Name: Rebecca
Site: XX-Becca
Review completed on: 17/05/06

SPLASH PAGE

Hmm...not bad, not bad. Of course, your site requirements would look a lot better properly aligned underneath the enter image, instead of in such a random position near the top of the page. The horizontal scrollbar leading to the famous Piczo pit of oblivion doesn't exactly do you any favours either, but apart from that, this entrance page isn't too bad. I've seen worse, put it that way. 5/10

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Looks cool! I have to admit I'm surprised...pleasantly surprised, that is. I'm not used to seeing decent layouts on Piczo sites, and I seem to have inadvertently reviewed quite a few of them. Take pride in knowing I think yours is one of the best I've seen yet! 10/10

LAYOUT

Like I said, this is pretty good shit for a Piczo site. The two blends of Lindsay Lohan in the main graphic have been blended together with some skill - from this I get the impression you're rather good with the ol' graphic design area. I like the three square images next to the main image, as well as the surrounding brush work. There's no question that you've done a great job here, so well done. There's nothing I can see here that looks 'wrong', your layout is positioned fine and there are no obtrusive horizontal scrollbars to be seen (something I've definitely attributed to Piczo), so full marks to you in this section. Again, nice work. 20/20

CONTENT

You little ripper. You absolute LITTLE RIPPER. I could hug you. I could squeeze you. I could jump up for joy right now and declare to the world that I love you. I could hardly believe my eyes when I clicked on your first page of content, to see that it loaded in your iFrame! No big deal, right? Wrong...your site is the first Piczo site I've EVER come across that makes use of this function. Everyone else has sites in which every page has a different layout, despite the fact that iFrames have been used on their updates page. I am so impressed, great job! I was so pleased to see this function being utilised here. Okay, with all disturbing (verging on orgasmic) behaviour aside, let's get on with it.

First section - "Deborah Rebecca". So your name's actually Deborah, is it? Don't you like that name? I used to have a massive problem with my name, seeing as I automatically blow a fuse everytime someone pronounces it wrong. I wanted to change it to "Almitra". Don't ask. Please, don't ask. This page contains a survey, but nothing else. You've covered a fair bit of general information here, but there was one component noticeably missing - where are you from? By that I mean what country do you reside in? You've covered pretty much everything else so it would only be right if you included this information also. The horizontal scrollbar at the bottom of your iFrame is not needed in this case, as one can view all the information without needing to scroll. You might want to consider adding some extra content perhaps? Photos maybe, things along those lines?

The next section is a guestbook, so we'll move right along. Maybe you should put this page as the last on your navigation, it seems more 'proper' that way. Guestbooks should always be the last page, in my opinion.

The next section, "Top Sites" is unfortunately not reviewable either as it is an external link to a different site, that opens in a new window. Indicate this in your navigation by way of an asterisk or stating "new window".

Etcetera - finally, something I can review, but w-w-wait, what is this? Oh dear - what on earth is going on? This page opened in a popup window, that was even smaller than my Radio Blog pop up! And the links...so small...my eyes! I fear that this will impede my vision! However, I shall persevere and plough forward, through this miniscule jungle, slowly, but surely. Violins and longwinded-ness aside, I'm serious that this page's setup is really out of place. Why? You should have had this page load up in your iFrame, like the "Deborah Rebecca" page did. Why isn't it? And why is the popup so small, why are the links so small? Even more disappointingly, each page in this section loads in an entirely new page. It seems like you've given up on your iFrames here, which is a pity. I have to say though, the "Etcetera" page does have a lot to offer, especially in terms of graphics. You have a multitude of awesome layouts on offer to the visitor, all made by you. I really enjoyed viewing them all. I also liked your textures - some great work here. Next comes a section containing some "Tutorials", mainly targeted at those with a basic to limited HTML knowledge. Your iFrame tutorial was written particularly well, although there were a few spelling errors scattered around. Nothing to an extent that would make the tutorial hard to understand, though. Also located in this section are a variety of Paintshop Pro and Photoshop tutorials, all of which contain step by step instructions regarding various methods that can be used on these platforms. The way in which you write your tutorials is commendable. You explain things clearly and in an everyday manner - unlike some of the tutorials I've read at other sites, when the writer often tries to come across as 'the shit', and talks to you like you're a piece of shit. Your last section here is called "Other", and contains a page I just HAVE to mention - "Piczo Do's & Don'ts". This page is sheer excellence. I couldn't have put it better myself - you've taken the words right out of my mouth with this page. Everyone on Piczo should take a look at this page, in my opinion.

Your final section, "Links", is simply that - a popup window containing a list of links to other Piczo sites. There's nothing I can really say about this, apart from that I was disappointed to see the tiny popup window trend continuing in this section. I was really happy and impressed when your first section loaded in the iFrame, and I'm somewhat disenchanted that none of your other pages do this also. As far as the content itself goes, the core of your site is definitely the "Etcetera" section. There is a wealth of information and freebies on offer to the visitor, including graphics that are of a high quality. I can see many people enjoying this section at your site. On the "Deborah Rebecca" page, consider adding some additional personal content, as this section looks quite bare seeing as it only contains a survey. 13/20

SUMMARY

Your site is, quite honestly, a bit of a mixed bag. It's clear that you're good with graphics, so there are no issues there. Your layout is lovely, as are all the free graphics you've made for the visitors. As far as presentation/structure goes however...you do have these skills otherwise you wouldn't have had the common sense to utilise your iFrames. What puzzles me is why you did not utilise them on any other page apart from your first one, and why you chose to go with some tiny popup window getup instead. That was disappointing! I'd recommend this website mainly to Piczo users only, as this site is designed for users of this service and contains some useful information regarding it. It's not often that a Piczo site scores as high as you have. You have potential, you just need to tweak a few things here and there. I've no doubt that soon enough you'll move away from Piczo and even get hosted or have your own domain. This is something I CAN see happening, otherwise I wouldn't say it. This site should serve as an example to all Piczo users - just get rid of those goddamn popups though!

OVERALL SCORE: 48/60