Name: Cassie
Site: Dreamless Heart
Review completed on: 15/10/05

SPLASH PAGE

No splash n/a

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Woah...attack of the green! Sort of reminiscent of a guys' gaming website...I've been to enough of them to know that green and black are very popular colour combinations with the opposite sex. Another one of those random band member layouts I see, but you do have several other themes available if people don't like this default one. I think it's great that you've set up that option for people! I guess i'll review your site under this default layout, if you're not happy with the overall grade though feel free to submit for a re-review under a different skin 9/10

LAYOUT

I'm not into Good Charlotte by any means, but that doesnt mean I don't like your layout. You've merged the two images of the guy (sorry, no idea in hell who it is!) very well, and I like the green grid-type effect you have in various places. I'm liking the detail at the top of your tables, it's like an opened up folder. But wait - what's all this black space at the bottom of each table, it doesn't look very tidy. Even if you can't fill the tables with any more content etc you should at least extend them so they don't look so abruptly cut off at the bottom. Using the font "Comic Sans" doesn't really do your site any favours, either. I've always considered it to have an 'ameteurish' look to it, not exactly a professional looking font. I suggest changing to perhaps "Arial" or "Verdana" - your site would look so much better! Colour-wise, everything matches, although they do give your site a masculine look. Whether this is a good or bad thing for you I don't know, but initially I would so think this was a guys' site. 15/20

CONTENT

Where to look first? It seems your main content is located on the right table, but what's all this stuff on the left? "Members"? What's this? What exactly is there to join here? Your "Site" section is also located on the left table - wouldn't it be better to join it up with the rest of the content on the right table? It just makes things tidier and easier for visitors to navigate around. Okay, the "Me" section. The first page, "About Me" is just a collection of generic, cliched surveys, similar to the ones that annoyingly find their way to my inbox from people I barely know. The surveys were boring and a complete waste of time, and here's why. Practically every question you've answered with a simple "no", "yes", or "not sure". To make this page actually worthwhile, try going into more detail with your answers. If the answer is "no", then why not? Give examples, liven up these dull surveys a bit. Oh, under "Name" in the first survey, you've answered "Ask me if you care". Yet at the end of every blog you've signed off with your name, Cassie. Isn't it a bit ridiculous not revealing your name in some places and then stating it in others? There's nothing wrong with your name! If you're desperate, you could try and be original and make up surveys of your own, with questions you can actually answer. It'll make this page more personalised and relevant to who YOU are. Now, I don't usually comment on spelling errors if they're few and far between, but I'm seeing a shitload of them here at your site. The only error I'm going to point out though is on your "Obsessions" page, where you've regularly spelled "Obsessed" as "upsest". I read "Currently I've been on a frenzie and have been extremly upsest with shades of brown" thinking the colour brown upset you or something, and I was like, what the fuck? It's spelled "obsessed". I'm just mentioning this anomalie because people could really get confused here and not know what you're talking about. If you have trouble with your spelling you could either get someone to help you on instant messenger or just sound out the word to yourself, eg "ob-sess-ed". "Toybox" in other words, cutesy pixels from various lame-ass websites. Enough said. "My Pixel Train" - what the freak is this? Although I'm now nauceous from the pixelly cuteness I've been exposed to, I must find out what this pixel train shit is...Okay, so it's an animated choo choo train with pixel graphics on it from those pixel sites. Of course, such sites that are no doubt made by obese 25 year old "God Bless America" obsessed housewives who's husbands are fighting in Iraq. Trust me, there's a type. Whatever rocks your boat, babe - I'm not sure how old you are because it doesn't say in the survey, but I'm assuming you're in the 12-15 year age range? No offense, but if you're any older than that then your spelling is really an issue, and the fact you're into pixels is nothing short of worrying. If you are in your early teens though, then by all means embrace your youth and put up all the sickeningly sweet pixellated graphics you can lay your hands on. Okay, onto "Quizzes" now - five pages of your quiz results, complete with the token graphic you received from the quiz site. Without sounding too nasty, do you REALLY think that anyone - with the possible exception of those who know you in real life - cares that your power colour is orange and that the hottest part of your body is your ass? No. One page of such quiz results is bareable, but five pages? Filler alert! Your "Tributes" page is quite original, and shows your sensitive side. Your "You" section is a collective section of various free graphics for the visitor. This is all great, but you should consider adding a bit of variety to this section, and including some non-graphics related content. Perhaps some awards, or some reads. Your graphics you've provided are really good though, especially your layouts! Apart from the anime ones (because I hate anime with a passion), I loved all of the layouts that I saw. I was very impressed by the designs, you're producing layouts of a very high standard. I bet they've been used by lots of grateful visitors who's skills aren't as good as yours. Jumping across the page to the "Site" section now - nothing really very interesting here, apart from the "Site Stats" page. It's a great reference point for those wanting to see how much content your site contains. All in all, you have some excellent content in the "Visitors" section. However, the content about yourself is far from substantial, and you give little away about yourself. There's no trace of originality in this section either, and too many tiresome "filler" pages that don't appeal at all. 8/20

SUMMARY

Cassie - your designs throughout Dreamless Heart prove you're definitely talented in that department. Your layouts you made for visitors were extremely well done, and I was fully impressed. Your skills with graphics are, I'm sure, envied by many. However, the content of your site leaves a lot to be desired, and there's a massive room for improvement here. In some parts I can see you've made an effort, but the barely completed surveys and reams of quiz pages have really let you down. It's like you couldn't think of anything else to put so you chucked in pages that you know deep down no one's going to be interested in. I left your site knowing next to nothing about you, not even your age. You need to adopt a new, original state of mind when it comes to thinking about ideas for content. Try telling us about yourself in your own words, make things more personal. If you're wondering what pages visitors like you could make a poll and get them to vote for their favourite page. I already predict that the millions of quiz pages won't go down very well, and that the visitor content will win by a landslide. Perserverance is a key factor in the improvement of your site, keep trying, after all we all have to start somewhere.

OVERALL SCORE: 32/50