:. Year 2005

Feat - The Mummy - January 05
With this layout, Stylissimo was reviewed by Sushi Reviews - thanks.
First Impression - 10% : Hmm, a nice an simple splash page. I see that you've listed the requirements for viewing your site, so I won't be using Mozilla to review it. ;) The splash images isn't bad, but the top and side edges look like it's been cut off. I like the liquid feeling of it though, nice effect used on the image. Gives it a nice flowy look. [8/10]
Layout - 25% : I see you're going for an Egyptian theme layout, very interesting. I like the choice of colors used, and the swirls in the background look great, especially how they cut across the main image. Sort of connects the whole layout together. The top image blend is ok, as in you blended the two images nicely together. But instead of focusing on both the characters, you should really emphasize one as your main character to make the layout stand out more. Because having 2 big heads stare back at you for a while can be a bit freaky, not to mention that your image then has lost its focus. The side bar looks nice alright, but you should really put the tageboard there as well, it'll look neater. Another suggestion would be to move your updates page to the main page so people can view your sites progress as soon as they visit. It'll also keep the page from looking so empty. After browzing through the subpages, I saw that their layout was not the same as the main page. That's usually fine, but YOUR subpages are way too plain. If you don't want to have a top image, that's fine, but please make it more than just a bg image and some little icon! Which brings me to another point: the link colors in your subpages sort of blend in with the background. Not only that, the side menu's (the one that slides out) color doesn't match your color theme, AND when you hover over those links, you can't read the text. You can only read the text when you hover precisely over the text. [15/25]
Content - 25% : You have a few layouts and some graphics for the visitors. Not bad. You also have few others things like cards and write a letter (beautiful stationary, by the way). I like how you have a list of everyone who has used a graphic from your site, it makes it look more proffesional. =) However, for your toybox, you don't even tell people the code to use to get a toybox like the one in your example (which I'm guessing, is done using Iframe). How are beginners supposed to use them then? The same applies to your "Paint Factory" and "build a menu". If you're not going to teach them how to use your graphics, at least have a link to a place that will. Last but not least, your selection of graphics were very little. Maybe you should add some more? [17/25]
Navigation - 10% : The side menu looks great on the main page, but like I mentioned in the layout section, it's horrible on the subpages. It's a cool effect, but as with all "cool effects", they get annoying after a while. Because they open up when the mouse hovers over it, it sometimes randomly opens up when my mouse glides over it by accident. -_-; Also, the page transition effect from splash to main page : get rid of it. They're cool for first-timers, but to most people, they are a pain in the butt. Also, in your subpages, you don't really need the "close window" link at the bottom. Because if you click on it, well, your site is gone. You don't want newbies or careless people to leave your site by accident, do you? [7/10]
Originality - 15% : The egyptian theme you used for your layout is definitely original. But the free graphics you offer...hmmm...lots of brushes used. I don't have anything against using brushes, but when all you do is slap them over your graphic, then calling them your own, that's not original. You really should credit the brush authors for them. [9/15]
Code - 5% [5/5] Errors - 10% : No broken images or links, so kupos to you on that. However, some of your sentences sound funny. Ex: "you can find nice friends for to start a beautiful correspondence". I guess English isn't your mother language. [9/10]
Extra : I don't mean to be harsh, but those free layouts you're offering, it doesn't seem like you put a lot of effort into making them. I've seen some of your past layouts, and can tell that you have some designing experiences. Yet those graphics you offer, it looks like a newbie made them. There's a pic of a celebrity, some brushes slapped all over, and presto, that's what I'm seeing. If you're going to offer people free graphics, offer them your best, or don't offer at all. It'd be much better if you went for quality instead of quantity. Especially with them number of design sites out there, there is a lot of competition. Another thing that I absolutely can NOT agree with is one of your rules : "V You must sign the guestbook or the tag-board before to request a layout. If you do not sign it Stylissimo will not make your layout." Guestbooks e tagboards were not meant as a way to see if people read your rules or not. People should be able to leave comments or suggestions there on their free will, and not be forced by some ridiculous rule. What you're doing is basically asking people to praise your site, even when they may not even like it. As a result, they make up lies, and you read lies. Nobody benefits from this. If I saw this rule (on any site, that is), I'd leave right away. Forcing people to sign your guestbooks for a graphic is just plain immature and dumb. [-2]
Grade - [68]60-69% - messed-up sushi: eep! you're site is ok, but it needs improvements.

Feat - Summer is coming - March 05

Feat - Pretty Princess Pink - March 05
With this layout, Stylissimo was reviewed by Graceful-Reviews - thanks.
Loading/First impression [5/7] Nice splash page with clear requirements. The lay-out looks gorgeous. Everything has its place. I like the fact that the main picture of the lay-out is somewhat smaller than the actual picture when you enter the different sections. Loading is ok.
Link Graceful Reviews [3/3] Found the text link.
Design/Lay-out [11/15] The lay-out looks very well designed. I like the way you built a lay-out around the picture of the ‘princess’.
Navigation [6/10] I think the sections are a bit abstract. As a visitor, I don’t know what to expect in the sections, which means I cannot search for something specific.
Content [12/20] Stylissimo: the things I found in this section belong at the ‘end’ of the web page, in my opinion. I don’t think the rules have found their right place here. Clients: I think ‘portfolio’ isn’t the right name for this section which contains a huge list of people who requested a lay-out or something. A portfolio is something in which belong examples of lay-outs etc which you made. The ‘works’ section needs this name. Services: you explained clearly which services you offer. Though I don’t think this review part fits in a design web site, the same thing applies for the host section. Gifts: you’ve got a lot free goodies in this section. Even this is more like a portfolio than the list you’ve got in the clients section. Leaving: I found very common things in here.
Originality/Creativity [20/25] You show your creativity in this whole web site, as you make lay-outs for others. The concept is nice.
Errors [0/5] In my opinion there are too many grammatical mistakes, spelling mistakes and broken links. That’s why you don’t get any points here. Even if English isn’t your first language, there are too many mistakes.
Overall [10/15] I think there are too many elements which don’t fit in a design website. I suggest that you make a different web site for your reviews.
Bonus points [0/5] No bonus points
Total without bonus: [67/100]

Feat - Mermaid - March 05
With this layout, Stylissimo was reviewed by Angela of Raving Bitch Reviews - thanks.
first impression 7/10 Splash page wasn't crowded, was actually plain to be honest. It had the requirements on it, which sort of served its purpose. The layout wasn't even that good, to be honest. Anybody can put a picture of a mermaid and use some brushes and make a layout. I'll admit, it's unique, but not my favourite layout. No popup ads, and it didn't take a long time to load.
code 5/5 Right in the left Iframe
errors 5/10 Some of your english doesn't make sense. When clicking on links from the layout, it goes into an entirely new layout. Kind of annoying, to be honest. This isn't really an error, but just something annoying.. you talk in third person. "Stylissimo will do this for you. And Stylissimo will do that for you". Why not just say "We do this ...." instead of always using your site name?
CSS 6/10 Your CSS code isn't valid. Fix it.
layout 15/30 As I said, I don't think your layout is that great. You can tell someone who's been doing web design for a MONTH to make the same layout as you, and they probably could. It's too simple, and it's plain. The iframes are too short, and the layouts use the same image all the time. If you have different layouts, use different images. I've never seen a mermaid layout, so I'll give you props for originality. But seriously, your layout isn't the best.
content 17/20 I guess you offer a good amount of things, for a design site. Layouts, buttons, icons etc. and at least it looks like you took time on those. The "Italianissimo" page could use some work. You should have words in parentheses ( ) so visitors will know how to pronounce the words. I had no problems, considering I'm Italian as well, but what about those visitors who aren't Italian? It would just be easier if you added that in.
return factor 3/5 Not too likely that I would return.
navigation 9/10 At least it was easy to find :)
bonus +2 I like the Italianissimo page, and the free buttons that you offer. And that's about all.
comments I think you can do a LOT better with your layouts. I looked at the wallpapers you offer, and you seem to have done better on them than on your layout. It doesn't matter if you need a layout up in a certain time, it's best to always take your time with it. Even if Italian is your first language, try to write English as best you can, and get someone to look it over for you at least. Some of your words aren't right, and some don't make any sense whatsoever. I think you can do a lot better on your site. I've seen better sites than this.
Total Score 64/100

Feat - Joaquin Phoenix - April 05

Feat - Violets - May 05

Feat - Fresh Morning - May 05

Feat - Fresh Fruits - May 05

Feat - Old Passion - June 05
One little gift from Skittle-Pop!
Comments ::
Stacey:: Funky polaroid layout! It's so awesome!
Leslie:: wow, your new layout is lovely Awesome work, i love how its in pictures.
Natalie:: I'm so jealous of this layout. It's so pretty!
Katie:: Wow! This layout is so amazing! you're awesome, keep the great work up!

Feat - Colin Farrell - June 05
With this layout, Stylissimo was reviewed by Kafkaesque Reviews - thanks.
Splash Page 0/5 No splash page here, just a vast ocean of graphics designs. Even in a 1280x800 resolution your graphics take up a lot of room. When the page is first loaded, the only thing I see besides the graphics is the first header of your content, which isn’t much. Although this layout is compatible across browsers, minus that javascript reload, the layout is very graphics heavy and would be hellish on slower connections. I notice that you use iframes for the button rotations and tagboard. Iframes aren’t compatible with all browsers, though the main page of your site is still viewable without them. The sub links however, are not since the information is in an iframe. This is something to keep in mind for older browsers. Iframes work in IE 3, NS 6, iCab, WebTv Plus, Opera 4.0, Lynx 2.8.2, Mozilla M12 Firefox and anything later (Source).
First Impression 4/5 You have a very beautiful and crisp layout design. But like I said, even in my screen all I see is graphics and nothing of the layout content. Because this is a graphics site, it’s good to show off the best work you can in your own layout. I love the feel of the layout also; soft blues and aquatic life. Makes me want to get some lemonade or something.
Layout 8/10 One thing I noticed is the “Open your Eyes” banner on the top left hand of the screen overlaps your layout in smaller resolutions. I know that it’s just the way the code is set up, and in larger resolutions it’s pushed over to an empty space that doesn’t interfere with your graphics. Maybe move it to a links page or something since your sub link layouts don’t take up as much of the screen. As for your main page layout, I like the set up you have. Like I said, you have very large graphics that I would suggest either breaking into smaller pieces to put together (this would make your loading time faster) or have two version of your layout: graphics intense and Graphics Light. The layout for your sub links is very nice. I see you used the graphic that’s at the bottom of your main page for these layouts. The graphic isn’t as large, which is good for loading time, and it fits into 800x600 browser windows perfectly. The graphics are also very sharp and the same great quality as your main page layout. It’s interesting how your links take on a green color to match the layout instead of blue. It fits better and you keep it consistent, so it works well.
Navigation 4/5 The first piece you have on the side bar is “Coming up /// June, 22” but you don’t have any news under it. You have a gift dog and a link to a news sub link in another section. You don’t need three exclamation point marks after “say hi to Toby,” one is enough. I would suggest putting more substance into this small section: what sections are you planning to add? What new graphics are you working on? etc. After you list the future plans, then you can link the older news section directly. It would look more organized then saying “Go here and then click on news.” The links under “Navigation” look good and in a logical order. Are those grape icons next to each link? They’re cute, but they don’t really fit with the layout: nothing else in your layout is purple, and though grapes are delicious picnic food, you have a fish/water/butterfly theme going on so they don’t really fit. Use graphics of bubbles or something that fits the theme. The first link reading “Style /// Passions” is a bit ambiguous compared to the links below it. You are very straightforward with the description of the links (black font) in every one but the first. Saying something like “About me and the site” would work. The “Past Layouts” should be in a sub section about the site. The links leading to the older layouts is formatted like the other iframe sub information inside of your links. The links under this are fine; “button rotation” and “other.” Under the “credits” you have a bunch of buttons that at first looked like the requirements to view your site correctly. It’s probably just coincidence. Thanks for the link at the very bottom.
Content 8/10 I’m going to dive right into the first link “Style /// Passions” Like I mentioned earlier, I like the layout for the sub links of your site. So this is the “About” section for you and your site? I would change the introduction sentence so it reads something like “This section is about me and this site” instead of “Something about me and this site.” It’s a fragment the way you have it, and it looks like something you threw in at the last minute. The links are good. I would suggest having the “About” section come before the “News” section, it seems like a more logical order. It’s also a neat effect having the amount of colons plus one for each link going down the line. It creates a nice ripple effect for the links. The small icon links underneath are cute. The house and mail letter I understand, but I had to click on the star to get that it’s your guestbook. I would make that one more clear. It’s kind of a strange spot to have a guestbook though. Into “News” Are all of these updates for the same date? Why does the top text say “See the latest news: June 2005”? I would suggest putting a date by each of the updates you have. Going to “About” Judging by the first sentence, you’re combining the information about you and your site together? As long as this doesn’t make the page excessively long, like yours, then this is alright. Separating them if they become too long is something to keep in mind in case you decide to expand on this section one day. You don’t have much information under “The Owner” besides “Hello I am J” Add things like how long you’ve been into web design or what you like the best. Let the visitor get a feel for who you are (without going overboard obviously) so you are more then just the letter J to them. Under “About this site” you should change “Stylissimo Designs Production was born in a hot afternoon…” to “…was born on a hot afternoon” In the next sentence it should read “It’s an Italian production born in Rome to be exact.” You have extra prepositions that aren’t needed to get your point across. In the next sentence where you say “…you can see it with the latest Internet Explorer…” it would read better as “…and is best viewed with the latest Internet Explorer.” This is because your website is still viewable in other browsers and resolutions, but it’s best viewed with the following recommendations. Down under “My Lovely Pet” you can add “black” to the list of describing words in the first sentence. It will read “I have a lazy, black sausage dog named Joy” I would used “name Joy” instead of “called Joy” because it seems more personal: I named my son John, I call my doll Fluffy. The dog is very cute *pets* I would put alt/title tags on the images of your dog. In the information under it, I would suggest putting “last updated’ dates by them. By example I mean “The latest book I bought. June 24 Mary Renault /// The Persian Boy.” Lastly for this section, I would better separate the information about you from the site information. Go through and collect everything you’ve written about yourself, then put together all of the information about your site. This will organize what you have much better. Going over to “Art.” I would recommend expanding and rewriting your introduction paragraph here. What did you use to create them? How do you feel about them? Do you like the ending result compared to the initial idea? etc. Also in your introduction, you can change the first sentence to say “This is my art, so please don’t steal what isn’t yours.” Then say about bandwith stealing (hot linking) and altering the credit watermark. I would also suggest adding alt/title tags to the thumbnails. It’s good that each picture opens in a new window because they would never fit into the small iframe without scrollbars. Also, doll number 3 has a broken link. As a final note, the placement of your name to credit yourself to the doll’s creation is in a spot where it can be easily edited out. I would suggest moving the signature so it’s at least overlapping some part of the image so it will be easy to tell if someone stole it and edited the picture. You have a good graphics editor, so you can fade the signature so it’s not overly disruptive to the image itself and make it overlap near the bottom. And now to “Drawings” Before I say anything about this section, to better differentiate between “Art” and “Drawings” you can list one as “computer art” and the other as “hand drawn” so the visitor has a better idea about what kind of art they will be viewing. It will also keep your more organized when you update the artwork. At the top in your introduction, “My Art II” Isn’t needed. I would also mention the different medium use of this art work in your introduction paragraph. It seems you copied and pasted the introduction from the “Art” link, so same things apply to this page also. All pictures open in a new window and nothing is broken. Good job. I would also suggest adding alt/title tags to each picture: maybe say what they are from or if they are original work etc. Going to “Past Layouts” This is the same link that you linked on the main page for the visitor to see the past layouts, only this time it’s inside the smaller layout instead of full screen. In the first sentence “layout” needs to be plural since you are talking about more than one layout. In the third sentence, it would better read “If you want to comment about any of the layouts, you can email Stylissimo with the subject “Stylissimo Layout. All other subject headings will be ignored.” I’m not sure why you say that you won’t read any layouts without the title “Stylissimo Layout,” or if you meant that you won’t read any emails about layout with another title. This isn’t clear and it makes you sound very unfriendly. I was confused by the last sentence where you mentioned that this section was where you put website reviews since you just established that this is a showcase for former layouts. I would suggest either making a different section just for reviews you’ve received, or making a link under the reviewed layout leading to the review text. This will make the page smaller since there was a lot of scrolling involved on this page. Where you have the email link set up, you have it coded incorrectly. Instead of “mailto:achille_ettoreDELETETHIS@yahoo.it” you need to take out the DELETETHIS part or the email won’t work. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve never seen a yahoo address ending in .it before. On the “4004” layouts, there is not only unnecessary horizontal scrolling, but it took a while to load. You crammed a lot of layout thumbnails onto this page that I would suggest dividing into a few pages or separating the reviews you received. This will speed up your loading time and make the page not so long. The unnecessary horizontal scrolling comes from September’s layout (with the island and umbrella). You show the splash and main page for this month. I would suggest either taking out the splash or using a line break to separate them instead of having them right next to each other. Heading over to “Pieces of Rome” Yay pictures! I would suggest altering the first sentence to read “I took these photos myself, so don’t save or hotlink any file.” I would also suggest writing a brief summery by each photo to describe what exactly we’re looking at or what you were doing etc. Each picture has a story to tell, and it would be fun to write. I would also suggest putting alt/title tags on each of the pictures. The first picture is broken. It’s good you have each picture opening up in a new window; these are very beautiful pictures you took. Great job. Going now to “My little Garden” In the first sentence of your introduction, I’m not sure what you mean by “I love to cure them.” I would also change “attention” in the first sentence to “care.” I like how you started adding comments under the pictures about your plants. I can tell you really care for them ^.^ Finally, I would add alt/title tags to the pictures. The “Say What” link is a cute idea, like a “shout out” board almost. You have something like this one the main page, only that’s automatically updated and refreshed every few seconds. The title of the link was a bit confusing; I thought this was a caption contest at first. Nice idea here though. Now that I’m finished there, I’m heading to “Clients /// About you” First, I would change “About you” to “For you” in the title. The introduction paragraph here needs to be expanded on. What exactly are you offering to people, what steps should they take etc. Going into “Rules” first. The second sentence needs rewritten: “Before you use my graphics, please read all of the rules first” gets the point across much more clear. I have no idea what you mean by “Stylissimo host your dream baby!” Under the first set of rules, you reiterate needlessly. Simply saying that anyone using your graphics needs to provide a link back as long as they are using your graphics, and to not delete your signature from the graphics is enough. Of course you can write this out however you want to. Also, in the second paragraph, you need “it’s” instead of “its” (“It’s” is an abbreviation of “it is” so say the sentence out loud to see which one makes sense) Number III is a restatement of the rules in number I only with a link about how to link you back. Number IV make it sound like there is a team working on this site instead of one person. Using “We’ll” (meaning we will) implies more than one person. I was under the impression that it was just one person running this, correct me if I’m wrong. If it is just you, then change it to “I’ll.” In the final sentence, rewrite to “Because this is a free service, don’t bother me if you don’t like your layout.” Although this sounds very cold and unfriendly, I’m not sure if that’s what you intended or not. Under V, the first sentence should read “You must sign the guestbook before you request a layout.” You also need a comma after “it” in the next sentence. Under VII, the first sentence should read “Please remember that we delete all of the files (layouts, banners, awards etc.) after sending them to you, so please don’t ask for an extra copy later.” Finally, under VIII, change “have” to “has.” Going now to “Portfolio.” This is another very long page. I’m glad to see that your graphics shop is doing so well, but you should definitely divide the list so the page isn’t so long. You can divide them by date, month etc. Also, because this is a portfolio, visitors want to see your work, so because sites tend to change their layouts after a while, make a screen capture and link it in the description of the layout you made. What are the visitors supposed to get from the description “Xena Layout”? They want to see a visual of the work you did. It’s probably too late to get old screen captures from way down the list, but it can be something new to start. It would defiantly demonstrate your credibility as a graphics designer. After |2|, the final “|” was pushed down to the next line creating a blank space. This makes it look like an unintentional blank space. If you spell out “And” instead of putting +, more than just the “|” will go down to the next line so it doesn’t look so out of place. Now heading over to “Works.” Alright, so here are the graphic examples I was talking about from the section above. All of your layouts are very high quality and very professional looking. You need more spaces between the “See them” and the next batch of layouts so everything isn’t scrunched together. Near the bottom, why are some graphics full sized thumbnails and not included in bunches? Are these the newer ones? I would suggest some description by them and alt/title tags to identify them. For your introduction paragraph, I would take out “As you can see” and start with “here you can…” Going to “Reviewed” now. I thought this was just a graphics site, I didn’t know you reviewed web pages also. What kind of sites do you review? Do you only review the layouts since that seems to be your expertise? I would also not organize them so the newest ones are at the bottom, but in the reverse order: newest ones at the top so right away the visitor can see your most recent. This page is really long, so I would highly suggest breaking it down into smaller sections or dividing the reviews into smaller groups of some kind. Examples can be how well they scored or what types of sites they are. And finally to the “Waiting Room” I like the idea of an “all purpose waiting room” for reviews and graphics. Because the link above was about reviews, I assumed that the waiting room had something to do with requesting a review. I like how you divided each subject into categories. You should put a requested date by each person so the visitor can tell how often you update this page. I would also suggest linking “Want to be next” to the request form that your clients fill out. Now going to “Services /// Use Me” Interesting choice of words there. “Free Web Site” This sounds like a link to a page like Geocities or something because you have already established that this is a free service. You don’t need to reiterate “free” again. In your introduction paragraph, you should make sure to mention that your client has to sign up for webspace somewhere first. This can be confusing to many new people who don’t really understand how everything works and will assume that you are giving them space for their webpage also. you need a paragraph skip between the first rule and the paragraph above it. Without it, the site has a very cramped look to it. The first rule should read “Carefully read all of the rules.” It makes more sense to read that way. You should have another paragraph break after the last rule and the next paragraph. The next paragraph after the rules seems like a reiteration of what you said in the “Rules” section, so it’s technically not needed. I’m not entirely sure what you’re saying in the final paragraph, or what you mean. Rewrite for clarity. Under this you have images going 58x555 pixels long, which is huge considering the small height and width of the iframe. You definitely need to scale down the layout previews. Going now to “Free Button.” By the first sentence, you seem to be setting a limit that it’s one button per person, unless I’m misreading. The second sentence would read better as “All you have to do is pick a button from the choices below, fill out the bottom form and wait for me to send it to you.” You don’t really need to tell the visitor to pick a button they like, or that you’ll send the button ready to use; both go without saying. In the form below, instead of “Comments go here” should that be for “button text” instead, or are you just going by whatever the visitor puts for “Site name”? Heading over to “Host” Is this a directory you set up for website looking for people to host? That’s a neat idea, but it wasn’t clear at first. I was still under the impression that this was a service from your site, that’s where the confusion was. No problems in the “Button Rotation” or “Win an Award.” Going to “Review your Site” In the introduction paragraph, it should read “Now you can send your website in to be reviewed, just fill out the form below.” Under the rules “Credit” should be singular. The first rule is one long run on sentence that can easily be broken down: “I will try to get your web site down as soon as possible, but I have a life so please don’t email me asking if I’m finished. Stylissimo is a free service, remember that.” Under the second rule, it should be “constructive criticism.” In the third rule, you repeat the same idea multiple times. It would be easier to read “You can send your site in for a second review, but I won’t review it more than twice; two is the limit.” Moving right along to “Gifts from Me to You” Looking over the links briefly, it seems like most of this is pre-made graphics for the visitor. The introduction can definitely be expanded on, though there isn’t much more to say about it. The “Pixel” section can be renamed “Adoption” to be more specific of the content inside. In the introduction paragraph, it would make more sense to read “Here are many nice pixels ready to be adopted. Pick which one you like and grab the code, and don’t forget to link me” The only problem here is that you don’t list any codes under the graphics that you mentioned in the intro. You should make a text area under the adoption boxes so people can set up a toy box like you did. Remember, not every visitor will know enough code to set it up like that. Under “Blinkie Maker” you misspelled “paste” under #3 of the rules. One big problem with this page is the excess scrolling. The area where you put the blinkie together is so far to the bottom that you have to drag the image you want, scroll down as far as you can, drag some more and so on until you finally reach the box. In a larger space this would work great, but it’s hard to use here because of the space problem. Alright, to “Paper Letter” This section could more appropriately be named “Stationary” because that covers both letters and envelopes. I like how you linked a pen pal site on this page, it’s very appropriate. I like the organization on this page; you divided the stationary up by size, and the thumbnails are fast loading. Good job. Going to “Wallpaper” There is, again, a lot of scrolling on this page. I would suggest dividing the wallpapers up by type across a few pages for faster loading time. Also, for your introduction, saying “Here are some nice, ready to use wallpaper for you” would be better. Finally, all new pictures should be at the top instead of the bottom so they are in plain site for the visitor looking for your newest work. Under “Background” because you are offering more than one background, the word should be plural. Also, in the introduction, it would be better to say “Here are some nice backgrounds ready to use…” You have great organization on this page also how you divided the backgrounds up for your visitors. Under “Icons” I would suggest dividing the icons up by category for easier browsing. You seem to use the same introduction for every page, so I won’t beat the dead horse by saying how the fix your introduction paragraph. You made some really beautiful Livejournal icons Nothing wrong with “Smilies” Under “Cards,” your first sentence should read “You can send e-cards via email attachment or snail mail them to a friend!” Also, I would suggest hyperlinking the thumbnail instead of the number beside it because the number is so small. Under “Award” I would change the link title to “Win an award” because I assumed that this was a page for awards this page has won. Under “Italianissimo” in the first sentence it should read “Short lessons for anyone who wants to learn Italian!” I’m sorry I can’t be of much help for this section; I speak English and enough French to know how to proclaim that I’m naked. I’m not sure what the graphics stating “Italy/RM” mean, maybe you can clear that up? Under “Dolls” the first Doll under “Ginger” is broken. And finally, onto “Leaving /// Bye bye friend” Nothing wrong with “Affiliates,” “Link Me, “ or “Helpful Links.” Under “Bye bye” the second sentence would make more sense with “Well, I hope you enjoyed browsing…” I like the graphic at the end, very cute.
Spelling/Grammar 3/5 I’m going to assume that English isn’t your first language, but don’t take that as discouragement. Though some sentences were a bit awkward to read, you got the idea across. The biggest problems were the needless repetition of same idea in an attempt to get your point across and the misuse of prepositions (from, about, for etc). Have someone proofread your work for you before you post it on your site. I commend you greatly for creating an entire site in a language that isn’t your first.
Originality 8/10 This is a graphics site, so obviously all of the designs are you own unique creation. I also saw many extras on your page making it more than just a site for graphics. It’s good to appeal to a wider audience like you are, so keep experimenting with different kinds of layouts and designs. Always challenge yourself.
Final Comments Obviously the strongest part of this page was your graphic creations. They are all beautiful and crisp. A lot of them started to look the same from what I glanced through them: gigantic head graphics with content under them. Go for more variety in your work, but you work is still very well done. What I would suggest for improvements is having someone read over the text before you publish it. Read it over yourself to see if it makes sense to you also. Another thing is loading time for your layout; you make large, very graphics intense layouts that would kill slower computers. Besides these, I’d say you have a really good site. And lastly, I would return to your site even though I make my layouts myself. I personally liked your stationary page and because I’m a big snail mail letter writer I got a kick out of it. This is what I mean by providing for a larger audience; I probably would have no use for your layouts, but I liked your stationary.
Final Mark: 35/50

Feat - Star-Wars - July 05
With this layout, Stylissimo was reviewed by NS Reviews - thanks.
Load [5/10]: Took some time to load, especially the top image. Maybe try slicing that image in Photoshop or another graphics program.
First [8/10]: I looked at all three skins and was stunned up the skill in the images. Certainly made me want to stay a bit longer.
Look [15/20]: The skins are great - it gives the visitor an option of what they want to look at, although all three skins are something to do with Star Wars. Everything is neatly set out and accessible. The only thing I have to complain about is the black - you've used a black background for all three skins. Maybe try some different colours?
Stuff [8/10]: Plenty of content, heaps of free stuff for the visitor, which is what I love to see! Maybe you could have a couple more 'makers'?
Muck-ups [10/10]: During my surfing of your site, I didn't come across any errors, broken images or broken links.
Yours? [8/10]: All your content seems to be pretty original - I've seen wallpapers, LJ icons, backgrounds, etc. on other sites, but well done on being original with most things.
Conclusion [16/20]: All in all, I think your site is really good - it's neat, clean, and well-coded. Well done :)
Overall:Overall: 70/100

Feat - Ewan McGregor - July 05
Comments ::
Jenny:: I love your layouts! Very cool!
Prue:: I really adore your site, its amazing!! look like I'll definitely be back!!!
Hanisah:: Wow..your site really impressed me.
Rita:: Wow, sexiness! Hayden AND Ewan! I love it!
With this layout, Stylissimo was reviewed by Eclectic62442 - thanks.
What's a design site doing in the personal site/blogs listing? Oh well...There's nothing much to say about your splash page. It does look a bit unbalanced though, with the text and 80x15 buttons aligned left, then the bravenet counter in the center. You might want to look into fixing that up. Okay, I'm going to go with the third skin. Coincidentally, it doesn't actually look like you're using a proper site-skinning tutorial, you're just substituting three different main index pages. If you go to CodeGrrl here (http://www.codegrrl.com), they have an excellent site-skinning tutorial. It requires php though, but it seems as though your host has php, so that shouldn't be a problem. Oh yum, Ewan McGregor. *drools* The layout does seem a bit random though. I mean you have Ewan....then some leaves....then some butterflies...the some coins.....some pencils....some paperclips. It's all very random. Perhaps I'm just not artistic enough to appreciate it. I know that you specify that you need a 1024x768 and above resolution to fully appreciate this site, but if I were you, I would seriously think about adapting my layouts so that visitors with 800x600 resolutions can also access your site. In this modern age of multiple browsers, multiple resolutions, and multiple internet connection speeds, it's crucial to be able to cater for all possible visitors. Getting past the picture, I come to your content. The first thing that comes to mind, is that you should seperate your sidebar and your content more. Right now, they're so close that I feel like I could start reading something in the sidebar, then accidentally continue reading on into the content. I have a feeling that the tagboard (being long and skinny), would work better in the sidebar, rather than in the main content frame. Oooh, someone's got a Star Wars fixation. Haydn, Natalie, and Ewan layouts, plus a former SW layout? :D I'm not going to go in-depth on your content, simply because I don't know how to review an image-site, and simply because I'm not artistic enough myself to learn how to appreciate other people's images. Generally speaking though, you seem to have a lot of good content, that covers everything that an image site should cover. Under "About" though, I can't help but feel, that even though you're an image-site, you should have something more than "Hello I am J." J? Who's J? Anyway, I'm going to give your site a 3 out of 5. The designs not bad, especially since I'm viewing in 1024x768. If I was viewing in 800x600 though, I would only give you a 2, or perhaps even a 1, so keep that in mind. You can't just assume that everyone uses 1024x768 now. I know this a lot shorter than I normally write for a site, but like I've said, I don't know how to review an images site. I hope it's been helpful anyway.

Feat - King Arthur - July 05

Feat - Star Wars - Agoust 05
With this layout, Stylissimo was reviewed by Umbrella Reviews - thanks.
First Impression First thing I see is a splash page. Now, I don’t really like splash pages unless they serve a specific purpose, such as warning of potentially offensive content (such as nudity etc.). Other than for your visitors to select a ’skin’, your splash is not really needed. The second thing that strikes me is the really small sized text. I hope this is just on the splash page, but then I enter and am horrified discover that this is the text size you’ve used throughout the whole site. Too small text is one of the biggest no-no’s in website design. If I have to squint to read your content, chances are I’m not going to stay very long. As it is, I increase the text size via my browser which then produces extra scrollbars, but it’s worth the sacrifice. Back to the splash: I don’t like that you have these ‘requirements’, but more of that later on. The one that stands out as an annoyance to me is that you are requesting that your visitors are using Windows. I know designs are often optimised for a particular browser, but this is not at all dependant on the operating system. As a part-time Linux user, I really don’t like to read this, but it’s not just Linux users you’re alienating - an ever increasing number of people are using Macs and you are ostracising them too. I’m not impressed by the manual ’skinning’. You evidently have access to a PHP enabled server since you have a plugboard on your ‘main’ page, so you could easily be using PHP to ’skin’ your site. There are both ready-made scripts and tutorials available to help in this - I’d recommend taking a look at Indiscripts, CodeGrrl and Tutorialtastic. Since your state that your site is a design site, rather than a graphics site, I feel comfortable reviewing the site and the design elements but I am not qualified enough to review the quality of your graphics. If that’s what you’re looking for, you picked the wrong reviewer. If not, great! I hope you’ll find my review useful.
Layout I don’t really know what to say about your layout as a whole because you have a splash, an anchor page and another layout for the rest of the site, so there’s not really one layout to review, as such. I think it would be better just to mention aspects of the layouts as I see necessary and not to delve too deeply into your coding because for the most part that seems OK, but all that is overshadowed by the unordered fashion in which your site presents itself. If you really feel you must have a splash page, make it appealing. If I wasn’t here to review your site, but just visiting and I arrived here and was presented with your current splash page, I would be put off from entering. You have most of the ‘content’ aligned to the left, but a counter in the middle - it would be better if you kept it all the same. When browsing, your attention naturally falls to the centre of the screen and if you insist on a splash page, centre it. Make your splash short and sweet. If I have to enter via a splash page, I do not want to have to scroll to read what’s on the splash page, just to make sure I don’t miss some useful information. I’m just wanting to hurry up and get into your site. When reading the reviews you have done of other people’s sites, I was shocked to read that you find a splash page with requirements a necessity. Most people who are serious about websites do not like splash pages. If they have a specific purpose, such as to warn of explicit content, then I don’t mind so much but I hate all the pointless splash pages that tell me I must be using 1024×768 resolution, Microsoft Windows, and Internet Explorer (although at least you didn’t ‘require’ this). I’m a Linux fan, a Firefox user and I’m fond of 800×600 browser size - although if I like a site, I will switch to 1024×768 anyway but I resent being forced into this. I’m not especially keen on this greeny-blue colour so I was disappointed that all four ’skins’ use the same colour. In fact all four of the ’skins’ are generally so similar, that although you appear to be presenting your visitors with a choice of layout, there’s not actually much choice involved. Personally I quite like Star Wars, so I don’t mind the Star Wars layouts, but what about the visitor who doesn’t like Star Wars? It’s one thing just to have one Star Wars layout for your site, but to have all four ’skins’ themed on Star Wars, I feel is a little excessive. If you’d like to give your visitors a choice of layout, give them a real choice - have skins that are really different: use a different background colour or a different header graphic. On the subject of header graphics, they were all really tall. So tall, in fact that even at 1024×768 resolution, you have to scroll to read more than a couple of lines of content. It’s a nice graphic and all, but you’ve already distracted me with a splash page and now I’m keen to actually reach some proper content so I’m not best pleased to have to scroll right down to get to it. I like that you have images of your latest added graphics in the sidebar, it showcases work you’ve done and catches the eye of your visitor, so incites them to explore further. I like that your navigation menu first consists of the links, then a few additional words in way of further explanation. I also like how you link to your other ’skins’ in the form of buttons which actually represent the layout. Too often sites use buttons or text that doesn’t really give you any idea what the layout looks like but with your method, you do. I don’t really feel it’s necessary to display a screencap of your previous layout in the sidebar, but I suppose since it’s a design site, you’re displaying some more of your work on the main page, so I’m not going to oppose this too much. I very much like ’site of the month’ but I feel that this would be more effective if you were using these layouts for the whole site because as it is, it won’t get quite a much attention there and people may forget that your site has that feature. A button rotation is a button rotation, however it would be more effective if it there was this sidebar on every page because visitors will have to just refresh the main page to get a different site displayed, rather than it rotating ‘naturally’ as they browse the site. I’m not one for validation and your coding errors are mainly the kind of errors that I find acceptable, even though the validator does not. However, I don’t recommend displaying a button saying your site validates when it doesn’t. There’s not actually a great deal wrong with your coding as such but I don’t get the feeling that your site is particularly well coded either. After reaching your ‘main’ page and proceeding onto other pages to look at more of your site content, I’m dismayed to discover that these ’skins’ that you’ve made your visitors choose from are actually redundant from this point on: all the sections listed under navigation bring up a third differently designed page with an image next to a small frame with the rest of the content being brought up in the frame. It makes me wonder why you’ve gone to so much trouble to design four ’skins’ just to be used for one anchoring page and then use a different layout for all the content of your site, regardless of which skin your visitors selected on the splash page. I don’t see why you couldn’t have placed the frame on your ‘main’ page instead of having this new, different layout. I do like the ‘past layouts’ section, however I have a number of issues with the way you’ve chosen to organise it, which is why I’m mentioning it in the ‘layout’ section rather than the ‘content’ one. For starters, I do not like that the layouts are listed for oldest to newest. This works when you’ve only had a few layouts and they’re all on the same page, but when you’ve have so many layouts spanning a few years, I’m far more interested in your 2005 layouts than I am in your 2003 ones, so would much prefer to start with those. As it is, I had to get to the 2005 by going from the 2003 page to the 2004 page to access the link to the 2005 page. If you really want to keep your 2003 previous layouts page as the first page, link to all three years on this page so that it’s easy for your visitors to get to your more recent layouts. Another thing I found annoying when navigating this section is that I’d follow the content down to the bottom of the page, scrolling down in the frame but then when I reached to back, I had to scroll all the way back up to the top because the ‘back’ button would only take me back to the ‘about’ page instead of actually back one page. This is one of the biggest illustrations where using javascript to actually go back a page is much better than a manual HTML link (I mention this in more detail later on in the review). I’m not very keen that you display the reviews you’ve received for each layout underneath the screencap. In theory, this would be great but because you use such a small frame, it then means your visitors have to do much more scrolling and would be of particular annoyance to visitors who aren’t interesting in reading your past reviews. If you weren’t using such a small frame, this would work but as it is, I fear for visitors to the page after you’ve posted this review there because the amount of scrolling to get past this review is going to be long, to put it mildly. On a side note, I prefer many of your older layouts to these current ones.
Content Any pages that are not mentioned in this section are not missing because I haven’t viewed them, but because they are fine as they are and I don’t really have anything much to say about them. If I was to mention every single page in depth, this review would become much too long. After the splash, I’m hoping your main page actually has some proper content on it and isn’t just a glorified welcome page. I’m pleased to read the ‘about’ section which introduces what your site is and I like some of the features of the sidebar, but I am a little disappointed that your site updates are displayed on another page entirely and all you have to fill up the rest of the page is a tagboard and a plugboard and another Star Wars graphic. I’m not sure why you feel the need to have a tagboard and a guestbook and a further page where visitors can leave comments. However it is good that you’re encouraging interactivity and you’re chattering with visitors in the tagboard. One of the potential problems of a design site is that there’s not really a great deal of content for people who aren’t in need of any graphics or layouts, but you do have some features for them like the tag- and plugboards. You make other visitors feel quite welcome, which is nice. On your ‘about’ page you have “The owner
Hello I am J.” then you have a new paragraph with your age under another title and I’m struggling to explain my thoughts on this in words. I honestly can’t think of a reason why you’d have thought that was a good idea to do that. It would be much better if you’d combine this into one paragraph and maybe added a little more information too. It’s a similar story for the first part of your ‘about the site’ page - it would be better if you combined the two sentences into one. I’m assuming the ’skills’ section is meaning your skills in the following areas. I think this section would look better if you state either abover or below the list that they’re all out of 5 instead of having a /5 at the end of each set of stars. ‘About Rome’: you link to other sites about Rome, but anyone could do that. What would be really interesting would be to read a couple of sentences about Rome, as written by a Roman. That would be something more original and something personally I would love to read. ‘What I bought yesterday’, to be honest, isn’t very interesting to read. It’s a bit random - I’d expect that kind of this to be in a little ‘currently’ box on the sidebar of personal sites, not on an ‘about me’ page of a design site. I definitely wouldn’t go checking this page every day to see what you’d bought. However, your ‘last books bought’ and ‘books reading’ section are interesting. I like this. I love the ‘pieces of Rome’ page. It’s nice to see your lovely photos of your city, especially when it’s a city with many famous monuments like Rome, but what it’s missing is a caption for each photo. Same with ‘my little garden’. I like that you’re sharing your photos of something you enjoy and I like that you show how you’ve previously used photos of your own plants in your site’s layout. Your ’say what’ page presents itself a bit like a guestbook, but then you have another guestbook elsewhere and I can’t really see why you need two seperate pages for this. I like how each of the graphics you make are to be used by one person only. I don’t think you really need a ‘work’ and ‘portfolio’ pages. I was expecting ‘portfolio’ to be where you displayed screencaps of layouts you’ve made for people but it turned out that this was under ‘work’ and the portfolio page was just a list of sites that you’ve created graphics or layouts for. The problem with a list like this is that some of the people on the list will no longer be used your graphics, so it’s not the best way of showing your work off. I’d recommend combining the two pages and calling them portfolio, with the screencaps at the top of the page and then the list below, perhaps with the list in reverse order although I understand that this would take a lot of cut and pasting of code to reverse the list, but it would be more useful to the visitor to display the your most recent work first. The list is sort of easy to follow - it could be easier but it helps a lot that it’s the word ’site’ that links to the person’s URL and not more [+]’s. On your reviewing page, you display Stylissimo’s URL as www.goodbye.nu/~stylissimo - this is the only page on the site that you do this. Change it to match the rest of the site. (This will help improve your search ranking if people always link to you in the same way.) I like your ‘hosts’ page - it’s a good idea because people are often looking for free subdomain hosting. Your ‘gifts’ section has plenty of content which is important because your site is focused on creating designs for other people. Your blinkie maker is really cute. It’s a good idea and it’s well executed, however the buttons don’t actually blink, so they’re not strictly ‘blinkies’, plus the box is large enough that it can be used to make larger buttons that aren’t traditionally know as ‘blinkies’ either. I, for one, would be put off by the name ‘blinkie’ when they’re in fact not, so consider renaming it. Your range of stationery is a nice idea but I can’t really imagine anybody using that much printer ink on printing some writing paper on envelopes, but it these are something that’s proved popular, by all means keep them. I just find it a bit odd. Your ‘toy box’ section is cute, but I don’t really get what they are or how to use them. Some explanation here would be nice. I find it a little ironic that on your splash page, you require that your visitors are using 1024×768 resolution, but all your wallpapers are for 800×600. I very much like your ‘backgrounds’. I do so like nice patterns. I also like many of your 100×100 icons and adore your little smilies. Now, ‘italianissimo’ is a good feature. Again it’s something pretty unique, teaching the visitor some Italian phrases. It’s nice because it’s a bit of ‘you’ there on the site. My only comment would be that I am unfamiliar with Italian pronunciation, so my attempts at reading the Italian words would end up being pronounced completely wrong - it would be great if you could include the phonetics, or a little pronunciation guide. I don’t know why your buttons on the ‘link stylissimo’ page are numbered 01-12. I can’t see any reason for this. You have a nice range of 88×31 buttons, but you don’t have any buttons in other sizes, apart from blinkies. 100×35 is a popular button size and I’d recommend that you have at least one in this size, but consider creating more buttons in a wider range of sizes, to match the selection you give of 88×31 buttons. Most of your buttons are moving gifs, although you fortunately do have one stationary one. Your ‘affiliates’ page isn’t very well organised. It would be better if you categorised the links or provide some information on what the sites are about because I got fed up hovering over the [+]’s to see what the site name is and try to guess what kind of site it is. If I was visiting this page, I would not be inclined to hover over every link to try and find something I’d like. I like your ‘helpful links’ page: there are a good selection of links with useful headings but again it’s annoying to have to hover over the [+]’s to view the site URLs. Your ‘bye bye’ page is a bit pointless as a stand alone page. The little image and the thought behind that page is cute, but if you want to keep this ‘feature’, I’d highly recommend incorporating this bye-bye image onto a different page. ‘Site of the week’: I very much like this idea but it would be a better feature if you include a sentence or two on what the sites are about and why you have chosen them as sites of the week.
Final Comments OK, firstly here are a few things that I haven’t really found place for earlier in the review, but I feel are important points to mention. I don’t see why you need “pick one” twice on the splash page. The colour of your guestbook page really doesn’t fit in with the colour scheme of the rest of the site. You have quite badly named pages: instead of naming them style2.html and style3.html, name them clients.html and services.html. This will make it much clearer to your visitors what each page is about. You could even consider making folders named ‘clients’ or ’services’ and placing your other pages such as rules.html and award.html under those directories. The ‘home’ link on the bottom of every ‘content’ page takes you back to the splash, which is quite annoying because you then have to re-enter the site before you can find the navigation link you want. I think a javascript ‘back’ would work here if it is placed outside the frame. Throughout your site you vary between using ‘we’ and ‘I’ to represent your site. For example: “I will…” and “We will…” Decide which one you prefer and stick to it. It’s an either/or situation. I know some of what I’ve written might seem a little harsh, but the aim of a review is to help you better your site. I mean everything I say in the best possible way. So in summary of the rest of the review, I feel the two most important points I’ve raised are the following: 1) Increase your text size. The only way I could bear to browse your whole site was by increasing the size of the text via my browser and even then, it was a little on the small side. Even if you don’t listen to anything else I say, listen to this point. 2) I don’t understand why you have one ‘layout’ for your so-called ‘main’ page then a different for your actual content section. Instead of this news design with its teeny-tiny frame, place the frame (or even better, a div layer) on your main page. The things that most bugs me about your ’skins’ is that they are just used for the one page, the main page. You have four layouts just for that one page. Would I use your site, then? Maybe. Since graphics aren’t my forte, I may consider using a design site such as your own for the odd graphic. Looking at your work, I do quite like your graphics and designs. You don’t overuse brushes on your graphics, such is an annoying trend at the moment and it’s really refreshing to see good quality graphics that haven’t used an excessive amount of brushes. Would I visit again? Yes, I am interested in which of my suggestions you’ll take on board and I’d like check back in a few months time to see which of my points you’ve taken into consideration in the grand scheme of things.

Feat - Josh Hartnett - September 05
Comments ::
Jenny:: Very cool site! I really like how you can choose what layout to look at and green is my fave color! Keep up the good work!
Ashley:: Wow! Your really talented! I love your layout! It's so awesome! I loooooooove green!
Pansy:: Josh is cute

Feat - Desperate Housewives - September 05
Comments ::
Fromtheheart :: Overall its a very nice site. But the images load much to slow even on cable internet I would die if i was dial up. I think you need to put diffrent layouts on your skinning options you can use the desperate housewives but maybe use a diffrent color scheme on each one so people can have more of a variety.I love that you offer your vistor lots content.And some brownie points for the name I like it hehe.OH and it wont let me view your past layouts in your portfolio I dont know if thats because im on firefox or not but you should check that out :).

Feat - CSI Las Vegas - September 05
Comments ::
Normalsucks :: Wow you have a lot of stuff going on in this website. Lots of layouts to choose from.. that is good. Hey you even had a past layout of a painting by Caravaggio. Hawt. You sure offer the visitors a lot of stuff. I have no idea what visiting cards are though.. Odd. Overall it's got a lot of stuff going for it.
Whitecherry :: Very nice content, beautiful layout and I love your artwork. You've got a lot of creativity and sure you've got a great sense of style. Your site is awesome. Still got some things to work on.!

Feat - House M.D. - October 05
Comments ::
Polinadiab :: I like the way you make your design !! Your content is gorgeous, I really appreciaite your web site ! Hop ! In my favourites !
Kenzie :: You have a lot of good content, but the layout is confusing. I don't know why you have a splash page to pick your layout, but you're only choosing it for your main page. i don't like how everything else has the "house" layout.
Kp1832 :: I liked your site. Very soft with a nice header image.

Feat - Michael Rosenbaum - December 05
Comments ::
Hannah:: I love the brushes and the font, where did you get those from?
Zara:: I'm lovin the look of this place, it's gorgeous!
Ashley:: love the layout...love love love Smallville.
Vale:: Oh god I love Smallville and Michael aka Lex is so hot and sexy!
Fifi:: Man, that Michael Rosenbaum is hot!
Ranee:: This is an extremely sexy layout.