Posted 4 years ago #
I've had my blog up for a few months now, so I suppose it is time to have it reviewed :)
I have tested it for functionality & it all seems to be in order. My main issue is having it show up in search engine searches. My main website shows up more because it is submitted via a free engine submission program that my server offers, but I am only allowed to submit one site under that :/
Blog :: http://victoria-e.com/wordpress/
Main site :: http://victoria-e.com/
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 – having to wait more than one minute, which is a very, very LONG TIME isn’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 you’ve had your blog up for a couple of months now) – or am I an isolated case?
You content was the last to load, which I didn’t like cos I just waited over a minute for your blog to “appear�. 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 I’m with you on that one. Fancy fonts are all well and good but its better to stick to “generic� than “invisible�. It’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 – 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 didn’t encounter any problems (broken links, etc) and that’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 wasn’t hard to stay focused, everything I needed was centrally located, which I liked. Well done!
Overall Rating for Blog: 7/10 – less is more sometimes :)
Overall Rating for Website: 9/10 – I really liked it.
Posted 4 years ago #
As far as the load issue, you are the first to mention it - I am using a new laptop and a cable connection & it loads in under 10 seconds.
The blue showing is an issue with Internet Explorer; it does not do that with Firefox; I'm not sure yet how to fix it.
Thanks for taking the time to check out my website; I did that all myself. My goal was to make it very simple and easy to get around.
When it comes to the ads, I'd love to have less of them, but as an environmentalist & a freelance writer, it is the main way to be able to show people what good things are out there, as well as still be able to pay the bills. I do have a page on the blog that just has the links, but I do also have to feature them on the main page somehow, or I would not be allowed to be a part of the programs. Sticking them in the "footer" section was the easiest thing.
If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix the "blue header" or loading issues, let me know. I have no idea why it took so long to load for you.
Posted 4 years ago #
I'm no expert, but I think the "blue header" is due to a <div> somewhere that is still calling a class or ID in your .css.
IE is th3 sux0r and often does stupid stuff like this. Check to make sure whatever <div> your header is referring to has that blue background or img removed. You may want to check your header.php file also to see what's being called up as the site loads...you may have a hidden <div> somewhere you forgot to remove.
Depending on the order, FireFox will ignore that bottom <div> whereas IE will show it (ugh). Good luck and great site.
Posted 4 years ago #
You were right - I was just working on fixing the loading & header issues, and the header issue was because of the placement of the <div> - should all be fixed now :)
Posted 4 years ago #
I would like to Welcome you to SF. You will love it, bring warm clothes for summer.
Your blog is very, very slow to load. I have BB and rarely wait for anything to load. I waited for your blog because of the background. I love it and wanted to see what else would appear. Hate the ads.
Nice blog over all.
Posted 4 years ago #
Hi marjie,
Thank you for the welcome but I'm not in San Fran yet :) I'll be visiting in November, and then moving in May 2006. I'm excited about the weather actually because it is just right for me.
I'm not sure why the blog takes long to load now, all the ads are on an individual page & I removed them from the footer; try again and let me know if you still have the issue
It does load in a strange order for me, too but one area I would focus on is the sidebar. Right now it is a little busy and it's hard to see the priority. Think about what you want the visitor to see most. For example, I would move the poll near the top and the blogroll just after your catagories. Move the technorati and firefox links down and using a smaller bablefish banner move it up. Remember, some items visitors only need to find once while others are something they will need often.
Since your a freelance model you may want to look into a gallery and plugin to integrate the two.
http://gallery.menalto.com
http://wpg2.ozgreg.com
oops, double post.
Posted 4 years ago #
Victoria, Your site looks good overall, but does take a long while to load. You may want to look at cutting down your load time by sizing down some of youre images, as well making sure your site validates.
The loading time is virtually entirely due to the following two images which are about 400k(!) each.
http://victoria-e.com/wordpress/otherimages/09122005_02.jpg
http://victoria-e.com/wordpress/otherimages/09122005_01.jpg
I suggest resizing the images to a smaller size (and if necessary, making them clickable images which link to the actual full size image). Currently, you're relying on the browser to resize them which means all that extra bulk is just waste.
Posted 4 years ago #
If you want more search engine hits enable you'r nice permalinks. So instead of you links looking like http://victoria-e.com/wordpress/?p=40 they will be something like http://victoria-e.com/wordpress/2005/09/17/the_end_of_organic_goodness/
Posted 4 years ago #
I thought I did have my permalinks enabled ... hmm, io the admin and see what I need to do. Otherwise, I've made a # of updates, so check out the blog and let me know how it works now :)
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