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Site Name: Velociteen
Owner: Mariah
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 29th May 2009
Site Name
Velociteen is a nice site name that really suits the purpose of your site, from what I have seen through a quick browse. It’s definitely easy to remember.
Coding and Validation
Your coding has 37 errors and 9 warnings.
I am not sure whether you have made this theme/layout entirely by yourself. However, the errors are mostly caused by the video media you are displaying on your website. You can visit my valid video tutorial to validate video coding. This is the case because you’re using <embed> in the coding which is not a valid HTML command.
Other errors are minimal and are simply caused by the media and other additions on your page.
This is also the case with your CSS, which has 8 errors in CSS level 3. The majority of the errors are from effects that are only compatible in the Mozilla Firefox browser. Be sure not to use too many Firefox-only effects, as visitors using other browsers may not be able to view your site the way you would like them to.
Browser Compatibility & Usability
Browsershots.org tells me your site is generally the same in most browsers.
Your navigation is confusing, as you have navigation across the top of the page, and navigation on the sidebar. What makes it confusing is that the navigation isn’t consistent.
“Home” turns out to be the same page as “About us”, and hence, the homepage has the same sidebar links as the “Organization” section. You should sort out this information and have a brief introduction on the homepage, and further information under “about us”. This keeps things more orderly. Additionally, a video isn’t the best thing to see first on a website. I suggest not having that on the homepage.
While fonts and text are readable and legible, I am not liking the rather large width of the layout. Some people still use small resolutions, and for them to view your site properly, they would have to scroll horizontally quite a lot. 800×600 is one of the smallest resolutions so you should cater for these users by keeping the width of your layout around 750 pixels in width.
Layout
It’s simple and the colour scheme works nicely. You’ve kept a rather constant and flowing colour scheme of harmonising colours.
The layout is kept simple. The only issue I have is with the navigation, and also the fact that the sidebar is in great need of decluttering.
Content
V-Town
This section is basically a network section.
I find it unncessary that comments are enabled on every page. You don’t need it; I’m sure you are able to disable the comments.
Advice
All the pages in this section simply contain one link to an external website. “Live help” and “support ticket” essentially lead to the same website.
It would make a lot more sense if you put these links all on the one page. Integrating the FAQ into your page would be a better idea as well.
Organisation
I notice that on clicking the navigation headings, the link appears as a tab to show what page you’re on. Doing this with the pages within the sections would account for a better look.
On the “affiliation information” page, use <code> instead of <textarea>. Textarea is designed for user input and not for displaying code.
I don’t understand why affiliates must have their website reviewed first; it’s a bit discriminatory.
You should write a proper credits page. If you’re going to “personally thank” everyone you should link to their website and explain why you are thanking that person. You have to thank WordPress, your host, where you got images from, who assisted you with your layout, Cbox for the chatbox and Sitemeter for your counter.
The Reviewers page is quite a mess. You should link everyone with a text link, as different buttons of different sizes look messy.
On the terms and conditions page, “Swearing, Obscenities, Bullying, or Illegal Behavior” need not be capitalised.
Staff application and this other information is fine.
World
“Make a difference” is a good page, but it is really long. It would be better if you had quick links to each section of the page, or even put some parts on separate pages.
“Stop online abuse” – same goes for this page. I thought the information on this page was very useful and informative.
You should link directly to the website, not just type http://google.com. Link as such: Google.
Contact
The email directory is well set out. I understand the images look nice but you haven’t cropped them properly and all of them look odd because it seems that faces and people are stretched, rather than being cropped to the correct size.
For the “connect with Velociteen” page, consider filling in the alt attribute in the image tag, or at least providing a text link. Often images may not display in certain browsers or people may be viewing the internet without images, so take this into consideration.
On the “link us” page, use <code> instead of <textarea>. Textarea is designed for user input and not for displaying code.
V-store
This section is alright but including a rough overview of prices would be better so that people can be certain when they apply.
Other sections
You have other sections of your site, including site contests/reviews, music and tutorial sections. I won’t be reviewing these since they are on subdomains.
Your navigation is confusing me even more; no one would click these buttons to further have a look, because the way they are placed make them look like advertisements.
Originality & Creativity
Definitely an original site with a unique outlook. It lacks creativity but for its purpose, it’s great.
It’s very interactive and gets visitors involved.
Organisation & Errors
Organisation was extremely poor. You had too many sections, and the changing navigation on each page was not user-friendly. You definitely need to organise pages and sections in a more user-friendly way.
There weren’t any huge errors. I spotted a few spelling/grammatical errors in your staff/team page – possibly because you directly copied their words and there were mistakes.
Overall Comment
Your site is well designed for its purpose and the content fits well, but you need to organise everything more accordingly.
You need to take into account usability and think of the user when designing your site. It needs to be designed better in that sense. Particularly the navigation and the sections.
A more interesting design and layout would appeal to your visitors and better network you with your selected audience.
