Artiste

Artiste
http://ercoire.org/artiste
Reviewed on 29 October 2008

Site Name & Layout

The name Artiste is nice and easy to remember. It's short and to the point, which I like. My first impressions of your layout are very good. It's dark, but the colors really stand out. I love the way you made the navigation blend into the layout, but without making them hard to find. The one thing I don't like is that the site name is at the bottom of the page. I would rather see it up at the top. The brushes you used look amazing. The photograph is nice, too, but I think you could have blended it in better with the rest of the layout. As it is now, it looks like it was just stuck on there at the end instead of flowing with everything else. The way the flowers are on top of the photograph in the bottom right corner, that's how the whole thing should be blended. Here is what I'm talking about:
You should do this with the flowers on the left top corner as well. Another thing I noticed, which you can also see in the above screenshot, is that your cutenews width needs to be adjusted. There is an unceccessary bottom scrollbar that is bugging me. The CSS looks amazing; I love that you've incorporated colors from the layout into your CSS. The background of your pages is nice, too.

Content

Moi: Wow, your autobiography includes a lot of information. After reading this, I feel like I really got to know you. I love that you included that information about China. Some people really are very ignorant. Your favorites page includes a lot of information as well! This sentence is awesome:
Yes, this is named boombox, because I really do wish to own one and place it on my shoulder while walking down these streets
I haven't heard of many of the bands you've listed, maybe I'll download a few of their songs and check them out. You've also listed your favorite TV shows, movies, and random things that you like. Maybe you could add some of your favorite foods?
Tu: You have your rules at the top of the page. This is good since they are more likely to be read here than on their own separate page. Let's check out your icons since they come first on the list. These look very nice, I epsecially love the third one, that says "Forever". I suggest centering them just to make the page look nicer. Your bullets also look good, they are pretty standard actually. I like the hearts. The first one on the third row is a broken image, though. (7.gif)sd Next are your Photoshop actions. You only have one here but it looks great. Again, I suggest centering. Also, add the border="0" code to your image so that blue border will not be there. Your emoticons are nice, I am using a set on my blog. The one thing I suggest is to add some different types because most people make the same kind you have here. Tiny circles or squares with faces are the "emoticon fad" right now apparently. Maybe you could make some with flowers or beach balls or something... How is it that I've never noticed that you have stocks on your site? Oh well, let's check them out. These are okay, I like the angle on the first two.
Le Site: Well, this section is pretty standard. You have the history of Artiste. I had no idea you'd been open that long! For some reason I thought your site was pretty new o.O You're pretty easy on rules for affiliate apps, so that's nice. And you have a credits page, which is standard. I suggest adding previous layouts or reviews your site has gotten.

Overall

All in all, I'm very impressed with your site, Julia. I can tell that you have worked hard on your site and layout. There are really only a few things that I think could be changed. I'd also love to see some more content added, like icons and photoshop actions. Keep up the great work, Julia!