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My name's Turnip and I'd like to welcome to Frequent Flyer, a site offering in-depth reviews since August 7th, 2011. This page is the first place that provides dedicated service reviews for request sites and I strive to offer helpful suggestions and constructive criticism. In order to do this, I decided more rubrics needed to be added in order to accommodate not only request sites, but all sites in general. At FF, high-quality service and in-depth explanations are two things that you'll be guaranteed to receive and my goal is to make Frequent Flyer your #1 destination for detailed reviews. So, whether you have a button request site or a guide on how to knit Neopia's most awesome hat, you'll find a review rubric perfect for you.

Hoping to seek out a little adventure, you decide it's time to take a vacation. Sure, your annual trip to Mystery Island is nice and all, but you're getting bored of visiting the same beaches every year. Instead, you want something different and more exciting! Spurred by the idea of journeying to a new and exotic place, you head to your local travel agent. Opening the doors, you're greeted with a burst of cold air from the inside, feeling relieved as you escape the hot summer sun. Quickly entering the air-conditioned building, you hear a quiet voice to your left. Oh, hello there! How are you today? My name's Turnip and I bet I know why you're here. You want to go on an adventure, huh? Well, take a seat and browse through our various travel packages. Maybe you'll find something!

Latest Travel News

Frequent Flyer will be going on an Altador Cup hiatus. The full site (with all the rubrics) will be coming back when the event is done.

The Q & A rubric will still be available during this time so if you have some specific questions, feel free to request!

Booking another ticket // request a re-review

Book your ticket // request

After reading through all of the travel packages, you've made your decision and are now ready to book your ticket. Great, Turnip says, eagerly pulling out a sheet of paper and handing it towards you. Before you could grab it, she suddenly pulls it back. Oh goodness, I forgot! Before you can fill out the form, you'll have to read the Terms and Conditions first. Don't worry though, they're not long!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF YOUR FLIGHT (A.K.A RULES)

After carefully reading through the rules, the travel agent nods happily and gives you the form to fill out. Now, I know you're excited but be sure to fill this out carefully or else you might end up on the wrong flight!

Form:
Name: Site name & URL: Site type: (i.e. what is your site about? link directory? graphics? button requests?) How old is your site: (provide an estimate if you're not sure) Destination: (write the rubric name or destination) Does your site offer requests: (Yes or no; if yes, include what type of requests, such as buttons or reviews) Have you read the Top 10 Mistakes (/~tribranch#prepare): (Yes or no; I honestly don't mind if you didn't read it but please, don't just lie and say you did) Have you linked back to FF? (yes/no) Why would you like to request a review?: Any other info you want me to know: (Notes: Delete everything in brackets when finished reading; If you request a Q & A review, be sure to include your first question in this form; if you requested "Build your own rubric", list all of the categories in this form; Before you send in your form, PLEASE make sure that the rubric you want is available and that your rubric is appropriate for your SITE TYPE; I highly recommend reading through your rubric before requesting to see if it's right for your site) Notes:
- Generally, the first 2 or 3 forms I receive will be accepted.
- Unless something major occurs, you will receive your review in 24 hours.

Flight Logs // pick-up

A lot of travellers have flown with us and a list of them can be found in the portfolio. If you ever need to read your old flight logs, just send me a message!

Travel itinerary:

Introduction:

When reading an introduction, saying "established on twenty-two January" seems a bit awkward.

You wrote …our goal is to create sinfully adorable scribbles to delight your sweet tooth and prettify your page.
So far in the introduction, you only introduced yourself (Fish). The word "our" implies more than one person. I suggest saying something like "my goal is to create.." (i.e. singular form) or clarify who else you're referring to.

I would remove the italics from the date (22 January 2013) and highlight the phrase adorable scribbles instead, just to reinforce what your site offers. The site date isn't very an important piece of information that the visitor absolutely needs to know, but highlighting what your site's about is.

Other than that, your introduction includes all the key information! It's very well written and gives a quirky and welcoming tone to your site.

Layout design and function:

Overall, the layout is simple yet visually impressive. The wooden panel background works nicely as it isn't too obvious or harsh. The softer beige/brown colours worked very well with the pink colour scheme.

The background pattern for your updates div is perfect. It adds a lot of style to that section of the site, but it doesn't interfere with text visibility.

The graphic headers in each section was a great touch! It added a lot of interesting visual appeal to each section. Something that confused me a bit were some of the links not being the same as the section's graphic header. For example, clicking "Events" in the top navigation took me to a section with the header "Specials". At first, I thought this was the wrong section so I tried to find a section with the "Extras" graphic title instead. Perhaps make your navigation text links correspond with the section's graphic header just to make it more clear. Though this was only a minor issue, it's something to consider in the future.

Function:

It's great to see the navigation bar fixed at the top. This means it's always within reach for visitors browsing through the site. Another great aspect of layout functionality is the "to the top" link at the bottom. Again, this is very convenient for visitors.

Organization of content:

Quality of content:

I found that the very dark colour of the base made the "cheeks" stand out in an unappealing way. Whereas in all the other adoptables, the cheeks were more of a side feature, here it seems more like the focal point because the dark base made it seem blurry and "glow" a bit too strongly. Perhaps a lighter shade would make the dark eyes stand out a bit more and the other facial features a bit less harsh.

The shading for the adoptable base is excellent and much more noticeable than most of the other adoptables. It really gives the creamie a sense of depth. I found that the ones that stood out to me are the ones that had clear and visible shading effects. For instance, the two pictured above. Some examples of ones that didn't seem to have any shading include:

While still high-quality, it just didn't grab my attention as much and seemed a bit more plain.

With your open/closed request signs, I suggest making the grey part of the sign more faded so that it's not the same level of opacity as the coloured part. For example:

These counter base styles are on the small side and when I tested them out at my site, I found that there wasn't enough room for 5 digits (only 4 could fit). I suggest making these larger or create additional styles for more digits.

Quantity of content:

With the resource section, you've definitely included a wide variety of them, ranging from envelopes to backgrounds. For some categories, I find the content a bit hard to use, especially if the site already has a specific theme or colour palette (for example, the dividers which are very colourful and can't easily be used with a specific colour scheme). In the future, you may want to create more generic dividers while still infusing them with your unique style. For instance, creating grey resources means that a site with any colour palette can use it.

Additionally, you may also want to try creating dividers using the first two bullet styles. These are more generic in terms of shapes and may appeal to a larger audience than, say, a divider that uses the creamie adoptables.

Visitor convenience:

This is more useful when you're highlighting general content (for instance, like new adoptables).

In the Tickle your taste buds box in the "Creamery" section, I suggest writing something like this:

You can hover over each creamie to see the paint colour.

This just lets visitors know that there is information when they hover over the images.

For the section "Adopt a Creamie", I was a bit confused as to what it's actually about. Even reading through the brief introduction and the rules, I was still puzzled as to what exactly is being offered. Is this some sort of custom request? The section "How do I get one?" offers a bit more explanation, but still, I was confused as to what sort of section this is.

First, I suggest adding a simple "open" or "closed" sign. If it's not your typical "request" service, then perhaps write out "Adoptions are now closed". For someone who doesn't fully understand what this section is about (like me), adding an "open/closed" sign will be an indicator that there is some sort of limit to the service.

Second, provide more information. Since this doesn't seem like your regular request service, you need to provide step by step details of what the visitor can expect or how they can get involved. Even after reading over the entire section a few times, I'm still at a lot as to how to describe this section. Are people "adopting" existing examples? If so, clearly write this down: You'll be adopting one of the creamies listed below.

Professionalism in text:

Though this issue is minor, it does create some confusion as to who's running or managing the site, especially when you switch back to the singular form:

Do not edit the images in any way. If you'd like to resize or recolour them, please send me a neomail.

Be sure to stay consistent!

Professionalism in aesthetics:

With your Affiliate section, I recommend not using any link breaks. Sure, the buttons look symmetrical and even, but that's not really a "must have" feature. With some minor tinkering, I could fit all the buttons on fewer rows by deleting the link breaks. Even though you do have a one-page style layout, I would try minimizing scrolling wherever possible. Some visitors (myself included) tend not to use hover menus and prefer to browse through the site by using the main scrollbar.

Along the same lines, I also found that you can put six creamies in one row, instead of just five. In the long run, I suggest using space much more effectively rather than trying to "center" the images.

Sitely organization:

Though both of the focal images are well cropped, the text design needs a lot of work. In the first example, the site name is not very noticeable as it sits rather flat on the image. It's not easy to read since it doesn't stand out from the button base. With the second button, the text is easier to read, though the text design doesn't add a lot to the overall button. Again, it sits a bit flat on the image. Using a soft drop shadow would help it "pop".

The border here is a bit distracting and takes away from the overall design. It's definitely unique, though it doesn't work well as a button border. Again, the text design needs a bit of work as it seems like plain text. It's not very noticeable. Overall, this is the weakest button in the link back section.

This button is a major improvement over the previous examples. The border design works well with the image, plus it's very unique. The animation repeat speed is on the fast side, and it does make the button look a bit tacky. The site name is very interesting and it's very neat to see the "o's" as hearts. Hopefully no one gets confused by this design choice.

This is an excellent button and definitely one of your highest quality examples. The text styling is perfectly done. I really like the soft gradient colouring of the word "Roo" because it caught my attention immediately. Overall, the button is simply but very elegant!

Side note: You've provided the wrong code for the button above. The code in the textarea is for this button:

This is a very high-quality button as well. Though the focal image is somewhat unclear at a distance since the deep colours are a bit harsh, the text design is executed very well.

This button definitely stands out from the rest simply because the colours are darker and it seems a bit more gloomy in terms of the tone. The button seems a bit unfinished because the inner border isn't very apparent so it looks like it has no border. The animation doesn't work very well with the smiling Neopet so it's a strange choice given the subject matter. Ignoring the animation, the rest of the button is well designed. The text is large and easy to read, and the focal image is well cropped.

The animation is very unique and works well with the overall button! The large font is chosen well and the focal image is perfectly cropped.

Your sister site has been revamped and it's no longer called Eden (it's been revamped to Matin Blanc). Be sure to change your buttons. The content has been completely revamped as well so you'll want to change the three doodles under their site's description.

Beneath the description for Oasis in your "Cousin Site" section, you have three buttons: Beneath The Lights, Colorblock, and Spectrum Shops. What are these for? Are they also "cousin sites"? These three seemed a bit randomly placed and I wasn't sure what the purpose of having them there.

Final score and comments:

Keep up the excellent work!

Would I recommend this destination to another traveller?

Would I travel to this destination again?

<a href="/~tribranch"><img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/frequentflyer/ff_golden.gif" border="0" title="45/50, In-Depth on March.25.2013; deemed recommended; an Official Golden Traveller"></a>

Travel itinerary:

Positive comments:

Each category is very well organized. I really like how you're using space effectively and putting your links into two columns. You have very minimal scrolling on each page, which is great to see!

You have a nice variety of quality link back buttons to choose from. This is one of my favourites:

The image is very high-quality since it's crisp and clear. The colour scheme works very well and the deep purple colours really grabbed my attention right away. The shine animation works nicely as well as it puts a lot of emphasis on your site name.

On the "Get Listed" page, it's nice to see that you're linking directly to a neomail. This makes it very convenient for visitors when they need to contact you!

Areas to work on:

Updates

Spare a vote? / (link here) / (link here) / (link here) / (link here) /

March 24, 2013 / Looking for a sibling site! Neomail me if you're interested!
+ Listed 2 sites! Cleared updates.

March 24, 2013
+ 0 sites listed; + 1 site ad

On the "Get Listed" page, you wrote please add a : to the words (ex. Site: , URL:, ...)
I suggest putting your form into a textarea so that visitors can easily copy and paste it, rather than add this instruction since it seems a bit unnecessary. Without seeing the form beforehand, the phrase above was a bit confusing since the visitor may not know the form is in the neomail link.

Staying with your neomail links on the "Get Listed" page, I would recommend adding the subject name so that it makes site maintenance easier for you. For example, you could have one neomail link have the subject line as List my Site and the other as Site Ads. It also means more convenience for visitors since they won't have to fill this bit out themselves.

Visit Double Standard for easy instructions on how to add the subject line to your neomail link.

In the "Adoptables and Pixels" category, you've ranked The Teahouse. I would recommend removing this site as the owner has written this on their sitely page: Also, please do not rank The Teahouse. Thank you!

In the "Adoptions and Trade" category, you have the sub-category "Trade" but no links. For the time being, I suggest removing this category until you have at least one link in that section. The same can be said about the "Community Sites" sub-category in the "Community" section. Fill up the category or simply remove it for now.

Other empty areas: "Untaken Names" in the "Miscellaneous" category, "Other Premades" in the "Premades" category

In the "Dailies and Guides" section, you have "Guides" as a sub-category. I recommend being more in-depth with this sub-category and clearly label each site. What type of guide is it? Here are some useful sub-categories to try out: Game Guides, Site Guides, General Neopet Guides

The point of a link directory's sub-category is to clearly understand what a site offers. For instance, "Eclectic" is listed as a guide, but unlike other guide names, it's hard to understand what type of site it is. Listing it under "Link Directory Guide" or even "Site Guides" is a step in the right direction.

You can also use more specific sub-category names for the "layouts" category in "Premades". For instance, what type of layouts do the sites offer? Petpages, Userlookups, Templates, Shop/Gallery, Pet lookups are some examples.

On the "Site News" page, be sure to align the text to the left rather than center it.

On the "Accomplishments" page, be sure to add a "Back" link or graphic sign that takes visitors back to the main "Extras" page. This just adds more convenience when browsing your site.

In the Link Back section, I would suggest lumping your regular "Midnight" buttons into one group and your "Listed at Midnight" buttons into another rather than putting them together. For example, check out my link back section and notice how the "reviewed at" buttons are all in one place at the bottom.

All of your link back buttons are mid to high quality, though these two were the weakest ones. With the first button, the image and border design are both excellent, but it's a shame that the text styling doesn't work very well. The text is extremely dark and hard to read. The shine animation might have helped the text become more visible but the shine effect is very weak and almost unnoticeable.

Side note: You have given visitors the wrong coding for your first button. It actually shows this button instead:

The second button had similar issues. The image here is a bit dark and hard to make out. The animation here makes the text easier to read for a time, but the "regular" text styling is still a bit too dark. Overall, this button was one of the weaker ones as it didn't look very polished or complete.

The image is cropped very well and the animation looks great! The only slight drawback is the text design. Using large fonts is always a bit tricky and here, the text would have looked higher quality (and easier to read) if it was a few font sizes larger. Notice how the letter "I" isn't very noticeable. From a distance, the word seems to be "MDNGHT".

Final comments:

Would I recommend this destination to another traveller?

You've been open since January 13th (almost three months) and have listed 163 sites and 5 Neopian Times articles. This isn't a lot and I would recommend spending more time getting more sites and articles listed. Don't wait for people to ask you to list them. You should actively comb the site community and add any and all sites you've yet to list.

Would I travel to this destination again?

For the time being, I wouldn't revisit the site. There just aren't a lot of links and some of the categories aren't fleshed out enough. Additionally, I tend to gravitate towards link directories that have a "one page" style layout, rather than an anchored one. I use the "Ctrl+F" option a lot to search for sites and I can't do that with an anchored layout.

Many new link directories miss a lot of old (but still high-quality) sites. I suggest going to inactive link directories and checking for older sites to list. Soroptimist and Little Black Book are two of my favourites. I still visit those sites since they list older guides that new directories completely missed!

Be sure to link back to Frequent Flyer. Feel free to substitute it for another button if you like! I've added your rubric and date of review to it as well:

<a href="/~tribranch"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/jrMPV.gif" border="0" title="No score, Pro/Con review on March 25, 2013"></a>

Travel itinerary:

Positive comments:

The request area is nicely organized. You've included a large request status sign that's easy to spot. It's great to see that you also have a sign on the front page. This lets people quickly find out if requests are open.

These three shields really grabbed my attention! I love the gradient used for the shield itself. In particular, the third example is excellent. The pink used at the tips of the shield is super creative. I like how it also seems to frame the plushie image.

Areas to work on:

Be sure to visit Top 10 Common Mistakes (centering text is the #1 issue).

On the front page, you have a blue envelope underneath your introductory paragraphs. Be sure to add border="0" since you have a linked border. Additionally, you have a handful of shields at the bottom of your front page that also have linked borders. Add border="0" to the image code. On the Request page, the blue envelope also needs border="0".

In the Link Back section, the second button needs border="0" in the code you provide.

Here are some spelling or grammar mistakes I found (other text editing may be included below):

You wrote: Have you ever just wanted a simple, basic shield without all the glitter and randomness? Something that just says you.
Edit: Have you ever wanted a simple, basic shield without all the glitter and randomness? Something that is entirely you?
What changed: Added question mark to the end of the second phrase as well as minor rewording to make more sense.

You wrote: Welcome to Aged Reflections, a simple shield site by Caitlyn.
Edit: Welcome to Aged Reflections, a simple shield site by Caitlyn.
What changed: In any introduction, I always recommend bolding site names and italicizing what your page offers. This gives visitors a quick and easy way to spot more important information rather than reading through a wall of text.

You wrote: Anywhos, enough with the formalities. -Pours coffee. Heyo there! I'm Caitlyn.
Edit: Anyway, enough with the formalities. Hello there! I'm Caitlyn.
What changed: "Anywhos" and "Heyo" are both deleted since they aren't real words. The phrase "pours coffee" seems a bit awkwardly placed (and a bit forced) so that has been removed in order to keep the similar tone introduced in the first paragraph.

You wrote: They might be really simple, but simple can go a long way. -Shrug.
Edit: They might be really simple, but simple can go a long way.
What changed: See explanation above.

You wrote: I usually make them for my friends and whatnot. But if you come across this site somehow I shall make one for you too.
Edit: See explanation below.
What changed: I recommend completely deleting these sentences as it doesn't really add anything to your introduction.

You wrote: Firstly, I will only make neopet related shields. And yes, I will indeed make them for whatever you are planning. Be it for a specific themed lookup, or anything. That I am fine with. But I will only make neopet related shields. Please only request from me though if you are planning on using it. I do spend time working on it, so it would be awesome if it was used.
Edit: First, I only make neopet related shields. Please only request from me if you are planning on using it. I do spend time working on it, so it would be awesome if it was used.
What changed: I deleted the second part of the rule. It was overly wordy and unnecessary since it served no purpose. You also state that you only make Neopet-related shields twice so since there's no need for needless repetition, I deleted the second time you bring it up.

You wrote: The next is the obvious. Credit is mandatory. If I make something for you, and you do not credit me, I will not make you anything else ever again. Simple as that.
Edit: Credit is mandatory. If I make something for you, please be sure to link back to this page and give proper credit.
What changed: You're offering a service so be sure to use a polite, assertive tone. There's no need to threaten the reader if they haven't done anything yet.

You wrote: Please be specific with your request. Details are very important. Also, please know what type of shield that you want. (Be it either the basic color or the blended colors.) This makes it easier for me to get your shield done as soon as possible. Also note that I use neopet related items on the shields, so please know what type of item you would like as well. And also note that there is no text on the shield as well. Like I said, they are really simple. ^.^
Edit: Please be specific with your request and give as many details as needed. This makes it easier for me to get your shield done as soon as possible. I only use neopet related items on the shields, so please know what type of item you would like. Keep in mind that I will not be adding text on the shield.
What changed: The previous paragraph was quiet wordy and there was a lot of tedious repetition of words. Try to simplify your text.

Speaking about the introduction, I found that you tend to add a lot of miscellaneous sentences. Keep in mind that the introduction is supposed to introduce your site. If you want to talk more about your page, I recommend writing that information in the FAQ. There's no real need for visitors to read about you making shields for friends because this has no bearing on your site. Along the same lines, I recommend adding the word "request" somewhere to your first paragraph. For example:

- Welcome to Aged Reflections, a request site that offers you shields.
- Welcome to Aged Reflections, a simple shield site by Caitlyn. Here, I make custom shields for your lookup!

I suggest putting your rules into a bulleted list (see here for an example). Visitors are less inclined to read a wall of text. Along the same lines, there's no "rules" header, which makes it seem like random text rather than something that has to be read. I suggest reorganizing your rules like this:

Rules

Firstly, I will only make neopet related shields. Please only request from me if you are planning on using it. I do spend time working on it, so it would be awesome if it was used.
Credit is mandatory. If I make something for you, and you do not credit me, I will not make you anything else ever again. Simple as that.
If you've read the rules, please put Emmyboo somewhere in your form.
Etc, etc, etc,

Notes: I deleted the repeated words "please, please, please" since you've already italicized it. There's no need to keep repeating the word.

In the rules, you wrote: If you've read the rules, please put Emmyboo somewhere in your form.

This is incorrect usage of a "trick". Since you're highlighted the word you want people to include, this just draws their attention, making your trick easier to spot. Delete the bold text style.

On the Request page, you have two forms: Basic Shield and Blended Shield. What is the difference between the two? I recommend writing a small blurb below each form and possibly add an example of a shield for each kind:

Now for a brief critique of the content. Keep in mind that even though this is written in the "areas to work on" category, positive aspects are also included.

I really like the gradient effect of the shield! The colours work very nicely together, especially with the chosen image. The image itself is positioned nicely, though it's not cut very well. I can still make out parts of the white borders. When cutting out the image for your shield, I suggest zooming in (at least 900 to 1000 times the original image) so that you can see each individual pixel square. There, you can easily spot the white or light grey squares and delete them.

Here's a visual example I came up with:

In the first shield (the one on the left), there's still a white piece near the top of the chia's head. Zooming in to 1600 times the original image, I deleted that one single pixel. You may think it's not a huge difference, but visually, it is! The image looks much smoother and better "cut" in the second example (on the right).

Like the previous example, the image is very roughly cut, especially the bottom. Around the top and right sides, you can still need a lot of the white background. The colours for the shield don't work as well. The blue is a bit too dark and it overpowers the green colours. I found that my attention was always leaning towards the far right side, rather than the center part of the shield.

The text is absolutely tiny! Since your site name is on the lengthy side, I don't recommend using large fonts. Here, the text needs to be much larger in order to be easily read. Overall, this is one of the weaker buttons. The background pattern, however, is nice. It's simply, but it works well.

This is a much nicer button overall. The focal image is well placed, the text is easy to read, and the font is well chosen. The only negative is that the shine animation is much too heavy. It absolutely obscures the text as it passes through. Fading the white shine would make it much effective.

Overall, this is the weakest button of the three. Again, using large fonts for a long site name is never a good choice. The text looks very low quality (note the second half of the word "reflections" which looks very blurry and pixellated). The main image itself is quite low-quality as well and it's not a very appropriate choice since the original image (without editing) is already very blurry. With buttons, no matter how high-quality it is, a blurry image will always make it look very odd.

Final comments:

With your content, pay much more attention to the white pixels that need to be cut or erased. Try to make your image as smooth as possible. Take some extra time and carefully delete the white pixels (this may need to be done one by one, so it can be a lengthy process, but in the end, your content will be higher quality. More attention to the smaller details is always a good thing).

Would I recommend this destination to another traveller?

For the time being, I would not recommend Aged Reflections. The shields themselves are fine, but the cutting of the main image needs some work. As mentioned before, I recommend zooming in to see the individual pixels as this helps with erasing unwanted white spots.

Would I travel to this destination again?

I wouldn't revisit the site for the reasons listed above. I quite like the idea of simple and text-less shields, but the main image for the majority of the examples still have a lot of white "bits" leftover.

Be sure to link back to Frequent Flyer. Feel free to substitute it for another button if you like! I've added your rubric and date of review to it as well:

<a href="/~tribranch"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/jrMPV.gif" border="0" title="No score, Pro/Con review on April 15th, 2013"></a>

Travel itinerary:

Positive comments:

The organization of the page is excellent, particularly the A-Z screenie sections. I like how the section header (ex. Number, Underscore, B) is very large and easy to spot. You've done a great job using vertical space with placing the individual "boxes" in rows, rather than in one giant column.

A very neat part of your site that caught my attention was the "like" button above each site. This is a great way to gauge a specific site's popularity.

One of the reasons why I loved The Faerie Compass was because some categories had a brief blurb describing the site. This is one of the features that I really enjoyed at your page as well! I like how you added categories for all the screenie pages or wrote a sentence about the links in The Humour. This gives visitors a much clearer idea of what type of content they can expect to see. Not only is this convenient, but it's helpful!

Areas to work on:

Try to minimize scrolling wherever possible. For example, your updates has a lot of scrolling. There's not really a point in keeping such old logs from previous months so try to limit yourself to the last seven updates or so.

While the design of the layout is certainly professional and functions perfectly, the visual appeal of the top banner was lacking. The text "Find A Laugh" didn't really stand out and grab my attention. The text seemed a bit flat and uninteresting.

While putting the text near the edges of the blue box to create the illusion of it being a part of the black background is a nice idea, I think that's the main reason why the text seems flat. Try using a soft drop shadow to help accentuate the edges of the text.

I recommend creating a text style for italicized text. I always tell site owners to try to highlight key phrases in their introduction because there will always be visitors who like to browse through the page right away rather than read through a wall of text. By highlighting important words or phrases in your introduction, this gives visitors quick and easy access to information.

For instance, you've bolded your site name (Find A Laugh), which is great to see! I advise site owners to also italicize what your site offers. In this case, the phrase directory of screenies and humour can be completely italicized, or simply the word screenies is fine. I noticed that you don't make use of your colour palette with your text styles so having your italics as light blue or navy is an option.

For first time visitors who aren't familiar with your site, perhaps adding a small paragraph of explanation under certain headers would be useful. For example, write a brief blurb under The Humour's header describing that section (i.e. what type of content can visitors find in that particular section).

The Games section was a bit confusing because it's only an advertisement for another site, rather than being a list of games. In The Humour, the first link is a game (Tic Tac Toe) so I was confused as to why it's not in the Game section.

As noted above, you've used space very efficiently through your layout. However, the only area where space is not used effectively is in the Sitely section. In the affiliates section, there's really no need to put line breaks after specific buttons. Deleting the line breaks creates two rows of three, rather than four rows of randomly placed buttons. It just seems a bit messy as it is.

Likewise, I'm sure three buttons can fit into one row for the Link back buttons.

With your link back buttons, I strongly recommend requesting more buttons that spell out your entire site name. "Listed at" buttons are completely fine, but overall, I found that there was a lack of high-quality buttons that clearly advertise your site.

The text placement is very unique and it drew my attention. With this button, I like the minimalist approach though at the same time, it does seem uninteresting and rather dull. The border colour is a bit too dark and seems at odds with the button base that's more light in colour.

I highly recommend removing this button as it doesn't even say your site name. A button is meant to advertise a site, so it should at least mention your site name somewhere. This was a very random button to see, mostly because it has absolutely no relation to your overall site. The animation is quite unique though! It would be great to see this type of animation perhaps with other text, such as "FAL" or "Find A Laugh".

The minimalist approach is executed much better in this button. There's a bit of colour that grabbed my attention. I really like how the "FAL" text also appears in the background. This little repetition of the text is a neat design. However, the fading effect could have been left out. It's too distracting in a negative way and takes away from the overall button polish.

Overall, this button is a massive improvement over the previous ones. The colour palette works well, the focal image suits your site, and the border design is simple, but perfect. The only drawback is that the text design could use some work. The border colour chosen for the text is a bit light, making the text harder to read. Especially when using a gradient for the main text, a darker border is definitely needed to balance it.

The site name is much easier to read here! The font is well chosen and perfectly placed within the button. The repeated "Haha" in the background is on the dark side. When using a text background that's repeated multiple times, it can get distracting and make the button look overly complicated. Lowering the opacity would make sure that "Find A Laugh" takes center stage.

Be sure to add border="0" to the code you provide for your link back buttons. This is very inconvenient for visitors to have to add themselves and it's such an easy piece of coding to add yourself. Keep in mind that novice coders aren't going to have a img in their style sheet to edit out any linked borders. Chances are they'll add your button, forget the border="0", and this will reflect poorly on their site.

Final comments:

I strongly recommend working on your Link back button section. Buttons are quite important to site maintenance as they can reflect the quality of your site. Since buttons are used to advertise your site, it's important to make sure you're offering high-quality buttons that has your site name on them. Try visiting The Shelf and comb through the button request section.

Would I recommend this destination to another traveller?

I would definitely recommend Find A Laugh to another person. It's a very unique link directory that offers a ton of links to browse through. For me, the most memorable aspects of the site include the nifty "like" button above each site and the perfect organization of the layout.

Would I travel to this destination again?

I would definitely revisit this site! I really like how there's a brief blurb below each link that describes the site. This goes above and beyond regular directories that only list the links!

Be sure to link back to Frequent Flyer. Feel free to substitute it for another button if you like! I've added your rubric and date of review to it as well:

<a href="/~tribranch"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/jrMPV.gif" border="0" title="No score, Pro/Con review on April 15th 2013"></a>

Travel itinerary:

Introduction:

First, I would suggest bolding your site name, Clockwork. Second, I would not recommend highlighting any dates since that's miscellaneous information. Your site title is far more important and it's something that's more significant to your visitor.

Second, I noticed that you never actually tell the visitor what your site is about. What does Clockwork offer? Make sure you clearly state that it's a link directory.

You wrote The difference between Clockwork and many other great directories is that its organization is quite vague. Personally, I dislike layouts that require a large amount of scrolling, but anchored layouts aren't the best fit for directories, either. Therefore, Clockwork offers a pleasing layout with minimal scrolling and maximum organization for your convenience!

It's good that you did use text styles, but it would have been nice to see it used in the first paragraph as well. This second paragraph is a bit confusing. Because you haven't added a lot of clarification, it seems as if you're only pointing out the negative aspects of your site. Calling the organization of a link directory "vague" is a very negative choice because organization at these types of sites is crucial. What do you mean by "vague" organization? When I read this, I take it to mean that it'll be harder for me as a visitor to find what I'm looking for.

Next, the second part of your paragraph seems a bit unnecessary ("Personally, I dislike layouts that require a large amount of scrolling…"). The site's introduction seems like a strange place to display your personal preferences. I suggest removing this and talking more about the first sentence. What exactly makes Clockwork any different from other link directories? The fact that it's "vague" puts it in a less positive category.

Layout design and function:

The layout, though simple, is well designed! I really like the use of the fixed background image as it adds a lot of style to the page. The design of the site title is simple but t works rather well. It's not exactly attention grabbing, but there's nothing "wrong" with that. It is on the plain side though. Perhaps using a very soft outer glow effect or a bevelled effect would make the text more visually appealing. The glow would help grab visitor's attention whereas the bevel effect can be used to give a more 3D effect to your text. I generally don't use both at the same time because it can get quite complicated so I just take a look at what I'm trying to achieve (am I trying to draw people's attention to that part of the layout or should I focus more on making it look spiffy?).

The colour scheme works well. I'm glad to see you went with a lighter brown since a darker brown for your italic text style would have looked too similar to your plain text colour.

The header styles are a bit plain and dull. They're simply gray in colour and have no additional styles. For your primary headers (H1), I would suggest adding a bottom border. This will add some distinction between regular text and the header. If you style the bottom border in a different colour (brown or green), then it would add more colour to your layout as well.

Function:

Your layout functions perfectly fine. I could find everything very easily. Not much to say here!

Organization of content:

For instance, in your "graphics" category, you have Bedazzled (graphics site), TLB (graphics site), Scheme (layout requests), Nienke's Premades (premade layouts), Open Eyes (button request), Roo (adoptables), and Magnet (fonts). There are major differences between graphic sites and request sites, premades versus fonts. It seems strange to lump them together because you can't possibly compare one site type against the other in terms of quality.

When you're simply choosing the most popular sites, rankings become more of a negative aspect (rankings used to be a very positive aspect in the old days). To be useful, rankings need to be more contained. It needs to focus more on the site content's quality. The way you've organized your content, I see no possible way to even include fair and unbiased rankings unless you're willing to do individual "mini-rankings" in each sub-category. For example:

In the "graphics" category, these are your sub-categories with "mini-rankings" under each header.

Userlookups

Autumn Breezes
Back to You
Blue Box

petpages

(list of petpage links here)

Doing this will obviously take more time to establish, but it'll actually help the visitor and point them in the direction of specific sites that are high-quality in each category, rather than giving them a list of 7 sites that they may or may not be interested in. Also, I can't think of any link directory that does individual rankings like this, so it'll definitely help your site stand out!

Your link directory offers four extremely broad categories: community, graphics/requests, miscellaneous, and guilds. For the purpose of this review, I won't talk about the guild category since I'll deal more with the sites themselves.

Although you do mention some subcategories in your navigation at the bottom, I still find this isn't enough to really aid the visitor in finding specific categories. There were some odd categorization choices, such as putting review sites in the Community category rather than request. If you take a look at your entire "review site" subcategory, you have a "request" icon next to every single one of them. Wouldn't this make more sense in the "request" section then? Another thing I noticed was that you have "lending sites" as a subcategory in the Community section, but in your menu, you list lending sites under Miscellaneous.

Some link directories with excellent organization include Pixie Dust, Soroptimist Directory, The Shelf, and Little Black Book. The thing to notice is that all of them have very specific categories that allow the visitor to easily and efficiently find what they're looking for.

While you noted that you don't like a large amount of scrolling, you can't avoid this if you're a link directory! You already have a lot of scrolling as it is. With this type of site genre, organization may mean more scrolling in the end, but this is perfectly fine for link directories.

Certain categories would benefit from further sub-headings, such as pet directories and reviews. For instance, the pet directory category can be organized based on species. The review sites can be further organized based on general site reviews, guild reviews, application reviews, and so forth.

Quality of content:

Quantity of content:

The "shop/gallery layout" section is completely empty. I would suggest either finding sites to fill this category up or simply remove it entirely.

Graphic-making guides" seems a bit empty. I definitely recommend adding more here since it's a popular category. One thing you can do is go to a very old link directory (Soroptimist and Little Black Book are two that I frequently visit) and search through their links. Chances are you'll find a hidden gem somewhere in there which would be valuable to list. Most link directories only focus on listing new sites so taking a look at older (but finished) sites will net you more links.

For example, some old but still useful guides include Banner Buddies, Yuliya's MS Paint Tutorial, Photoshop Tutorials, and Lucy's Button Tutorial.

As a site note, some older sites haven't been updated since Neopets changed their petpage filters (ex. Lucy's Button Tutorial). Though the layout at that site is nonexistent, the content itself is still accessible and helpful. It's up to you as a site owner to decide whether or not your visitors would benefit from having it listed.

Visitor convenience:

Be sure to keep up to date with your active/inactive listings. For example, Whisper is active (even though it's listed as inactive). Secondly, be careful about the types of site that you list as inactive. For instance, The Triv Quiz is not a type of site that gets updated often. It should be considered finished (I.e. regular link rather than inactive link).

Make sure you're using the "Request" symbol correctly because you do put this with sites that don't offer any type of requests. For example, in the "Graphic-making guides" section, you note that Create Impressions and A Button Collection takes requests when they do not. This is misleading for the visitors (especially since Create Impressions hasn't been updated in well over a year!).

Professionalism in text:

Make sure that your updates are clearly listed as being "updates". Upon browsing your site, I thought you didn't even have an update section. I would suggest changing your date (ex. March 11, 2013) to "updates" instead, and have the date underneath. For example:

UPDATES:

Date here
Bullet point here
Bullet point here

Professionalism in aesthetics:

For your "sitely" section, I would recommend putting your listers, reviewed by, and awards into three columns (similar to how you've organized your content). This will make better use of space and slightly reduce scrolling. Because your layout is rather large in terms of width, make the most of it by using horizontal space.

Be sure to add border="0" to the following linked images:
- in the Link Back section, the first button in the second row
- in the Reviewed By section, Final Touch's button

Sitely organization:

In the textarea for some buttons, be sure to add border="0" to the coding:
- the last button on the first row (the dark brown button)
- the first button on the second row
- the first button in the third row

For the second "listed at Clockwork" button (the yellow one), the code you provide is both incomplete and it's the wrong image. It doesn't link to any page as you only provided the image code. Make sure that you add your petpage link to it as well as border="0".

Though the image is very nicely edited and cropped, the text is very poorly designed, almost to the point of it being unreadable. The word "directory" doesn't stand out at all because the border is too faded. It blends almost completely into the background. Though the word "Clockwork" is much more noticeable (if only because it's much larger in size), it blends too much into the button base as well. There's nothing to make it "pop" off the button or stand out. The text placement is also a bit strange. Is your site name "Directory Clockwork"?

The text here is an improvement over the previous example, but the word "Clockwork" is on the small side. With cursive-styled fonts, it requires a very large amount of space because it looks (and reads) best at a larger font size. Here, the text is on the small side so it's not the best choice of fonts to use.

The animation, however, is very nicely done. It's not too light yet it's not heavy or overpowering.

The animation here is a bit too fast and more breathing room is required between each repeat loop. The faster a button repeats, the tackier and "rushed" it looks. The colour used for the animation is on the dark side and it makes the text harder to read when it sweeps through. A lighter colour would have been more appropriate.

Overall, this is one of the weaker buttons. The shine sweeping through is a bit heavy, especially since it goes overtop of the text (generally, the shine works best when put underneath the text, unless you're making a text shine effect). The text design is the weakest point of the button. The work "Clockwork" doesn't really stand out and it also doesn't contribute anything to the colour palette (it's simply grey).

The only minor drawback with this button is the word "Clockwork", which is a bit faded and hard to read. Other than that, it's a great button! The colours are warn and very engaging, and the animation is subtle, yet it perfectly accents the text.

The animation colour is way too dark, blocking out large portions of the text as it sweeps through. Animation is meant to help accent the text or image, rather than overpower the entire button. The image has been a bit heavily coloured, so much so that you can't really tell what the image is of (my guess is a stack of books). The pink colour is so strong and the image has been made so dark that it just looks like a textured background. Some sharpening would help the image be a bit more crisp and obvious.

Again, the text is on the small side. Especially when using large fonts, the size needs to be large enough to be easily read. The text design is very nice through! The blue gradient adds a lot of unique characteristics to the text, making the button seem more unified in terms of colour.

The image is perfectly cropped and the text placement is well done. Again, however, the text style needs a lot of work. The text is not easily read at a distance and the text doesn't stand out enough. Adding a drop shadow would help make it "pop". The colour chosen for the animation is a bit dark and it completely obscures the letters as it passes through.

The focal image looks a bit blurry and low-quality, though it's perfectly cropped. Again, the text design needs some work. The colour chosen for the text border is extremely light and it doesn't help make the text stand out. Text is the most important aspect of a button (why else would we use buttons for advertising if it wasn't?).

In your Listers category, you bolded "Registration". What does this mean? Perhaps you should write a small note underneat your "Listers" header as this will clarify things for the visitor.

Final score and comments:

While the organization of links needs work, the organization (in terms of divs, columns, symbols) of the general content is well done. Your layout is easy to navigate and use. Keep up the good work though because you're definitely on your way to being a high-quality directory!

Would I recommend this destination to another traveller?

Would I travel to this destination again?

<a href="/~tribranch"><img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/2yx0ux2.gif" border="0" title="26/40, revised In-depth rubric on Mar.11.2013; deemed not recommended"></a>

Extras

The Review Process Thinking about requesting a review? Reading through this guide might help you.

Portfolio Here's a list of all the sites I've reviewed!

F.A.Q. Want to know more about Frequent Flyer? Have a question you want answered? This F.A.Q. is for you!

Frequent Flyer Challenges Here's a list of all of the past missions presented in reviews! Who was brave enough to take on a challenge?

My Credentials In this extra section, I'll list my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to reviewing different types of sites.

Top 10 Common Mistakes In this section, learn how to prepare your site for a review by avoiding these common errors.

How I Determine Scores Have you ever wondered why you received a certain score in a particular category? In this section, I'll try to explain why I deduct points.

Site Specifics Do you have a request site? Are you thinking about requesting a service review? Before you do that, why not take a look at these "site specifics"!

Golden Travellers These sites show a very high degree of overall polish! Check them out!

Retired Buttons Here are some spiffy buttons that are no longer in use. Still, I love them to bits so I'm holding on to them!

Extra Pick-up area Whether it's old reviews being pulled from the dusty closet or a "not quite a review" review, you'll find it here.

Extra Pick-up Area

The Review Process

Before you request a review

What I highly recommend is that you read through at least one of the site owner's in-depth reviews (i.e. one of their longer reviews, rather than a short pro/con one). This should give you a very clear indication of whether or not they are able to provide useful advice. Sometimes, reviewers will only present you with a list of "problems" rather than help you understand why you need to change something in the first place. Look for the "why" explanations (why should you change this or what). If you're unsure how to measure review quality, asking a reviewer might be a suitable choice. They can provide you with a list of sites that they feel offer a lot of useful advice.

Along the same lines, look through the site's rubrics and see whether or not they're fair and professional. Some review sites use categories like "originality" or "creativity", which is not a useful indicator for site improvement. What you're looking for are basic categories like "quality", and "organization". These are much more helpful in pinpointing areas for improvement. Not all review sites offer the same rubric styles, so it's best to keep in mind the one that you want (in-depth, pro/con, content only, etc). One last thing to note is that like reviews, not all rubrics are high-quality. Some aren't as well explained or high-quality as others.

Talk to your reviewer. This isn't mandatory but it's a great step in opening a line of communication with the person who will be reviewing your site. If you're unsure which rubric would be the best fit for your site, asking the reviewer not only shows initiative, but you'll get a much more tailored review in the end.

Prep your site. It might seem strange and a bit counterintuitive to edit your site before a review, but this just makes the entire reviewing process much easier. Rather than discuss small, silly issues like linked borders, your reviewer will spend more time on larger issues. The Top 10 Common Mistakes guide is a quick checklist you can go through. Some common issues include linked borders, lack of "back" links where needed, improper use of centering, and so on. Your score will generally reflect this "prep work" as well.

Ask yourself if you really need a review. If your site is completely brand new (less than 2 weeks old), then requesting many reviews (or even one in-depth review) might not be beneficial. This is because you'll have less content so there will be less to critique. If you're really wanting a review, look for "New Site" rubrics that will be less extensive or simply request a Q & A rubric if the site has one. In many cases, asking the reviewer questions through neomail is perfectly fine, even when it's not a "formal" review.

Some people just request reviews but they don't actually make any changes. This can be very disrespectful to the reviewer especially since they're offering a free service to you and most of the time they've put in over three or four hours into writing it. Only request a review if you're completely certain you'll be making changes to your site.

Ask yourself if you really want a review. Do you want to improve your site? A review, especially one from a high-quality reviewer, can be extremely intensive and long. Would you be willing to sit down and read carefully through what the reviewer said? Along the same lines, ask yourself how well you take constructive criticism. Keep in mind the reviewer is not "out to get you". If they're a seasoned reviewer, they'll be able to provide solid criticism. Of course, you work hard on your site so anything "negative" will feel like an insult. Just remember that it's someone else's point of view and they don't mean it as such.

Experienced reviewers won't be "harsh". They'll be direct and to the point. What needs changing, what issues are currently at your site, and so on. If you're sensitive about hearing other opinions, then requesting a review is probably not a good choice. Try other indirect methods of site improvement, such as personal neomails to ask small questions.

Sending in your request form

Read through the F.A.Q and/or credentials. While reading through the F.A.Q is optional, I highly recommend reading through the site owner's credentials if they have one. It'll give you a much clearer indication of their reviewing strengths and weaknesses. It's here that many reviewers choose to list site genres they don't review (like wish lists, pet applications, guild webbies, etc).

If you have questions, reading the F.A.Q could help answer them. At the very least, it'll tell you more about the reviewing service.

Read through the rules. Don't skip this step because it's very important. You'll get a lot of information in the rules and it's just nice to put in effort into reading the site owner's rules because they'll be putting effort into your review.

Fill out your form. This step's pretty self explanatory as the form will have different options for you to fill in. In many cases, the site owner will include an "other" section at the end. Take advantage of this! If there are specific questions you want the reviewer to answer, write it down. For example, "If possible, could you please take a look at the 'extras' because I wasn't sure about the organization" or "I'm using Firefox and I haven't seen my layout in Chrome. Are there any major differences?"

In your form, don't be afraid to ask your reviewers to add or subtract a category from your rubric. For example, if you wanted to request an in-depth rubric but didn't want the "creativity" section in your review, politely ask them to remove it from your review. Likewise, let's say you're requesting a pro/con rubric which is a very basic and general look at your site. If you'd like the reviewer to try to focus on one part of your site (for example, your content), mention this in the form and your reviewer may be able to accommodate you.

During your review

Keep an open line of communication. Nothing is worse than a reviewer trying to contact you but your inbox is full. Whenever you request a review (or anything else, like a button), keep your inbox relatively empty. On occasion, the reviewer may have a question they'd like to ask you.

No need to keep such close tabs. Once your form has been accepted and you're on the waiting list, there's no need to constantly neomail your reviewer asking "is my review ready yet?" When your review is finished, the site owner will contact you.

I would recommend though that you check in on the review site at least once a day to read the updates as this may give you some indication of how your review is progressing.

Don't panic!. Getting a review might seem stressful to some but if you've chosen your reviewer well, then you'll be getting a lot of constructive criticism rather than harsh and unwarranted feedback.

After your review is ready

Try not to skim through it because chances are you'll miss something important. Even if you think the reviewer is talking about something very minor, it's best to take your time through it. They are writing about your site, after all. If your review is on the longer side (like a "classic" or "in-depth"), perhaps read through it at least twice just so you don't miss any major points.

Absorb your review. I strongly suggest that after reading your review you step back. Just take a day off and think about what the reviewer wrote.

Sometimes, you might not get the score you wanted. Perhaps you thought you'd score in the 80's when you only received a score in the 50's. Don't get too caught up on the score. Your score is only a static reflection of a dynamic site. In other words, it's just a snapshot of your site at the moment but your site will be constantly changing. If you get a low score, that's not "oh goodness, my site is bad, I should close". It's "I have work to do in order to make my site even better". Keep a positive attitude!

Analyze your review. The breather's over so let's get your head back in the game. Going back to your review, actively analyze what your reviewer said. Did they give proper explanation and clearly state their opinions? Or did they simply present an issue without giving you additional feedback? If you can understand the writer's opinion, then that's a sign it's a high-quality review.

Talk to your reviewer. If you have any inquiries or questions about your review, now's the time to discuss it with the writer. I would suggest only contacting them once you've read your review and absorbed it. If you're completely unhappy with your score or review, then it's best to discuss it with a clear and level head (rather than right after you read it).

From both a reviewer and reviewee's point of view, it's futile to argue about your score. If your reviewer bumps your score up, does that somehow make your site higher quality? No, because the score is just a number. Focus on the review itself, rather than the final score.

Instead, you should be talking about aspects of the review that you might have found unfair, unwarranted, or unclear. Getting more feedback after your review is perfectly fine. The reviewer should always be available for follow-up questions.

Edit and make changes. You might not be comfortable with changing everything the reviewer said. If they had a perfectly valid reason for why you should change something, then it's good to keep that in mind. For example, if they said that you have multiple linked borders at your site, you're not going to leave them up. You'd edit that and make your site more presentable.

On the other hand, some reviewers will tend to try to change things based on their personal preferences rather than pay attention to quality (such as saying your graphics need to be more "original" so you should do this or do that). It's perfectly fine to say "I can't do that" if you don't want to change your style.

Unless the review was a complete mess (and it very rarely is), try to change something, no matter how small. A review can take anywhere from an hour to 4 hours (sometimes even longer). Reviews aren't like other requested items such as layouts or buttons. It's harder to use a review so try not to let it go to waste.

And that's that! Though many reviewers keep their old reviews, you might want to copy and paste the review into a separate document so you have a version for yourself. It's very useful to sometimes go back and re-read your review.

Retired Buttons

How to I score each section?

During your review, your site will not be compared to a premade rubric. I won't be looking at a chart that says "deduct 1 star" for this issue. Instead, I'm determining whether or not the issues fall into various categories.

Suggestions:

Here are some examples:
- Decrease loading times (ex. Using text links for directories instead of buttons; moving the portfolio to an outside petpage)
- Getting rid of the Neopets header and moving it to a different section of your site.

Aesthetic changes:

Here are some examples:
- Resizing textareas so that they align evenly with the image above them (ex. 88 pixels wide if it's a button)
- Site name is not as visible as it could be (i.e. something I usually say is that the site name should be one of the first things a person sees)
- The layout image is too large (note that on computers using a smaller screen resolution, this may cause side scrolling)
- Text that should be aligned to the left, rather than centered
- Spacing issues (ex. No scaled down images, too much scrolling, large amounts of empty space)

Inconveniences:

Here are some examples:
- Unfair and/or overly restrictive rules
- Faulty layout (ex. Brower compatibility, improper linking/coding)
- Negative tone and/or attitude
- Poor spelling and grammar (this only affects the score if you have errors across the entire site; I don't take marks off if you have a few typos here and there)
- Navigation is hard to reach or use

In essence, I'm comparing your site to its possible potential – not against another site, or a set rubric that tells me what to deduct. When looking at your site both from the eye of a visitor and as a fellow site owner, I try to pinpoint areas that can be improved (i.e. suggestions) or changed (i.e. inconveniences).

Portfolio

Site Specifics

Buttons
- Does the text placement work well with the chosen image/border/animation?
- Can I clearly read the text on a button?
- Rules must have little to no restrictions (i.e. not making buttons for a certain type of site, a site must be 2 weeks old, etc).
- Pick-up area must have the button image, the code provided in the textarea, and the name of the user who requested.
- How well is the animate executed? Is there enough space between each animation loop?

Graphics (banners, icons)
- Are the images appropriately cropped so that there's a focal point?
- If textures are used, are they well blended or do they "sit" heavily on top of the base image?
- Is the text easy to read and clearly visible?
- Are the banners high-quality? Are the images crisp or are they blurry?
- Rules must have few restrictions.

Layouts
- Is the navigation in an easy to use place? Is it clearly visible?
- Is the site name one of the first things I see? Or is it too small and barely noticeable?
- Are the textures appropriately used? Or do they clash with the base image? Do they accent the image or cover them?
- Does the colour scheme match the layout? Are the headers legible?

Reviews
- Do your reviews have the key ingredients?
- Do you fully explain your opinions or are your statements incomplete?
- Are you properly spacing your reviews or am I looking at a giant wall of text?
- When going through your rubrics is it clear what you'll be looking for in a site?

F.A.Q.

Want to ask a question? Feel free to neomail me any time!

Frequent Flyer Challenges

For more information on these challenges, visit the F.A.Q.

Review Yourself

This challenge can be accepted by: Anyone! (Neomail to enter)

Currently accepted by: Florelle (challenge completed), Adzs (challenge completed), Cookies (challenge completed) PF (challenge completed)

Challenge: In this challenge, you'll be reviewing your own site! Since no site is completely perfect, you'll have to look over your own work with a critical eye and write down three positive aspects of your page and thee aspects that need improvement. Think of it as writing a brief "pro/con" review! The aim of this challenge is to get site owners to think more critically about their own site because as the "creators", we might not find anything wrong with our page. Here are some guidelines and tips:

- Your final submission must include 3 "pros" and 3 "cons" of your site - no more, no less!
- You must include a brief explanation of why you think a certain aspect of your site is a "pro" or "con". Don't just list three random things and not explain them. They don't have to be in-depth, but they should answer the question of why.

Results:

Redmadam (could not complete), Kay (failed challenge)

I Love Icons!

This challenge can be accepted by: Anyone! (Neomail to enter)

Currently accepted by: Kingwise (completed challenge), Whizzy (completed challenge), Emma (completed challenge), Kuro (completed challenge), Belsha (completed challenge), Turnip (completed challenge)

Challenge: In this challenge, you'll be making two icons using the image above (click the image for the full size). However, there are some restrictions.
1) You have to use two different areas of the image (the two icons cannot use the same part of the picture). When cropping the icon, make sure they're both 100 pixels by 100 pixels.
2) Your first icon must contain the text "(Your name or username) Love Icons!" somewhere on the image using at least two different font styles. You must use at least one texture (ex. light, grunge, bokeh, etc) and include some sort of border around the icon. You can edit the original image as much as you like. In this icon, make sure the focus is on the text.
3) The second icon can't have any text on it at all and must not have any border. Instead, focus on editing the actual image with colouring techniques, textures, anything! Be creative!

The purpose of this challenge is to introduce people to the different uses of icons. Most often we see icons used as "awards" such as "Reviewed at this Site" or "Featured at this Site". These are what I'd like to call "info" icons because the focus should be on the text. The second icon you're making is what I call a more "decorative" icon. Because it doesn't contain any text, the focus is on the colours of the images and the style.

Results:

What's in a name?

This challenge can be accepted by: Alex

Status: Challenge accepted on August 13th, 2011; completed on August 26th

Challenge: Here's your FF Challenge, should you choose to accept it! All you have to do is come up with five site names. Sound easy right? Well, there's a few restrictions:
- Sites names must be at least two words long (I.e. no "one word" site names are allowed).
- Each site name must include a brief explanation on why that names fits a particular site type. For example, "(Site name here) is perfect for a review site because…" or "(Site name here) suits a link directory site because…"

Results:

Building Blocks - for reviews because they introduce the 'building blocks'; child's toy themed? (reviews)
Twist of Fate - for a directory because great sites are found by a 'twist of fate' (directory)
Ink Typhoon - for font sites because lots of writing would make an ink typhoon (misc)
en bloc - for a directory because all the sites are 'en bloc' (directory)
Full Deck - because having a bunch of sites is like having a bunch of cards (directory)

The creativity challenge!

This challenge can be accepted by: Pip

Status: Challenge accepted on August 10th, 2011

Challenge: Here's my challenge to you, should you accept it! For at least two weeks, create one button every day. The text on the button can be anything, but you can't use the same font two days in a row. Additionally, you can't use the same border design twice, and you can't use the same animation style twice! By sitting down and having to come up with a new border and animation every day, this helps you come up with interesting designs that you may not have created otherwise.

Results:

Failed challenge

The Triple Unique Banner Challenge

This challenge can be accepted by: Heather

Status: Challenge accepted on August 29th, 2012 / Completed on: Sempteber 8th, 2012

Challenge:

Your challenge is to create three banners. Here are the rules:
- All three banners must use different borders. You cannot use the same border you've been using for your content so far.
- For this challenge, you can choose the image yourself. However, all three banners must be from the same image, and you must crop the banners so that they focus on three different areas of the image (I.e. three different focal points).
- For all three banners, you must somehow edit the colour of the image. It has to be visually distinct from the unedited version. You can use the same colouring technique for all three banners.
- The text design for all three must be different (the text/word itself can be the same, but how the text looks must be different).
- For all three banners, you must use different textures, patterns, or brushes. As an example, if you used a specific bokeh texture in banner #1, you can't use it for banner #2 or #3.

It may seem like a hard challenge, but it can be done:

Turnip's strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

• You will receive your completed review quickly. I'm a very fast reviewer because I believe in offering quick service. That's not to say that I'm rushing. Instead, I start your review as soon as I finish reading your form. You'll never have to wait more than two days for your review.
• My service reviews are a great advantage for request sites. I have spent a long time working on my guide, How To Offer Great Service and How To Write Great Review, which lets me accurately assess request sites. I can give detailed comments that specifically target service-related areas of a site and provide specialized feedback.
• I review from different points of view. When I review, I not only look at your site as a reviewer, but also as a visitor and a site owner. This means the feedback you get not only helps you improve as a site owner, but also focuses on your visitors as well.
• I've owned many graphics sites in the past. I've been creating graphics and layouts for over 10 years. This experience aids me in critiquing visual aspects of a site, such as image cropping, texture application, and colour scheme. For buttons, I've written a button guide, A Button Collection.
• I understand professionalism in both aesthetics and text. Not only will your review be multifactorial in focus, but critiques about professionalism is something that I can write about very well. Because I've owned many sites, my reviews won't contain any superficial or "guesses" about what "professionalism" actually means.

Weaknesses

• My familiarity with certain site types is limited. Thus, visitors hoping to get these types of sites reviewed must choose a rubric that doesn't focus on content. Sites that should not request a content-based review include: pet applications, adoption agencies, customization, screenies, untaken names, pet "sites" (i.e. pages with stories about a specific pet) and poetry sites.
• My time is split between many sites. Since I focus on all of my sites, that means longer reviews (ex. in-depth, all inclusive) may not be available as often as shorter reviews due to time constraints.
• I only know the basics of coding. If I see any minor technical issues, I can offer you simple coding solutions. However, I will not be able to offer any cross-browser solutions.

Top 10 common mistakes!

| #10 | #9 | #8 | #7 | #6 | #5 | #4 | #3 | #2 | #1 |

---

#10) "Contact me" links go to an empty neomail

Example of a unhelpful neomail link: send in your form!
Clicking a link that takes me to an empty neomail is not convenient at all. Like I said above, what username do I type in? Should I do a reverse check and search on your petpage and then hope that the owner of that pet is the one I contact? Be sure to always provide your visitors with essential contact information!

Example of a helpful contact link: send in your form!
By linking directly to your userlookup, visitors won't be confused as to who to contact because you've made it very clear.

Example of a relatively helpful contact link: send in your form! (my username is tloef)
In this example, the link goes to a blank neomail but the site owner has provided a username along with it. So, why do I say "relatively" helpful if they've made it clear who to send it to? Well, providing your username is nice, but the visitor has to highlight and copy it. This is adding more steps and basically there's just more room for error here. What if they copied wrong? What if you accidentally made an error when typing out your username?

Example of a very helpful contact link: send in your form
In this example, visitors are taken to a neomail that has the username and the subject line filled out. Here is the coding for that: /neomessages.phtml?type=send&recipient=tloef&subject=FF+REQUEST

To recap…

Never make your neomail links go to an empty page. The best method is to link directly to your user lookup so that visitors know exactly who to contact or add additional coding to your neomail link so that it fills out your username for the visitor.

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#9) Such a tiny div for so much information!

Using div boxes around your site is a great way to clean up your page and organize content. However, sometimes it's just way too small! Now, this issue is much more of a problem for review sites where people tend to cram loads of words (I.e. reviews) into a tiny box.

I shudder to think how much scrolling there would be if I tried to cram one of my reviews into here!

I've come across quite a few review sites that actually use these tiny boxes to squeeze their reviews into. It's crazy to think but some are actually smaller than the example above! When review sites use small divs, they usually put many in a long column on one page (think of them as boxes stacked on top of each other). Why not put each review on separate anchored pages? An example of a review site using this type of organization is Effects. The site owner puts each review on a separate anchored page that visitors can browse through using the arrows at the bottom (one that goes to the next page, and one that goes back to the previous page). If you decide to use this style of organization for your own page, be sure to credit Chris as he was the one who originally came up with this organization for his past review site, Lacuna.

Frequent Flyer also uses this style of organization, but instead of putting each review in a div box, I simply just post the review right on the new anchored page to avoid unnecessary scrolling. It's definitely up to you whether you feel you need div boxes to better organize your page.

Another area where people tend to use much smaller div boxes is for their updates. It's absolutely insane the things people will cram into a tiny box!

Date here
Oh my, super small update box! This makes for harder reading!

Date here
Looks like the scrolling is going to be a lot, even with a few days of updates.

Date here
This updates box is way to tiny to be used efficiently. A minor solution would be to increase the height!

Date here
Sadly, these small update box reflects poorly on the overall site. Too much scrolling makes it inconvenient for visitors to read comfortably.

Date here
All I want for Christmas is a 100 pixel increase in height…

Ouch, not even a week's worth of updates yet!

To recap…

Div boxes are perfectly fine to use but be careful about how much content your putting in them versus how wide/tall your box actually is. For sites that are putting a lot of text-based content into divs (ex. Review sites), large div boxes is a must! Having the necessary space to comfortably read the text means the div should be adequately wide. In addition, make sure that the height is appropriate so that visitors aren't scrolling every few sentences because the div box is only 100 pixels in height.

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#8) The textareas don't line up with the image above it.

This is a fairly common issue, though it isn't as widespread as it was in the past. Still, I see it frequently enough that it deserves a spot in the top 10. To keep your page looking spiffy and professional, you'll want to make sure the width of your textbox is even with the image above it. If it's a link back button, then the width of the textarea should be 88 pixels and if it's an icon, then it should be 100 pixels. At The Lunch Box and this site, I always code for a variety of different textarea widths. Here's a visual example:

code here

code here

code here

Here are the three different textarea styles that were used in the examples above:

textarea#codebutton { color: white; font-size: 11px; font-family: arial; background: #608FC0; width: 88px; border: 1px dashed #4B7CB0; height: 15px; margin: 2px; overflow:hidden; } textarea#codeicon { color: white; font-size: 11px; font-family: arial; background: #608FC0; width: 100px; border: 1px dashed #4B7CB0; height: 15px; margin: 2px; overflow:hidden; } textarea { color: white; font-size: 11px; font-family: arial; background: #608FC0; width: 200px; border: 1px dashed #4B7CB0; height: 25px; margin: 2px; overflow:hidden; }

Notice how it would look really strange if I used one textarea style for all three:

code here

code here

code here

While the textarea looks nice with the icon image, it doesn't match up evenly with the button or scaled down banner.

When using different textarea styles, make sure that you add the proper id tags to your coding. For instance, the code for the textarea underneath the icon image would be something like this: textarea id="codeicon".

To recap…

Making sure that the textarea width is the same as the image above it makes your page look visually appealing and presents your site in a more professional light. It keeps your page looking neat and tidy! For buttons, make sure the textarea style is 88 pixels wide and 100 pixels for icons. For larger graphics (banners/layouts), make sure the width is equal to the number that you scaled it down to. For example, if you scaled a layout image down to 200 pixels, your textarea would have a width of 200 pixels.

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#7) That linked border isn't very stylish…

Sometimes even more experienced site owners commit this crime! Having a linked border around an image isn't visually appealing but it's very easy to fix. Now, what do I mean by "linked border"? Well, it's that extra border that goes around any linked image if you haven't added border="0" to the image code. Here's a quick comparison (drag and drop into the address bar for full view):

The code is very simple as well! Here's an example of a link back button with the border="0" code added:

<a href="/~tribranch"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/egTse.gif" border="0"></a>

Depending on your browser settings and CSS styles, you may not even get the border, even if the linked image has no border="0" code. However, this doesn't mean that it's invisible to other people as well and that you should just leave it out! You always need to keep your entire audience in mind and make sure you add this super easy bit of coding to any of your linked images.

The most common areas where I see this not being used is the link back buttons in the sitely section. A lot of the times, site owners will provide the code for their buttons in the textarea but forget to add the border="0" bit to the coding! This means that the visitor will be a bit inconvenienced by this and will have to add it themselves.

To recap…

These borders will appear on any linked image. To get rid of them, simply add border="0" to the image code and you're finished! If you're providing code for any of your images (ex. award icons, link back buttons), make sure to check to see if it contains border="0".

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#6) Perfessionalizm in text: :) not Using propor spelling, grammar; or punctuation!!?

See what I did there? Proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all part of what I lump into professionalism in text and it can really make or break how people view you as a site owner. Is your introduction nicely written or are there multiple spelling errors? Are you paying attention to sentence structure and do they flow nicely when I read them?

Most common mistakes:

Lack of capitalization

Unless your site name is supposed to be lower case, always make sure that you're capitalizing it. Another common error is that people don't capitalize the first word of a new sentence.
Example: welcome to my site, frequent flyer!
Rewritten: Welcome to my site, Frequent Flyer!

Comma splice

If you don't understand what a comma splice is, chances are you'll be committing the same mistake over and over and over again! A comma splice is basically using a comma to incorrectly join two sentences that should be separate.
Example: Welcome to my review site, we offer lots of different types of reviews!
Rewritten: Welcome to my review site. We offer lots of different types of reviews!

Professionalism

Using smilies, chat speak, and other short forms around your page may present you as an unprofessional speaker. The only area where smilies are suitable is the updates blog since that acts as a more personal part of your site.
Example: Welcome to my site!! :) I'm glad you came 4 a visit! Be sure to check out the graphics!!!
Rewritten: Welcome to my site! I'm glad you came for a visit. Be sure to check out the graphics!
(There's no need to spam the exclamation mark as one is suitable. The smiley face presents an immature tone and doesn't make you seem professional.)

Example: Have a question? Be sure to NM me!
Rewritten: Have a question? Be sure to neomail me!
(Always spell everything out completely. For instance, "NM" should be "neomail". You never know who will be visiting you page, and perhaps a newbie to Neopets may not know what NM stands for. Using shortforms makes you seem lazy.)

Another part of professionalism in text deals with your attitude and how you're using text to convey your thoughts. I've already talking a lot about it at How To Offer Great Service, but I'll briefly discuss it here as well.

When writing anything text-based for your site, you want to present a professional and friendly image using an assertive tone of voice. This means not letting your irritation show, or dragging your personal life onto your site.

Example: Ugh, nobody reads the rules! I mean, come on people! I put my OWN time into making graphics so the least you can do is read the rules and show some gratitude…jeez..
Rewritten: Whenever you request, please be sure to read the rules! I put a lot of effort into each graphic, so I'd appreciate it if you did.

To recap…

Professionalism in text is a important part of any site, regardless if your content is text-based or not. Your attitude as a site owner will definitely be reflected in text – are you cranky and impatient, constantly yelling at your visitors and making them feel bad? Or are you welcoming and using a friendly tone? On the more technical side, be sure to always use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Try to get a friend or fellow site owner to read through your site ahead of a review to check for any errors.

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#5) The rubrics at many review sites

I've reviewed a lot of review sites and the most common content-related issue is with the rubrics. Here are the two major problems:

• They're barely explained, vague, and confusing.
• They contain more subjective means of grading or wording.

By the end of this section, hopefully you'll be able to walk away with some new tips on how to carefully construct a proper and informative rubric. This is a pretty big section, so get ready!

Stay away from things that aren't important at most sites.

What I mean by this is that you should focus on site mechanics and how well the site functions within itself. For example, let's say you're working on the "Layout" section of your rubric. Here's a phrase you should not have in your short explanation: Does the layout match your theme?

First and foremost, a layout should be about design/style and function - not the theme. Ask yourself this: does a site inherently function better if there's a "theme"? Does having a layout with a plane for Frequent Flyer make my reviews more in-depth? No. It's a nice surprise if it does match, but a site owner shouldn't lose points because a layout doesn't match their site name or theme.

Be objective and try to stay away from preconceptions!

One phrase in a rubric that I've run into is this: Did it look like I expected? Better or worse? Why?

First, going into a review with preconceived ideas about what a site "should look like" is a bad terrible idea. You'll be judging a site based on a prior point of view, which means it won' be as helpful as it could be for the site owner. When you first load up a site for review, you should be entering with no preconceptions or bias of any kind. Think of it as a blank slate. Perhaps you've visited the site before. If that's the case, then really try to pinpoint what exactly stood out for you when you load their site. It shouldn't be about what you "expect", but how you react. Remember: don't review a site with preconceived thoughts. It'll just lead you to be completely bias and unfair to the site owner you're reviewing.

Do you have enough link back buttons, affiliates, and listers?
This phrase is usually found in the "sitely" analysis of a rubric and it's probably the most useless factor for grading a site. You need to be objective and look at quality, instead of quantity. Be extremely careful with this because it has no major bearing on site quality. What does it matter if a site has five or 30 affiliates? Instead of looking at quantity, look at quality instead. If you're reviewing a new site, would it be fair to deduct marks because they're not listed at 20 directories? No, because the site is new and the site owner wants your early impressions rather than a head count of their sitely section. When assessing each category, look for details like this:
- In the affiliates section, have they included a link to their user lookup? If not, this is inconvenient because people who want to be affiliates with them don't have a quick way to contact the site owner.
- Do they have enough link backs to provide some selection? Based on the type of site, look to see if they have five or so (some sites can have less, such as guides since they generally don't have a fully developed sitely page anyway). Also, look at the quality of the buttons. Do they reflect the site in a positive way? Look to see if the text can easily be read and make necessary suggestions as to which buttons should be removed (and why).
- Are they listed at the major directories? (Soroptimist Directory, Elle's Help Guide).
- Are they properly crediting their sources? Are the credits aligned to the left so that it looks neat and organized?

To recap…

Rubrics are extremely important at any review site since they provide visitors with a comprehensive evaluation of what you'll be looking for. Stay away from things that are excessively subjective (ex. Prior expectations, "bonus" marks) and make sure that you're properly explaining what the focus of each category is.

You may want to check How To Write Great Reviews for more tips!

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#4) Not using space effectively (and massive scrolling issues)

All site types need to be able to use the space they have effectively, and this is much more important if your layout has a small content area. The more content you stack on top of one another, the longer your page will get, and thus, the more scrolling you'll have. As a site owner, you always want to cut down on the amount of scrolling since this will make it easier for visitors to browse through your content.

The issues of wasting space and massive amounts of scrolling go hand in hand. If you use space effectively, you'll minimize scrolling. Here's a visual example:

code goes here code goes here code goes here code goes here code goes here code goes here

code goes herecode goes herecode goes herecode goes herecode goes herecode goes here

Notice how much scrolling is cut down in the second example, simply by putting content beside each other rather than in a long column.

Another area where I see site owners wasting space often is the request area. Most of the time, people will simply put the request status, form, envelope, and waiting list in one giant row. Here's a visual example:

form here!
Write "Review request" as your subject

Waiting List:
1. Username here
2. Username here
3. Username here

Notice how there's a ton of space on the left and right that's unused! Let's use space effectively and put some of these things beside each other:

form here! Write "Review request" as your subject"

Waiting List: 1. Username here 2. Username here 3. Username here

Whether you're comfortable using tables or floating divs, using space effectively will always cut down on the amount of scrolling you have.

Here's the coding for the example using tables:

<table id="normal" style="width: 500px;"><tr> <td width="50%"> <img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/TLB/Resources/rv5.png"><br> (textarea)form here!(/textarea)<br> Write "Review request" as your subject" </td> <td width="50%"> <img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/TLB/Resources/nm10.png"><br><b>Waiting List:</b><br> 1. Username here<br> 2. Username here<br> 3. Username here </td> </tr></table>

To recap…

Two issues that are very common but are interconnected include using space effectively and large amounts of scrolling. If you do well in one area, the other issue wouldn't really be an issue. The best way to use space effectively is making sure you're using horizontal space (left and right) in addition to using vertical space (up and down).

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#3) Not making the request status more visible

In terms of request sites, this one happens a lot. The request status is important information that must not only be provided to the visitor, but it must be clearly visible and easy to spot. That being said, many sites are using plain text. Let's run a small test. Below are two examples of a request status.
Requests are closed.
Which one's more noticeable? Which request status stood off the page more? Using a colourful graphic sign not only adds a bit of style to your page, it's also handy because it's eye-catching. However, what if you just don't have the space for a graphic sign? If your content area is small and you can't fit a larger sign, why not use CSS to change the colour of your font? For instance, the two examples below are both plain text, but one will stand out more.

Requests are CLOSED.

Requests are CLOSED.

In the second example, I used a different colour, red. Though it doesn't stand out as much as a graphic sign, the capitalized red text will still be more helpful than plain text. I've provided the code in the textbox below.

Code that goes in your style sheet: .c{color: #FF0000;font:9pt verdana;line-height: 14px;font-weight:bold;border-bottom:1px solid #FF0000;} What you'd actually code for your request status: <span class="c">CLOSED</span>.

Note that if you want to make a green colour for "open", then you would need to create a new class and input different colours.

To recap…

A request status sign should always jump off a page and be clearly visible to all visitors. Never use plain text or simple bolded text since it may blend in with the rest of your page. Make it visually different by using a graphic sign, or even use a different font colour.

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#2) No spacing between images

Possible one of the most common errors that I've seen to date, this issue is actually extremely easy to fix! Whenever I see this issue, it's usually with linked buttons. Common areas include a site's link back buttons, their affiliates' buttons, or their directory buttons. Here's a visual example of the problem:

Uh oh, looks like the buttons are "sticking together"! That doesn't look visually appealing at all. How can we fix this? Well, let's look at the coding. For the "sticky" problem above, I simply copied and pasted the button code and put them right after one another. Here's what I mean:

(button code 1)(button code 2)(button code 3)(button code 4)

However, what if I put each code on separate lines, like this:

(button code 1)
(button code 2)
(button code 3)
(button code 4)

Here's what I get:

See how each button is evenly spaced out? It looks much more appealing and professional this way since they're not "sticking" together. With any linked image, always try your best to put them on separate lines since this creates some space between each image.

What happens if your image isn't supposed to be linked? How should you create space? Simple - add padding to your image code. Here a visual example of non-linked images without padding:

This is the code I'm using:

<img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/TLB/Custom/fowerprincess_2.png"><img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/TLB/Custom/iamsupernikki_28.png"><img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/TLB/Custom/purplechucktaylors_2.png"><img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/TLB/Custom/jessicaq978_3.png">

Note how they're all sticking together! To solve this sticky issue, let's add padding to the image code and see what we get:

This is the code I'm using:

<img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/TLB/Custom/fowerprincess_2.png" style="padding: 3px;"><img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/TLB/Custom/iamsupernikki_28.png" style="padding: 3px;"><img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/TLB/Custom/purplechucktaylors_2.png" style="padding: 3px;"><img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/TLB/Custom/jessicaq978_3.png" style="padding: 3px;">

Notice how the icons are nicely spaced apart in the second example. I've added style="padding:3px;" to the image code. You can use any number you want, but 2 and 3 are the ones I usually use.

To recap…

If you have a "sticky" situation with any of your images, be sure to one of the following:

For linked images, simply put each code on a separate line.

For non-linked images, add padding to the code itself.

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#1) Aligning text in the center instead of the left

Oh boy, far too many sites are guilty of this one it's crazy! I don't know how many times I've seen this, even at professional and well established sites. It's strange that this aspect of owning a site has gone by unnoticed but here it is: the #1 common mistake!

Centering large bodies of text (i.e. your introductory paragraph, your updates) makes your page look messy and less professional. It's also harder for visitors to read because of the "jagged" edges of the paragraphs and the fact that centered text means none of the lines start at the same point. The worst is having to read entire reviews that are centered. My eyes were literally begging for left alignment!

This is an example of writing a large body of text that is not supposed to be centered. It makes the page look a bit messy and unprofessional. Centering text is mostly used by new site owners who think that it makes their page look more nice but that's not the case!

Additionally, lists of any kind should be aligned to the left. Like with large bodies of text, centered lists are way too messy. Here's a quick demonstration:

Tloef at (HTOGS) 1,2,3,4 Turnip at (YYBP) This list is aligned to the left.

Tloef at (HTOGS) 1,2,3,4 Turnip at (YYBP) This is a centered list. Ouch.

To recap...

The golden rule: if it's a large body of text or if you're using a list of any kind, always align to the left! Centering is not a way to make your page "look neater". The only situation where centering should be used is for a graphic (ex. a request status sign), or if you have a small blurb of text that needs emphasis (see here and scroll to the bottom. Note how the text "Current tickets available" and "Waiting list" are centered, but the lists are properly left aligned).

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Golden Travellers

| All Inclusive | Service Only | In-depth | Build Your Own Review |

If your site is in listed in any of the categories above, feel free to take a Golden Traveller ticket below!


<a href="/~tribranch"><img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/frequentflyer/ff_golden.gif" border="0"></a>

Golden Travellers (All Inclusive)

| All Inclusive | Service Only | In-depth | Build Your Own Review |

If your site is in listed in any of the categories above, feel free to take a Golden Traveller ticket below!

<a href="/~tribranch"><img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/frequentflyer/ff_golden.gif" border="0"></a>

20/20

None

19/20

18/20

17/20

16/20

15/10

Golden Travellers (Service only)

| All Inclusive | Service Only | In-depth | Build Your Own Review |

If your site is in listed in any of the categories above, feel free to take a Golden Traveller ticket below!


<a href="/~tribranch"><img src="http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr350/superbubblet/frequentflyer/ff_golden.gif" border="0"></a>

Golden Travellers (In-depth)

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If your site is in listed in any of the categories above, feel free to take a Golden Traveller ticket below!


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Golden Travellers (Build your own review)

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If your site is in listed in any of the categories above, feel free to take a Golden Traveller ticket below!


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Progress

Becky's review mentoring page

IP Activity #1

FF Review Activity #1: Gut Reaction

Purpose: To help you review at a quicker pace; to help provide a more efficient way of building review statements

Guidelines: Below are four banners. They've been scaled down so drag and drop into the address bar for full view (or right click and choose "View Image").

When viewing each banner, write down the first three words or phrases that pops into your head. That's it, that's all! The things you write down can be negative or positive.

Future activities will build on these words/phrases, so I'll keep a record of them here.

Example:

Light, textures, copyright watermark

The Duty Free Shop

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RANKED... #1 at Critique, Intuition, Soroptimist Directory, The Faerie Compass, Trapped Fairytales, The Bookshelf, Down The Rabbit Hole, Starcatcher, The Secret Library, The Bakery, Hidden Treasures, iSite, Sample Reviews, Elle's Help Guide, Purple Dream Reviews, Echelon, News Flash, Dragon's Lair, Cloud Infinity, Digihear?!, The Lodge, Simple Gifts, Lacuna Directory, The Shelf, Radiant Gardens Directory, Sweeters Cafe, Karma, Enough Said, The Music Book, All of the Cupcakes, Erised, Captivate Thanks so much for ranking FF. It means a lot! Notes: Unlinked sites are either closed or have removed their "ranking" section from the site

FEATURES & MORE... - SOTW at Sweet Dreams (Oct.31.11) - Featured Site at Neostars Magazine (Sept.1.11) - Notable new site at Bedazzled (Aug.14.11) - Most Recommended in Reviews at Enchanted

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Counter started on August 7th, 2011.