Dancing in the Rain
Site Name: Dancing in the Rain
Date Completed: March 2, 2008
First Impressions
When I first came to your site, I thought it looked strangely like Final Stop. I searched a bit, and found that you use the same template.
I also thought that your site used some, er, … bright colors.
Enter Page
n/a
Layout/Design
Your layout is a template, which is okay, but not the best. I won’t mark you down for it though. I’m guessing that you can customize it, so I will give you some suggestions.
In the color scheme, there’s a bit too much going on. All your colors are pretty bright, and they don’t match perfectly. I mean, you have brown and pink and blue and green, all in one layout! It’s very distracting. I’d pick about three colors, colors that match, and put those in your layout.
If you like the pink, you could keep the two shades of pink you have in there, and black or white.
If you like the green, you could use pale shades of green and blue, plus the blue you have in there.
If you like the blue, you could use the blue you have, a paler/darker shade, and white.
And if you like the brown, you could use what colors you have, but just get rid of the blue outline.
Here are some examples below. Unfortunately, your header was too complicated for me to match it to the color scheme, but you get the basic idea! 
Also keep in mind that you’d change the text colors to match the color scheme.
The header is… interesting, but, again, there’s too much going on. You have tons of lines and colors and effects. It needs to be simpler! Just because a layout’s simple doesn’t mean it’s boring.
I’d also rearrange your sidebar a bit. I’d put your “The girl” page first, then your “For your site” page, then your “For your graphics” page, then “The site.” I think that you can put “Romania” in your “The girl” page, is it so important that it needs to be on your sidebar? I’d also move your “Archives” up the sidebar to after the “Polls.”
Content
For Your Graphics
I think it’s a little bit pointless to have a link to this main page if you already have the subpages listed on the navigation. That’s all the page says anyway, so why bother having it? It’s just something else to take up space.
Brushes
I’m no brush expert, so I can’t really say anything about this page, but the brushes looked well designed and well done.
Patterns
Just from looking at the first folder of patterns, I can tell you that you definitely need to “step it up” with your patterns. The whole first folder was just stripes, and you just changed the color of them. This is so incredibly easy to do, so I don’t think that many people are going to use them. Also, for the first pattern, the downloading picture didn’t look anything like the patterns that were actually in the folder, so I’d suggest making the downloading picture look like the patterns, or have a description, so we know what we’re downloading.
For folder number two, same thing! I could make that pattern right now. The middle line of hearts isn’t even straight, and you just switched the colors. Anyone could make that pattern in about 5 minutes tops. You need to make your patterns interesting, something uncommon.
Your third set of patterns are an improvement, though they’re kind of blurry compared to the other patterns. They’re a little more interesting, but I still want to see the BAM! type of interesting. The pictures you click on to download each set are a lot more interesting then the patterns they contain.
The fourth set is even better! I like these patterns!
I was so excited for the fifth set and… ugh. What is this? I could make this in about a minute. It’s so boring and cliche and easy to make! No one is going to download this.
Ummmm…. what’s this? What is set number six supposed to be? It’s so teeny I can’t even read it.
In general, I didn’t really like this section. You have a few good patterns, but most are so cliche and boring. I’d get rid of pattern sets one, two, and five. And maybe six. Sets three and four are pretty good, but I’d like to see more of them. On the “Patterns” page, you should either change the pictures to what the set actually looks like, or you should add a description because I was expecting to download what I was clicking on, which didn’t happen. This page needs a makeover.
Textures
The first set was okay. There were a few that I thought “okay, this is kinda cool!” The bubble ones I liked especially. But most of them looked a bit sloppy.
The second set was really boring. It’s a cool effect, but it gets boring, like it’s just a bunch of colors swirled around.
I think that your graphics section needs a rehaul. You have a good start, but a lot of your graphics look like every other site’s. You need to find something more interesting and unique that you can put up here that will attract more attention from people. I understand that you worked hard on them, but you need to take your graphics to the next level.
For your site
Once again, why do you need the main page?
There’s a link on the main page, Buttons, that isn’t on the subpages and doesn’t lead anywhere.
Hosting
Okay good. Except why, on your “what I host” list, do you have “Something else?” on there? If you have a list for this, that means that you only except certain things. If you want to tell the visitor that you can also take other things, then you should say something like, “If your site type isn’t on here, please email me here, and I’ll let you know if yours is acceptable.” It seems much more professional.
Links to Plugboards
Okay.
Plugboard
Why do you have two links to your plugboards? After seeing this page, I personally think that you can just put a Plugboard section under your “Links” page for plugboards that aren’t yours.
Tutorial-Watch his codings
First of all, I don’t really understand the meaning of this title.
Typo on “Curios,” should be “curious.”
This tutorial is pretty helpful but short, and the only one you have. I’d like to see more.
This section is very empty, and I’d like to see more content, especially tutorials.
Romania
I think that you could put this page under an “About Me” page.
Typo at bullet three: “schoolwhy” should be “school why.”
This page talked a lot about movies made in Romania, and I think that it’d be better if you talked more about the country itself. I’d like to know more about the city you live in.
The girl
Pointless main page!!!!
About me
There’s not a lot here. I’d like to know more about you - your pet peeves, what you love, your hobbies, etc. That way readers can connect more with you.
Fanlistings
Good… good…
Top sevens
Lotsa typos here… okay…
The blog is not only about how many patterns and textures you added.
This should probably be something like this:
Blogging shouldn’t only be about how many patterns and textures you’ve added.
It sounds a little clearer.
“…or you just write about your life,” should be “…or you should just write about your life.”
“The blog is wrote in propositions.” Huh? “The blog is written in propositions.”
“…I don’t like when I much search after some numbers and figure out which link what contains.” Wh-huh? I have no idea what you mean. This is a mumble jumble of words, but I think you mean, “…I don’t like it when I have to search so much to find out where each link is.” Please correct this!
“…Big images take a lot to load.” Should be “Big images take a lot of time to load.”
Second bullet of 7 things I like about you: “fac” should be “fact.”
“If you didn’t left a comment yet,” should be “If you haven’t left a comment yet.”
“Even if I fail to come 3 weeks,” should be “Even if I fail to come for 3 weeks.”
Yep, I’m not letting anything slip by!
This sentence is confusing: “Revamp? I did once and Ill go on a “revamp” only if I really think that DANCING IN THE RAIN needs something else, something that I can’t figure out in that moment.” It should probably changed to be something like this: “Revamp? I only have done this once, and I’ll go on a “revamp” again only if I really think that DANCING IN THE RAIN needs something else, something that I need time to figure out.”
“…lots of them didn’t even checked their affiliates…” should be “…lots of them didn’t even check their affiliates…”
“…they don’t even know that I chanced my site in a blog…” should be “…they don’t even know that I changed my site to a blog…”
“…because I started to forgot grammar.” You sure did! This should be “…because I started to forget grammar.”
Here I realized that English isn’t your first language, so I’m sorry if I’m being overly critical of your grammar and spelling, but hey! You did pretty darn well on your English!
Your About page needs more. More stuff about you! I think that your last list of “Top sevens” could’ve gone on the “About me” page, it seemed to fit the category more. I think that you should tell your visitors more about you!
The site
Another pointless main page.
Adoptable
Duckie is interesting looking. You should add more! A whole duck family.
Affiliates and other links
Kay’s site link doesn’t work, her domain has expired.
Otherwise good page! But shouldn’t your “This site is listed at…” section be under “Fanlistings?” Or maybe you could just create one big “Listings” page?
History
The link to your “challenge site” is broken, and the first paragraph doesn’t really make sense. It should be something like this (I think?): “The name “Dancing in the Rain”was originally the name of my challenge site. It had to be an artistic name, so I picked a verse from Ricky Martin’s song, “Livin’ La Vida Loca.” It sounded very nice and I always think of something beautiful when I hear it.”
The link to Paupergrrl.net is broken.
I think that you need to elaborate more on your site’s history. Talk about your struggles, victories, awards, and your goals accomplished.
Link Me
Good. Some of the buttons could be a little less blurry though.
Past Layouts (Part 1)
“…because you maybe know already that DANCING IN THE RAIN was a blend-challenge site.” No, actually I didn’t. That should definitely go on your “History” page.
I’m glad that you admit your mistakes! Awesome quality to have.
Past Layouts (Part 2)
Good.
Reviews for DINR
“…already have an accounton…” should be “…already have an account on…”
Paramedic Reviews is closed, so how can you be waiting for a review from them?
Hey… I’m not on this list… 
Submit Blogroll/Affiliate
There’s no submit button on the form!
Vote me
Shouldn’t this page be titled, “Vote For Me”?
Okay, when you say stuff like “Vote me” or “Vote it” it should be “Vote for me” or “Vote for it.”
You will find here
This page is pointless. I can tell by your welcome message that you’re from Europe. I can tell by the navigation that your site includes goodies and graphics. I can tell from your blog titles that your site’s about life. Why do you have this page again?
Summary
As you found out, this wasn’t a sugar coated review. I’m truthful, and sometimes the truth hurts. But truthfully Monica, your site isn’t the best. You lack interesting content, and the content that you do have is boring and cliche. Add more tutorials and interesting brushes, patterns, and textures. I don’t want to stay here if your content is stuff I’ve seen a thousand times before, so think outside of the box. Your blogs are awesome, so take some of that awesomeness to your content. I’m sorry, but you have too many spelling/grammar errors, unoriginal content, and lack of content for me to give you the same score as your past reviewers. But keep trying and you’ll get there!
