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Site Name: Serenya
Owner: Aderyn
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 26th April 2010
Site Name
I like the name; it’s short and easy to remember. Reminds me of “serenity”.
Coding and Validation
According to the HTML validator your coding has 23 errors and 24 warnings. You have two doctypes specified. You only need one.
You also need a character encoding in the <head> section:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
Also in this piece of Javascript, you need to include type="text/javascript":
<script language="Javascript" src="http://serenya.co.cc/ccount12/display.php">
It’s also wedged within your styling, so take it out and put it after </style>. (After the FanUpdate coding.)
Since you’re validating to HTML, you don’t need to have the slashes at the end of your area shape elements. You also need to have the alt attribute on every image, not only for validation but filling in the field is helpful if you have an image – because the blind will be able to use a screen reader to read the description of the image as they cannot see the image.
On all your pages as well, you have a piece of coding like this:
<div style=" float:right; font-family : palatino linotype; color : #ddccaa; font-size : 13px; height: relative; text-align: left; width: 525px; margin-top: -380px;> <div id="large">
You’re forgetting the quotation marks at the end of the tag.
Your CSS has 4 errors. It would be better if you could just include that embedded piece of styling in your external stylesheet (with all the FanUpdate styling).
The font “palatino linotype” should be quoted in the CSS as it has a space in the font name.
Also, in your stylesheet, why do you have the following HTML?
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-html40-19980424/loose.dtd"> <HEAD> <STYLE type="text/css"> <META http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> <title>Serenya</title>
It looks like you really need to look through your coding and make sure everything is up to scratch and is error free.
Browser Compatibility & Usability
I have looked at the majority of your site in Firefox. It looks pretty consistent in Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome – there’s not a problem there.
On pages other than the homepage, the <h1> is a little too close to the top of the <div> section so you might want to look into padding the top (the h1 differs from that included in the FanUpdate blog titles, most likely).
The font size and colour are fine but I don’t think the dark background of the content section works too well with the rest of the layout. Try to avoid using fonts like Palatino Linotype and other non-standard fonts though, because they might not be on someone’s operating system and instead of seeing the font you wish them to, they might be seeing something else. It’s best to stick with standard fonts like Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Times New Roman and Georgia.
I feel confident that you can image map, but image mapping for navigation isn’t always desired because not everyone is able to see images, and sometimes have them turned off. They would be lost on your site if all you have is image navigation, so a site map or alternate navigation in the footer would be useful.
Layout
I really like the header image and the colours in it. The effect is very nice and pretty. The fonts used are also nice. The background balances out well. However, I’m not liking the dark red/maroon background colour of the content. I think that you should make it lighter to fit with the header image.
I like how your site is simple, but I think you could also make the CSS more interesting with more colours put into it – some green and orange derived from the header would be nice. Maybe even some borders or lines – so long as they look neat.
Content
About
This is a nice simple page. However, instead of naming it “about”, perhaps “owner” would be better, considering that this is a page about you. People might be led into thinking that it is about the site.
I don’t know what “Ballet Shrine” actually means in this context. You’re a part of these? Or are these ballet-related dancers, companies, and so on, that you like?
I think that to make this page a little neater, you could display items in a list.
A few mistakes you can fix:
Hello All should be Hello all
I’ll be would be better expressed as I am
Content
Instead of saying “Here are some creations that I have made”, “Here are some of my creations” would be better.
The textures are quite nice; I love the light ones. I don’t really like this one though. The colours and shape are a bit harsh.
However, keep in mind that this page can take a while to load because of the number of thumbnails on it, and you’re just resizing the original photograph for the thumbnail. Making a separate and smaller image for the thumbnail would help. People on slow connections might experience problems with this page loading if there is too much to load at once.
The layouts are alright; I can see you have a distinct style. Admittedly your current website layout is much better than these two. I think you could put more effort into them, that way people are more likely to use them. Centering them would be a good start. I don’t know why the second one says “Miryada” though.
The Chiller font on the blue/grey layout doesn’t look too appealing either, and I think you could do a better job styling with the CSS. Also keep in mind that using decorative fonts in CSS isn’t always recommended, because not everyone will have the font on their operating system and will instead be viewing the default font.
Instead of “pictures” you could name the page “stock images”. I love these stock images though! They all have a vintage feel, maybe because of the lighting. I really love the one with the stone and the heart. Together, these look great. The ones of paper are a little fuzzy, as are a few of the flower ones, but all in all they look great.
The brush previews could be a bit neater but I guess that’s okay. I don’t think the counter is working for the download number though, because it simply says “Downloaded times” with no number. I think that most of these brushes are very nice though.
download .arb should be download .abr
On the request page, graphics or otherwise should be graphics or other.
Hosting
On this page you should also specify whether or not domain hostees receive cPanel. Most people with domains look for hosting with cPanel so that they can have as much freedom as possible with their settings.
On the application page:
Make sure give should be Make sure you give
currenlty should be currently
On the terms and conditions page, WordPress, FanUpdate and Photobucket should be capitalised.
updated:I should be updated: I
respond,then, should be respond, then,
if you do not respond,create should be if you do not respond, create
Site
For the gifts, contact and credit page links, you should set them out the same way, or a similar way, to your “content” page. This way it is easier to see the links and they will be better defined (instead of having to use the word “here”).
On the affiliates page, it might look neater if you had your link buttons on a new line.
Similarly, the gifts/awards page could be neater if you spaced out the awards.
On the contact page, it might be idea to include other ways of contacting you as well.
Originality & Creativity
I actually found your content quite original – nothing that I have seen too much of – everything was made by you and had your own unique style.
However one thing you could focus on is styling and stylesheets – not only to better the way you code them but to work more with colours and making a layout more interesting using the styling.
Organisation & Errors
Well organised, and not too many errors. Everything was easy to find and to navigate. I found that your coding had a fair amount of errors though, and these are simple ones which you can fix just be cleaning up your coding and spending more time on it.
Overall Comment
Aderyn, you’ve done a lovely job on your site so far. I really like some of the resources you have and they’re very unique. You have fairly good graphic skill with an individual style. I also like your photographs and textures. I think you are really strong with textures, but you could make different styles – grungy, cloudy and so on.
I suggest using this colour palette generator if you’re stuck on colours for layouts. You should put more time into any layouts you make for the visitor, as they will be more likely to use them if they are validated with neat coding, simple, and probably easily customisable.
I would suggest working on your general layout design as there are small improvements you can make. You’ve got a good and well organised site; make sure you fix up your errors and your coding as it can benefit you and you might learn more on the way.
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Aderyn
26th April 2010 at 9:42 pm
Thanks a lot!
This was really helpful. I’ll definitely fix the spelling errors and coding ones ASAP.
Also, I’ll look around at the color palette to try to find a better background color. Honestly, color scheme’s are the hardest things for me to find/use.
Thanks again
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Georgie
27th April 2010 at 1:04 am
You’re very welcome!
Also, ColourLovers.com has good colour schemes if you want one already made. Color Scheme Designer can help to pick out harmonious colours as well.
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