Name:Karissa
Site: Close
Review completed on: 08/09/05

SPLASH PAGE

Your enter sign in cursive font is classy! The combination of gold and the dark red (that's red, right?) gives off a 'regal' kind of appeal. A few of your site requirements aren't really necessary (mental sex appeal, poetic license etc, but oh well, each to their own. 7/10

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

You've continued with the colour scheme used on your splash page, and your site really does have a mature, sophisticated feel to it. Everything is arranged neatly and tidily, although I think the navigation/info table would look better with a border around it. 7/10

LAYOUT

It's decent. And what's more, it's actually CENTRED...my goodness, I am sick and tired of seeing layouts with massive voids to the left or right, so I bow down to you for centreing your layuot. Yusss. The deep, bright redness of the bottle doesn't really match the other colours you've used, and it clashes ever so slightly. I'm having a bit of trouble finding the navigation, I keep looking for a list with the usual "Me, You, Site/WWW" links, but can't find any.16/20

CONTENT

I really can't see much content here at all, just a more detailed page of information about yourself, a page of fictional stories, and a poetry page. People who read your blogs can already tell you're an interesting character, and I bet there's a lot of visitors who want to find out more about you. Oh here we go, there are a few links to other pages about you on your "Vaguely Intrigued" link under your Poisoner table. These links are pretty disguised though, and I think it would be way more effective and less of a wild goose chase to organise all your content pages and have them all linked one after the other on your main page - it's way easier that way and more people will check these pages out, I think. Unfortunately most people can't really be bothered searching for other pages, if it's not there in front of them from the get-go there's a high chance they're not going to have the time to find it, and their attention span will go out the window so to speak. But what content (so far) that I have found, looks interesting and out of the ordinary. You have a different take on the concept of a personal site, and I can say now that I'm beginning to warm to it. I loved reading the story of your life in verse. It was clever, and at times poignant. In your fiction section, I chose to read the piece that was the most appealing for me - the essay on Cutting, from a cutters' point of view. I understood what you wrote about totally, and I fully agree with you about the general misconception that ALL self-injurers cut solely to gain attention is wrong. Yeah sure some do - and that's pathetic - but it gives other cutters a bad name and labelling. I'm a former cutter as well, and the last time I did it was a few months ago. I repeatedly slashed my arm over and over again, and now my right arm is covered in white scars. I realised that I could never wear short sleeves again without facing stares or receiving prejudice, and I'd have these scars for a long time to come, to remind me of what I did. It wasn't worth it, so I stopped. The reason I cut was that I considered it a temporary release from the pain and hurt I was feeling. Only temporary, I know, but it did work. It gave me a sense of power and control. Hey, I like your poetry - "The Bitter Symphony of a Victim" could so become a song! To wrap everything up here, your content rocked. Sure, it was hard to find, but it was well worth the search. 19/20

SUMMARY

Karissa - from parusing your entire site in full, I now know a lot more about you. You're truly your own person, and a unique one at that. You've obviously been through a lot in your life and you've come through all that with a philosophical, reflective approach - this really shows. Good luck with everything that awaits you in the future, soldier on, and hey, maybe you may even solve your Case of the Mysterious Guy mystery sometime!

OVERALL SCORE: 49/60