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MockingJay.org has 2 Reviews

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1. 

   Sillyish gave it on 29th Dec 2010 and said:

   LAYOUT
   I like the colour scheme and I like the navigation. I think the illustration you used for the header image is very cool, although the title of your site and the image you used made me assume you were a guy :P

   Some immediate layout observations
   -Your header image is really really big. There are varying opinions on this, but it is generally agreed upon that for a website with a main focus on content, the header should take up no more than 20% of the vertical page. Having to scroll way way down to begin to read is frustrating for readers. My suggestion: Move the guy into a 'sidebar' of his own, similar to this: click here for mock-up screenshot

   -The other thing, and something you may have noticed from the mock-up screenshot, is that on my computer the background of the header image doesn't match the background of the rest of the page as intended. This is a common problem that people have and has an easy fix: Instead of using a hex number for the background of the page, copy a 5x5 square from the background of the header image and paste it into its own small image. Set the body's background-image to this small square (instead of the hex colour) Problem solved! (it is also important that the square and the header image are saved in the exact same format, or else you could still run into colour rendering issues.)

   Some typography/redability notes:
   There are a lot of things about your typography that could be improved upon:
   01. A greater line-height: Right now the text is quite squished together.
   02. Left aligned text (instead of justified) for a variety of reasons. (article) I'm hugely against justified text because it always leads to weird spacing in-between letters and words that makes reading jerky and unnatural.
   03. Spacing between text and images: Right now there is no spacing and it leads to an unattractive and hard-to-read look when images are inserted (screenshot) A margin of 5-10px would help a lot around images.

   CONTENT
   Under owner, just a small nit-pick "My horoscope is a Pisces".. sounds kind of weird... maybe "My astrological sign is Pisces" would work better...

   Another typo:
   "who has had more boyfriends that fingers on her hand"
   should be
   "who has had more boyfriends THAN fingers on her hand"

   This sounds awkward:
   "See my mother’s side of the family is. My father is a mixture of thing"

   "My mother's side is the italian side, whereas my father is a mixture from all sorts of backgrounds." would roll of the tongue much smoother.

   " till I had a few back experiences"
   should be
   " till I had a few BAD experiences"
   ...I could go on with typos and awkward wording, but I think you get the idea :-) In other words, although everything you're saying is great, and I like where you're headed with it, I think some serious proof-reading and re-working would be helpful.

   Writings... love the idea, would def. suggest taking them out of the PDF format and integrating them into your website...

   Under about the site, your opening sentence:
   "So once I was finally hosted, I tried to earn money and enter contests to win a domain"
   sounds kind of weird. It feels like you're starting from the middle of the story, instead of the beginning. I would suggest starting with something like, "MockingJay.org was the result of a contest I entered at bubble.nu, where domain names were being distributed to random winners."
   ----------

   Anyway, this is is a much shorter review than I usually seem to end up writing but I just wanted to bang off something quick and I think I've written some things worth thinking about anyway :-)

   Good luck!

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   MsDanger's Response:

   This is one of the best reviews I have received. I must say I appreciate this one the most because it really tells me thing I need to improve on. I know grammar and spelling are always a huge thing, and I can easily find mistakes with other peoples writings, but ti hard for my to pick at my own because I wrote it, and then after that when I read i skim and I read what I thought I put down then when I did. I will definitely take time to adjust those pages.

   For the pictures, when I do fix the padding it messes up my smilies, then then my lines of writing are separated and everything becomes a mess. I am trying to fix it but if you have a solution feel free to let me know.

   Coloring of background I will fix and I really like the idea of moving him off to the side a bit, just I don't know how to execute that into coding. :P I may use that for the next layout I am thinking of making, which involves an illustration as well.

   Once again thank you so much and I will definitely put most of of advice into action (well the ones that currently know how to produce. :) )

2. fugabutacus gave it on 14th Dec 2010 and said:

   Very easy to navigate around and all the information you could want is right there. The site seems a bit overly simple compared to most sites, but I think it's safe to say that's what you're going for and you're definately pulling it off.

   I do think perhaps the banner at the top is a little too tall, it's kind of weird having the main content of the site start half way down the page. I do like the banner however, especially the font the title and subtitle are written in. If you manage to make the banner smaller, try to keep the same look and feel! Obviously, it works well with the color scheme of the website, too.

   It's also a bit strange only having one post per page, rather than several. Not necessarily a bad thing, just something most of your audience probably aren't used to.

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   MsDanger's Response:

   I like simple, it makes it easier and I feel to complex becomes to filled up, and you can get distracted easy. Thank you though. :D

   thanks so much for the review. I personally find if I have more than one post it looks to crowded. But everyone is different right? :D

   I will take your advice on trying to make the header/banner smaller, it is quite hard though, because then my widths may change, but I will take a risk.

   Thanks again for the review!

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