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Site Name: Ishiwong
Owner: Amy
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 31st March 2009
Site Name
It’s fairly easy to remember, and quite unique. I would like to know what it means though – I couldn’t find any information on that on your site.
Coding and Validation
Your coding can’t be checked for validation because you’ve used some Japanese characters on your homepage.
Your coding looks very neat and orderly. You have 7 errors and 8 warnings, though.
You are using the strike tag, which is deprecated – you can’t use it. I’m sure that there is no need to strike that text when you can just state that affiliation is currently invitation only.
The other errors are caused by the use of the iframe in your little clock, because your doctype isn’t for iframes. Ah well, have the little clock if you want to. I really just think it’s pointless because I would look at the time on my computer.
The warnings are just from your Cutenews entries, since they’re coded in XHTML and not HTML.
When I check your CSS in the validator it doesn’t detect your CSS file so I have to do it manually. It’s because this, in your document:
<link rel=stylesheet href="http://ishi.hirokache.com/css.css">
Should have the following (bold):
<link rel=stylesheet href="http://ishi.hirokache.com/css.css" type="text/css">
Your CSS coding has 4 errors. I’m not sure what you’re using but the attributes you’ve used don’t exist.
Browser Compatibility & Usability
Looking at your site at Browsershots.org, your site looks similar in most browsers.
Your navigation is a bit confusing, because the links under ‘You Want To’ have emphasis on them, whereas further down, the links are plain. This led me to think that under ‘You Want To’ was the main navigation. Turns out I was wrong. I don’t think you need to place those words in bold. They would do fine just reading ‘home’, ‘contact’, ‘contests’, ‘awards’, ‘about’.. and so on. Seeing as they would naturally just go under a ‘site’ section.
I don’t have a huge problem with the font size or anything. I like how the sidebar links differ from the links that come up in the content area.
Layout
You’ve made a very good first impression. The layout looks very organised and neat when I first look at it.
This layout shows very good graphic skill. I like the red spots that line the corners of the screen and how you’ve used a bunch of lighter yellow-green ones to complement them. The blending is done very nicely in the image and I like the subtle reflection of the girl.
Colour was used very well, and the green is nice on the eyes. The yellow flowers are a little bit bright and I don’t see the colour used much but otherwise, the layout is very nice.
I adore the use of different fonts and colours in this layout! Very nice mix of serif and non-serif fonts.
Content
I don’t think the ‘directional’ navigation is necessary. People have back and forward buttons integrated into their browser – and you have it twice. I suggest removing the one in the footer, and if you must, keep the one at the top of the sidebar. The ‘top’ link you have in the sidebar is good, though.
Contact
Self explanatory.
Contests
The joined contests page is empty at the moment. I don’t really see a need for a special page for this – could you not just announce it on your homepage, in the case people need to vote for you?
Awards
I love how this page is organised and you name the awards and what they’re for. Great job!
About
This sentence doesn’t really need the “her”:
Ishiwong is a graphics/resource site that provides a variety of free graphics for her visitors.
Terms
These are fairly straightforward, and I love how they’re in a list!
Credits
Wonderful! You’ve linked everyone properly and stated why you’re crediting them and what you took!
Oh, and don’t forget Cutenews.
Leave/Link Me
Organised page, just like all the other ones I’ve seen. Wonderful job. I like how you’ve included a code. But perhaps you could make the old buttons direct-linkable too.
You have a link to your affiliate application on this page. Perhaps you should remove it since your sidebar states you are only inviting affiliates now.
Designs
Wow, these are beautiful, just like your current layout. Beautiful! No complaints.
Avatars
There aren’t many but they’re quite intricately made. Most of them seem to relate to anime, which I am not such a huge fan of, but they still are very nice. Good effects are used and nice text is used.
Pixels
These are absolutely adorable! I’ve been told many times that pixels are useless, but they are nevertheless wonderful ways of showing graphic skill.
Wallpapers
How generous! You offer these in four different sizes – except for the last one. Is that because it’s old?
These are all exceptional. I love them!
Miscellaneous
Just some more graphics, well made obviously, that don’t really fit in other sections. Nice!
Extractions
Thankfully. Someone who uses a better term rather than ‘PNGs’. Urgh, the horror. Well, these are well cut, very nicely done. Even though I argue that people can do this themselves.
Vexels
These are really cute. I am curious as to how these are made, exactly. By the way, I do like how you’ve included the file size so people have an idea as to how large the image is.
Doodles/Scribbles
These are also very cute! I suppose they could be used in layouts.. they don’t such a great use.
Brushes
These are so simple, but very nice and well made. You offer them in both image and zip files! Good work! I love the previews as well.
Mini Time Tellers
Cute! But people can really just tell the time by looking at the time on their computer, seeing as it is made to synchronise.
Smilies
I find these quite large for smilies, but they are nevertheless very cute. Again very nice to include the file size.
Tutorials
You’ve only got one tutorial, but it’s good. I would actually like to see more graphic-related tutorials, because your graphics are very good and you could probably offer some hints and tips.
For Birthdays
Cute card. I have not seen many ‘printables’ on websites. It’s so nice you’ve optimised the quality and the scale.
Bookmark Your Book
Also very nice. I don’t know how these would look if I actually printed them, but I personally prefer larger bookmarks.
Request
Nothing really wrong with these forms. On your printables one though, the title says ‘Printables for you or your’. Is that what it is supposed to read, or is it because the title is long so it cuts off?
For Fun
I didn’t really see the point of these. They’re quite annoying. It might encourage silly people to steal the source code and put these very annoying effects on their site. Sorry, but it is really quite pointless.
Originality & Creativity
Very creative! I’ve seen a few anime graphics around on the web, but usually the webmasters focus entirely on anime. It’s nice to see you have a small variety of types.
Organisation & Errors
Well organised. Some of the navigation could be changed (the links under ‘you want to’). I didn’t spot any just conflicting errors. Anything I pointed out was very small.
Grammar and spelling and punctuation was excellent.
Overall Comment
Amy, you’ve got a very nice site that obviously has a lot of hard work put into it. I don’t have many suggestions – just to change the navigation a bit and not have those in bold. It makes them seem oddly more important, as if it’s the ‘main’ navigation and it’s all I have to click. So do change that!
You have a wide variety of graphics and I’d really like to see more. The layouts would be most useful for your visitors – they’re just stunning. All your graphics are of excellent quality.
I don’t have many suggestions, only to add more things, and remove unnecessary things – perhaps the clock, and also the directional navigation. And those ‘fun’ pages.
