Review: Liberty @ Cookiedough

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screenshot

Site Name: Cookiedough
Owner: Liberty
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 29th July 2009

Site Name

It’s cute and easy to remember.

Coding and Validation

Your HTML has 44 errors.

On the advertising images, you’re forgetting the slash (/) that must go at the end of images:

<img src="image URL" alt="alternative text" />

You have also written <a/> instead of </a> for these links.

Make sure you fill in the alt attribute (alternative text) for all images. You have left some blank, but putting some text in for semantics is necessary. Screen readers such as those for the blind will be able to read these more effectively and give a better description if you put some alternative text on your images.

You’re validating to XHTML 1.0 Transitional. This means you must remember the key rules of validating. You have alternative text for images, but you don’t have the mandatory slash that is required.

Similarly, your <br> must be edited to be <br />.

Your CSS is valid.

Make sure you keep in mind those rules for validation. Overall the coding is well done. I am guessing that you used a template to help you, which is fine, but make sure you do some coding of your own as well.

Browser Compatibility & Usability

According to Browsershots.org your site looks the same in most browsers.

The font is easy to read – great job. The navigation text could be made a bit bigger. “Clear” would be better written as “Home”.

The yellow text for the main links is a bit hard to read, especially on your subpages. Making them a bit darker would be better.

The header image is a bit too wide; cut it down a bit. One of the smallest screen resolutions is 800 by 600 pixels, and you want to make your layout a bit narrower than that so it looks nice in that resolution.

Layout

I like your ability to use bright colours in a layout; this is no exception. You have such simple layouts but they’re always unique and colourful.

The blue in the header image is just a bit too bright for me. Having it a pale sky blue or a deep dark blue would make the yellow stand out more, and wouldn’t look as blinding.

The CSS looks “fun and funky”, for want of a better description. I think you could throw a few other fonts in there for variation.

As I mentioned above, the width of the layout should be decreased.

Content

When I hover over the welcome message, the text turns red. You might want to fix that.

Articles

On the hackers article there are some errors to fix:
Hackers, should be Hackers:
of the website of you should be of your website
anough should be enough
accidenatly let there should be accidentally let their
log of should be log off.
This article is interesting, but if you set it into paragraphs to make it easier to read, and put some tips for preventing or avoiding hacking, it would make a better article.

On the public toilets article you also have some errors:
loo’s should be loos
really if they should be really, if they
cleaners, honestly should be cleaners; honestly
definiateley should be definitely
there is very grotty floors should be there are very grotty floors
aswell should be as well
site down should be sit down.
I don’t see the point of this article, but perhaps a list of why public toilets are horrible would make the article easier to read and skim.

On the TV Adverts article, you have more errors:
if oyu should be if you
Nickeodion should be Nickelodeon
theres adverts should be there’s adverts
Juniour should be Junior
companys should be companies
there money should be their money
interupts should be interrupts
your watching should be you’re watching
more late should be later.

On the website staff article:
piczo should be Piczo
alot should be a lot
doesn’t work should be don’t work.

Resources

The banners are cute. I don’t see what you could use them for but they are very nice.

The bullets are very simple. Try and make them more interesting. Yours are very basic.

You have a range of icons but none of them are really very good. Some of them look a bit fuzzy, and the bulk of these just look like cropped images. You should add textures and effects and some text to make them more interesting. Also, try not to use celebrity images, because you are not allowed to use the images without the photographer’s permission.

The same goes for the mini blends. Try and use more effects on these too, and avoid using celebrity images. “Mini blends” aren’t very useful. You might as well make a larger image and code it into a layout.

The articles link leads to your articles page; there’s no need to put it here.

You don’t need to capitalise “coded layout” on the request page.
definitaly should be definitely
wordpress should be WordPress.
You also don’t need to capitalise “link button”, “button base”, etc.

On the main review page:
its should be it’s
that place should be the place.

On the rules page, capitalise Piczo and Freewebs.
lets go should be let’s go.

“Tutorials” leads to the same page. I assume you haven’t put up this section yet.

Website

Capitalise Piczo on this page.
of computer should be off computer
layout, html and css should be layouts, HTML and CSS
online friend I thank should be online friend; I thank
things to should be things too.

On the link buttons page, you should be displaying code with code and not textarea – textarea is intended for user input only, such as on forms. In using code, you must replace < with &lt and > with &gt.
coloursso should be colours so.

On the owner page there are a few errors:
earings should be earrings
eachother should be each other
Me and Hannah should be Hannah and I.

Hosting

You should be writing “I” and “me” instead of “we and “us”.
heres the should be here’s the.

Originality & Creativity

You’ve got some very original articles here, but you need to work on refining them and making them more meaningful. Also, try and use a spellchecker, because you have a lot of errors.

You should create more original icons and graphics. Stray from the celebrity images and use stock images instead, or your own photos.

Organisation & Errors

Everything was well organised; no problems there.

Your “tutorials” link didn’t lead anywhere, that was the only link problem. You had a lot of spelling/grammar errors so make sure you use a spellchecker from time to time.

Overall Comment

Overall you’ve done a great job on the website, for someone who has recently opened on a new website too.

Please make sure you correct those errors. Having all these errors makes things look unprofessional.

Include some resources that are more worth using, and avoid using celebrity images. You’ve got great layouts and a nice organised website, but I know you can take it one step further. Work on more content, make sure the ones you have are at their best, and tweak your layouts and coding.

Rating
cookiecookiecookiecookie
(out of 5)

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