Vanesa @ Chosen Destinies
Site Name: Chosen Destinies
Owner: Vanesa
Reviewed by: Jorja
Reviewed on: 24th July 2009
Browser: Mozilla Firefox
Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768
Site Name & First Impression
The site name is interesting. 'Destiny' is a bit overused but I guess using the plural version is more original. Your URL was a clever choice.
My first impression is that the layout is unique; I rarely see this type of style around. The shadows on many aspects like the content and sidebar are a nice effect and make things a bit more interesting.
I don't think the grey background of your title goes very well with the brown background; you could try and make the background of the page a slightly darker grey.
The CSS is quite dull because there aren't really any colours; even the links don't change upon the hover. You have nice colours on your little colour palette at the top of the layout; you should try and use a few to give the layout a bit more interest.
Text & Navigation
The text is too small; it should be a little bit bigger. The normal links are also pretty small. Under 'Buds', the URLs are too small too.
I would suggest adding a few more colours into your stylesheet, even if it's just one or two.
The navigation is funky; the palette idea is pretty cool. However, image mapping is a little tricky as some people browse with images turned off to speed up page load.
Layout
I like the scrapbook-y feel to things, and the pieces of tape, pencils and paintbrushes. The little 'To Do' notes are also pretty cute; I like the quotes!
Your coding has 10 errors. When listing your affiliates, I think you've forgotten to close one of the previous divs or some other tag.
Your CSS 1 error, 4 warnings.
The error is because the property 'behavior' doesn't exist.
The warnings are because, in X/HTML, you need to asign a width to floated elements.
Content
The sidebar is very neat. I like the effects on the footer but you don't need to link Free Domain; it doesn't show in your URL.
About
Very neat. However there is a horizontral scrollbar because in Firefox, your dotted lines under each layout are sometimes aligned and thus are going into the background, off the content area. See here; the same also happens slightly further down the page.
No other complaints though; I couldn't find any errors or problems.
Writings
Articles! I have seen from your blogs and pages that you are a good writer so I'm eager to read these; either way I'm just a sucker for any type of article.
The 'CSS Codes' is probably more of a tutorial. Same goes for 'cleaner organised code' and 'HTML Help'. I would suggest you link all the sections of 'HTML Help' there. I like the 'HTML Help' idea, it helps people instead of teaching them it which is more unique.
Your 'Addicted?' article was really good; I am on the computer a lot but I wouldn't say I'm addicted. An enjoyable article that a lot of people will relate to.
The browser article is good and detailed, like Cookie-Grabbers; I used to use I.E a lot.
Damn, I'm turning bright red.
I haven't seen an article about email clients before, and neither have I heard of Gmail. Whoa.
With your image host article, you could add Tinypic. You mention chains in your Online Safety article, and I can not agree more just how infuriating they are.
On 'Spring-Cleaning your PC', one 'Looking Through' should be once 'Looking Through'.
In your 'Keeping Your Site Strong' article, you mention broken links. You should direct people to this validator which will check your site for any broken links.
On your layout tips article, anyone colour-blind people should be any colour-blind people.
Okay, I'll stop rambling on about how good your articles are, Vanesa. They are all well-written and unique in their own way. However, a few are more or less tutorials so you should make a section accordingly.
On 'Website Tips', another few allowances for splash pages are if you have skins or versions in different langauges.
I read breifly through your fanfiction and I don't want to comment too much, but I liked '7 Things Parody'.
I liked the poems; 'Veil' is my favourite. The stories are very well done.
Extras
I'm not really liking all the subsections linking off; why not have the subsections on this page, just under headings instead of linking to seperate pages; it would be a pretty long page but it would save space.
Graphics - I think the adoptables are a but more like 'CGs', or computer graphics. The edges are a little bit blocky, however.
I like the bracelets. I'd prefer them without the little loops (are they charms?) though.
Backgrounds; the square ones are reasonable but are too bright; try pairing softer colours instead of just white and another colour; if they covered your entire screen, it would be too bright. Some colours are also pretty eye-burning. Use softer shades for a better effect. Alternatively you could make the squares smaller because big blocks like that look a bit too basic; anyone could make these.
I like the lined backgrounds, and how the lines vary in thickness. The green one is a little too bright.
The third style is interesting, but like the first, softer colours would be better like pale grey, soft blue, etc.
The fourth style is like the first, and are better. The ones nearer the bottom of the page are more or less what I was talking about, but remember to change the white to a very pale pink for the last one, for example. If someone uses a blue background chances are their layout is blue.
The last few styles are nice. Two images are broken though.
The first set of blank buttons are quite basic but would be well used. I like that you offer pixelled ones! You should specify the size though.
The bullets are nice, but the dashes are a little too big for that purpose; same goes for the bottom pair. Try making little circles, squares, stars or hearts.
The colour schemes are nice; they all work together well, apart from the last two; the green is a little too dark, in my opinion.
The dividers are fine.
I never really understood 'Glitter Fills' but they look okay.
Wow, the blogs look pretty cool; all colourful and such. You should add that they're uncoded though, and make the thumbnails the same size as best as you can.
I like the quote graphics; they're not glittery, they're pretty colourful and have nice quotes too.
The scribbles are well done, but I'd put them on one page.
The graphics for Neopets are fine.
Fun - Haha. 'How I'd Improve Twilight' made me laugh.
Damn. I just spent 10 minutes playing one of the little Mario games you have; thank God they're on seperate pages.
A lot of this section is linking to old blog posts and such, and a few are more or less articles, but this section is okay.
Stuff - A quirky little section that made me laugh.
Random
Took me to a random section, so... I'll move on 'cause I've already reviewed it.
About Me
A neat little page which is the perfect length. Very informative, but a few sentances were cut off, like this one:
I try not to let other ideas of somethingOriganisation
Pretty well done; a few unessecary subpages.
Originality
Original! I liked the articles and the style of the site.
Overall
Vanesa, you've done a great job. C.D is a well-managed site with just a few glitches such as broken images, typing errors - the works. But we're all human, right?
The focus of your website is the writing. I just have a soft spot for the articles; they are all really good and a good read. Everything seems at home where you've put it; a few tweaking in your graphics and you'll be good to go.
It's obvious you've put a lot of work into Chosen Destinies, so I'll give you four hearts. Just a little work left to do on the site until it's pretty much damn perfect.
