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Site Name: Electric! Graphics
Owner: Amanda and Alexandra
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 17th November 2008
Site Name
Electric! Graphics is a good site name. I would have preferred Electric! on it’s own, though, as a lot of sites use ‘graphics’.
Coding and Validation
EEEEEEEEEEEEK, your coding is a mess. One hundred and twenty two errors when I look through the W3C Markup validation service. The main problems are:
1. You have no character encoding.
2. You have no doctype.
3. You need the alt tag on EVERY image, even if it’s blank/empty.
Now quickly, you need to stick this code into every page! Save yourself, dear girls! And your character encoding is crazy. You use a lot of scripts which is possibly the reason for all these errors, and why your site takes a while to load sometimes.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
Yrrch. Looks like it’ll be a pain to fix these errors. But if you do run your site through the validator you can reduce the amount of errors bit by bit.
URGH. Sorry for the outburst. But I can’t check if your CSS is validated. Crazy. I keep getting a timeout error on the W3C CSS validation service. I’m doing it manually now. Eek. You need to write px after all your padding values! You need that unit! And scrollbars.. Coloured scrollbars = no. They only work in Internet Explorer! And they can cause errors in other browsers.
Your coding is a mess. Don’t think it’s not important – it is. It’s probably why your site is so slow! At least try and fix those errors.
Browser Compatibility & Usability
Not a problem, according to Browsershots.org. Your layout looks the same in most browsers.
Navigation was clear – text would have been preferred instead of an image map – what if I had disabled images for whatever reason?
The layout would be ideal if centered too.
Layout
The layout is very bright and welcoming. The different colours in the header image are very cool. The layout appears quirky and eclectic! (Yes, eclectic, not electric 
.)
An issue I have with the layout is that it’s not centered, and it looks like it should be. It’s not a layout where things should be in the corner and all. It has a rectangular header so it really should be centered. Take a look at this tutorial which will tell you how to use a div container that will center your layout.
I like the navigation, even though the hearts aren’t your own. (Kudos for crediting, though!). But this ‘you me site’ thing is getting a little old. And shouldn’t the ‘me’ be us, because there are essentially two of you running the site?
Another issue is the sides of your layout (see here). Your background has some glitches in it and as a result it isn’t tiling quite so well. On the right side of your layout – the same deal. Also, the colours of your image and the colour you’ve set as the background are not the same. I think that #B7BD1C is the colour you’re looking for for your background.
I think it’s nice that your CSS is picked from colours in your layout, but it’s a little overdone. You change fonts a lot through bold, italic and underline, and as you use these effects a lot, it’s a little hard to read some of your text. First of all though, your default font is too small. I can tell it’s 7pt and it would be a lot better if it was 8pt. Nothing should be smaller than 8pt! However, I do like the small font you use for your dates and such.
The colours are not bad though, except the bright blue used in your main headers – it’s a little too bright. Something purple like the purple in your header image would be better – for example #A253AF. If you’re still looking for blues, #756BDB is also a good colour.
Your links are also confusing me. Some are different, like in your sidebar ‘intrigued?’ and ‘want more?!’ are both links but in different font. I don’t like the idea of the letter spacing on hover, because it dodges the text surrounding it sometimes.
Content
I’m going to talk about your homepage first because I do have some issues with it. Firstly, you have a header saying ‘Electric!’, under it being information about one of you (Amanda). Then you have a section with a heading for Alexandra. I think that because there are two of you running the site, you shouldn’t include all this information. It’s hard for a visitor to take it all in, what each one of you like/don’t like. You need only a simple introduction welcoming the visitor, noting that there are two owners, and perhaps your roles on the website. It can be a huge amount of information for the visitor to remember all at once.
I don’t really like the images you’ve used for your affiliates, I think a simpler solid-coloured one would have worked better. Under your stats, Owner(s): Amanda &+ Alexandra should be Owners: Amanda & Alexandra. Also, your little search function isn’t working at all.
Under disclaimer you have: All images are credited to their rightful owners. No offense, but it’s annoying when someone writes this, because they have not mentioned the rightful owner. It doesn’t really help that you don’t properly credit the person by linking them or mentioning their name. It is a must to credit EVERYTHING! 
You
These links aren’t all aligned in the same way. Oh no. The link ‘Site Namer’ is not aligned, and the ‘Tutorials’ and ‘Extras’ sections are centrally aligned whereas the others are aligned to the left. All of the links centered would look nice, and placing the links in alphabetical order would be more organised, but it’s not necessary.
Unfortunately, I don’t like your rules for your backgrounds. This sort of thing is getting old, having to look through a load of rules to find the word or even dot to click. It’s rare that someone will take your graphics. Only one percent of all visitors would be bothered to steal, so be nice to the 99 percent who don’t, and let them see your backgrounds.
find you at put you should be find you and put.
Also, people don’t want to have to leave a comment if they use a background. They might not be bothered – a credit is usually enough.
Ack, oh dear. I’ve come across a subpage after having read all those rules 
. I don’t want to have to do this all the time. Especially if I’m reviewing it can get annoying. I suggest you take all these links to different backgrounds and put them all on the main ‘you’ page. It saves some space and time. You also have your back/forward/home icons twice at the bottom of this page.
The icon backgrounds are good but you should make a note of the size. Some are 48 by 48 pixels, others 50 by 50.
Your avatar backgrounds are also quite nice. I’m not sure what the wallpaper backgrounds are for though (you also have an error in your footer). Repeating backgrounds are okay.
When I come to your layouts page, I have to run through a set of rules again to get to where I want. You have your back/home/forward icons twice here, again.
When I finally figure out how to view your layouts, I’m taken to another page of links.. oh well.
Looking at your layouts, quite a few are generic. I like the Katy Perry one. I don’t know if you are aware, but using celebrity images is illegal (this article will inform you). You have a fair few, and they aren’t all that bad, but you should try cutting down on them. It’s also more original to use photos that are your own, or images that you’ve made. You have quite a lot of celebrity layouts here.
Your Vanessa Hudgens layout looks pretty badly cropped. The Demi Lovato one doesn’t look too good.
Some of these layouts are creative like the spaceship and mixed tape one. These are good – try making more like these! The Neopets layouts are basically the same.
I like the affiliate images, but people should be able to make their own and I don’t think they’re used so much anymore.
Palettes – eh, too common. I see them on a lot of sites, and usually nowadays, people can make their own colour schemes. Your icons are duplicated at the bottom.
Okay, I don’t see why these are called splats. I was expecting some sort of splatty brushes. These look a lot like layouts to me, and the first one of Nick Jonas – the content doesn’t scroll so it just whizzes down the page – not nice. Maybe it’s just my browser. These look like layouts so I really think they belong somewhere in your layouts. And you’ve even mentioned ‘layout’ – aha.
I don’t really like the Nick Jonas one. He looks stretched horizontally and clearly not attractive. The Katy Perry one looks pixelated. So does the Joe Jonas one. These aren’t as good as your coded layouts, sorry.
Pink && Orange should be Pink & Orange.
Also, if they weren’t made by you, what does it mean by putting together? Which part is yours and which part isn’t? Hmm.
Oooh, I love the icons and avatars. They’re all pretty good, better than what I could do, I say. I think you should put them all on one page and just label whose is Amanda’s and whose is Alexandra’s by using headings.
Button templates are okay, could be a bit better!
These blends aren’t bad. But what would people use them for? Layouts? You have your footer thing twice again!
Same problem on your gradients page again. The gradients are nice and big – good!
These names are nice but I don’t see why people would use them, unless their name was Kelly or Amanda. I would say get rid of these unless you’re going to accept requests. Not many people will use them!
Away messages? I don’t really see what they’re for. They look like those funny quote things to me. These also look old because of the copyright on them saying ‘P-P’? I would suggest removing these because I wouldn’t see anyone using them.
These uncoded layouts are just as good as your coded ones. They’re not bad at all.
On your ‘Site signs’ page:
welcome one’s should be welcome ones
There all should be They’re all
Also, If should be Also, if
Christinia should be Christina
Alexandra&&Amanda should be Alexandra & Amanda.
I know the “&&” thing is used a lot, but it’s getting kind of old, and nowadays people like to see good grammar, spelling and punctuation.
These signs aren’t bad, but they could be improved and made a bit more exciting. These are also rarely used as people now make their own, and you don’t have many so I suggest you remove them.
The pixels are okay but there’s really not many; they should be combined with the pixel words. The pixel words page has the back/home/forward icons twice.
The brushes are okay.
The pixel hunt is interesting. I think I might have a go! Also, you have the back/home/forward icons randomly stuck at the top of the page. Your pixel should also have a transparent background.
Poll of the week – interesting too! I sure hope you update this weekly! My favourite colour is blue 
You unfortunately have your back/home/forward icons twice on this page too.
Site namer – it’s a little too common, I’ve seen it many places. And you should credit where you got the script from.
On your background tutorial:
the you should be then you.
Nice tutorial, but you have that duplicated icon thing again.
On your HTML tutorial.. I don’t know why, but your footer with your icons and copyright is being overlapped by the text. Also I don’t really see the point of this ‘tutorial’ – it’s really just cut-and-paste codes. I don’t see what you meab by ‘profile’ either. This seems outdated.
The basic blending tutorial is good! I’m impressed. Even though I have seen this sort of thing time and time again
Guestmap – don’t see why you need it. You have a cbox already!
You’ve got the ‘ask us’ in your site section – why the double-up? Just once should be fine.
Ah, I love the button request idea. I hardly see requests nowadays. It also shows you are friendly webmisses!
‘Reviewed sites’ and ‘apply for a review’ should be after each other. It makes it a bit clearer. I won’t be reviewing this section for obvious reasons.
You have another requests page. It’s a little confusing. Just have one! It doesn’t really matter who makes the button, Alex or Amanda, really. This will also save time and space if you cut down the number of pages.
The plugboard’s under domain. No need to add the same link again! You don’t need most of the links under ‘extras’, because they’re repeated somewhere else.
The CSS is nice, but you’ve only got one. Try using it in a layout you make! Otherwise I’d get rid of it. It’s sort of unnecessary.
Me
This should really be ‘us’. You should include information on both of you! A lot of this is just restating your sidebar information – try and condense your sidebar information or something like that.
Site
Not sure why the title reads ‘Domain’. You’re on a subdomain here! 
And &+ should be &.
The text on your questions page that you used for the answers – it’s bigger than your default text. You might want to look into that. You have one unanswered question too!
On your affiliate/advertising application, Piczo, Matmice and Freewebs should be capitalised.
Idk should be I don’t know.
Past layouts page – good. You have that problem with your footer thing again. It appears halfway down the page as well as at the end.
‘Contact Me’ should really be ‘Contact Us’. I don’t really like the contact form because when I type something in, I don’t know if I’m typing in capitals or lowercase, because it’s automatically in capitals *sigh*
Credits – good, good! The brackets are unnecessary, though. You should credit what you used too.
Chat
Oh no, it pops up. Make a page for this little guy, or warn us it’ll pop up!
Originality & Creativity
Ahh, there were definitely creative and wonderful ideas here. As for originality, a lot of it showed in general, but looking at your layouts, you need to stray away from celebrity images – we all know that isn’t quite what we call original.
Organisation & Errors
A few errors were mentioned above – like the recurring duplicated back/home/forward icons. And links that were repeated throughout the navigation.
Also too many subpages and too many unnecessary rule pages.
Overall Comment
Alexandra and Amanda, you guys have a great site and I am impressed that you can run it together. I can tell you both are friendly people!
I love your site, I actually enjoyed reviewing it, despite all the errors I came across. You firstly need to organise your pages a bit better. Those links could be all aligned the same. Don’t repeat links!
You also need to address that error with the back/home/forward buttons. And don’t use too many different attributes in your CSS which can make your text hard to read. A big note: Increase your font size to 8px!
Also, your coding, horrible mess there. At least cut down on the scripts and random diddly-ho on the site.
I love all your content, there is such variety! However a lot of your content appeared old. I think you need to go on a revamp and remove the old stuff that people aren’t going to use – signs, away messages, signatures, all that jazz. While you’re on it you can fix the errors on those pages.
Your graphics are of good quality, but some look like they’re lossy JPEGS. Some are also quite plain – maybe they’re old? Well, you do need to remove old content, or at least place them in a different section. And you have such creative ideas, so don’t waste your time on so many celebrity graphics!
A note on your layout too – try a centered layout instead.
Good luck with your site!
