Rubric Type: Standard
Date Completed: 9/6/11
Introduction and First Impression (4/5): My first impression of Intuition is good. Your layout was well-built and it flows wonderfully. Your introduction is well phrased and it conveys your site's purpose clearly. However, it sounds a bit cut off near the end. I suggest adding a closing sentence, such as Please feel free to neomail me if you have questions., Thanks for visiting Intuition!, Request a review from us today! or something along those lines to end your introduction. Also, your GSA icons should be moved to a more appropriate section of the site, such as the sitely area, because they don't really belong with the homepage. There is also a large amount of empty space under the introduction; I suggest you move your updates there. Since your introduction is small, there is plenty of room for a large updates box to fill the space. This is a matter of preference though, you could fill the space with recent reviews or a shout-box of some sorts. Also, I noticed you have "Request a review or View the updates?" near the bottom of the homepage. This unnecessary because this type of navigation is not used throughout the site. It seems out of place. I suggest you either add this page by page navigation throughout the site or remove it altogether.

-1 point for emptiness/organization

Layout (9/10): Your layout flows well and the imagery and placement is great. Nienke has certainly done an excellent job. But, the layout's color scheme largely consists of blue. There is only one element of purple which is used for the hyperlinks. Try bringing more of that lavender out by using it as a header or italics color. Try and balance the shades of blue and lavender. Even though the Water Faerie has that neon blue color in her outfit and hair, I suggest leaving this color out of your color scheme because it is a little to bright to use as a text color. Try more pastel and powdery shades like #f4d5f0, #b8cfff, and #d5d9ff for the color scheme of the text decorations and more bolder(deeper blues) colors for the headers. This will establish a balance between the two. In general, the layout should include a few more colors, because it's largely blue. A few suggestions for your next layout would be to make sure that you provide(or ask for) a colorful image. It'll be a LOT easier to coordinate the colors in the future.

-1 point for color scheme

Content (17.5/20): Looking at your rubrics, they seem pretty well written. In your standard rubric, try to balance out the points based on importance. Generally, First Impressions aren't not given 15 points, because they don't play such a crucial role. If you want to meet a certain number of total points, I suggest adding more categories like Service, Professionalism or Visitor Convenience. Also, make sure you add all the points together for a total number such as 100 or 50 points. I noticed that you haven't done this rubrics or the reviews, and it's a little inconvenient because the visitor doesn't know what their score is or how much a review is worth. While reading your reviews(and rubrics), I notice that you frequently bold your words. Bolding is generally used for emphasis and it shouldn't be used excessively and unnecessarily. When you frequently bold words, it starts to lose importance. When you bold in reviews (excluding for spelling and grammar explanations) it is very easy to come off rude or sarcastic or you could create confusion, so make sure you are careful. For example, in your rubric for Personal Choice, you say All sections will be scored the same as the standard rubric but not all sections in the standard rubric will be included.. Since you bolded "will", it is VERY easy for a visitor to look over the word "not" before it, therefore cause confusion.

For the reviewing purposes, I'll be using your most recent review for this portion of the review(Button'ed). In your first sentence, The texturing on your layout image is done quite well but the drop shadow does sort of ruin it., try not to use "ruin". Try something like this: The texturing on your layout image is done quite well but the drop shadow does not compliment it. It's a lot gentler and still gets your point across. Also, I noticed that you only deducted 1.5 points from the first Layout portion of the review. Anyone else reading this review, might think her layout was absolutely flawless with minor errors. Make sure to try and address ALL the problems can find, and deduct the appropriate number of points for an appropriate score. For example, her layout isn't exactly centered, so I would provide a code for her to fix that. Since your most recent review is a short one; I did not find any other errors.

-1 point for excessive and inconsistent bolding
-1.5 points for rubric/review inconveniences(No total points and unbalanced point system)

Service & Professionalism (8.5/10): I applaud you for offering buttons(already coded with dates and scores) at the end of each review. This is an excellent idea and it shows great service toward the visitor. Well done! You haven't changed the month in your updates, it still says August 6th, 2011. Speaking of your updates, in your update for September 4th, you said Formatted the pickup page. I have not finished Zoe's review. I have just formatted it! Take note of that. The last two phrases are quite unnecessary and come off as unprofessional. You have already stated that you have formatted the review in the first sentence, and the "Take note of that" sounds rude and unpleasant to the the visitor. Try and be as formal as possible in your updates; visitors often unknowingly draw conclusions about site owners by evaluating their attitude on updates and neomails. Also, your 8th rule doesn't make much sense to a visitor: If your extras page is a page off your site and has a different link (excluding anchors), I will not be reviewing it. As a fellow reviewer, I'm not sure why this is a problem, and it might be quite a hassle for the requester. Other than that, your service is good; your reviews are fair and unbiased. Good job!

-1 point for update matters (word choice and date errors)
-.5 point for unclear rule

Spelling & Grammar(4.5/5): In rule number six, I would change Do not send neomail asking me when your request will be finished. I will notify you. to "Do not send me neomails asking when your review will be completed. I will notify you." And the little blurb under rankings in Extras, Which sites have been reviewed by Intuition? should be phrased as "Sites that have been previously reviewed by Intuition.

-.5 points for very minor spelling/grammar

Final Score: 43.5/50 Final Comments: Overall, Intuition is doing great, and my only suggestions for you is to work on your visitor interaction. Try and see things from their perspective while tweaking your site and a lot surprising things will pop up. Keep up the good luck and I wish you all the best with your site!

Rubric Type: Standard
Date Completed: 9/14/11
Introduction and First Impression (5/5): When I first entered your site, I was overwhelmed by the amount of green. All the text effects, headers, background div colors are all in some shade of green(I'll elaborate more this in the next section, The Layout). Aside from that, my impression of your site is great. The layout is well constructed and the overall presentation of the layout instantly showcases the quality of your site. Your organization of the homepage is good; excellent use of space. The introduction is short, sweet and straight to the point. You introduced yourself as the host, identified what you offer, and included your opening date. Overall, your site's first impression is great, and it definitely sparks the visitor's interest.

Layout (8.5/10): Your layout looks wonderful, the shape is unique and the amount of textures and brushes is just right. Overall, your layout looks great, but I did notice a few minor flaws. On your home page, the header of "Salutations" slightly overlaps the "F" in Fairytales. I suggest adding a break tag before the header or the entire div itself. The overlap isn't present in the rest of the pages; just the homepage. Also, the font spacing on your links is set to -1px so any linked text is a bit harder to read. Replace your navigation codes with the one below to fix this.
a:link, a:active, a:visited, a { color: #698048; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; } a:hover, a:hover { color: #AFE859; }
There's a white highlight on the "Home" and "Request" navigation buttons. Layouts look their best when they are symmetrical. A sense of balance is visually appealing to the visitor. I suggest going to Photoshop or GIMP and recreating the glow on all the navigation areas to create some balance. Also, your color scheme is largely dependent on green. I suggest bringing more of those browns out by using #bfb082 or #948f67 in your text effects. A very small suggestion: to a visitor, the color of those div boxes contrasts the background of the main content background. I suggest changing your style properties for the shout box, updates box, etc. to background: transparent. Try adding a dashed or dotted border to define the borders of your boxes. Your layout has an absolutely gorgeous bokeh texture that's subtle but elegant; why not showcase that? Again, this is a matter of preference--no points will be deducted for this.

-.5 point for linked text spacing
-1 point for color scheme/imbalance

Content (18/20): I'll pick a few of your most recent buttons to review.


This button looks good. There's a clear focal point and the animation and text go well with the image. What I love most about this button is the animation. You don't use it frequently, so it makes all your buttons look unique.


This one looks good; but I couldn't identify it as your own style. The night sky animation looks fantastic, but the unidentifiable red object doesn't compliment the button. The eye is instantly drawn to it; and it lessens the effect of the calmness and open feeling to the button.


This buttons is one of my personal favorites. The amount of detail in this button is amazing; not to mention how whimsical and playful it is. The handwriting in the background, combined with the teddy bear presents a theme; which is exactly what visitors look for. A fresh button that tells a story.

Overall, your buttons look great(they are all bright and high-quality); but there's a constant repetition with the font choice or animation. Your developing a style, which is awesome, but I suggest creating different animations and/or experiment with different fonts. Try to be more creative with your buttons; try to make them stand out from eachother. Try to make them unpredictable; make them have a little extra pizazz to them(like the Ask Grace Teddy button). For your button examples, I suggest keeping 2 of your all-time best buttons(or your personal favorites, buttons you are most proud of, etc.) and change the rest frequently to showcase your improvement. The example buttons look good; but what if the buttons your making now are even better? Since your are clearly defining these buttons as examples of your work, you want to keep them up to date and make sure that they are your best work.

-2 for constant font usage and predictability.

Service & Professionalism (9/10): I am a frequent visitor of Trapped Fairytales, and it looks like I can guarantee high-quality buttons and service. But I did notice a few things that could be changed to improve this impression. In your second to last rule, you say: "Your site should have been open for at least three days." What about a really young site that needs a high-quality button? I understand that you don't want to waste your time on a button for a site that might close soon, but three days doesn't make much of a difference. Changing this rule would be convenient to your younger visitors and it shows good service. I would take a look at the second to last section here for more information on this. Also, your FAQ is incomplete, therefore it's not helpful to the visitor. I suggest bolding it instead of linking it(similar to what you did with the Button Site Rankings) until you have the page finished and it can be used. Professionalism-wise, your site looks great. All the rules are simple, to the point, and reasonable. Your buttons are finished relatively fast and having the one-button-a-day goal is excellent. It shows the visitor you are putting effort into your site. On your sitely page, I would remove the inactive affies(don't forget to neomail their owners) and add them again after they become active. All these sites are around 2 1/2 to 3 months inactive and they aren't helpful to the visitor.

-1 for visitor inconveniences

Spelling & Grammar(4.5/5): I'll address a few spelling and grammar errors here.
I make buttons for anything, except button request sites, guilds and applications." should be phrased as "I make buttons for everything except button request sites, guilds and applications."

I will choose everything, you can choose the image." should be phrased as "I will choose everything; you can choose the image.(Replace the comma with a semi-colon)

If you don't like it you don't have to use the button, but please tell me what the problem is and I will fix it." can be phrased as "If you don't like your button, you don't have to use it. But please, notify me what the problem is and I will fix it." to make it a more fluid sentence.

I will respond to any request telling them if I can or cannot make your request." should be phrased as "I will respond to your request to let you know if I can or cannot complete your request." You are speaking in second person throughout the rules, so changing it to this way continues the pattern.

-.5 for minor spelling/grammar errors.

Final Score: 45/50 Final Comments: Trapped Fairytales is an excellent button request site that I would recommend to anyone. I'm thoroughly impressed with your site and I wish you the best of luck!