Kate

Hello Victoria E,

Just checked out your blog. I didn’t find any requirements or lack thereof re: your blog/website review preferences, so I hope my review is okay with you ??

03.45am Australia! Rather excited, really. This is my first website review – Gosh, hope I don’t stuff it up…

Victoria E, your blog took forever to download – I’m connected to broadband ADSL and I’m using my brand new laptop computer [hp pavilion zd8000 with all the bells and whistles]. I almost clicked the back button a€“ having to wait more than one minute, which is a very, very LONG TIME isna€?t especially inviting. But I decided to stay and play because I wanted to check out your blog.

If I was one of your regulars I’d probably get a little irritated by now having to wait so long. Has anyone mentioned this to you (cos I read that youa€?ve had your blog up for a couple of months now) a€“ or am I an isolated case?

You content was the last to load, which I didna€?t like cos I just waited over a minute for your blog to a€?appeara€?. Once it did load, I could have a gander. Your header (pic) is about 1cm too short because I can a blue banner poking out underneath. Is this the way its’s suppose to look? I’m using IE6. I really like your background color: very victorian, which I adore. (thumbs up!)

Visually I liked the look and feel of your blog. Like I said, I love your background tile. Your font is very generic, but Ia€?m with you on that one. Fancy fonts are all well and good but its better to stick to a€?generica€? than a€?invisiblea€?. Ita€?s a rare day in indeed to see blue hyperlinks and I thought that was a nice touch.

I did what “Sticky” suggested and browsed awhile, clicking on pretty much everything a€“ except your ads. I understand the need to advertise, in some cases its required just to keep your blog up and running. I just thought all those ads at the base of your front page and comments section was well, a little overkill and visually distracting. I didna€?t encounter any problems (broken links, etc) and thata€?s gotta be good! Overall your blog was good, and I enjoyed reading what you had to say.

I took a peek at your website – again, I really like your background. I also liked your “Flash”? (I can never tell the difference!) intro. It loaded superfast, and I could navigate quickly and easily. What I especially liked about your .com was your simplistic layout. It felt clean, even though dark colors were used. It wasna€?t hard to stay focused, everything I needed was centrally located, which I liked. Well done!

Overall Rating for Blog: 7/10 a€“ less is more sometimes ??
Overall Rating for Website: 9/10 a€“ I really liked it.