PSGR is a solo effort by me, Rhiannon, a 23 year old from New Zealand. There's a lot to explore here, so take a look around and have fun!
Name: Darren
Site: Midnight Daydream
Review completed on: 02/07/07
SPLASH PAGE
No splash
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
You may notice that your screenshot was taken in Opera. This is because your site does not display correctly in the major Mac browser that is Safari. Your text wouldn't show, at all - not even when I selected the areas. To see the text, I had to View Source. This issue also occured with your previous layout. So, Opera it is.
LAYOUT
Overdose of green, much? Green is an okay colour, but why shove it in my face like this? I'm choking here. A grey background to ease the pain would work wonders and serve as a fitting contrast.
How long did it take for you to make this layout? Five, ten minutes? All it is is a poorly cut out picture of an unknown celeb, some weird ass "nu age" babble about kaleidoscopes, and some generic paint splatter brushes that have been randomly planted for 'good' measure. The term 'good' is used loosely. Why did you make your welcome message part of the picture? Why not just have it on your sidebar, like everyone else does?
There's an array of white crap around the girls' head, that you need to fix up.
Initially I was wondering why your navigation links were looking hella blurry, but then I realised it's all part of the image, and you're using image mapping coordinates for your links. I think you may have taken the "Save For Web" function on Photoshop a little too far...this is looking really...cheap. While your welcome message and navigation text is lossy, the "featuring the amazing Alyson Michaelkawtfneverheardofheranywaydoesntmatterifispellitwrong" looks really pixellated. When you're working with text in graphics, it's important to make sure it doesn't look like this. I don't know what application you're using, but in Photoshop you can set the anti aliasing method for your text to smooth, sharp, etc. Perhaps you ought to consider this option in future.
CONTENT
Darren
Fast Facts - straightforward and brief, which is appropriate for these types of pages. Moving on...
Random Facts - The caption under this link ought to be restructured, so that it reads "Some interesting little tidbits about me."
Waffles with peanut butter, eh? Doesn't sound too bad at all - I'm serious! We're not really big on waffles down here in New Zealand, but I've had pancakes before obviously, which are sort of similar. Lemon and sugar, maple syrup, jam and cream....you name it. I should try peanut butter with them sometime.
Favorites - you've listed a few of your favourite actors, actresses, and musicians, as well as providing a link to each of their homepages. This is okay, but would have been better if you had explained what you like about them on top of everything else. What are your favourite songs by the musicians, for example?
Collective - I like the way in which you've set out this page, it's nicely organised. Many of your fanlistings revolve around actors/actresses from the movie Bridge To Terabithia. I take it you're a big fan of this movie then, so you may/may not be interested to know that it was filmed somewhere around Auckland, which is a few hours' drive from where I live.
Contact - perfectly fine.
Lovers & Friends
Freebies, Hosting, and Tutorials - all coming soon, apparently. Why create the section then, if there's nothing here? Only put up a section when you actually have content to house within it.
Designs
Portfolio - none of the images would load on my computer. Gutted.
Rules - "Orders are first come, first serve. Meaning, if Stephanie orders before Jennie, then I will do Stephanie's order before I do Jennie's. Please be patient." Isn't this term frequently used in the US or something? I would have thought that everyone knew what "first come first serve" meant. Is an elaboration really necessary? This term is more commonly known as "first come, first served." However, it can also be what you've put, "first come first serve", although this variation isn't as common.
Prices - you're charging for this stuff? Soon enough the only thing that'll be free 'round here is my love sweet love. You charge in "1 MQ image account"s? What kind of monetary unit is this? One that I've obviously pulled out of my ass. Oh sorry, that's the Webmasters Behaving Badly series. So what is this, dude? When I see the word price, I would have thought it would mean dollars and sex cents. Image MQ accounts, well, never heard of them. What are they good for? What if someone wants to purchase a layout off you, but they don't know what this Image MQ thing is? Sounds a bit queer...perhaps you could explain this on the page.
You're installing Cutenews for people and charging a fee for it? This is going to sound really crazy, but why don't they just, you know, read the "Read Me" file or the installation instructions that come with this deadbeat CMS, instead of paying some 12 year old to do it for them? And why are you charging for coded layouts, when your own is made out of tables? Before you even begin to code layouts as a service, you need to improve the state of yours. No DOCTYPE, even. What are you doing?!? Don't make out you can code layouts when you're seemingly unaware of the coding fundamentals involved.
Reviews
Rules - I found this page very interesting, especially rule number three. Let's quote:
If you're not mature enough to handle criticism, then do not apply. I may say things that you may be offended by and/or you don't like, but I'm going to be honest with you about what I think of your site - even if it hurts. If you can't handle that, then go submit your site at a crappy sugarcoated review site.
Gee, that sounds really similar to what I have on my rules page. Uncanny, that.
PSGR: Please only submit your site if you're mature enough to handle criticism. You are willingly subjecting yourself to criticism and opinions you may not agree with, and if you cannot handle this it'd be better for you to submit at a rookie review site that churns out sugarcoated reviews.
Yeeeaaa--hh. Perhaps in the future it would pay to not submit at the review site you've copied off. I do get this often, but this is quite blatant. You could have so easily written this yourself instead of being lazy and getting over-inspired by PSGR. This makes your little copyright notice on your sidebar thoroughly laughable. Why review in the first place if you're not original yourself? Practice what you preach.
Dotorg
History - oh, I see you have a history with Jayde. Nice girl...I remember her from the now defunct Alexis Online Reviews.
Credits - always good to see these pages. You've got a category for brushes and textures as well as scripts, but I'm not seeing a credit for the copyrighted celebrity image you're using for your layout.
Reviews - although this is just a page containing WPR links, I just had to comment. See, out of curiousity I went to the other WPR who is reviewing you, and lo and behold! I see you've been called out for copying her, too. Oh, for shame! You've ripped some of her review rules, too?
"No problems on the "reviews" page. Gee, your rules sure do sound familiar. In fact, so does your checklist. Um, wow, so much for "I actually had no idea you were going to do that too" [about having reviews on your site], huh? I mean, if you didn't get the idea from me, you surely would have thought beforehand about your content, and so you wouldn't have needed to rip off my rules and checklist. I know people do usually go by similar rules and criteria, but yours is just too similar"Oh my goodness! Seriously, what the hell is that about? Who else have you been copying off, then? Me, Annie, no doubt countless others?! After reading the review thoroughly, the "Reviews" section isn't the only aspect of Annie's site that you've attempted to rip. How absolutely shameful.
SUMMARY
It's pretty clear that your site needs a lot of work. You're offering custom made layouts - yet your graphics skills are lacklustre, even I could do a better job than this, and that's saying something. You offer coded layouts for a price, yet you're oblivious to the purpose of a DOCTYPE. On the whole, your content is mediocre - and I'm wondering how much of it has been ripped from other sites. You're twelve years old, and with the risk of coming across as a patronising bitch, I think you're a little ahead of yourself, especially in regards to offering graphics and website reviews. Your graphics are not currently at an acceptable level of competency; therefore you shouldn't be offering them to others, especially for a fee. And, as for your reviews - well, most of your content in that particular section has been ripped from PSGR and Annie's site, so yeah. That's pretty pathetic, isn't it. If you think I'm being a bitch here, then you're getting off easy, trust me. I could have had just called you, gee, I don't know, an unoriginal little shite and ended your review right then and there, but I'm not like that when it comes to reviews. However, I strongly suggest you develop a mind of your own because people do not take kindly to those who have blatantly copied them. You could get spammed, hated, contacted by a lawyer perhaps...all sorts of bother. Why risk it?
I'd like to end this review by quoting your copyright statement that is located at the bottom of your sidebar:
Everything on this website (graphics, opinions, etc.) is mine unless otherwise noted. Credit is given where credit is due. Please do not steal, copy, redistribute, or use anything commercially, thank you.Young offender, why the pretense?
