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Site Name: Ferny-Dust
Owner: Ferny
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 4th June 2009
Site Name
It’s easy to remember; no problems here.
Coding and Validation
Your coding has 14 errors and 6 warnings.
You’re missing a doctype. You need a doctype at the top of every page to show that it is an HTML page:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
You also need a character encoding which should be in the <head> section:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
To further validate your website you should have a look at my validating to HTML tutorial. Validating is important because whever there are errors, it can mean that a part of your site may not work in certain operating systems or browsers. Validating means that it can be read the same, without errors, from any browser or operating system.
Your CSS is valid.
Your coding is otherwise quite neat and orderly with good structure.
Browser Compatibility & Usability
Browsershots.org tells me your site is generally the same in most browsers, with the exception of the coloured scrollbars, which only work in Internet Explorer.
The issue I am having with your site is that you’re using iframes, even with PHP pages. You should not use iframes but use PHP includes to display your pages. You can achieve exactly the same look, and alter your layouts in the same easy way.
Iframes can be a hassle for visitors because they won’t be able to bookmark a single page and linking to a single page wouldn’t be very efficient because they would be linking to a page without a layout. They are also a disadvantage to you, because pages opening in iframes don’t get looked at by search engines. Some browsers don’t even account for the use of iframes. It is in your best interests to make some changes in this sense.
You’re using JavaScript to disable the secondary click of the mouse. What is this helping? Are you trying to stop stealing? People can steal your content even with secondary click disabled. And even then, the majority of your visitors are not visiting your site to steal something. This becomes a hassle for me as I’m reviewing your site as I am not able to open certain links in a new window when I want to compare or look at several of your pages at once.
Avoid using image maps or image-based navigation on layouts. Often people browse the internet with images turned off, especially on mobile devices. They would be lost on your site with your image navigation. At least provide alt (alternative) text on your imagemap.
Your main navigaton should be bigger; I mean, the “tag” image is huge in comparison.
Your text is really small and hard to read. I suggest increasing it.
Layout
It’s a cute layout. The colours are quite nice, and it’s set out fairly well.
I don’t see why that cloud “Vote” button couldn’t be placed in the little box at the top right.
I see how the background matches the layout but it could be a bit more subtle – the ice cream cones could be a lighter pink so that the layout stands out more.
The CSS colours are nice and do work well wit the layout. The scrollbar colours and nice in Internet Explorer, and to be honest, I don’t see the point of them when there’s nothing wrong with the default scrollbars.
I already mentioned the issues I have with this layout under usability so please make note of that.
Content
You
Better expressed as ‘visitor’ of course. It would make a lot more sense. This page is quite organised.
The Dusty rotation is interesting; a nice thing to join for people looking for a bit more exposure. I suggest something like NL-PHPMail for your form script though; it’s much better than a freeserver form provider.
On the ‘find the strawberry’ page, award’s page should be awards page. I also don’t see why you need to repeat the header “Welcome to Ferny-Dust”.
The pixels are cute and of high quality but most of them are based on characters that already exist so they aren’t that original.
Instead of using <textarea> for the code, use <code>. Textarea is intended for forms and user input, not for displaying code.
Special adoptions – nothing much to say here, again very cute stuff.
I just noticed that some of your pages have a .htm extension and some have a .php extension. Try to keep them consistent; it makes things more organised.
The icons are very, very nice. It’s good to see a bit of a variety too. In obtaining the photos from Flickr, however, you still must ensure that the owner of the photographs permits you to use them – often you can check by searching for images under a Creative Commons license.
The same goes for the celebrity images which are, in most cases, illegal, unless you took the photographs yourself. It’s like editing someone else’s work without permission. Read my article for more information. Also, your website will be better off without these celebrity images; they’re quite generic – seen over many websites, and also not very original.
CGs – cute. Very cute. I just don’t see many places in which these graphics could actually be used.
Clocks are cute but not really useful. People do have a clock on their operating system. It’s a bit unnecessary. Also, you should be using <code> instead of <textarea>.
The cursors are alright and very cute. I’m not a big fan of the animated ones. Fancy cursors aren’t used very much anymore though, so I can’t imagine many people using these.
The dividers are okay. It would be a bit hard to fit the colours into a colour scheme though, just from the dividers. I also don’t think these are as useful.
The drop down menus are rather pointless. They’re just copy-and-paste HTML codes which people can write themselves and edit. The images should also be live examples rather than static images.
The favicon tutorial is alright – fairly common on a lot of sites. Again you should be using <code> instead of <textarea>. You have a “new” icon – but which icons exactly, are new?
You mention “credit us” quite a number of times in your site, but you’re the only owner.
The headers are nice but very small. Larger fonts are desirable for ease of reading. Also, you should not be using embedded CSS for these codes. Rather, you should be instructing visitors to make use of an external stylesheet and CSS.
The link hovers are actually quite annoying and animated objects on a site can be very distracting. There’s not really a point in these, to put it simply, animated backgrounds.
Pixel text maker – well, much better than those drastic glitter makers I see.
Nothing hugely wrong with the website material, but the page could do with some organisation – everything looks messy all clumped together.
Post it notes are a nice idea but you should make the images yourself rather than using someone else’s. And if it is copyrighted to SayClub.com, I don’t think it’s right to be using the images.
The quotes are nice but pretty useless.
You say “Sayblub” on your navigation but the page reads “Sayclub”. Also, you shouldn’t be displaying someone else’s work on your website so I suggest you remove these. Also, these are a pain to look at when they’re all animated and waving in my face.
Coloured scrollbars are a no-no. They only work in Internet Explorer, and their coding is invalid. There’s no need to inflict a coloured scrollbar on a visitor. The colours you have chosen here are very bright and not very nice on the eyes.
“Enter” signs are very tacky and are very rarely used. I suggest you remove them. Welcome signs are also not used.
“Site Signs 2″ opens in a popup. Why don’t all the other large graphics?
Did you make these smilies yourself? If not, remove them. You shouldn’t be redistributing content that isn’t yours. Also, I assume these are old content because you have linked an old URL.
There’s only one toybox. Custom made toyboxes are nice, though.
Vote banners – I don’t see these being used often either. Usually contest holders/topsites/etc like to be linked back with their own button.
The Christmas backgrounds are nice but they aren’t too versatile because of the colours. It would be hard to match a layout or other form of graphic with such backgrounds. Opt for some simple ones like checkered ones and spots.
The other backgrounds are much better. I like the vintage ones. Pastel colours are quite unique with those.
The emoticons are very cute. I don’t have a problem with them. Usually I find it hard to see faces on many pixel smilies though.
You shouldn’t be redistributing these fonts, unless they were made by you. Distributing other people’s fonts has become quite common, but it’s wrong and not very useful.
You also shouldn’t be redistributing programs when they were intended for purchase by the company. By all means, link to their download site, but redistributing is wrong.
On your animation tutorial, nimation should be animation.
It would be much better if the screenshots were in the same window. It’s annoying to have to click the link for the screenshot and go back to the instructions.
The basic HTML “tutorial” isn’t really a tutorial. It’s not very useful. If you’re going to teach HTML, teach from the basics and the beginning. The image effects also don’t work in Mozilla Firefox. The marquees are annoying. The font/link codes should be customised using CSS and not HTML.
You should capitalise URL in your FTP tutorial.
The H1 backgrounds tutorial is better; it shows how to customise using CSS.
The favicon tutorial is the same as the favicon page linked previously.
I suggest you remove the offering fonts tutorial. It’s against the law to be redistributing someone else’s work – that includes fonts.
The ‘about me’ graphics are nice but I’m not a fan of the animated glittery ones, and I don’t really see why you need a decorative image for a title.
Closed signs are also unnecessary.
The other glitter graphics are clearly old as they have your old site URL, and they also look very tacky. They’re distracting, as they are animated, and they are not something I would like to see on a website.
The MySpace resources also look boring and useless. I admit I’m not familiar with MySpace but these resources don’t really seem useful.
The dolls are pretty boring. They’re also outdated. And the makers are sponsored by what seems to be your old site. Did you actually make all these doll faces and components yourself?
“Dress Up Games” leads to an external site.
The seasonal graphics are also glittery and tacky and not very good site material.
You had such unique content but it was all washed out by theser tacky old-styled and blinding glittery graphics.
Me
Obviously better expressed as ‘owner’.
DeviantArt should be capitalised.
Site
“Advertise us” would be more appropriate as “link buttons”.
“Affies” isn’t a word; it’s better to say as “affiliates”.
Don’t forget to credit websites for Cutenews and image hosting.
On the site history page:
over 5 years from now should be over 5 years ago
respond my e-mails should be respond to my emails
saw my hits were should be saw that my hits were
so serious should be so seriously.
The “find the strawberry” page doesn’t need to be here, this is the site section. You already have it in the visitor section.
You have repeated the rotation here as well. Perhaps it’s best to leave it in the visitor section only. You don’t need to repeat links.
I don’t see why you’re referring to yourself as “us” in site rules and such. You are the only owner.
The tagboard opens in a new window. You should make a note of it as you haven’t put that little “pop” icon.
Originality & Creativity
You had a very creative layout and some very creative pixels. Though you could be original and possibly create your own characters rather than pixelling ones that are copyrighted and already exist.
On the other hand you did have a lot of content that wasn’t orginal. MySpace resources, dolls, and glitters are tardy and outdated. They’re also very generic and not very original.
Organisation & Errors
Organisation was alright but you could actually fix up the coding on your pages so they all have the same extension. As I mentioned earlier, some are .htm and some are .php.
I don’t see the need for “Welcome To Ferny-Dust” on every page.
I didn’t spot any huge errors.
Overall Comment
Ferny, you have a very nice site with a lot of resources, but you also have a lot of old content. I can tell they’re old because they contain your old site URL. Also, dolls sites and glitters are very generic and, to be honest, not really nice. You wouldn’t put a flashy glitter on your pages would you?
You had such uniquely creative content like pixels, that it just seemed you were putting these “MySpace resources” in your site for the sake of it. Your site didn’t seem so special anymore after I saw all these “non-kawaii” (for want of a better description) resources.
Hop out of the iframes as you can create the same effect with divs or PHP includes. You have a lot of content but more useful content, like free layouts, larger images for use in layouts and “CG” images, would be more useful to your visitors.
I suggest removing all those tacky old graphics. What makes your site stand out is your unique and creative content, not these old graphics and dolls – no matter how much you have. Remember, quality, not quantity.
You also need to increase your font size; it was quite hard to read through the length of this review. You also need to work on usability – meaning, convert from the iframes to something else, and don’t inflict a disabling secondary click script.
Your site would be a heck of a lot better without all those “glitters” and things and the content that wasn’t made by you, such as the fonts. You have potential and such great content but blurring it out with all this unnecessary tacky content is a shame. Good luck cleaning it up and fixing your site.
