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Site Name: Audio Rush
Owner: Vicky
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 21st July 2009

Previous reviews:

Oh Panic (re review)

Oh Panic

Site Name

It’s easy to remember and it’s quite unique. I’m still finding myself getting used to it though.

Coding and Validation

Your coding is valid and your CSS is also valid.

Your coding is organised and I couldn’t spot anything you could improve, so excellent job.

Browser Compatibility & Usability

The site looks the same in most browsers according to Browsershots.org.

The layout is a bit too wide for smaller resolutions such as those of 800 by 600 pixels, so keep in mind that your website may not look the way you expect in smaller resolutions.

The navigation and text are clear (just happens to be my favourite font as well). I’m not a fan of the bright green on the navigation hover. In my opinion, a colour like #E3E3E3 would be preferable.

Layout

I didn’t notice this until I started browsing your website, but the sidebar would be better on the left side. This is because you have the sub navigation on the pages, and as it’s on the right hand side it’s a bit hard to notice that it’s actually there. By convention most people read from left to right so they would be a bit more noticeable on the left.

The sub navigation isn’t used often in this way so it’s quite unique.

I really like the use of bright colours in this layout. On the dark greys, it makes them stand out and gives a nice effect. I like the colourful header image and how you’ve arranged the colours of the text.

I don’t like the footer and how the size of each section is automatic to fit the width of my screen. This would look really strange in a large resolution as it stretches to fit. It’s best to keep all three sections fitting in the width of your layout.

Also, the gap between “Loved Ones” and “Blog Statistics” is larger than the gap between “Top Commenters” and “Loved Ones”.

I don’t know if it was intentional but the top section of your layout with the navigation and the bottom section with the copyright information have different background colours (#262626 and #0D0D0D respectively).

Content

Domain

This section would be better named as “website” because not everyone is familiar with the term “domain”. You have information about yourself here too, so “About” would be more appropriate.

On the affiliates page, you should say “footer” instead of “homepage”, as that is where your affiliates are displayed.

You have an interesting way of displaying the contact form, but it’s messy because there are too many boxes. Remove at least one border from the form.

On the owner page, and no it’s not should be and no, it’s not.

I like the plugins page; I personally found it useful to install a few of these plugins myself. This might be a bit picky but the fact that the author is in bold makes it stand out more than the link of the actual plugin, which just irks me a bit.

Resources

I like the idea of the form on the sidebar here. Creative idea.

On the website tips article, you placed a slash at the end of the link to my article (so inherently, things look strange).

On the offline pet peeves article:
through, they should be through; they
words, use should be words; use
I live going should be I live, going.

I adore the blog smilies; I see many people using them. They’re of great quality and very cute, not to mention they come in an exciting range of colours. (I’m not trying to sound like I’m selling a product here – or at least I hope not.)

The free layouts are great – I’ve seen many people use them so they must be good! You have a nice variety here too, which is good.

The comment speech bubbles are unique; I haven’t seen them offered on a website before, only within a WordPress theme or layout.

The cPanel tutorials aren’t really useful; there are video tutorials and instructions in cPanel itself.

The shortening CSS tutorial is great; I haven’t seen many around. Placing heading here to separate the sections of the CSS would be a good idea. At the end, you could should be you can.

The custom title tags tutorial is a bit unclear. Where you say Now on every single page you need to add the following code – I cannot tell where I am to place that code, and at that point I am lost.

Just a comment on the Bellabuzz tutorial and others that may say this: I find it strange saying “right click” when I myself use a left-handed mouse. Usually I try and write this out as “secondary click” or write “left click if you are using a left handed mouse”.

The WordPress tutorials are all great. Personally I found them very helpful when I was starting out. You also have a number of tutorials that allow for some rather handy little things.

Reviews

The following:

You could have over 100 coding errors and still receive 5 stars. I rate your website on how good it is overall. The heart below is an indication of what you’ll be rated with:

Is a bit confusing. You mention stars then display a heart – so a little rephrasing is needed:

You could have over 100 coding errors and still receive 5 stars. I rate your website on how good it is overall. The heart below will represent one star in your review:

On the criteria page, X/HTML would be better written as XHTML/HTML, as you can see the effect of the acronyms plugin.

Ask Me

Nothing wrong here – just a few unanswered questions.

Originality & Creativity

You’ve got a few generic things here – a few tutorials and the types of resources you have. However they’re still quite useful and essential to have on a resources site. You also have unique resources and tutorials, particularly the speech bubbles and the WordPress tutorials.

While you have a lot of generic content, the quality is great and they’re also very original.

Organisation & Errors

Very well organised and neat. I didn’t spot any broken links or images, and you didn’t have many errors.

Overall Comment

Vicky, your site has improved since the last time I reviewed it. You have experimented with many different kinds of layouts, and they are definitely a lot better now than they were before. They’re a lot more creative and colourful and simplistic in a more stylish way.

It’s good to see that you have added some more content. You have a unique style and have put a lot of work in your website, and I enjoy visiting it. Keep up the great work.

Rating

(out of 5)