rev.iew.me

Tomorrow's Deception has 3 Reviews

Below are the reviews left by other members on Tomorrow's Deception. Jump to review form?

1. 

   yui gave it on 5th Jun 2010 and said:

   Hi! I'm Yui and I'll be reviewing your site today. For your reference, I'm viewing your site on a 1024x600 netbook in Chrome.

   My first impression that you clearly know what you're doing. In general, the layout is very organized and easy to follow. There does seem, however, to be a lack of contrast the design. Almost everything is a shade of grey and, as a result, I'm finding that I have to strain my eyes a bit in order to read the text. The links on the sidebar are especially difficult to read. When you're picking out colors to use, here's a good site to help guide you: http://www.snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html.

   In both the sidebar and the main content area, the diagonal lines in the background are a bit distracting. This is especially true because they're diagonal and so are at odds with your horizontal text. I would suggest perhaps lightening the lines up a bit, or maybe removing them from the places where the bulk of your content will be? I'm also having trouble distinguishing between your links and your normal text because the colors are so similar and there aren't any text decorations or anything like that to set the links apart.

   Another thing is that perhaps you should consider changing the font for your main body text to a sans-serif font, such as Verdana or Arial. Sans-serif fonts are usually much easier to read on-screen than serif fonts (like the Georgia that you're using at the moment). It's okay for headings and other large text, but changing to a sans-serif font would definitely make a difference for the body text.

   One thing I noticed about your sidebar is that you're using graphical headings for your sections. If you're going to do this, I suggest including alt text so that people with text-only browsers and the like will still be able to know what your headings say. I would also put your links in an unordered list, as that would be more semantically appropriate. I realize that very few of your visitors will be using text-only browsers or custom stylesheets, but I think that graphics/resources sites have the obligation to set a good example for accessibility because these are the types of sites that a lot of new designers will be learning from.

   I like the idea of having a "featured" graphic at the top of your sidebar, but I don't like that your thumbnail shows only a small section of the layout featured. Personally, I find it frustrating to have to guess what the complete design will look like. In fact, from that little thumbnail, I can't even tell if the graphic is a layout, wallpaper, etc., so it kind of defeats the purpose of having a thumbnail at all. I think it would be better to shrink the entire screenshot into a thumbnail.

   Moving on to the graphics themselves, I can see that you're very creative, and most of your graphics are quite beautiful. I also like that each of your pages is neatly organized, and it seems like you've paid a lot of attention to detail and took the time to polish everything. Your icons, transparent PNGs, wallpapers, and banners all look very nice.

   Your premade designs are also very pretty, but I do have several objections. The first is that pop-up layouts are very non-user-friendly. I don't want to have to click through a splash page in order to see someone's website, and I want to be able to control whether or not I want to view something a new window. Additionally, while custom scrollbars look nice, they can be very confusing to a visitor. Those JavaScript scroll arrows are especially annoying because it doesn't allow the visitor to control how quickly he/she wants to scroll down the page. Another thing is that many of your "divide layers" layouts appear to have images that were spliced and then reassembled using tables. A better way would have been to use div image replacement so as to separate form and content as much as possible. Here is a tutorial about how to do this: http://www.lastsong.net/2007/07/21/quick-and-easy-div-layouts/. Lastly, table designs are essentially obsolete at this point, as CSS layouts are a better option. I won't spend too much time harping on this, though, since it looks like all of your table designs are fairly old.

   Remember to optimize your images! Many of your premade layouts are 500+kb in size, and even a half second delay in loading time can have a huge affect on visitor satisfaction: http://glinden.blogspot.com/2006/11/marissa-mayer-at-web-20.html. Here is a tutorial to help: http://glinden.blogspot.com/2006/11/marissa-mayer-at-web-20.html.

   Overall, I think you have a good eye and a talent for creating beautiful graphics, but you sometimes neglect accessibility and user-friendliness. Remember that the purpose of a layout is to communicate the website's content first and foremost. A pretty layout is worthless if the visitor can't find the information he/she is looking for. If you keep that in mind going forward, I think you have a lot of potential. Good luck, and I hope I was helpful!

   Using Safari on Windows | Report This?

   Rinkurai's Response:

   Thank you so much for taking the time to review my site! I found a lot of your comments to be extremely helpful. And in regards to the coding on the premades, I've been meaning to recode them, since I've been working on improving my coding techniques a lot recently. I intend to update the coding on my premades when I go on revamp as soon as summer starts, so I'll definitely your advice into consideration, Thanks again!

2. 

   leescott gave it on 21st May 2010 and said:

   Hi Rinku! It’s me, otherwise known as Liv! This is my first time ever review websites, and I have no specific guidelines but nonetheless I will try and hopefully my comments will help.

   LAYOUT

   From the first day you put it up (or maybe the first day I saw it) I’ve loved this layout. It’s just so unique, and everything is perfectly neat. You certainly didn’t waste that whole day to design and code it. Though I have no idea what it features – I’m not really into anime – I can say that the header image is nice and clean; there are no excess brushes or textures. The navigation works well too. The feature is a great idea, because I think it would look odd for the links to start up top. However when I stare at the diagonals for too long I have to look away. Perhaps make it a bit lighter? I mean, I like it but it can get a bit dizzy.

   PAGES

   Index | Your introduction, I wouldn’t say your site is small. When I imagine a small site I’d expect a small layout and only a tiny bit of content. You have plenty. But that’s not really important, just saying how I feel. What’s more important is I think you should justify your text. It would be easier that way to read long paragraphs. Also, I don’t think you should include the introduction on every page. As for your updates blog, I think you should use a darker color for the subject (white at the moment). It’s a sort of out-standing bright. Everything else works well though.

   About the Site | I really like how you sorted this into separate sections. I’ve always had trouble with that. I took a look at the other pages, but didn’t find anything to point out.

   Credits | The only thing here is the white text.

   Contact Form | I think you should title this differently, since you have the rules for affiliation and link exchanges down as well. Perhaps just “Contact” would do. You also have a typo here “apply for link exhcnage though.”

   Links In & Out | I think the first thing on this page should be the link buttons. I remember I was looking for them, and for a slight moment I thought they didn’t exist, haha. For the affiliation information, I think the “owned by” is a bit redundant, since you mention who the owner is in the description anyway.

   Tagboard | I don’t like them. But it’s okay. XD

   Contests Joined | I’m a bit OCDish so the extra word in the second line bothers me. But it’s okay. XD

   Terms of Use | The only thing here is once again, the white text.

   Icons | Check the white text again! Sorry for mentioning it over and over… Your icons are great though! You should make some Naruto ones! Haha, sorry bias.

   Transparent PNGs | I think the ID and the Download button are a bit extraneous. You can just simply make the preview into an image link.

   Wallpapers | White text again. Maybe I shouldn’t mention it anymore? Haha sorry. Well I don’t see anything I’d fix on this page, or with the actual wallpapers. I can see you are improving over the years.

   Banners | If I were you I would delete this section. I don’t see the point of banners. What are they used for? There aren’t many either, so it doesn’t look like you enjoy making them.

   Inline Frames, Divide Layers, Tables | White text…0-0 XP. And like the wallpapers, I can see your progess. I especially like how your i-frames don’t have default scrollbars. At least not the new ones.

   Well, that’s it, I don’t know what else I can comment on. Good job though!

   Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

   Rinkurai's Response:

   Thanks so much Liv, This was really helpful! I'm actually going to go on revamp as soon as summer hits (I'm keeping the layout though, lol). I'm going to organize some of the things on my site better, like the icons and the PNGs, so a lot of your review helped me think of some more things I could change. I actually didn't think the white text was that bright, but I think I'll experiment with it a bit, and maybe make it easier on the eyes. XD And yeah, you're right I probably sound put me link buttons first on the link page. *goes to fix that* Thanks again! <3

3. 

   Sashique gave it on 7th May 2010 and said:

   Okay, my first review in ages so sorry if my "skills" are a little rusty. I'm just going to be exploring your site and mention things I notice as I go along.

   I would describe your site as a butterfly, it's very beautiful and seems delicate. I feel very mellow when looking at your website design, however, nothing actually pops out and seem striking. It has a calm feel but maybe too calm that I might lounge back in my chair and have a little snooze. I think it's because the character is fading in with the background and looks somewhat grey with the rest and is actually looking like he wants to sleep too. To improve this, I think maybe make the headphones of the character stand out. Maybe a glowing turquoise because it does already stand out, just make the colour slightly more bold and less pastel.

   I like the colour scheme of blue and grey, they really complement each other but the shades you've used blend too much sometimes, e.g. the link hover on the navigation is subtle but at first I didn't really notice that it actually changed blue, I though it was a white-ish grey. Although, I'm not very good with colour schemes myself, mine tend to make people's eyes ache... I really like the slight outer glow on your site name, it adds that delicate touch that I explained earlier.

   I think the links blend in with the text and background as well and I feel like a wake up call with the link hover of white, which is a good thing. I would say that's the most striking thing so far. I really like the fonts used for the headers in your navigation, looks very sophisticated and again, delicate.

   I feel there is an overuse of lines, I think the header would've standed out more if there was no lines going across the dark grey rectangle.

   I like the idea of "Featured". People read from the top left so I instantly notice your graphic skills before even going to explore. I don't like the faded effect on the icons you added, people may not know that you have to hover over the icon to see what it really looks like. Plus I think it would stand out if there was no faded effect. I don't think "Sitely" is a really word and should be "Site Related". I think "About this site" should go before credits and contact form because it's more important.

   I think all your site related pages are well categorised, especially the linkage page. But again, I don't think "linkage" is a really word... Linkage is quite a long page so maybe links at the top of the page consisting of the categorises and people click on the to go straight to that category.

   Now for the exploring... I instantly go to your icons because the featured has already given me a teaser and I want to see more. The newest icons is a good idea but I would've prefered to see all the icons together because I'm too lazy to go on every series to see your whole collection. There's also some series I've never heard of so I won't be going on those pages which means I might have lost out.

   Overall, I love your icons. Very colourful indeed and I really like your use of textures and the ways you've added text to the icons. I wanted to say what's my favourite, but it's too hard... Personally, I would delete the Bleach avatars because I feel that kind of ruin the overall quality of your icons. You should be really proud of your collection, I know I would ^^

   Transparent PNGs are organised very well and clearly, I really like the download buttons it's add that web 2.0 professionalism. I think your choice of images to extract seems sophisticated especially in your newest ones. It would be nice to know what series each png is from because people tend to say what series is in their graphics, maybe on displayed on top of the preview. I think ID:50 is a pretty pointless PNG, I'll be honest, because the most of the character are already in a circle... But I can imagine it being used for a wallpaper and a layout. I would, personally, use quite a lot of your transparent PNGs. Got inspiration just seeing the previews... I know for definite that I'm going to use 11 and 04.

   With the wallpapers, I would say some are great and some aren't so great. I think 05, 07 and 10 are the best out of the bunch. The images used in your wallpapers don't really blend in with the wallpaper as well, it looks like a sticker put on top of a beautiful wallpaper, clear examples of this are 03 and 07.

   Banners! There are many of them but judging from the previews, they already look pretty. And looking at them... they are pretty! xD I absolutely love 06 and 07. So serene... 08 looks somewhat messy with the paint dabs? I also really like the effects you added on the text on the banners on 01 (looks like glass) and 04 (adds motion to the banner).

   Your credits are displayed very well with the categories of images, brushes/textures and other.

   The same sticker issue is with some of your layouts as well, e.g. inline 04, 08. A lot of your layouts are very serene and beautiful. Divide 010 is very striking, I adore the colour scheme of divide 013. The same with the bleach icons, I think some layouts are ruining your quality of the collection like the older divide layouts, 05 and 07. When I first go on the tables design page, I think "The latest 2 are only the good ones" but it actually isn't. Your table layouts look very clean and professional, e.g. 04 and 01. With 06, I like the background and header but I think the black background and the coding of the navigation ruined it plus the text is too tiny but I do like the headers. 05 is very pixelated and has low image quality. I looks like you've cropped the original image, dumped some text on it and attempted to hide the edges of the rectangle with textures. The background image used for for the content isn't a consistent gradient so it looks blotchy which distracts me from the text. Anyways... I think you should delete this one...

   I think I covered everything. I prefer to review content more than grammar and spelling and whether your site is "valid". I hope this review was useful... ^^ I give this site 4 stars because most of your content is very good quality, only slight lets downs in the additions but that is a very small minority. The website is very well organised and decorated. I would advise extracting images better for wallpapers and layouts. Layouts look professional and serene, banners are pretty, I think icons are your best, wonderful. I think you need more improvement in your wallpapers.

   Using Firefox on Windows | Report This?

   Rinkurai's Response:

   Thank you SO MUCH for this review Sasha! A lot of the things you said were things I have been considering. I'm totally aware that some of my old layouts are a wreck, and I guess the reason why I haven't deleted them is because I get sort of nostalgic from when I just started designing, but all in all your quite right a lot of the older ones need to be deleted or redone. I also haven't designed a premade layout since 2009, so I'm hoping to add more soon which will hopefully make up for some of the layouts I intend to delete based off of what you've suggested. I also agree that my wallpapers need improvement, they've always been my weak spot. I also found your advice on not using the "sticker style" with a PNG just slapped on a background helpful as well, in the future I'll try to blend and incorporate my images in a better and cleaner fashion. Also thanks for your advice on my layout, I'll be taking everything you've said into consideration.

   Thank you again, so much I really found this review to be helpful! :D

Write Your Own Review

Leave your feedback for Tomorrow's Deception below, and remember - the longer your review, the more points you receive. Don't forget to look at things like style/design, content, coding and originality as they will all help to improve the quality of your review.

You have to be logged in to write a review.

Site copyright © 2008—10 Jem Turner. Designed by Jacky Gilbertson © 2008.
About ⋅ Terms of Use ⋅ Site Map ⋅ Help ⋅ Contact ⋅ Points Charter