremely plain and it uses the normal horizontal rule bars which I absolutely cannot stand. hehe. By looking at the scrollbars, i can tell you don't know CSS for scrollbars. You should probably try to learn it. If you'd like to see an example of it, you can look at the one at my site: EXAMPLE. Now, to use it on a page of your site, place the following tag in the head portion: . I like the colors that you did use (for the links and tagboard). The unsatisfactory layout doesn't make me hopeful to the content.
Layout: The layout is extremely plain and simple. Simple can be good, but the layout seems to be lacking something. I looked through some of your pictures, and they all look really nice. I think that if you used some pictures in the layout, you would have a fantastic layout. Also, your winamp skins are very nicely themed. If you use the same principle of theming your website, I'm sure it would turn out great. I do have to admit, that I kinda like the way the text was done. It has a sense of style that I have only seen on beautifully eloquent sites. If you're going for a simplistic look, I have to admit that that's precisely my style. You might want to check out my site or melcena's. A lot of times, you'll notice that the layout is simply a picture that's faded, or a picture with a box for an iframe. I tend to steer away from cluttered layouts with tons of brushes, etc. But, if you go to a site like www.gettyone.com and pick up a beautiful image that's royalty-free, or use one of your own, fade the edge a little or just add a box and fade the inner portion of the box so the text is easier to read, you can have a simplistic layout, yet extremely beautiful. Also, you may want to add some text, and my recommendation is to find a pretty font. I would recommend carpenter, porcelain, or lainie day for the title font. If there is any additional text on your layout, I would recommend silkscreen. Other than that, you have a technically sound layout. Also, you may want to justify your main text. I think that it would look a lot better that way.
Navigation: Navigation was easy to use and understand. Also, it was very well partitioned. I commend you on your use of anchors and having a top link when necessary. Plus, there were back buttons as well. Very nice. I also like how the title of each page tells you exactly where you are on the site. The only other thing I can think of is when you have a section of a site (take the links section) for example and having the links to the anchors maybe at the top of the page so that they are easily accessible. Or, what may be nice, is having a small div either right under the normal navigation div or on the right side of the content div. Also, the navigation at the bottom of every page is unnecessary.
Content:
Home
Blog: I really like the way that you separate updates about the site from your blog. Your blog is pretty interesting and it has some really good use of writing style. My only recommendation to your writing, is the use of the period and the semi colon to separate ideas. You had a few run-on sentences. But, I suppose it is a blog, so perfect grammar to that extent isn't exactly necessary. Also, you might want to change it to "she stopped writing at" instead of "she stops writing at". Installing a commenting system would be very nice too. If you want to use a free one that involves no script installations, try backBlog. I used it before I installed b2. http://www.blogextra.com/backblog. It's pretty easy to use and you just need to play around with the template. But, what I really like is that the template is completely customizable.
Credits: Everything is fine in this section. It's nice that you not only linked everyone you wanted to thank, but also said why.
Verses: We can not review this section...
Archives: Nice use of anchors, as I have mentioned before.
Words
Thoughts: Your opinions on various things were very well written. After reading your opinion on webdesigning, I understand your layout more. And I agree that content is 100 times more important than layout. However, I have seen many sites that are heavy on content and have no images in the layout, but still have a very pleasing, full, and complete layout. I find that your layout still seems to be incomplete in a sense. My new recommendation is using a background color. For example, if you ignore the picture at the top of this site, the use of the green really enhances the layout: EXAMPLE. Also, using tables would look really nice as well. Tables with different color backgrounds for the headings of things and for the actual text. It would look nice for your blog as well as navigation. It ands a real sense of organization to a site's layout. Whoops...I guess I sorta started talking about layout in the content section. lol. Anyway, the opinions were well thought out and well written.
Stories: Great stories and I love the way that you have a short little summary or introduction describing each of the pieces before someone reads them. A commenting system, again, would be extremely user-friendly and a nice way to get feedback. Again, I would have to recommend backBlog.
Poems: I love the way that you partition each of your poems into an era of your writing style. I wish I could have done that for my poetry. I have so much that all I do is alphabetize them on my site. You are a beautiful and eloquent writer. I really like Hating Myself. I also like the fact that you add author comments to each of the poems.
Misc.: Nicely partitioned and beautiful, as all your writing is.
Art
Doodles: Cute. I like the way you have used thumbnails for everything and that everything is the same size and all neat. LOL. I'm a neat freak, and your site definitely appeases my neatness obsession.
Photos: You have some really beautiful photography here. Again, I love the way you comment on everything and have a link to the next photo. The photojournal (perhaps misused) of the little boy getting splashed is simply adorable! He is so cute. LOL.
Skins: That is really cool that you have winamp skins and know how to make them. I've been meaning to learn how to do them myself. The skins are all beautiful. But, you need back buttons to the skins main section on each of the individual skins. *shocked* you have a break in the cycle of perfection of navigation! lol. I especially liked the inkblot one. It looked just beautiful in it's simplicity. In fact, you could probably create a beautiful layout just by coloring some text in different fonts (or just times new roman, then bold, and then italicized). I have done that before as well and the outcome was beautiful. But anyway, all of the skins looked amazing.
Misc.: Cool flash chinese advertisement. No problems here.
Site
Links: I love the first link button; it is adorable. Everything here checks out and is beautiful.
About: I feel as if the information about you and the site should have been earlier on the navigation menu because it's an important part of the site and should be viewed early on. The profile of the website was hilarious.
Reviews: We do not review this section...
Guestbook: We do not review this section...
Graphics/Images: There were none except for the link buttons. I have already said that I thought the first link button was extremely cute.
Credits: The credits page was thorough and complete.
Technical: I found no technical problems at all except for a few grammar run-on sentences; but, that's not even worth mentioning.
Overall Impression: I was amazed--completely amazed at just the amount of stuff you have in your site. Everything is well-presented. Practically every page has a helpful introduction. I am, however, afraid that a normal visitor to your site will not even glance or give your site a chance because of the nakedness of the layout. I seriously recommend adding some more color to the site (especially to the background) and considering tables or maybe text nicely put together for something to spice up the layout a bit. It seems naked right now. You are a beautiful and compelling writer and a dedicated webmistress. Keep up the fantastic work. I will definitely be back at this site again to explore everything. It was a pleasure reviewing your site.
chiiyo's comments :
I really liked how Jessica went through every single section and subsection of my site and actually commented on all of them (even those that she wasn't supposed to review... *wink*). Because hers was one of the later reviews, many of the points she did bring up were already under consideration for the next design. But I'm still impressed she went through all my sections. I'm very grateful she liked my website in the end too...
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