Review of Heartdrops

• Site name: Heartdrops
• Site owner: Georgina
• Date reviewed: December 25 and 26, 2009

Site Name

I love the name Heartdrops; it is pretty and unique. Good job!

Layout

At first I wasn’t a big fan of this layout, but it has grown on me. You always do such amazing things with typography.

I love the hover effect on your main navigation with the hearts. I’m not sure about the white background on your h1; it seems a bit random. Even though it fits with the color scheme, it’s such a large patch of white when there’s not any other white except in your comments link. It just seems weird to me. I’m also not sure about the fact that your search bar is in the footer. I think it might be better-placed in the sidebar, where it will be easier for people to find it.

Other than that, I love your layout. Even the seemingly random pencil bullets in the links section of your sidebar seem to fit in somehow.

Cross-Browser Compatibility

Your layout looks generally the same in Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, and Opera. However, in Safari the heart character you have placed after “join my fanlisting” in the sidebar does not work for me (it is a box). Also, in Opera all your fonts are smaller for some reason, although they are still readable. I need to zoom in to 130% for them to be the same size as in the other browsers. I don’t think either of these are major issues, but they may be worth looking into.

Coding

Your code is valid in XHTML 1.0 Transitional. Congratulations!

You have one error in your CSS in your lifestream.css file, on line 13. Collapse is not a valid border-spacing value. However, it looks like this is code from a WordPress plugin you are using, so this may not be something you can fix.

Content

Owner:

About Me: “this year I turned 18″ – I would clarify in what year, just because 2010 is coming up.

I love how you have included little blurbs about Lilian and James.

“I currently work part-time for two days a week.” – This paragraph needs updating; you have another job now!

Woo, *high five* for not liking carbonated drinks! I hate them.

For some reason I find it amusing that you are afraid of porn.

Overall I really like your “About Me” page. It seems really personal and lets readers know a lot about you.

Awards: Nothing much to say here. I think it’s nice that you display the awards you have received, and good on you for linking back to the sites that gave them to you!

Contact: Wow, this page is really detailed; I did not expect that! It’s smart that you identify which email is for which sort of communication, and I like how you describe what a visitor can find at each link in your “Social Networking/Other” section.

“if there’s a problem; provided I have the time.” should be “if there’s a problem, provided I have the time.” You shouldn’t use a semicolon there because “provided I have the time” is not an independent clause.

There are a few more really picky grammar errors on this page, but it’s really fine to leave them.

Favourites: There isn’t much to say about this page. I think it’s a nice page to have. I love The Book Thief! I’m having my mom read it now, except she can’t get through it because she’s not in the mood to read such an unhappy book. Oh and I know someone who was a stunt double in Blades of Glory.

Visitor: Since this is such a long page, I think it would be good to use page anchors to more easily navigate to different sections on it, and also so visitors will know what is on the page without scrolling.

Graphics & Resources

Avatars: “MSN, or forums or wherever” should be “MSN, forums, or wherever”

I like how you have your avatars divided up into different categories. Again, I think it would be good to use page anchors.

Not all of these avatars are of your best quality. You’ve been making a lot better ones recently; I think this page could use a revamp!

Brushes: Your brushes are awesome, and I love the preview images. I have nothing else to say here. Good job! =3

Cursors: I like how you provided a mini-tutorial at the top of this page explaining how to use the cursors. These are all adorable. I don’t think you’ve credited the use of that Hello Kitty image in the animals section.

Free layouts/WP themes: These all look great. Since you say “click the image for a preview of the theme” at the beginning of each theme or set of themes, you could just state this once at the beginning in order to be less repetitive.

Icons: At first I was confused about what I would find here, since I already came across an avatars page. I don’t really get what you mean by “Windows icons” either; to me they’re just 50 by 50 icons. Plus I don’t think everyone makes that same distinction between avatars and icons. I suggest renaming either your avatars or icons page to be more specific, so the visitor knows what to expect.

Most of these look good; my favorites are the “dreaming less” icon and the pixeled flower one next to it. I would love to see more!

Pixels: I like how you explained on this page how your pixels can be used. Begone haters of pixels who find them useless! You have so many; I’m jealous of this collection!

Did you make up the meanings of the iris spirits yourself, or did they come from somewhere? I’m just curious.

I think the cherries under “edibles” would fit better in the “scribble style” category.

Smilies: These all look great. You should fix up the older preview images!

Stock Images (1, 2, and 3): I don’t like how there are three different pages of stock, because then a visitor will have to go through multiple pages to find what he or she wants. However, I suppose that is unavoidable because of the large number of stock images you have. Maybe you could label each page based on the type of stock that will be found there, as you have done with the third page. For example, your first page of stock seems to contain mostly nature-related photos, with the exception of the “education/art” section. I think with some reorganization and possibly an added page, you could make these pages easier to understand/navigate by categorizing them.

All your stock is of a high quality, and I can see how much of it can be useful. I would check all the links, but my internet is way too slow right now to load large images.

Website Material: For some reason this page seems like a classic to me… I think because it was one of the first pages I created on my pixel site.

You have great resources on this page. I especially like the wide variety of unique bullets you offer, since so many people seem to offer the same bullets. Do you plan to add the bullets you’re using on your current layout to this page? They would be a great addition.

Interact & Contests

Awards for your site: I like the idea of this page! The pixeled awards are really detailed; I’m amazed.

Caption Competition: You always have the best pictures for these. I like how the list of past winners can be shown or hidden like that. Whoa… why didn’t I realize I won this back in September? That’s a pleasant surprise.

Scavenger Hunts: You’ve listed some of the people who found all the items as having found color sets too, but you don’t list them under all the color sets (Carly and I are both listed under blue and all, for example). I think you should list the people who have found all the items under only the all items section, or under the all items section and each color section.

The following people’s links are old or broken: Sarah, Carly, Rachel, Mandi, Rosh, Kat, Carly and Rachel again, Sindara, and Dorine. Maybe it isn’t such a good idea to list old winners.

Services

Advertising: I don’t have anything to say about this page. It seems fine to me.

Quizzes: All of these work fine. It’s nice how they’re interactive instead of the type you see in magazines with the “mostly A”-type results.

On your “what should you collect?” quiz, on the question “You are best known for ..”, “Being a happy successful person” should be “Being a happy, successful person”.

Articles: On your main visitor page, all your articles’ titles are in title case except for “Signs you’re addicted to the internet”. I think you should standardize this.

Signs you’re addicted to the internet: I notice that you have manually typed the numbers, rather than using an ordered list. I suggest changing to using an ordered list instead; it’ll look a bit neater.

Commenting on Websites: “comment on a blog in which” should be “comment on a blog on which”

Have You Got Friends?: Affiliates: “People can link their affiliate how they like” – Do you mean “People can link their affiliates how they like”?

“A two worded message” should be “A two-worded message”

Hit Counters Are Stupid: “useless crummy hits” should be “useless, crummy hits”

I think you should recommend one or two good counters that people can use instead of the crappy ones you talk about.

Internet Explorer vs. Mozilla Firefox: “I have not been using it for much more than a few months!” – Is this still true?

It’s Hip To Be Square: Both instances of Converse in this article should be capitalized, since it is a brand.

Moving On Up: The Website Hierarchy: “website fedual system” should be “website feudal system”

Review of ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’ (film): “a all-happy resolution” should be “an all-happy resolution”

“happy feel-good films” should be “happy, feel-good films”

Time Management: “keep up with ten domains” – Don’t you mean 17? I think you should just say something like “keep up with so many domains”.

Web Page Reviews: “celebrity-run snot-filled piece of crud” should be celebrity-run, snot-filled piece of crud

“More that update about” should be “More of that update about” – At least I think. I’m not exactly sure what you mean here.

Website Tips: “However, the problem with… However, they are actually illegal” – It bothers me that you start two sentences in a row with the word “however”.

“but there is almost always an ‘other’ option!” – At the end of this sentence, there seems to be a broken image link. I’m not entirely sure though; it could be due to my slow connection.

“don’t over capacitate your HTML ability” – I THINK this should be “don’t over-capacitate your HTML ability”

“any of the above 5 points, or any combination.” – At the end of this sentence is another image that did not load for me.

Yes, That’s Mine?: “The fact that you have just taken an image off the internet and decorated with brushes or added some special effects in Photoshop and are distributing it on your site as some icon or layout.” – This sentence is a fragment. The fact that you have just done that… means what?

“at which there is a great risk” – “at which” doesn’t make sense here, but I don’t think there’s one correct way to fix this sentence. I think I might say “which carries a great risk of getting in trouble.”

Overall, your articles are all well-written and informative. Many of them made me chuckle, and they were all enjoyable to read. Keep it up!

Recipes: I like that you have divided up your recipes by meal, that you have used page anchors on each meal’s page, and that you have marked healthier recipes with asterisks. I think it would be nice if you added pictures for each recipe, or at least as many as you can. If I were to make one, I would want to see how it is supposed to turn out!

Tutorials: Again, this is a long page so page anchors would be useful so visitors could quickly see what types of tutorials you have. Also, many of these tutorials’ links are written in title case, but some are not. I think you should standardize this.

CSS

Centering your layout: “shown beind floated” should be “shown behind floated”

Classes and ids: I’ve always been taught that with things like URL, ID, etc., you should use an apostrophe before the S. If it were me I would type id’s instead, but I don’t know if that’s necessary.

“one elemnt” should be “one element”

CSS Vertical Navigation: I think something is wrong with the CSS in your stylesheet here. The example links are not all the same width; the HD.org link is shorter.

External stylesheet: I notice that you manually typed the numbers for each step. What about using an ordered list in XHTML instead, so the text on the second line doesn’t go under the number on the first line?

Enthusiast

Installing Enthusiast: Your link to download the Enthusiast script is broken, due to the site’s owner having moved things around. You’ll probably want to fix this.

Collective Statistics: Before the codes to display images of listings, you say “note that the absolute path is not included, so include that yourself beforehand”. Even as an Enthusiast user, I find this confusing. It could just be me, but I think this might need some clarification.

In your first example, shouldn’t the fanlisting be a link? In the HTML displayed below it, you code it as a link.

Creating a Collective: Under the heading “creation”, you say “where you join the fanlistings you own”. I think you mean “where you display the fanlistings you own”.

Creating a Fanlisting: “self explanatory” should be “self-explanatory”.

FanUpdate

Adding Smilies: Dane, who you linked as having requested this tutorial, has moved to a new site. I think it’s probably best just to remove this link, since you never know when she might move again or close forever (she has moved to http://skipfire.ensnare.org/).

FTP

In your LeechFTP tutorial, you mention right clicking a couple times. What about people who use left-handed mice?

Miscellaneous

Displaying Twitter: This tutorial is outdated; the path to get a Twitter widget for your site has completely changed.

Photoshop

I can find nothing wrong here!

PHP

Logging ip addresses: “chmod” should be “CHMOD”

WordPress

Creating a Site Map: “activated the coding” should be “activated the plugin”

WordPress Themes With NL-PHPMail: “if it already” should be “if it is already”

XHTML and HTML

HTML Tutorial: Basics: “end to them, that is why” should be “end to them; that is why”

HTML Tutorial: Images: “are not ended” should be “is not ended”

“you may end up with an ugly image or dead instead” – This sounds like you might end up dead if you direct link! I’m not sure if you’re missing a word or something here.

HTML Tutorial: Lists: “ways to do create” should be “ways to create”

You mention that your stylesheet makes all your bullets appear as hearts. This is not true with your current layout, so I think you should change this.

Validating to HTML 4.01: “a HTML” should be “an HTML”

Validating to XHTML 1.0: Your “validating to HTML” link is incorrect – the page cannot be found.

Validating Video Code: “needs to put in” should be “needs to be put in”

“ended with <param>” should be “ended with </param>”

That is all for your tutorials section! All of your tutorials are extremely well-written, easy to follow, and informative. You should definitely continue to add more.

For obvious reasons, I will not be reviewing the reviews section of your website.

Website:

This section is very well-done and has no errors as far as I can tell.

Links

Nothing to say here. It is sweet of you to link your friends and blogs you like like that, even though you no longer participate in the affiliates program.

Overall Impression

Georgina, you have an amazing website of which you should be extremely proud. Your site is organized well, and although you do have some common content, you also have a lot of very original content, which is great. I mentioned in the beginning of my review that I was not sure about the white background on some of your headers, but I have gotten used to them now and have changed my mind. I still think you could make good use of page anchors and there are just a few other things I have suggested (and errors I have pointed out) that you might want to take into consideration. Other than that, your site cannot possibly improve to be any better than it already is, except by adding even more original, high-quality content. I award you five out of five doughnuts!