Designer review thy self! Someone asked me how I would review my own site yesterday, so I gave it some thought. I won’t do a full review, but I’ll hit some of the high points, and the low points.
Style:
Perfect! OK, not exactly.
Too much stuff for instance. While the content layout is fairly good, the header could use a little more open space.
The style is also somewhat inappropriate. It’s a Western WordPress theme on a design related site. Not exactly what readers are looking for, and not reassuring that I can talk knowledgeably on the subject. I should use something more modern, and design oriented. That said, I’m not going to change it. This is my place to play. I change themes when I want, and I use any theme that amuses me. This site was intended a s a stress reliever, and if I start worrying abut traffic and appropriate themes then it becomes more like… work. I design for other people for a living, this is for me.
On the plus side, I do think that as Cowboy WordPress themes go, this current one works. Especially since I’ve removed the wolf image from the header. (A whim I grew tired of) If I had more cowboy themed content in this blog, this would be an appropriate theme to use.
I also think my use of images tends to be reasonably good. You may argue that my choice of images is bad, I can’t argue with that. I would however stand up for how I use them. I like to use carefully optimized images, repeating images, and overlapping images to give the effect of a single large image. This keeps my load time reasonable, and allows me to use a fluid layout which I’ve always been fond of. I’m particularly pleased with how the tooled leather texture on the left edge turned out. Again, you may not like it, but I think the repeat worked well, and the textural aspect works well with the other images.
Structure:
One word for you. WordPress! I keep it on one of the more recent editions, and I use fairly solid themes. While my load time is occasionally a little high, it’s a pretty solid site for the most part.
Content:
A random mix of politics, humor and design. If I’d stay on any one of those topics, my site statistics would be much better. I should also write more consistently, more less, anything that’s consistent… but I probably won’t.
What would I change:
Somewhat of a moot point, since I can change anything I want.
Summary:
Perfect! Well… it at least works for me. A good, structurally sound site with good layout and readability. Content is a little random as is the posting regularity. The themes are usually well functioning, but often inappropriate for the subject. Traffic could be improved by a series of known improvements which I’m likely never going to make.
Trackposted to Blog @ MoreWhat.com, DeMediacratic Nation, DragonLady’s World, Nuke’s news and views, Pirate’s Cove, Webloggin, Conservative Thoughts, and Pursuing Holiness, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
