Review: Erin @ Love Chem

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Site Name: Love Chem
Owner: Erin
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 4th July 2009

Site Name

I like the name. It’s easy to remember and unique. I personally don’t like chemistry, but it’s quite a meaningful name; I like how you’ve chosen a word that isn’t commonly paired with “love”.

Coding and Validation

Your coding is valid.

Your CSS is valid.

There are a few warnings in your CSS – floated elements need to have width specified, and a few of the colours of elements need to be fixed up.

Your code is very orderly and organised and I don’t see any major problems affecting your website; you have done a terrific job.

Browser Compatibility & Usability

Looking at your site at Browsershots.org, your layout is looking consistent in most browsers.

I like that you’ve kept the layout at a suitable width for smaller screens, and you also have text that is quite large and clear.

The navigation is clear but I the text could be a tad bigger to fit in more with the image section of the layout, and a bit of padding placed on it so it doesn’t appear so squashed towards the top of the screen.

Layout

The first time I set eyes on this layout a few weeks ago, I wasn’t too fond of the colours. Now it does look a bit more appealing. I didn’t notice the pink before either.

The fact that you’ve chosen three vibrant harmonising colorus to go with the basic black and white is a good choice; your layout definitely makes a bold statement. Usually many colours on a layout do not work, especially when they are of entirely different hues. However you have made an excellent choice mixing vibrant and basic colours.

The setup of the layout is quite unique. I rarely see layouts set out this way. Despite the sections at the top and bottom of the layout, you have managed to keep interest with these sections divided neatly. I like how you have included a simple image of your website name and a soft use of a brush as part of the layout.

The links in the footer need to be shifted to the right a bit; there is a lot more space on the right of the “Find Me At…” links. Also, it would look a bit neater if the titles “Buddies”, “Loved”, “Hostees” and “Find Me At…” were centered. This would also fit the centered copyright information at the very foot of the page.

As I mentioned earlier, a bit of padding and increase in text size of the navigation would make it appear less squished.

Content

About Me

I don’t see any problems with this page. You write very well and very clearly. The subpages here also have no problems.

There are comments enabled on a few of the pages; I don’t find this absolutely necessary for all of them.

Writing

I won’t go through all of these and scrutinise them as they are your writings and not for me to judge; the most I will do is make a personal comment on a few.

I spotted a stray bracket (>) at the end of the Youth Activism essay.

I really love your poems; personally I feel that you somehow write in a similar style to me. I really like your a feeling you can’t even poems.

Your poems are really wonderful and from some of the comments you receive I see that other people have also enjoyed reading them. Even at such an early time of morning (12.30am) I am truly amazed by your poems and feel inspired to add more to my writing portfolio which I haven’t updated in a while. Anyway, moving on.

Visitor

The advice on high school experience is great. It’s very helpful and your pages are organised very nicely as well.

The dorm life advice really interested me as I haven’t had this experience and most likely won’t. In the misc info section, there area should be the area and when you’re not well-equipped for should be when you’re not well-equipped.

Definitely. I couldn’t agree more; in fact, earlier, I was browsing d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com. I was always wondering whether someone had written an article about proper grammar and punctuation (not to mention spelling), because I was considering writing one of my own.

I really like the speech bubble brushes you have. They stand out the most. The others you have area also very nice, neat and well made.

Fonts you made yourself and offer on your site – incredibly unique and impressive; very unlike the generic font-thieves who redistribute other people’s fonts.

The minimalist layout caught my eye; I like the styling and the colours. These are all on a large scale which is great for readability and ease of use.

Domain

No problems here. Your website history was a joy to read and very interesting.

Links

Self explanatory.

Originality & Creativity

Very original website – mostly with your written works, which were very impressive.

You didn’t offer a great amount of graphics but you did have a unique selection.

I especially like the audio blogs you have; they are very unique and I haven’t seen this type of feature on any other website.

Organisation & Errors

Your website was well organised, even the deepest subpages were organised. Barely any errors were found.

I thought that a site map would be a bit useful to your website. It’s easy to navigate but some of the subpages such as those in your “About Me” section were linked to within the text rather than as part of the further links list, which led me to mention this.

Overall Comment

Erin, you have an amazing website that could keep someone busy for a while. Your writing skills are excellent. I had no idea how many writing pieces you had on your website until I did this review.

I really enjoy reading so going through your website was enjoyable. Obviously I didn’t review every single page in your writing section as providing critique on each one would be unnecessary. I did enjoy reading your poems very much, and the articles in your visitor section were very interesting.

Do make a few tweaks on the layout. Adding at least one photograph of yourself would be a good idea so visitors know who’s behind your website; it’s obviously not necessary.

Your website was very impressive, unique, and well organised, and I’ll definitely be returning to see new additions to your writing and to the site overall.

Rating

(out of 5)