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Site Name: Artiste
Owner: Julia
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 14th November 2008
Site Name
Artiste is a very nice name that’s easy to remember. It shows some sophistication and maturity.
Coding and Validation
Congratulations on the validated CSS and showing it off in your footer. Naturally I am guessing your coding isn’t validated and I’m correct.
The main problem with your coding that is screwing your coding up.. is that link that you put for ‘validated CSS’. You didn’t use the code provided but you directly linked to the report. Replacing that link with:
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer
will help solve that problem and significantly reduce the 26 errors you have. If you want to check your XHTML validation, go to W3C Markup Validation service and run your URL through that.
Another minor error, I believe is caused by the < Previous that you use for your Cutenews entries. Instead of one < try using two, because it is possibly getting read as HTML coding.
Browser Compatibility & Usability
Your site looks great in almost all browsers according to Browsershots.org, so well done on that!
The navigation, though easy to see, is not centered. You might want to fix that by increasing the width of all the navigation links so the widths add up to the width of your header 
Layout
I love the simplicity in this layout. It’s cenetered, which a big plus – and a relief, since I have some across very few reviewees with layouts that are centered.
The header image is very nice, I like the clouds in it, actually. They give the image a unique look. Your site URL is written in a nice coordinating font, but it’s a little too faint.
The only issue I have with the layout is that it could be a little bit wider, and still look alright in most resolutions. My resolution is quite large and I see a lot of space on the sides.
The CSS doesn’t match the layout too great, particularly the red. I would recommend changing to a light blue or pale beige to match the header imge more. Your links should be a different colour. The difference in text size isn’t much to differentiate them. And your headers are nice, but the font stands out too much – perhaps make it a little less bold. In your sidebar the headers are too far from the text beneath them, consider reducing that gap.
You need some padding on the sides of your layout. On your content and sidebar sections in your CSS file, you might like to try these (respectively):
padding-left:5px;
padding-right:5px;
You can change the values to whatever you please. After doing that you may need to make the sidebar or content divs a little narrower to make up for room.
Your layout overall is very welcoming and simple.
Content
Julia
Purple bullets. I don’t like the idea. All the colours in your CSS now seem to be randomly picked.
On your ‘autobiography’ page:
dissapointed should be disappointed
Yes,extremely dissapointing should be Yes, extremely disappointing
every day since if you should be every day. If you
srsly should be seriously
freewebs should be Freewebs.
On your ‘favorites’ page:
supposed should be suppose.
You
On your ‘icons’ page:
noticable should be noticeable.
These icons are quite nice and of good quality. I like the effects used on a few of them!
On your ‘icon textures’ page:
icons textures should be icon textures (in your heading)
Creditting should be Crediting.
These icon textures have a nice texture, but the colours are a little too bright.
The bullets are pretty good but you should space them out, they all look a little squished.
On your ‘actions’ page:
compatible for should be compatible with.
I see you’ve kept your icons celebrity-free, but you’ve chosen to use them in these actions. I would suggest replacing them with some legal photos. If you’re unsure on the issue of celebrity images being illegal, check out this article.
The emoticons are quite good. They’re of a nice size and shape. I like the rectangular ones!
The stock images are quite nice, and I notice they load fast as well. Good job!
Site
This section was done so well, I have no bad comments. I think it’s great you credited your images and you’re using a legal source for them.
Originality & Creativity
I think you had some creativity and definitely some originality. I think your layout could do with a little refining, though.
Organisation & Errors
No errors, no problems with organisation. Well done!
Overall Comment
Julia, you’ve got a rather small site, and I suggest you add a few more things. Whether they be for visitors, about you, articles, anything. I see the potential for originality in your site.
It’s a shame that your site has been on hiatus so much! I don’t have many more comments to add. I can’t really critique your graphic skills because I don’t see many examples of graphics on your site.
You appear to have good knowledge of coding and you can write well, judging from a few of your blogs.
I don’t have many suggestions to make, but keep working on that site and don’t neglect it!
