Stardust Designs theme: graphics

hmm a useful splash. nice..I like Spike and all, but wasn't this a sailor moon site? did I make a mistake when accepting this review? oopsies. oh well. *later* ah, she changed the layout on me. The resolution requirements are the same colour as the picture so I can't read it. spike's face is too white, too much light, i don't like that i cant really see his face. i'm going with pop-up. the white font is a tiny bit hard to read, but oh well. it's goes with the layout. the links on the other hand, are too hard to read hover or normal, and should NOT be white. yeah, fade the text part more so I can read this stuff. policies-i dont see why i cant distort the layout if i want. is that creator's pride? i need to credit you if i use your html? bullshit. it's not like you invented the code necessary to put pictures in a certain place. layouts-hmm i've seen those kenshin layouts before. did you make them really really? put the links to the next page at the bottom, so I don't have to scroll back up to go to the next page. hey, that's an annoying scroll bar. i can't see the part i can move. >.< you like being fancy but it's annoying, like, defeat the purpose of having stuff-annoying. all these are the same, a drop down, four boxes, a welcome messge..it's gets really boring. *blink* i've seen that one before!! have I been here already and forgotten? why do you need different pages anyway? i hate excessive clicking. those title bars are ugly. just put the title in with the notes. heeyy periwinkle passion is a Lycentia layout. i mean, she had that as her layout for a while, and i doubt she took it from you. you own silence once broken? aren't they dead? then you should know better than to have white links on a white bg! okay the rest of this is seperate sites. gb is nice and clean looking. Overall, this really didn't blow me away like most layout places do. the layout were very well done and there were a few I might have used, but there was nothing spectacular.

I'm using the frames version... Splash - Used for pop-up and frames. One of those rare, useful splash pages. I'm not going to botehr commenting on this, now... Layout - Oooh, Cowboy Bebop-- I think that's Spike. I can't remember. It's been awhile since I watched it (*cough*fourmonths*cough*) The layout and color scheme work nicely-- except that a number of the links are hidden by their background. Places Aian doesn't go - Updates, Links, Link Us, faded, SSD, SOD.net, Sign/View Policies - General Layout rules-- ones I follow all the time. *smiles* If anyone has been to Reckless (My Kensuke Digimon shrine) You'd know what I mean. Oh, and not even a need for a scroll bar! Halleuleuah! Frames/Pop-ups/Tables - I mashed these all together, because the pages are the same, just different layout selections. The scroll bar matches the page! I love you! *hugshugshugs* After the last page I reviewed had those horid, unmatching scroll bars, you make everything all better. I'm going to poke about your layouts. See if I find one I like... then use it on The StoryTeller.... hmm, that "Restless" layout uses a(n unused) wallpaper I've got sitting on my pc. *grins* I have blantantly ogled every single layout of Sanosuke or Kenshin. Can I help it if they're hotter than hell? Request - A list of the animes used in various layouts. It took more bit to figure out that you had to click the "email form" in the sentence, to get the popup. I don't think the pop-up is nessecary-- you could have just put it into the request page itself. Title Available - I saw this from the link from the Request page. Previous Layouts - A list and a bunch of pictures of the previous layouts, plus little descriptions. Interesting-- most "previous layouts" only have short comments, and the picture itself. Overall, it's nice, and uniform. I love uniform webpages-- I can't rant at you people for doing what I like, and that means more people like me, than hate me :) Hey, do my reviews seem to be getting shorter to anyone other than just me?

¤ Did your keyboard get stuck on '_'? Point being, the title looks dumb, just use spaces. Oh dear lord, I cannot read these requirements. It looks like they list the basic requirements that everyone uses. Oh no, another person who does not know js and has ventured into chromeless windows... Lots 'o color' is a redundent requirement. try 16 million and using correct grammer (lot's is not possesive, and 'o' is 'o). Well at least this splash is not completely redundant since there is a choice, though it seems pointless to have a chromeless pop-up layout. The picture is nice, but the text is impossible to read. ¤ I cannot read the menu WHATSOEVER! No one in heaven and hell would bother staying at a page in which they cannot discern the menu. At least in a chrome window, you can read the statur bar to see where the links lead to... Having the links 'mouseover' to white does not help either, do not make the links the same colors as the background (use a background for the links!). The order of links is akward. The link home should be the top link and updates and other site related topics should be at the top portion. No updates on the main page, yet you have an update section; why not just list the latest one on the main page for convenience? If I were you, I'd make the topbar dark blue instead of the white which it is. Well, the only redeeming quality is that the picture for the layout looks nice. ¤ The policies page is satisfactory, but why is the user unable to edit the graphics? If they want to use the layout they should have the freedom to alter it a bit. Afterall you do not go to Home Depot, buy wood, and not cut it. Rule four really irks me. I'm willing to bet 98% of the layouts and html used here were not generated by yourself, you don't seem as though you know much as far as computer programming and your main layout is already a cop off of many existing layouts. ¤ Instead of writing out 'page one, page two and etc' why not just write '1, 2, and etc'? It is more convenient for the user to browse. The scrollbar has no scrollbar!!? What is wrong with you? Could you not juts leave s small shadow or anything? I can't see where I am going. Thank god I have a scrollerball on my mouse. ...Talk about convenience. You only have a picture linked for the view option. A static picture is not helpful for someone looking for a layout. How would you like it if at a clothes store, you could only look and not try on the clothes? These (cliche) layouts and graphics are not very impressive, and I am disappointed, becuase this layout proves that you are capable of making deccent graphics. ¤ The typing out the page titles mentioned above applies here as well. Are any of these pop-up non chromeless? You actually bother to tinker with the graphics in this section, but not by much (you ran a few filters and then slapped it up). ¤ The table graphics seems to be the best overall. The first few are not worth a grain of rice but the a few are asthetically pleasing, though you seem to lapse towards the end again. ¤ Well the updates are archived so I can't complain. The different entries need spaces between them. ¤ The 'Anime Titles' section is very helful, but needs to be alphabetized to ease browsing. Unfortunatly, there is no actual link to an email form or even email listed for requests. Not even a sign saying the form is closed. ¤ Links are satisfactory, but the site names (bol or underline them) should be set out from the regular text (any link should be setout from the text, NEVER make text and links have the same properties!). DDg was not the first person/ people to use table layouts, DBZ and other more advanced anime web communities, have been utilizing them for MUCH longer. You should list the buttons above the cliques since they are related to the text links mre than the cliques. I'm wondering if the numerous references to Spike are to James Marsters (Spike from Buffy). ¤ Have enough link buttons? They seem to be standard size so that is a plus. On the forst three buttons it is impossible to read the text. Several of the buttons have resizinf problems with pictures such as the Diamond, Kenshin, GW, and Hello Kitty ones (practically any that have a facial image). Now that I look back, many of the dimensions/ proportions of the pictures in the layouts seemed to be off as well, but it was hard to tell by looking at a screen cap exclusively. ¤ The layouts could do with links to the layouts, or if the no longer exist, to a bigger picture. About your problem with bmps. Bmps have larger file sizes, pngs are the best option (my preferred extension; excellent quality and compression and relatively small/ average file size), but those bothersome netscape users can't view them unless they have the correct plug ins. ¤ The sister sites load in different windows. Good. ¤ After viewing the pop-up portion of the layout I went to the frames half. If seems that the only frames used are the same iframes used in the pop-up layout, and the window is not chromeless, and was non-scrollable, which forced me to resize the window, hinting at non fluid/ liquid content (which is a no-no). The requirements are misleading and these are actually not different options, only the same layout, one with a window border, the other without. ¤ Overall, some of the layouts were good, but most were average or less than par. At times, I doubt wheter you are fully competent with the graphics program you use (resizing) or if perhaps you lack a foundation in webdesign. Your concept for layouts are not original at all, and I am 99.94784% positive that you are not profiecent in js and dhtml, likewise work on the syntactical aspects of the site. Another main aspect that needs work is usability (make it as easy for the visitor are possible, they are your clients/ customers). There is potenital, but it could be easily oversahdowed by foolhardy attempts at fancy coding and overuse of filters (and everyone's favourite element...ego...well maybe hubris...well more of self pride at making what you deem to be wonderfully excellent layouts). The reason I am giving you this warning, is that I have seen sites with potential, like yours, get to big for their britches and fail. No personal offense meant.

Crash Count: 0 Notes: All those Kenshin layouts and not a one with Soujiro. Grr. Nooo! Not chromeless! Please! Oh, wait, there's another version! Bonus points for you, my friend. The versions look exactly the same except, well, one's chromeless and one's not. Both have Iframes The text is somewhat unreadble. Okay, completely unreadable. As are the first set of links. The links to other pages were difficult to spot, at first. A simple "Next page" link would be nice. Is it just me, or are Fames page 3 and 4 the same thing? The layouts themselves are quite classy. (The "Peace" layout on page seven is from GALS, by the way.) All the pop-ups are chromeless, which some people like. Others, like me, hate them. Providing a normal version for them might be good. I'm hating the links on the sides. They don't want to be read, and that angers me. The subsections are only readable when the text is on a table, like in the layout subpages. Other than that, I had to highlight things in order to read them All the subsections work just fine, everything's clear and readable. Typos abound through the site (Like "bepob" as opposed to "bebop", or "of cource" as opposed to "of course") Wow, what an obnoxiously short review! Everything looked good other than what I've mentioned. Closing Notes? It's all good, and organized. It could just use a little extra readability, is all.

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