Live Laugh Love Designs

Site Name: Tranquil Heart
Date Ordered: July 25, 2008
Date Completed: August 7, 2008

Screenshots

Note: This review was written while the previous layout was up therefore screenshots and first impressions/layout will not match up.

First Impressions/ Layout

So I'm greeted by a layout featuring the cast of Gossip Girl, a show I'm not too fond of. I tried watching it once and it was so boring that I couldn't bear to watch a second episode. Not interesting and the writers were trying way too hard to be scandelous and create good story lines. Anyway, You're layout stretches out on my 1024x768 monitor creating a horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of my window. However it is somewhat centered on my 1280x800 laptop. While it is true that many people are leaning towards the bigger monitors most are still using the standard 1024x768 resolution and even less are using the 800x600 resolution and I would hate to see how your layout stretches on their monitors. In other words center your layout so it doesn't create a scrollbar for 1024x768 and 800x600 users. Pink is a vary popular color right now apparently. You have what I feel is an overabundence of pink. The pink that is on the header is a bit much when combined with the pink of the content background. I probably wouldn't have even used the pink in the header; it would work just as well (if not better) without it. Why is "gossip girl" bigger than your site title? Your site title is a bit more important than who is featured in your layout. I don't like the random text over Blake Lively's stomach. It's a bit overkill. I think it would have been better without it and just the dotted effect. Sometimes simple is better than complicated. For some reason your CSS for your links does not work in Safari. Take a look at that because the blue clashes very badly with the pink background. The first image under 'partners' does not show up. Why do you have a site stat counter that says 'please ignore'? Is this just for your information? Then why not just bookmark the website this information is located on and delete this section? You tell your visitors to ignore it but it keeps flashing making it hard to ignore.

13/20

Content

Designers

Why are all but two of your designers coming soon? Why not just wait for their websites to be up then add them? Lisa says she is accepting orders but when I click on her link it takes me to the LLL designers page.

Interact- Guess the Celeb

I haven't the faintest idea. Maybe I would if you provided me with some clues. By not providing your visitors with clues you are expecting them to be able to recognize this celebrities hair and clothing and know who it is. Clues are more helpful. Is is Ali Lohan?

Guess the Movie

Twilight! I win!

Would You Rather

None because I don't go clubbing.

Imitations

How am I supposed to imitate Miley over the internet? Then you turn around and say I could just make a caption for the picture. Well which one am I supposed to do? Give your visitors clear instructions.

What Do You Want to See?

This is a good section. I like this alot because your visitors are able to give you feedback. However, why not post the submissions and suggestions that other visitors have given you so visitors can see. If someone suggested something and a visitor saw it and thought it was a good idea then the visitor could tell you they liked the idea too and you would know that more than one person liked the idea.

Site- Awards

Nothing on this page. Get rid of it until you have content to add to this page.

Site-Past Layouts

You've labeled the decription as "the good, the bad and the ugly". Why are you calling your own layouts ugly? If they were ugly why did you use them? You obviously didn't think they were ugly when you used them. Even if you don't like them now you shouldn't call them ugly or bad. The page itself is a bit unorganzied. The images are not the same size and I would have liked to hear your thoughts about them. What did you like about it? What don't like you like about it now? Why did you change the layout? While people like seeing your past layouts they like to read your thoughts on them even more. Also, how are your visitors supposed to get a feel for what the past layout looks like from such a small thumbnail? I would make them bigger and give your thoughts on each.

Site- Blacklist

Nothing here. Get rid of it until there is content for it.

Site- About the Site

This is pointless. It gave me no insight into why you created the site, what your inspiration was for the site, what you hope to achieve through the site, etc. People click on this section to learn about your site, I learned nothing from this section at all.

Site-About the Designers

Ann- Marie, you say you can't speak Spanish but are taking Spanish 3. How did you get past Spanish 1 and 2 if you can't speak it? If you mean you can't speak Spanish fluently than say that because right now I'm thinking you cheated your way through Spanish 1 and 2.

WWW- Advertise

Your rules for advertising sound just like affiliation, manyly the rule where the visitor has to link your site for the duration that you have their link up. I'm not familiar with advertising but this just feels like a temporary link exchange.

Affiliates

Wow, you have a lot of pending affiliates. Why so many? Many websites where you apply for affiliation require you to link them in the position you are applying for. So are you just wanting regular affiliation from all these websites? I guess you could get a few hits, but not that many.

4/7

Graphics

Because you do not have any content I had to go to your (Ann Marie) mini site and look at your premades and samples. A lot of your premades are just aweful, the first Ashley Tisdale layout anf the first Jonas Brothers layout for example. Side note: I probably wouldn't have put premades first. It was the first thing I clicked on and probably the first thing that a lot of your visitors click on. Since you have 2 premades that are not very good first I, as a visitor would just leave your site thinking that all you graphics are going to be like these. So I would get rid of the bad premades. Your samples are pretty good, but just like the main LLL layout they are very busy. Remember that less is more. Think of the rule for when you accessorize: Before you leave the house take off one piece of jewelry. Apply this to your graphics. Before you finish your layout take off something, whether that be a few brushes, a texture, a picture, what it may be. This will make make it so your layouts are not so busy and look better in general.

5/10

Organization

Your site is organised but it's not so hard to be organised when you have little content.

14/15

Niceness

I think your pretty nice. But I saw a post where you falsely accused a girl named Jess of stealing. Try not to jump to conclusions.

8/10

Creativeness

Nothing too creative. It's just a design site. Most design sites have at least freebies for visitors, which you do not have. So unfortunately it's not that creative.

4/10

Updates

You update almost everyday but the updates are not extremely relevent or have real substance to them. As for the post able your potentially new layout it's ok. Kind of boring. I'm not a fan of Katy Perry and the colors look kind of cheap and the header does too. So I'm not a fan of it.

4/5

Colors

Overload of pink and the Google ad colors don't match the rest of the site. Grey and pink go well together but I would have preferred an overabundence of grey rather than pink.

7/10

Extra

There isn't anything that is very original about your site.

3/10

Bonus

Button displayed on the sidebar!

5/5

Overall/ Final Thoughts

You site is very plain and does not have very much content. Had I been a regular visitor it would have taken me 5 minutes (maybe) to go over your entire website. You need to add more content immediately or risk boring your visitors. Try adding free graphics for your visitors. Try my layout suggestion that I mentioned under graphics and remember that less is more. People would rather see a more toned down layout than a layout with way too much going on and way too much of one color. Best wishes and good luck with yourf site.

67/102