Reviews
I like being reviewed by sites, I'm not mad if I get a bad review. It just makes me improve my site. If you want to review me you can, just email me =)
Review By: Petshopgirlxxx Reviews
Name: Nicole
Site: Crazysland
Review Completed On: 7/02/06
SPLASH PAGE
This is a prime example of what a splash page should contain - a bit of colour, a counter, site requirements, and a few buttons all tidily arranged. Great work!10/10
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
First of all, I'd like to say that I appreciate the fact that you're wanting your site re-reviewed. I can see from the get-go that you've made some changes! I've chosen to review your site under the "Mulder" theme. Whatever happened to Mulder, anyway? Didn't he disappear and / or die? Well, in any case, I've very pleased with what I see - you've chosen a completely different style with this particular layout and it's working well. 10/10
LAYOUT
As I said above, this is a different style from what I've previously seen here at Crazysland. You've worked hard to increase the standard of your design work, and you've come up with something very original, and different from what you've offered previously. I quite like the X Files too, I remember watching it a lot when I was younger. Have you seen the X Files movie? It's awesome!! You've used image mapping for the navigation buttons, very clever! I wouldn't know how to do that in a million years. I'm very impressed! The part on your layout where it says "I scream you scream we all scream for nonfat tofutti rice dreamsicle" is funny, at first I thought you'd made a typo for tofutti, meaning tuttifruitti, but I took the liberty to read your FAQ and found out otherwise. The one and only qualm I have with your layout is that I think it could probably look better if it was aligned more centrally, instead of a left alignment. This way, it'll look more evenly spaced out, and more organised. Other than that I love this layout, you've done a great job. 19/20
CONTENT
I'm not sure if your content has changed from last time so I'll review the whole thing again, starting with your "Me" section. I like the way in which the title of the first subsection, "Basics", interchanges between green and blue. The headers for the other sections underneath this ("Child", "Dreamer", "Creator" etc) do not interchange though, they remain green. Since the first header has this feature you should make all the following headers the same as well. I think I mentioned this in my last review of your site, but I love how you've used a variety of different colours with your text, it adds to the fun of reading your information. The tv shows you listed in your "Child" subsection really made me reminisce - since the majority of people I come into contact with online are a few years younger than me, I really thought people weren't aware that childrens television used to actually be decent! Some of the programmes you listed were favourites of mine when I was younger too - particularly "Garfield and Friends" and "Bobby's World". I only remembered that "Bobby's World" existed when I read it here at your site! All children have on tv now it seems are those epileptic-fit inducing Japanese cartoons with thin storylines. In "Creator", " plastic canvas in my s.p.e.c.i.a.l.t.y." should be changed to " plastic canvas is my s.p.e.c.i.a.l.t.y.". I know this was just a typo though, so it doesnt matter to a great extent. I noticed in your list of "Likes" that you liked the game "Burnout 3". Argh!! I love that game! You realise I'm going to go on about it now, don't you? So, what's your favourite track? Mine is Silverlake Northbound, but I hate the part at the end when you go into the city and you can't see where you're going, I always crash head on into another car! How many cars can you take down? My record to date is 35, but I've never been able to beat that since. I usually play the game for a few hours at a time, and as a result my thumbs hurt for up to two days afterwards. Shows how much of a nerd I am, right? You've certainly described in detail many facets of your personality - inside, outside, likes, dislikes, school, interests...I have not come across a "Me" section as descriptive as yours in a long while. Under "Find Me", the final subsection here, you've listed a series of links leading to various online profiles. You ought to indicate here that the links open in a new window. "You" - on the "Graphics" page, you've indicated when links will open in a new window - this is good - just do this for the "Find Me" page as well. You've definitely gone that extra mile to provide fantastic graphics for the visitors - you have TONNES of pixel names for both boys and girls, complete with a cut and paste code underneath which makes it more convenient if people want to use them. I'm a big fan of glitter signs, and yours were a pleasure to view. Your neon welcome signs were cool as well, I've never seen anything like that before! All of the graphics I've seen in this section have impressed me. You've provided a generous amount that I'm sure visitors are grateful for. "Things To Read" - there's definitely a variety here, and you've credited the various sites that you got the reads from, which is always a good thing. You might want to change "Bumber Stickers" to bumper stickers, though! "Things for your site" consists of a small amount of additional graphics, such as "friends only" signs, and some scrollbars. I think that this page is somewhat redundant as you have a page on graphics already, so these things would be better placed in your first graphics section. "Interact" contains a generous amount of interactive elements for the visitor, giving them the chance to submit their favourite movie, season, website, and much more! The submission form does not seem to be working though, as I have tried to submit my birthday and it didn't seem to go through. "Makers" - again, I wasn't too familiar with what these were until I visited your site. Quite the ingenious concept! I wasn't interested in the doll-related makers, as I'm not into dolls, but I did like the enter signs. "Other" - this is basically a site section, containing self explanatory pages such as a button wall, link me, rotations, etc. The "To Do" list shows your dedication to optimising your site, although I think you ought to strike out "Neon Words", since your site now contains these. 18/20
SUMMARY
Throughout the reviewing process, I've been constantly impressed at the increased effort you've made with your site and the changes in which you've implemented. There are only a few small ammendments needed to fully optimise your site - simple things such as indicating when links open in a new window, centralising your layout, and fixing a few typographical errors. There's nothing major at all to criticise as far as I could see. You have improved massively, and that's why you've scored as high as you have - you totally deserve it. To put it in plain English, I think Crazysland is "good shit"! Well done.
OVERALL SCORE: 57/60
Review By: Petshopgirlxxx Reviews
Name: Nicole
Site: Crazysland
Review Completed On: 30/10/05
SPLASH PAGE
Hmmm...at the top of the browser window it says "Crazysland Redid", it should actually be "redone". Your splash page is quite cluttered, but it would look less so if you got rid of all the free ipod / pixel exchange buttons at the bottom. You could create a page for these within your actual site, instead of on the entrance page. Although there's a lot of annoying clutter here, you have at least stated the entry requirements, which is good. You have provided the visitor with the option of choosing a layout, and you've put up previews of six layouts to choose from. A bit much, isnt it? All the layouts look like carbon copies of one another so it wasn't much of a decision in choosing which one to review your site with. For the record, I chose your latest one, titled "The One".6/10
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
So, I clicked on the layout that I wanted, expecting the page to load up with the layout. This is not a layout, it's a small graphic the size of perhaps a website award, with some words on it. What's up with that? 2/10
LAYOUT
What layout? I guess I'll comment on the miniscule graphic instead, as this seems to be your idea of what a layout is. You state on your navigation that you got the idea for this from a song...but what song? Even though the lyrics are pure garbage and poorly written, you should credit the author, whoever that sorry soul may be. I'm struggling here, the only exposure so far that I have to any design skills you possess is from a small square with some words on it. A ten year old could come up with this, but at seventeen years of age it's expected that you would have increased the effort and quality of what you create. All your layouts look like this - a small graphic on a black background with blue navigation. Is it not possible for you, at seventeen, to cut the crap and develop some originality? Make a different looking layout for a change, experiment, and see how it goes! I'm sure it'll look fine. The banality of this layout is evident in the fact there is really nothing to look at - what I'm saying is that it looks kind of boring. You can do several things to change this. One, experiment with a different layout. This does not mean a small header image containing tacky lovesick lyrics written by a neanderthal. Secondly, you use tables. Make the background colour different, to add some colour to your site. To be fair, your navigation is set out quite clearly, with each different section divided. Your links to your actual content though are smaller than the rest of your navigation text, and since the content is more important you should increase the font size of the links and reduce the font size of the non-content links and info. 3/20
CONTENT
I like the rainbow effect you have when you hover over the content links - it looks great. Your "The Miss" section is really interesting, and you've set the page up well, heading up each new topic with an enlarged font. Even though Comic Sans is a shitty font to use on a personal site (because it looks really amateur) you've used a variety of colours and styles, ie bold and italic. I like the rainbowness in the "Likes" section, it looks really cool! To find out some more information, I clicked on "Random Facts", where I was presented with a multitude of random tidbits of info about yourself. You mention you nearly skipped a grade, so you must obviously think of yourself as an intellectual. However, throughout the "Miss" section alone I came across several cases of sloppy grammar. Take the "Random Facts" page for example - you state someone "stoled" your Gameboy Advance - "stoled" isn't actually a word. The right word in this context would be "stole". Also, you state that "you don't trust people alot" - this is poor grammar as well. I realise that Americans sometimes have their own take on grammar that isn't deemed grammatically correct in the rest of the world, but that statement didn't sound right to me. Your career ambition must be in the secretarial field, as you state you can type over 80 words a minute. If this is the truth, then maybe you should start focussing on accuracy rather than speed, because your site is riddled with typographical errors. Just a heads up. You have a great deal of content in the "Visitor" section, but only two pages of interactivity. Interactive components are crucial in the ongoing effort to maintain visitors and to keep them interested, so I suggest adding more, like opinions, polls, and contests. Or anything along those lines. "Love Quotes" - blah, no one cares. "Reads" - some of these look appealing and clickworthy, so that's all good. You should definitely state where you copied these from though. I enjoyed reading your reviews of books, games, music, movies, and products - I always like finding out other peoples opinions on things like that. "Makers" - have no idea what "makers" are, but I suspect it's something to do with cartoon dolls...well, I wasn't entirely wrong, for there are a few doll makers here but some welcome signs etc as well. I really liked the backgrounds you've provided, but some of the images didn't load, so you might want to investigate this. "Links" is self explanatory, so moving on to "Need Hosted". The proper word here is actually "hosting", so you might want to change that. "Link Me", "Blog", "Rotation", and "Joined" are also self-explanatory, so I'm not going to go there. On your "Ask Me" page, one cannot actually see your answers (at all) without highlighting the text body. You say in one of your answers, " I don't tell people where I live. You have to be a good friend to find out what state I'm in. And basically glued to me to find out the town". Well, due to actually going through all of your content it's pretty apparent you're from Iowa. People aren't stupid, and they will figure this out as well, so if you really don't want people knowing them don't go on about Iowa this, Iowa that all the time. Some of your content is quite good, but as I've mentioned some sloppy errors have let you down a bit here. You come across as a sweet girl with a good nature, but as far as your intelligence is concerned, I was wondering if you were telling the truth, judging from all these errors. (Your grammar in particular is fairly problematic given your age.) 11/20
SUMMARY
Your layout skills are ever so slightly worrying, in the fact that they all look the same and there's a minimal effort involved. I have stated in various parts of this review what you can do to change this, and I've given you a heads up with this - click HERE. Since you seem to like the small graphic getup, I've made you one of my own that is slightly bigger. You can change your table background and font colour to compliment the image, if you decide to use it that is. Your content is entirely satisfactory in terms of amount, yet many small errors have let you down. Try and be more careful with your typing and proof-read what you've typed just to make sure there aren't any typo's.
OVERALL SCORE: 22/60
Review By: BabyKissez
Date=11/29/05
1.First Impression: 5/5 I like the fact that you have other layouts for them to choose from.
2.Splash Page: 3/5 You need to add more colors to it.
3.Neatness: 10/10 You did good.
4.Layout: 25/25 Both are really cute.
5.Navigation: 5/10 I like how you give us options of where everything is, instead of having what I have.
6.Content: 20/20 You have good content
7.Quality: 23/25 Use colors that match with what you have on your layout.
Over all: 91/100
Review By:BrokenSouls
Date= 11/29/05
Broken Links/Images: 5/5
Extra Credit (misc): 5/5
First Impression: 10/10
Friendlyness: 10/10
Grammer: 5/5
Graphic Quality: 10/10
Layout: 16/20
Organization: 10/10
Originality: 10/10
Site Name: 5/5
Layout Theme: 5/5
Total Points= 86-B =)
This site was really cool =), you got points taken off because of your layout,its a lovely site full of graphics. If you made a cute layout to go along with it you would tottaly get alot more hits =D