Review: Sophia @ DiTalento

back to Completed Reviews

Site Name: DiTalento
Owner: Sophia
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 22nd September 2009

Previous reviews:: DiTalento; Designing Amateur (re review); Designing Amateur; Smooches-x

Site Name

No problems here. Unique name, easy to remember.

Coding and Validation

Your coding is valid.

Your CSS is valid. There’s just one warning, but it’s not a huge deal.

Your coding is neat and organised; I have no complaints and there is nothing much to improve on.

Browser Compatibility & Usability

Your site looks the same in most browsers, and it is navigable and functions in Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

The text is easy to read but I suggest making the navigation a bit bigger. Each “button” should be larger so that the navigation stretches over the whole width of the layout. This way, it would look a lot neater. The text on the navigation should also be larger and bolder to support your bold headings.

Layout

This layout is really unique and bold – it makes a statement. I like that you have opted for no header image. In this sense though, you should attract interest in a different manner, but I don’t feel that you have done that the best you can.

I do like the bold look, but for the background, it’s too bold. The background should be toned down. Use some lighter colours for the background or even an intricately detailed one, but one that doesn’t grab too much attention. Busy and bold backgrounds are hard to work with. I have to say though, thank goodness you have the background attachment as fixed. Busy backgrounds are terrible when they scroll.

I know MemoryLast.net has some nice backgrounds which would be suitable – you can use one of them or use them as inspiration.

Other than that, I don’t really have any problems with the layout. I like that you’ve made the navigation stand out in some way, but the font needs to be clearer.

I really like the set-up of the site statistics and affiliates at the top of the layout.

Content

You’ve asked me to correct your errors which is what I’ll be focusing on. If I notice anything new or feel like making a comment about your content again, I will.

Owner

Just a few mistakes here:
literature, it’s should be literature; it’s
heights, I should be heights; I.

Good to see you keep this page updated with your new Twitter username.

Resources

On the article regarding crediting, you should capitalise DeviantArt and LiveJournal. This is a good article since I have seen it in many people’s blog rants.

On the little article about swearing:
mini accidents happened should be small accidents that happened
9 years old kids should be 9 year old kids
the Doctor should be the doctor.

On your daisies poem, putting the little note at the end in italics or in a little blockquote would be better as it’s not part of the poem.

I’m really loving the typography you’re using in the avatars. It’s really basic, however you can make improvements with font selection though.

The premade layouts look great. I think there could be more padding and increased line height in some parts of them though, and the last layout would be great as a WP theme too. Additionally, it would be better if the backgrounds were fixed too.

The wallpapers look really good. The positioning of the ones with photos (the last two) could be arranged better.

You should integrate the ask me page (BellaBuzz) with your theme. You can do this by linking to the header of your theme. You would do this the same way you would use WP themes with normal pages:

<?php require('/home/heartdro/public_html/x/wp-blog-header.php');?>
<?php get_header(); ?>
Content here, questions etc.
<?php get_footer(); ?>

Reviews

On the main page because an error should be because of an error.

Portfolio

It’s just my opinion but I think the technique on the digital art could be varied over all your works. I think it’s a bit simple.

Website

WordPress should be capitalised.

On the affiliates page there are some mistakes:
common, one should be common; one
supernatural should be Supernatural
Lilian should be Liliana.

Originality & Creativity

You’ve added more original articles and some unique layouts – this is really impressive. You have improved with your skills and have produced more original graphics.

Organisation & Errors

I am very pleased to see that your writing is improving and on many pages you didn’t have mistakes. Everything looks neat and organised and well put together. You just have a few mistakes but they are only minor. Keep it up!

Overall Comment

You’ve improved so much since I reviewed you for the first time, Sophia! You have really come far and produced unique graphics over time. I notice you’re also trying new styles which is really impressive that you’re going out there, as as you advised me to do once – be more daring. Of course there is still room for improvement, but you are doing a great job.

You’re always interesting me with your blogs and what you have in store. I think though, you could add more content and keep refining your skills.