| theme: otaku |
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| yay, another otaku site. The spalsh is useless. The purple is too dark. Too much space at the right. Does anyone EVER read terms of service? you could buy a car, a house a piece o' land and you still wouldn't read them. At least cut the intro crap and get to your point quickly. short attention spans abound yaknow. gee, this sounds, like, serious and stuff. This is pretty ironic, when I see caps I instinctively skip reading them, despite the fact that they are in caps to get me to read it. |
| urgh, too many words! It sounds like a text book. Is this you trying to be professionals or something? I know that on another day I would appreciate this, say it's fresh and such, but not right now. The about section is actually interesting, better than any other about page i've been forced to look at. |
| The art is really very very good at imitating Naoko. In fact, I can't tell the difference. I don't like looking at a fan character and thinking 'that's a recoloured usagi' or whoever. 3 and 9 are so good, what's with 2? i mean, s10 and s13 are the same picture, recoloured. if i had requested that i'd be pretty disapointed. I hope there is progress here, not just you were feeling lazy one day! |
| How to draw 101 is only eyes, so you should say so. How to Edit is very very cool. Every otaku should read this. I can't stress the greatness of this section. |
| The FAQ is great, I can't think of any other questions. Good thinking! The omake section needs work. I hate centered text, it looks boring, I know omake means extra but still. the links just..there..look boring. Why does it open in a new window? The rants are funny and accurate. I like. But the white on black bores me! I know, IR's pages are dead boring too, but the reason for that is colour-text identification. The purple text for support is impossible to read. I mean, cmon you're artists, can't you SEE? |
| Overall, for an art site, it's got a boring layout. The content is excellent, everything possible is done to avoid confusion, clear rules, great artwork. Get a new layout and you're rockin'. |
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Splash The text colors are cool, and the banner is cute, but this is an utterly useless site. *blinks* You wrote musicless on it? That's a new one.
Layout - Vedy nice. You're sticking with the red and purple-ness of the letters... or were the letters done to stick with this? Ah well, wonderfully drawn, but the heads look a bit to big for the bodies. I'm really into properly proportioned stuffies.
Places Aian won't go - From the bottom up. Updates,Omake, Links, FAQ, About Us, Why?
Terms of Sevice - The "read this" just below the link is hard to see. That shade of purple is very hard to read against black. I've used it myself once or twice. *throws her head back and laughs* Wonderful terms, my dear. Normal terms for much of the thing-- but the Favorite Senshi Astera/Pandora is kinda useless. I know people *cough*myself*cough* who skip over most of the ToS because they've read it all before. Repeatedly.
Gallery - Edits are evil. Sure, they can be pulled off pretty well sometimes, but a lot of times the width of lines changes, and they don't look as good. Sakura's an excellent artist. The Naoko-mimik-type art is kinda distrubing, for what should be obvious reasons. And I'm not going to comment for a third time on Lori's work. She should know what I think of it (Escaflowne :)
Lost Files - Investing name... and a more interesting idea. Very nice-- at least people will know why they haven't got their picture if they find it there. Both Request forms are closed. To much work? I know how that feels *grins in Fishuu's direction*
How to Draw 101 - This will be interesting. *mumbles* That greatset of anime eyes look a bit uneven. If you put them on a character, said character would look a bit insane. *pauses* Oooh, an insane senshi! FUN!
How to Edit 101 - Using a mouse to edit. That's immposible for me... I have a touch sensitive mouse pen/tablet, however. Hey I'm an artist, I need this stuff :P Eh, skin colors are a bitch to work with-- I usually pull up an image I downloaded off the net and swipe their skin colors. :) You do darker unders, brighter upper colors? Opposite of my own technique... Ah, bronze/yellow white? I do orange/yellow/white. Makes the golds sparkly bright. Nicely done on the teaching to edit... Its the basic techniques for scanning and CG.
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- The splash page obviously isn’t needed. The layout looks just as good in a 1024x768 resolution as it does in a 800x600, there’s just a bit more scrolling with the smaller resolution
- The layout is made with a PageBuilder, but it’s still nice, but I think the header would look nicer if it were centered
Terms of Service:
- Maybe you should explain what this means, “Since a ToS is actually a legal agreement, we ask that if you are under 18 you ask you mom, dad, or legal guardian's permission before you give us any information.” Are you going to send lawyers after anyone that doesn’t comply to your terms of service (ah…I’m afraid of the copyright lawyers) no one will be any more reluctant to request a senshi because they’re under 18. Heck I’m 17 and if I had a made-up senshi site then I would definitely order one. Isn’t the standard age for this type of stuff 13 at most places? I would not ask my mom or dad if I could get a homemade otaku senshi drawing of the Internet, that rule is simply ludicrous.
- There are a few small spelling a grammar mistakes in this section that you should check out (but not many)
- The terms of service are definitely well laid out
- You have a clever way of making sure people read the rules
Why?
- I found this section to be very well written
- You can’t start a sentence with the word “however”
About Us
- This section was kind of boring, but not as boring as other sites I’ve seen, at least you wrote a bit about yourselves on how you got into Sailor Moon, you didn’t just write a profile
- I remember when I first got into Sailor Moon too, when I was in grade 5 and I created all the Outer Senshi because I didn’t know they existed at the time
Gallery:
- You have just won my heart, real thumbnails with ~gasp~ alt text the bestest (I know that isn’t a word) thing in the whole wide world
- Your pictures are very impressive, I wish I could draw (sob), from the looks of it your pictures are very high quality and would definitely be worth the wait to receive
Lost Files?!:
- I think you only need to question mark on the title, not the question mark and the exclamation mark
- I’m glad that you’re trying to get a hold of those people that have changed their e-mail addresses, it shows that you are truly devoted to your work
Request and Edit/Request a Fanart:
- I’m glad that your form goes into such specifics, it proves that you truly are devoted to your cause
- Maybe there should be a field for URLs to pictures of the senshi
- The items on to form were spaced a little to far apart for my liking
How to Draw 101:
- Yeah, I get to learn how to draw…but wait…there’s only a tutorial on how to make eyes, though the tutorial is detailed, you should add more to this section
How to Edit 101:
- Now this section was an educational experience for me, I was impressed with the vast amount of knowledge you showed in the editing section
- In the editing section maybe you should have a button back home before the last lesson
FAQ:
- This section answered all my questions I might have had about the site
Support OI:
- In the section where you link everyone who has linked OI the text of the website names is partially consumed by the buttons (you’ll know what I mean when you see it) this is one downfall you have to be careful of when dealing with a PageBuilder
- Wow…you were kind enough to link people who linked you {so where’s the link to “I Review”}
- great you put comments, they not only make you look good but they also encourage people to use your service
The How To’s:
- What is the mailing list for? You should state what the mailing list is for or else…why would people join it?
Rants ‘n’ Raves:
- your opinions were actually interesting and have to do with the content on your site
- in the hentai rant you accidentally put down “to to” in the last sentence, I like the warning about light swearing
- I respect Sakky-chan’s opinions about pagebuilders, but I just want to briefly describe my view of them. They really are great, but if you ever want to move your site off of GeoCities it will take a lot of time because you’ll have to redo everything in HTML (trust me, I know from experience). PageBuilder sites also have a tendency to take a little longer to load and you have to be really careful that everything is aligned correctly when using a PageBuilder. My computer also used to always crash whenever I used the editors.
Links:
- I’d love to see a link to “I Review”
Updates:
- Always a nice section to see, maybe you should make your updates more day specific rather than month specific (at least you made the updates day specific for this month) ~ I hope that made sense
Overall: I was impressed with this site. The design could be improved a little if the site was done in HTML. There were also just a few minor-spelling errors. Maybe you should think about adding lessons for drawing 101. I loved the fanart and if I owned a fansenshi site than I would definitely be back here to request a picture.
From ~ the aqua green haired reviewer (Kaioh)
¤ Splash is uneeded since basically these are standard requirements. Also, musicless is not a requirement.
¤ The main really needs to be centered. For a page that mentions it uses a 1024 x 768 resolution this once again dissapoints. The menu shifts in text wieght and color too much. Why is the TOS bolded? The lost files does not need a descriptiton. The purple text is very hard to read with the 1024 x 768 res. Also, why is the gbook link a picture and not text? Conformity. Overall the layout is lacking as are the graphics.
¤ In the TOS you have two sections named number 3. Also, you do not need to bold anything. The links on the bottom need atleast three break lines after them; it is known netiquette to not line text up against the window frame.
¤ I guess it would be pointless to mention that you use the word otaku in the wrong context. Just because most of the fansenshi fanbase uses a term does not make it correct (and the fact that most of them do not know Japanses doesn't help either). Your title tag needs spaces (whywedoit). This section comes of a bit pretensious. The part bullet denoted with the "And that is why we are here..." assumes that all fansenshi are female. There are a few things that bother me in your TOS. Just because you happened to draw or edit a senshi does not mean you have rights to use it. Your job is to assist other somewhat like a consulting firm. Technically you are breaking copyright by using others' fansenshi without credit. Also, I do not like the idea that if you do not create a senshi accuratly, you are not willing to redraw it indefinatly; in a sense you are not completing your job if you were to do such. Numerous spelling and grammatical errors are present.
¤ In the 'about' sections you should provide your credentials (since you ar putting on the fascade of fromality) and links to your sites and emails.
¤ Order is lacking in the gallery; first you have Lori's drawings then Sakky's edits...how about Lori's drawings, then her edits and then Sakky's drawings and edits.
¤ The fact that you even have a lost files page is somewhat pathetic. The biggest sites around do not lose pictures and this doesn't help the fact that you mention you consider the TOS to be a llegal document and give the appearance of wishing to seem like professionals.
¤ There is only one lesson in the 'how to draw' tutorials. It can't be that hard to publish a few more lessons?
¤ As an artist (though my preferred mediums are oil and graphite) I have complain about you method is adding highlights. You add your highlights in a linear fashion which does not give depth to the picture (especially with the hair). Pay attention more to creases and highlight the hair paying more attention to strands and it should have noticable improvments.
¤ Most of the FAQ's are addressed in the TOS.
¤ The links are sparse and linking the sites whose images you use in editing is a must. The banner is not in standard size.
¤ No comments on awards. Some of the elements in the in the 'support/ comments' overlap. The 'how to' page is mundane; anyone can figure out that they way to request a picture is to click the 'request a picture' link.
¤ I believe you meant to title the first rant 'A senshi by any other name would seem as sweet' since you are obviously alluding to Romeo and Juliet (although the original line is a rose by any other name would smell as sweet).
¤ As far as the third rant goes I must respond to the fact that you take offense to reviewers who look at the source code. As a review it is our job to look at everything including syntax. I agree that at time WYSIWYG sites may look better than someone who did their in html but this only happens 1 out of 1000342.05 times. Most times html made sites do look nicer and I presonally enjoy reviewing them more. Personally I think you have had a bad experience with html and that isokay. But do not harbor a grudge. Instead I suggest you find someone who can make layout for you and look after the technical aspects of this site so you and Lori can worry more about drawing. If you get so worked up after a review condemning certain aspects of your site, do not submit. How would you like it if someone submitted for a picture and then bashed your site? Well that is bascially what you are doing.