Name: Hannah
Site: No Foam
Review completed on: 11/09/07
SPLASH PAGE
No splash.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
You're not a stranger to PSGR - I've reviewed you three times now, with this time being the fourth. I love it!
At face value your site is looking great, and I can't wait to explore it further and see all the improvements you've made.
LAYOUT
Your header image is creative, I like it a lot. I see you've moved away from the celebrity image bullshit - excellent. It just goes to show that you can come up with something great without having to rely on a random celebrity blend. I'm digging the purple Bic lighter in the background - I have one of those! At any given time I have 4-5 lighters because I'm forever misplacing them and when I can't find a lighter, all hell breaks loose. Well, that's an exaggeration really, but what good is a cigarette when you can't light it?
Your image is slightly on the larger side, yet it loaded quickly on my dialup modem due to the fact that you have the sense to optimise your images. You probably wouldn't want to go any bigger though - on my 1024 x 768 laptop monitor I have to scroll down to see the beginning of your content, and that's never a good look. (As shown in the screenshot above.)
Good to see your layout is centrally aligned; it definitely adds to the organised look you've got going on. Your navigation is unmissable, located directly under your header image. I'd suggest using a hover background on your nav links - purple maybe, or perhaps the pretty teal colour that you've used for your regular links.
Your headers are clearly defined, your font is of an ideal size and so is your line height. All in all, a stellar effort. Well done!
CONTENT
Hannah
An autobiography - I love all the pictures that you've included throughout this. I do have a small criticism regarding them though - the font you've used at the bottom of each looks really blurry.
Talk about a supermodel smile in the picture of you and Jane. You really suit having darker hair! Is it still like this now or have you gone back to your original blonde?
Her Music - that's a cool looking Last FM widget. You've mentioned your top ten favourite bands in a bullet pointed list - if these are your favourites then how about going into further detail? Why do you like them, how did you become a fan, what are your favourite tracks etc.
Content
By rights this should be renamed "Visitor" / "Visitor Content" or something similar, since every section here can be classified as content, not just this section exclusively.
Icons - these mainly feature images of celebrities. The use of celebrity images is generally frowned upon these days, as webmasters are becoming more aware of the legal implications that can result from using these unlawfully obtained images. It seems that I've been going on about this a lot in reviews of late and I'm getting sick of having to mention it - I hate sounding like a broken record. I do hope you're aware that you're not actually allowed to be altering these images and redistributing them on your site...
Birthdays - Birthday pages rock. Oh, you've got Kim here - I love that girl. Babe, I submitted my birthday to this page a good few weeks ago now, how come it isn't up? I know the form went through because I watched it connect (Freedback ftw). Remember to keep all interactive pages updated!
Weight vs Society - a fascinating read and very well written indeed. You've raised some excellent points here, and you've included yourself in this too, bringing a more personal element into this factual article. I read this from beginning to end and I can't praise it enough - absolutely outstanding. Have you considered enabling comments at the bottom so that other readers can add their feedback too?
Inappropriate Library Behaviors - I have a few problems with the structure of this page - use of paragraphs would be great, for starters! How come all of the text here is stored within a blockquote tag?
I did enjoy reading this though - very amusing. Not that is is completely related to the article, but what do you think about librarians in general? There's more to librarians than meets the eye, that's for sure. Underneath the dodgy apparel lurks a vicious individual, who no doubt engages in activities involving leather and whips in the bedroom. I've had some bad experiences involving librarians in the past, the most recent involving one at the central library in Christchurch. I went there a lot, and there was a certain librarian there who started hating on me for no reason. I dubbed this librarian "Mint Bitch", because every day she'd wear the same thing - a green woolen jersey and matching green spandex leggings, teamed with a massive medallion of sorts. She looked like a cross between 50 Cent and a Greenpeace supporter. She'd walk around and whenever she saw me, she'd give me a totally evil look, even though I wasn't doing anything to warrant it. No offense to you though - I know you work in a library, but the difference is that you're not a bitchy freak and you know how to look good!
No Foam
The Reincarnation - you were wondering about Bleed-Black - yeah, that was the name. I remember having one of my sites listed at Bleed Black listings - one of the few sites that would accept me! Glitter, the most popular listing site, have rejected every single site I've ever made, including PSGR. Interesting how they'll accept everyone else though, but whatever. Remember PSG Listings? A failed attempt at a directory if ever there was one. I was thinking about this earlier today, and realised I had actually used a celebrity layout...oh my God! It was a Pet Shop Boys lay, and it took up most of the page...with a tabled layout underneath and all that jazz. Ahh, sweet memories...
The thing about having a domain (while it was nice to be able to hsot people), I got bored with it.This sentence needs a little tweakin'....change it to "The thing about having a domain (although it was nice to be able to host people) was that I eventually became bored with it."
I'm glad you've provided some information about your site title - I had been wondering.
The Layout -
"No Foam is currently hosting it's third layout."
It's = its. Oh, and
"I let you guess which hand belongs to which of us."should be I'll let you guess. Is your hand the one in between the hand with the gold ring and the hand with the striped ring?
Home
For the sake of being 'proper', this link ought to be the final one in your navigation, or the first.
Leaving?
Site Quality Survey - an excellent idea and a great way to receive feedback from your visitors. It shows that you care about your visitors needs and that you're willing to consider implementing any changes that they may suggest. On the last line, change it's to its.
Link Back - three buttons made available initially, with the option of clicking a link to view more of a variety. Apparently! The additional page only contains one extra button, so until you come up with more buttons it'd be easier sticking the 50x50 button on the main link page instead.
Exits / Family - I like it how you've taken the time to create a 50x50 button for each site. Most of us are guilty of taking the easy route and using a text link instead. It's nice to see your favourite links displayed in a way that differs from the norm.
Favorite sites - I see you've listed an X-Men site here?! I had no idea you liked X Men, so do I!
Resources - nicely done. The utilisation of list tags next to the links have been noted - good one!
SUMMARY
In general, I've really enjoyed my time at No Foam. There were a few hiccups along the way though - I'm mainly referring to the array of celebrity icons featured on your Content page. I'd love to see these being replaced with something more original - pictures you've taken yourself maybe, or some non-celebrity related designs you've come up with in your graphics application. Anything's gotta be more original than an illegally obtained image of a celebrity! There were a few spelling errors scattered around the place as well, and although these are harmless they were worth mentioning anyway.
My favourite part of your content was your Reads. You're a talented writer, and you really captured my attention with your piece on Weight Vs Society. You clearly have the ability to express your thoughts with strength and conviction, and I can't wait to read more from you in the future.
All in all a fantastic effort, so well done.
