back to Completed Reviews
Site Name: Heartless Wind
Owner: Ashley
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 13th August 2008
Site Name
Heartless Wind – pretty, unique, great ring to it, lovely domain name =).
Layout
My first impressions are that it is very plain. But that isn’t a bad thing! First of all, the header image. It is quite small compared to other sites’ unnecessary big ones. This is a plus. You could make it bigger without it being annoying, but that’s just something to note in future. I like the font you’ve used for ‘heartlesswind’. Your navigation is directly under this, and it’s clear and I found it without a problem. The stripes are good, the colours are nice (remind me a little of the German flag!). But the stripes overall are a little dark and the hues should be adjusted.
The black background is too dark for the rest of the layout, and contrasts too much with the white background of your content. It would be an idea to make the content background a lightish orange colour. Basically, the white does not look right with everything else.
Furthermore, the top of your sidebar is labelled ‘welcome’. Is this absolutely necessary? Maybe something else would do; perhaps no need to label it. Your choice of colours for CSS is good, not a problem. The layout looks a little rough overall, and though I said the font was nice, it doesn’t look nice when it’s smaller like you used in ‘welcome’.
Your layout is overall simple and if not a little bland. I think you could’ve added some pictures or maybe blends or brushes as part of the header, and made it a little bigger.
Content
MISSASHLAY:
I notice this is one page about you. By the way, your hair is awesome =D. This is quite a long page! You have links within your mini-biography, which I don’t find anywhere else – your pets, boyfriend, favourites, etc. I think these should be in a list of links along with a link to this page. That way things are a little more organised and some people may only want to know what you like!
PORTFOLIO:
I notice this opens in a new window, and it’s a different layout so I would classify it a portfolio site, not a section of HeartlessWind. I’m only briefly flipping through your folio and I believe it should be reviewed separately so if you wish for me to review it just let me know.
Having a quick flip through. Your opinions are on quite big issues in our society, and I think that’s great! Religion should never be pushed on anyone. And those beauty pageants really make me sick. You seem to write fairly well, and with good grammar and spelling. Overall this is a well-maintained portfolio, good job! Not many webmasters manage a number of sites so I do congratulate you. I think the layout is good (writing briefly here), the colours work, and it’s suitable for a folio.
On another note I’m not sure if you should put it as a main link on your header, perhaps you should put it on the sidebar and warn people it will open in a new window.
VISITOR CONTENT:
I didn’t notice this was one link together, I thought it was ‘visitor’ and ‘content’! Maybe the words should’ve been adjoined, like you did with ‘missashlay’ and ‘heartlesswind’, to avoid confusion.
Your photography is wonderful! And I’m glad you organised it with FanUpdate. Haha, I heard a lot of people can’t stand FanUpdate. And I love clouds too! Yay! =DD
Oh gosh I love the one you took of the paint palette! That is pretty cool. However I’m not sure if these photos should be in your visitor content section. What for? A lot of people rarely use photographs in their layouts or in anything (I do, but I notice that I’m quite a loner). These photos would be better off in your portfolio – yes, your folio can have graphics too!
Your layouts are very small. I quite like them myself, but I’m not sure if others will. People usually make bigger layouts so you could label them as layout images too. They’re pretty good, I really like them.
Icons! They’re awesome. Some are plain, but you’ve got a nice number here. There’s one of you with the cool hair! I love that one with the red flower =)
Button bases, affiliate buttons, nothing much there, do you think you could merge them into one page – they’re just buttons, after all. Your colour schemes are alright but you perhaps need some more that are lighter and pastel.
Lovely pixels, very simple but the quality is okay. The notepads are super cute! Of course I realise this is one of your less strong points – pixelling. I can see you’ve had a hand at it though, lovely job. Yet your emoticons are really good! I trust you made these yourself. They’re all the same and in different colours but a good job, it must’ve taken a lot of patience!
Your tutorials are EXCELLENT. I had no idea you had so many! In fact you have so many and they’re all wonderful that they should really have their own section. Your header for ‘colorizing/advanced picture tutorials’ differs from your normal headers. It’s bold and to the left, just fix that up!
HEARTLESSWIND:
Aha! So that’s where you got your site name from, and I LOVE Linkin Park. My site name was from In The End: watch the time go right out the window, trying to hold on, didn’t even know, I wasted it all, just to watch you go..
Anyway, enough on me =P. I can’t believe I didn’t recognise it! Well, I’ll have to listen to M2M again! Then perfection, your site name is awesome.
You have some links at the top of this page – past layouts and so forth. I think you should organise these like your visitor content pages, in a list at first view. I didn’t notice these until I’d read the whole page! So separate them, I’d recommend. You should make more link buttons, have at least 10 I’d say, and make different sizes (I know, I have thousands). Your past layouts are wonderful and I actually think some of them are better than your current one.
Originality
I wish I could give you an 11 because I love, love, LOVE your photography. Everything’s original, nothing blechhy like typical div layouts and the like. Your site is sorta small, and your ability in web design seems a little new. But everything you’ve worked hard on, I totally love it, you deserve full marks here. And I just gotta say again that I love your tutorials, they’re damn excellent.
Errors
No problems at all here, links were fine, images too. I love how you keep your site relatively simple and manage stuff with FanUpdate. Your site has a lot of content which is excellent, and I understand you are making a simple and not-overdone layout, but it needs a little more touch-up. Add a few brushes or textures. Just a few, and keep up the good work. =)
