Immortalised.net // Site Review #4

Site Review #4

Score: A
Reviewed by: Piffle Reviews
Reviewing: Version 2
Recieved on: December 2002
My Comments: I've never seen a review site where the reviewers are mostly owners of some of my favourite collectives and sites. I was apprehensive about getting it back, knowing that standards would be very high. I was very happy that I got an A, even though I lacked content.

The First Look:
I love the splash page. I’m not normally a fan of splash pages because they’re usually useless but I really like yours. Next time I’m high, I’m definitely going to make sure that I come here because the splash looks really trippy. X3 I bet it’d keep me entertained for hours. I guess I should also note here that I won’t be looking at all of the sites at this domain; only the content at the domain itself.

The Site Itself:
Layout: Unfortunately, the layout doesn’t work in Netscape so I have to open up IE... It’s alright though because the layout is simply beautiful. There’s no empty space anywhere and everything flows together very well. I especially love the seasonal theme and how each colour transits to the next. Very well done. I suggest that you do one of two things: mention on your splash page that your layout doesn’t work in Netscape or make a Netscape-friendly version of your site.
Content: You mention that you don’t have much content but I was surprised at how much you actually do have. Collectives generally aren’t made to be jam-packed with info but I managed to find a lot to read. The information was split up nicely and I wasn’t finding myself reading things twice. Any questions I might have had were found on the FAQ so there really isn’t any problem here.
Mechanics: I enjoyed reading the content here because you don’t use those retarded abbreviations that I hate so much. Links to other sites and the pictures in the gifts section open up in new windows, which is a very good thing considering the type of layout you’re using. Everything checks out fine here.
Navigation: The navigation was fine for me but maybe that’s because I’m an internet veteran. For the n00bs out there, you provided subtitles under the seasons to make it easy to figure out what’s what. The small circles leading to each section of your site would be confusing if you didn’t use alt tags to describe them. ‘Back’ links are provided at the bottom of each section too, for those who are too lazy to click the back button on their browsers. You seemed to have thought about everything here. Thumbs up!
Entertainment: You don’t have anything that’s strictly entertaining... but then again, a collective isn’t made to entertain people. It’s made to provide information and links to the sites that are a part of it. So I’m not going to judge you on something that doesn’t apply to your site. However, I did have a good laugh when reading various parts of your site, especially the FAQ. X3
Memory-Eater: Everything loads perfectly fine for me. You mention that the site takes a while to load and it probably does on dial-up connections (it was a little bit slow for me when each section loaded). However, since I don’t have dial-up, I can’t really say anything about that. Kudos to you for mentioning it though, meaning that you’re aware of the problem.
Crediting: All gifts are credited and there is a short disclaimer on your site. You also mention that everything on the layout, including the small images of the sunflowers, snowflakes, etc, were drawn by you. Everything that needed to be credited is credited.
The Annoyances: The only annoyance I experienced was that this site didn’t work in Netscape but it’s so well done that I quickly got over it’s lack of cross browser compatibility.
Other Issues: None.

Final Comments:
It’s not often that I come across a site that really impresses me so you should feel good to be one of those few. The layout is simply beautiful and there’s an abundance in content (for a collective that is). Everything is well done but it’s not perfect. You need to fix the Netscape problem by having a Netscape-friendly layout, even if the layout isn’t as extraordinary as the one currently being used.