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: Dee
Site: Void-Star.Net
Review completed on: 20/06/08, by Mallory
Hi there, Dee! You're in luck here at PSGR, because you're getting two --- Count 'em --- Two reviews for Void-Star.Net! ((Alright, only because I lazily finished my review a little later than Nellie's, but I'll pretend you're extra special, because I'm friendly like that.)) I'm Mallory of mallorymaloney.com, by the by! ^_^ But enough with the introductions, let's jump right in, shall we?
Layout
Beginning with your layout, I must admit, I am a little turned off straight away. What is this .. Creature ... You have gracing your header image? I realise that you've drawn it yourself, but this doesn't make the creature look any better. Don't get me wrong though --- I've gone through your site ahead of time, and I've seen your other drawings; You're actually quite good! So why, then, have you decided to use this ... Disturbing anthropomorphic character? Your artistic talents would easily allow you to create something a little more crowd pleasing ... And a little less confusing to first time visitors of your site.
Another thing ... I'm well known to keep a layout up for quite an extended period of time, but hasn't this one been up for a little too long? I remember visiting sometime last year and seeing this layout! You gotta switch things up once in awhile, girl, keep things interesting. No one wants to be greeted by the same layout over and over again for months on end --- And certainly not that header image.
As for your actual layout though, it's truly not too bad. I'm not sure if I like the colour scheme all that much; But it's easy to read, and it all matches nicely, which some webmasters fail to accomplish ... So props for good colour coordination.
Now, before I dive into your content, I'd like to make a little suggestion regarding the sidebar on your index page ... Get rid of it! I noticed you don't have many comments on your blog entries ... This might be because the 'Comment' link is in such a strange place! I'm all for Interwebz originality, but some things gotta be predictable on a site ... In this case, placement of a commenting link. Place it either at the beginning of each entry, or at the end, and I bet you'll start pulling in loads of comments straight away. :)
And one more thing before I begin my review of your content ... If you're only going to display one blog entry at a time on your index page, you really ought to include a link at the bottom of the page saying, 'Previous Entries' --- Similar to the way most LiveJournals are set up. No one wants to have to rifle through your Archives to get to entries they've missed!
Alright, onto the content; Starting with ...
Author
Right off the bat, I notice something that displeases me, and even makes me a little uncomfortable as a reader ... The fact that underneath each page is a little description, and in each description you type in a cynical, even pessimistic manner about yourself. This is a little depressing ... Surely you could come up with something a little more cheerful, or even neutral sounding? Cheer up, emo kid, and do away with this! :P
The Obligatory Bio
I suggest you change 'The Obligatory Bio' into 'Potted Biography' on your Author page --- 'Obligatory' sounds as if you don't truly care to provide a bio ... And this is a personal blog site, after all. Information about you is what people want to read!
What you have is fine, of course, but it's only the basics ... Again, more information is needed! I finished reading this page with absolutely no idea of who you are whatsoever; Aside from the fact that you link to Wikipedia much too often, you are definitely not goth, and you have two computers. Hell, there aren't even any pictures of yourself to spice things up ... Boooooooring!
Flavour this page up, girl, and stop writing like you're back in high school. ;) This isn't an essay, remember ... Personal blog sites are supposed to be personal!
Dee's Art
Hmm, it says in this page's description that these are only some of your sketches ... Why not all of them, if they're finished pieces? The more art to look at, the better, in my opinion!
What you do have, though, as I mentioned earlier, is very well done ... Well, aside from the strange creatures everywhere. :P I have no complaints about your actual drawing talents; They're very advanced!
A suggestion, though ... I think you should provide a little description for each drawing you have displayed, directly underneath each drawing itself --- Some people might be wondering who/what the heck 'Loki' is, for example!
Your sketches are lovely, too, but again, I suggest little descriptions on each page.
Photography ... Hmm, I see minimal photography here; All I spy are mostly screenshots from either IMVU/Second Life, or a similar online game. Perhaps you should simply display photos you've taken on the actual page, instead of using a Flickr plugin ...?
Fanlistings
Fanlistings?! Gosh, I thought these were considered old school years ago! Heck, even I don't display fanlistings on my site, and as you know by now, I'm well known for being very, er ... 'Retro' ... In the kindest phrase.
However, I must say, I like the way you have this page set up --- Very well done. It gives visitors a little more insight about you.
Dee Online
A glorified contact page ... It's all good though, you have it set up in a very neat and tidy way; I also like the way you included quite possibly every account you have online --- Most webmasters fail to do this, and instead only include something minimal, like a single contact form. I dislike this; So two thumbs up for being thorough with this page.
Contact Dee
What the cockadoodledoo?! Why the redundant page, m'fair lady? Fuse this page and Dee Online together; There's no need for a separate page containing only a contact form.
Recently
Oh, dear. A Twitter plug in.
I can't stand Twitter or Twitter plugins. They're completely pointless, as readers aren't interested in private jokes/phrases only your friends understand.
Moving quickly on.
Site
Articles
Lots and lots of articles here; Very impressive! You've got some good points here --- But shouldn't this page be located in your About section ...?
F.A.Q.
I'm a little displeased with something I read on this page, regarding your layout. You state, when speaking of Internet Explorer 6 users;
... You can still read the damn thing but it looks terrible, and quite frankly I don't care ...
In my opinion, this is completely unacceptable. As outdated and full of fail older browsers may be, your site should still display correctly in most, ((If not all,)) Of these browsers. There are still many, many Internet users out there who have either stuck with Internet Explorer 6 out of personal preference, or the inability to update to Internet Explorer 7. ((For example, all Windows 2000 users cannot run anything higher than Internet Explorer 6.))
Even my own website, mallorymaloney.com --- Which is well known for its complete disregard of standards compliant coding and use of iFrames --- Will load correctly on every single version of Internet Explorer, as well as all versions of FireFox, Safari, Opera, Netscape, Camino, Konqueror, and even obscure browsers such as Iceweasel and SeaMonkey. The only browser mallorymaloney.com will not display correctly on, ((As far as I know,)) Is a browser called 'Dillo', which is used on the PLD platform --- Dillo doesn't display frames of any sort.
So in short, I suggest you get this problem sorted out immediately --- Remember, you're catering to your visitors, not the other way 'round.
Collective
Like Rhiannon, I'm not going to review separate sites; As that would be unfair to other reviewees. But holy crap --- You do have a lot of sites, don't you?! Good job, I'm only able to maintain one website, personally. I get overwhelmed if I attempt to work with any more!
About Log.Code
Hmm, strange place to display such a page! My suggestion is to remove this from your Site section, and instead place it in the comments section of your blog. It's placed in a completely useless spot right now, and I believe I can hear it screaming 'Hi! I'm Filler Content!' at me ...
Exit
I like the different sizes of Link Me banners you have available, and I also like the fact that you linked to some pretty interesting articles! Everything else seems to be in order here, so we'll continue straight on.
Members
This page is exactly what I expected --- A list of members that have registered on Void-Star.net. However, I only know this from reading your F.A.Q. page beforehand ... Perhaps you could place a little explanatory snippet at the top of this page, as well? You should also include a link to register at the top, as well. The page as is seems a little useless, and again, seemingly filler content.
And this brings us to the end of Void-Star.Net's review! I must say, I was expecting more, but right now I feel as if your site is still 'under construction'! ((As everyone used to say in 1999.)) There's truly not enough content here to keep a visitor entertained for long, and again, what content there is seems to be incomplete.
But quite obviously, this isn't so, as you've owned Void-Star since about 2003, correct? That's five years now ... You've had plenty of time to create loads of unique and interesting content.
I know for a fact you can do better than this, Dee, because your creativity shows in your drawings and sketches! Sadly, though, this is the only place your creative mind is truly shown ... Everything else seems pretty little mundane and bleak in comparison. :(
So, wrapping up ... In my opinion, if you follow the few suggestions I've given you throughout this review; Void-Star.Net will be well on its way to 'star'dom! ;)
Get those creative juices flowing and good luck!
