CSS || images || 800x600+ || NS4+ / IE4+
2003-06-11 - cowgirlkym

first impressions
older.html: Her own design. Fairly plain grey table on white background with a silverchair header pic. The table is left-aligned. Would look better centred. The list of entries is centred. Would look better left- or right-aligned. Also the font size is rather large. It just looks a bit odd.
entries: Match archives layout, except the font sizes and text alignment are different. I'm starting with 030520_90.html

general aesthetics
Quite good, really. Entries are actually better, visually, than the archives, except the table is still left-aligned. The font size is small but since the letter spacing has been fiddled with, it works well. Black text on grey background - very legible. The text is centred, though. That's going to annoy me by the time I've read 20 entries. Then in 030530_20.html the text size changes - much bigger. More legible, but doesn't look as good as the small size used previously.
2.5 points

layout
I would basically describe this as minimalist - despite the profusion of links. It looks good, though, and that's the main thing.
2.5 points

user-friendliness
Unvisited and visited links are the same colour - black - and also the same colour as the text, but links are in bold, so at least I can tell what's a link and what's text. The hover cursor is a crosshair and the hover effect is underline/overline, which isn't ideal but certainly tolerable. Otherwise it's fine.
0 points

navigation
Other than the colour thing, it's fine - organised and easy to understand.
0 points

continuity
Fairly regular updates.
2.5 points

comprehension
Good grammar and reasonable punctuation, a few typos (probably due to tiredness as a result of a busy life!) but otherwise good spelling. Very coherent, easily read.
2.5 points

content
An enjoyable read. Her personality comes through well and I feel like she'd be a fun person to know IRL. I experienced some slight confusion when she said "college" and then "uni", but on seeing mention of her A levels it was clear - she's English. Neato. :) I was slightly annoyed by the inclusion of some blog-type content such as quiz results and memes, but otherwise everything was good.

We went to a pub that Dave used to take me in all the time and it was really weird, but I had to do it. I was sat at the same table we used to sit at, not being his girlfriend, and it was okay.
Socialising with siblings.

I've actually done some revision today, some British History, which has left my brain dribbling out of my ears. I called in sick (or rather Rachel called for me) in work on Saturday night - I was in a foul mood as you can tell if you read the entry. But I got to go to Rachel's bbq. Woohoo. And I smoked in front of her mother, which really was more scary then smoking on front of my own mother. I'm 18. It's very sad.
Happy Days.

2.5 points
5 bonus points

contact
Email and guestbook, both obvious.
5 points

link back
Yep, on the reviews page.
5 points

extras
Hit counter in the template.
2.5 points

my comments

It would help enormously if the visited link was a different colour - perhaps #666666, or #800080, which would go very nicely with the mid-grey background. And I really did like the smaller body text better - it suited the template more than the larger size. Consider changing back? Otherwise, 2.5 bonus points for being a cow person. ;)

Archive structure is good - archiving is by the month.

scores
Total negative points: none
Total positive points: 25
Number of neutral scores: 2
Final score: 75/100 plus 7.5 bonus points

moo review