Name: Nora
Site: Undecided
Review completed on: 11/10/05

SPLASH PAGE

No splash n/a

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

VERY cute picture of the Olsen twins you've used for your layout, although it looks like there was minimal effort involved in preparing it for your site. Loading time was excellent. 7/10

LAYOUT

The layout altogether is quite lifeless - the image is lovely but the dull, boring browns do it no justice. I think the picture of the Olsen twins would be much better complimented with shades of say, baby blue or baby pink. These colours would better suit the image as well, considering it was taken during their much younger years. Are you a fan of Mary Kate and Ashley or did you just like that picture? I'll confess I'm a fan, I've seen all their movies and loved them, except "Holiday In The Sun" - which was quite badly written and directed. I don't think Robert Thorne helped direct that one. Anyway, who cares, right? Back on topic methinks... I'll explain my reasoning behind why I wrote that the graphic looked like there was minimal effort involved. It lacks any artistic details and creativity, perhaps an increased usage of brushes would help, like a few floral details or something, I don't know. Whatever suits you. I've just noticed on your side bar (which is very well-arranged I might add) that your site was opened less than two months ago. If this is your first foray into webdesign then I'm impressed, you've done a great job compared to a lot of websites out there. If this actually is your first site and you're just starting out, then it's guaranteed that you're only going to improve on what design skills you already have - many "first sites" are a hell of a lot worse than what I'm looking at right now. In fact, at the moment I'm not classifying your site as bad at all, just a few little minor misjudgements with the colours is all. I'm impressed with the overall tidy, organised appearance your site boasts. Blog entries are clearly set out and your navigation is in a neat tabled format with....bolded headers! I know doesn't seem like a big thing but many other sites I've reviewed have really sloppy navigation. 17/20

CONTENT

Interesting how you've put your site section first, haven't really seen that before. "About The Site" page - I quickly learned on the first few lines that you don't appear to be a fledgling web designer...there's no excuse now, mate! What a bummer your old blog got invaded by your family, seriously, that blows! Definitely one of those things a webmistress never wants to happen! I tried to show my mum my site once but she didn't seem to care, lol. I can't see any back buttons anywhere, it'd definitely pay to add them, to make your site more user-friendly. Your "Site History" page was a really informative read - you're quite the seasoned webdesigner, you've been active in the website business longer than I have! Would you say that your layout making skills are improving, are you trying to improve them? It doesn't matter if you're not really focussed on that, I'm just asking given the experience you've clearly had. You've been making websites since 2000 - 2001, so I would've expected something totally mindblowing from you! I know you have HTML skills, thats obvious. Especially your tabled navigation - I can't get over that. Niiiiiice!!! I also checked out your Lucious Sparkle website, and I agree with you, the layout rocks! I wouldn't be able to blend images together like that - have never even tried. Now that I've seen a great example of what you can do - I can say you are capable of a much better layout at Undecided. You're more than capable of pulling off something brilliant. My venture into the "Me" section was initially quite disappointing - I was expecting at least a few pages of content here, more information about yourself to offer to the visitors. Your autobiography was well-written though, and quite touching at times. I'm really sorry for what you've had to endure these last few years, and I sincerely hope life will continue to get better for you, especially now you have Jay (and hopefully your Mum still) as your support. Unfortunately the "You" section is totally incomplete, with no content up yet! What a shame! What little content you do have is good, but you don't have a lot of it, by any means. There's nothing that would draw a second-time visitor back to your site except for the blogs. All you need to do here is just add some more pages, it doesn't matter if they're fillers or not but anything to make your site look less bare. 12/20

SUMMARY

The amount of improvement needed on your site is minimal and hardly worth mentioning - but as this is a review it is my job to provide you with my honest opinions and constructive criticism. Just a few more details here and there and liven your layout up a bit by choosing more suitable colours, and you'll have a real winner! As I said, you can only improve, and if this is the quality of your site in its early days I look forward to seeing its progression as it matures. Keep up the excellent effort, I really think you're onto something here. Finally, on a more personal note, I really felt for you after I read your autobiography. You've definitely been through some tough times, but eventually everyone's star will shine, yours being no exception. Good luck with your site, Jay, your life, and everything that goes with it.

OVERALL SCORE: 36/50