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Blog review for runner-up winner

Blogged by: Kitty on Wednesday, October 10, 2012  
Commentators:
Facebook comments: comments

In case some people might have missed this info, I was actually one of the judges for Pinkisluv's Domain and Cute Stuff giveaway. I was in charge of selecting the second place winner. And as promised, the runner-up will receive a blog review and a custom blog layout from me as the prizes. Here is my complete blog review on her blog. Enjoy the read.

Just to be clear on this, it was not an easy task to choose which of the blogs deserve to win the second place. All of them have their own strengths and weaknesses and I practically had to go back and forth on my decision. Anyway, after thoroughly reviewing the shortlisted blogs for the second place, I have decided to pick Nurul Nabila of http://gadisbermatacokelat.blogspot.com/ as the second place winner.

Here are the reasons why I chose her blog out of the others:

The blog is written coherently and using proper grammar and spellings. The content in each blog posts are arranged in paragraphs - not too long, nor too short. Good length. Also, the punctuation marks are used correctly.

The blog is updated frequently, which is good because it gives the visitors something fresh and new everytime they come and visit the blog.


Ok, I'm basically done with the short review. The next part will be the overall review of the website. Please take note that the review is based on the following rubrics:

  • First impressions and site name
  • Navigation
  • Layout and design
  • Content
  • Coding and validation
  • Browser compatibility
  • Comments (and suggestions)


First impressions and site/blog name

Gadisbermatacokelat is unique in itself, however it is not as easy to read due to the name is composed of three different words. It would be better to include hyphens in between those words, Gadis-bermata-cokelat.

At first glance, the blog looks simplistic enough. The design is not complicated and everything seems to be organised nicely.


Navigation

The navigation menu is easy enough to spot. Located on the left side of the blog, visitors will definitely won't miss them. Since the navigation menu links make use of div layer and Javascript, there is no page loading required, hence the hover effect helps to the visitors to know which link they are clicking on. However, the font size for the menu should be enlarged as to make it stand out and allow the visitors to spot them easily.

Aside from the navigation menu, it is also relatively easy to spot the other links on the blog. Again, here the hover effect makes a difference to indicate which one is a hyperlink and which is a normal text.

All the links on the blog are working so good job there.


Layout and design

As stated previously, the design of the layout is close to minimalistic and it is easy to navigate around the blog. The blog is divided into two sections: the content body and the sidebar. The header is simple and does not attract too much attention since the main focus is the content. However, too much space is set aside for the header since the actual header is quite small. This gives the impression of too much white-space, though it is somewhat compensated by the banner on the top of the page. I would suggest the height of the header to be reduced. And I do not quite understand the purpose of the 'slide to fade' effect of the header apart from to give it an animated finish.

There is also a big empty space in the footer section. I am guessing this is due to the advert code placed there, though at the moment (when this review is written) there are no ads visible.

The font for the headings (both in the sidebar and the main body) are too small. While it would be legible enough for people with normal eyesight, this certainly will pose a problem to those with visual problems. I recommend using a larger font for them. Moreover, for headings, it is better to use the heading tags, such as <h1> or <h2> rather than using divs.


Content

Larger font should also be used for the blog posts. The spacing between the lines are too narrow and it makes the paragraphs look somewhat crowded.

The link for the comment is also too small for some people to notice so you could make it larger. The date could also be changed to use the DD-MONTH-YEAR format (14 September 2012) instead of using 14.09.12 since not everyone use this DD-MM-YY format (the Americans for example, use MM-DD-YY format).

On the About page, I would highly suggest you to not include your personal details on your blog. This is for your own safety. By putting your personal details on your blog such as your birth place, school, hometown, etc., you are exposing yourself to danger here. Perhaps due to your young age, you may not be aware but this is how stalkers can find you. Do yourself and your family favour by keeping these details to yourself only.

Linkies page: 'Linkies' is not a word. You can replace this with 'Links' or 'Linkages'.

If you are committed to use English on the blog, do try to use proper grammar. For example: 'Link exchange currently OPEN'
and 'You delete mine, i'll delete you! I always check it now!'

These should be rewritten as, 'Link exchange is currently OPEN' and 'You delete my link, I will delete yours! I always do link checks!'

Other things to take note of:
Chitchat - Chit Chat
Want join? - Want to join?
Helped: colour; picture; - With the help of: NAME OF THE WEBSITE, NAME OF THE WEBSITE
Best view in Google Chrome - Best viewed in Google Chrome

I don't quite follow what you meant by 'No strangers please' because all visitors to your blog whom you do not know or recognise would be strangers. I think what you meant is 'No anonymous visitors please'.

Apart from those above, I also do not encourage the use of custom cursors. The reason for this can be found in my article here:

//This point is based on my personal preference // While I very much dislike background music on websites, at least yours has a stop/pause button, and that is a relief.

Newer and older posts links should be placed in the main body section, preferably at the bottom of the blog entry. Putting them on the sidebar just makes the links out of place and so that visitors won't have to scratch their heads looking for them.


Coding and validation

According to the W3C validation service, you have 40 Errors, 60 warning(s) on your front page, but since the W3C does not support Blogger tags so I am not going to be too anal about this. However I will be pointing out the other major errors that you need to fix.

Unable to Determine Parse Mode!

No DOCTYPE found! Checking with default HTML 4.01 Transitional Document Type.

You have not included a DOCTYPE which is why you get these errors. A doctype is important to allow the browser to detect what tyrepe of HTML you are using on your blog which will help the browser to display the page accordingly.

document type does not allow element "CENTER" here
You should not put divs and/or even <center> tags within the head section. This is not the place to put them. You should place them in the <body> section instead.

For every img tags, there must be the alt attribute included. This is to allow people who have chosen to disable the Show image option in their browsers to know what are the images that are in there.

For script tags, the type of the script must be declared. Yours is like this:
<script language=JavaScript> while it is supposed to be <script language="JavaScript" type="text/Javascript">

Here is a common overlooked error: end tag for element "BR" which is not open
</br> should be rewritten as <br />

And according to the W3C CSS validation service, you have 35 errors but since most of the errors are due to the specifications have not been included by W3C so no need to fret here. But just like the HTML validator, I will go through the main errors.

.header Value Error : padding-top -25.0 negative values are not allowed : -25px
There is no such thing as negative values for padding. You might want to use margins instead.

#leftcontent Property _margin-top doesn't exist : 30px
This is probably due to typing error; _margin-top should be margin-top


Browser compatibility

Your web page is compatible across different resolutions above 1024x600 as well as on different major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera) so congratulations on that.


Comments and suggestions

As noted above, your spelling/grammar need to be polished up a bit but this is not a major problem, considering English is not your first language. However, do take note on the other areas such as font sizes and your personal details. Slight changes should be done to the header height and also the coding errors.

I also highly suggest you to change the target links for the Newer and Older posts links since I do not think your visitors will appreciate having multiple tabs opened in their browsers just to read your older/newer posts.

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Comments to Blog review for runner-up winner:


Post a Comment

Commenting policy:
1. Please leave comments that are relevant to the blog post.
2. Comments on posts that are more than 14 days old will be moderated.
3. Do not post advertisements to your own site/products here.
4. Do not post private information, it will be deleted.
5. Refrain from using abusive/vulgar words, if you have personal issues with me, contact me directly through the contact form or my email instead.

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Blog review for runner-up winner

Blogged by: Kitty on Wednesday, October 10, 2012  
Commentators:
Facebook comments: comments

In case some people might have missed this info, I was actually one of the judges for Pinkisluv's Domain and Cute Stuff giveaway. I was in charge of selecting the second place winner. And as promised, the runner-up will receive a blog review and a custom blog layout from me as the prizes. Here is my complete blog review on her blog. Enjoy the read.

Just to be clear on this, it was not an easy task to choose which of the blogs deserve to win the second place. All of them have their own strengths and weaknesses and I practically had to go back and forth on my decision. Anyway, after thoroughly reviewing the shortlisted blogs for the second place, I have decided to pick Nurul Nabila of http://gadisbermatacokelat.blogspot.com/ as the second place winner.

Here are the reasons why I chose her blog out of the others:

The blog is written coherently and using proper grammar and spellings. The content in each blog posts are arranged in paragraphs - not too long, nor too short. Good length. Also, the punctuation marks are used correctly.

The blog is updated frequently, which is good because it gives the visitors something fresh and new everytime they come and visit the blog.


Ok, I'm basically done with the short review. The next part will be the overall review of the website. Please take note that the review is based on the following rubrics:

  • First impressions and site name
  • Navigation
  • Layout and design
  • Content
  • Coding and validation
  • Browser compatibility
  • Comments (and suggestions)


First impressions and site/blog name

Gadisbermatacokelat is unique in itself, however it is not as easy to read due to the name is composed of three different words. It would be better to include hyphens in between those words, Gadis-bermata-cokelat.

At first glance, the blog looks simplistic enough. The design is not complicated and everything seems to be organised nicely.


Navigation

The navigation menu is easy enough to spot. Located on the left side of the blog, visitors will definitely won't miss them. Since the navigation menu links make use of div layer and Javascript, there is no page loading required, hence the hover effect helps to the visitors to know which link they are clicking on. However, the font size for the menu should be enlarged as to make it stand out and allow the visitors to spot them easily.

Aside from the navigation menu, it is also relatively easy to spot the other links on the blog. Again, here the hover effect makes a difference to indicate which one is a hyperlink and which is a normal text.

All the links on the blog are working so good job there.


Layout and design

As stated previously, the design of the layout is close to minimalistic and it is easy to navigate around the blog. The blog is divided into two sections: the content body and the sidebar. The header is simple and does not attract too much attention since the main focus is the content. However, too much space is set aside for the header since the actual header is quite small. This gives the impression of too much white-space, though it is somewhat compensated by the banner on the top of the page. I would suggest the height of the header to be reduced. And I do not quite understand the purpose of the 'slide to fade' effect of the header apart from to give it an animated finish.

There is also a big empty space in the footer section. I am guessing this is due to the advert code placed there, though at the moment (when this review is written) there are no ads visible.

The font for the headings (both in the sidebar and the main body) are too small. While it would be legible enough for people with normal eyesight, this certainly will pose a problem to those with visual problems. I recommend using a larger font for them. Moreover, for headings, it is better to use the heading tags, such as <h1> or <h2> rather than using divs.


Content

Larger font should also be used for the blog posts. The spacing between the lines are too narrow and it makes the paragraphs look somewhat crowded.

The link for the comment is also too small for some people to notice so you could make it larger. The date could also be changed to use the DD-MONTH-YEAR format (14 September 2012) instead of using 14.09.12 since not everyone use this DD-MM-YY format (the Americans for example, use MM-DD-YY format).

On the About page, I would highly suggest you to not include your personal details on your blog. This is for your own safety. By putting your personal details on your blog such as your birth place, school, hometown, etc., you are exposing yourself to danger here. Perhaps due to your young age, you may not be aware but this is how stalkers can find you. Do yourself and your family favour by keeping these details to yourself only.

Linkies page: 'Linkies' is not a word. You can replace this with 'Links' or 'Linkages'.

If you are committed to use English on the blog, do try to use proper grammar. For example: 'Link exchange currently OPEN'
and 'You delete mine, i'll delete you! I always check it now!'

These should be rewritten as, 'Link exchange is currently OPEN' and 'You delete my link, I will delete yours! I always do link checks!'

Other things to take note of:
Chitchat - Chit Chat
Want join? - Want to join?
Helped: colour; picture; - With the help of: NAME OF THE WEBSITE, NAME OF THE WEBSITE
Best view in Google Chrome - Best viewed in Google Chrome

I don't quite follow what you meant by 'No strangers please' because all visitors to your blog whom you do not know or recognise would be strangers. I think what you meant is 'No anonymous visitors please'.

Apart from those above, I also do not encourage the use of custom cursors. The reason for this can be found in my article here:

//This point is based on my personal preference // While I very much dislike background music on websites, at least yours has a stop/pause button, and that is a relief.

Newer and older posts links should be placed in the main body section, preferably at the bottom of the blog entry. Putting them on the sidebar just makes the links out of place and so that visitors won't have to scratch their heads looking for them.


Coding and validation

According to the W3C validation service, you have 40 Errors, 60 warning(s) on your front page, but since the W3C does not support Blogger tags so I am not going to be too anal about this. However I will be pointing out the other major errors that you need to fix.

Unable to Determine Parse Mode!

No DOCTYPE found! Checking with default HTML 4.01 Transitional Document Type.

You have not included a DOCTYPE which is why you get these errors. A doctype is important to allow the browser to detect what tyrepe of HTML you are using on your blog which will help the browser to display the page accordingly.

document type does not allow element "CENTER" here
You should not put divs and/or even <center> tags within the head section. This is not the place to put them. You should place them in the <body> section instead.

For every img tags, there must be the alt attribute included. This is to allow people who have chosen to disable the Show image option in their browsers to know what are the images that are in there.

For script tags, the type of the script must be declared. Yours is like this:
<script language=JavaScript> while it is supposed to be <script language="JavaScript" type="text/Javascript">

Here is a common overlooked error: end tag for element "BR" which is not open
</br> should be rewritten as <br />

And according to the W3C CSS validation service, you have 35 errors but since most of the errors are due to the specifications have not been included by W3C so no need to fret here. But just like the HTML validator, I will go through the main errors.

.header Value Error : padding-top -25.0 negative values are not allowed : -25px
There is no such thing as negative values for padding. You might want to use margins instead.

#leftcontent Property _margin-top doesn't exist : 30px
This is probably due to typing error; _margin-top should be margin-top


Browser compatibility

Your web page is compatible across different resolutions above 1024x600 as well as on different major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera) so congratulations on that.


Comments and suggestions

As noted above, your spelling/grammar need to be polished up a bit but this is not a major problem, considering English is not your first language. However, do take note on the other areas such as font sizes and your personal details. Slight changes should be done to the header height and also the coding errors.

I also highly suggest you to change the target links for the Newer and Older posts links since I do not think your visitors will appreciate having multiple tabs opened in their browsers just to read your older/newer posts.

Labels: ,



Comments to Blog review for runner-up winner:


Post a Comment

Commenting policy:
1. Please leave comments that are relevant to the blog post.
2. Comments on posts that are more than 14 days old will be moderated.
3. Do not post advertisements to your own site/products here.
4. Do not post private information, it will be deleted.
5. Refrain from using abusive/vulgar words, if you have personal issues with me, contact me directly through the contact form or my email instead.

Facebook comments to Blog review for runner-up winner:


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