8-Bit-Rex
Offline
Chepachet, Rhode Island

http://8bitrex.tumblr.com/

I just wanted some feedback on the layout of the blog.  I think it looks great, but this is my first blog and for all I know there could be some pitfalls in my design or whatever that im not aware of.

There's nothing posted besides an intro, but I do have many things lined up.

I went into the creation process without knowing ANY html so actually getting it to look the way it does was a feat in itself.  I created all the images as well which is also my first real step into pixel art.

Lemme know what you think and thanks!

EDIT:  I wrote my first piece which shows the direction I want my blog to take.  I would really love some feedback on it since I will be continuing to post regulatory with content similar to what has just been posted today.  Thanks guys!

Last edited by 8-Bit-Rex (Jun 13, 2011 2:05 am)

Sycamore Drive
Offline
East Kilbride, Scotland

I don't like the font (it looks too big), the side bars with the Facebook and Twitter icons looks out of place and is distracting, I don't like the header (it just looks like a 10 minute photoshop job), and the buttons are annoying (I'd rather just know what each of the buttons are linked to rather than having to wait for the animation to finish, having to look through the whole menu is irritating).

You need to streamline the whole thing. It looks like you got creative and didn't think about the focus, which should be the content.

Last edited by Sycamore Drive (May 28, 2011 8:01 pm)

8-Bit-Rex
Offline
Chepachet, Rhode Island

Alright cool thanks! I'll definitely keep that stuff in mind.

In regards to the current header...I love this shit out of it BUT I was also torn between the current one and a pixelated one I made.  Considering the thing is about chipmusic I'll probably throw the latter up instead.

As for the link animations...how would you feel about them staying, but having the link destinations always displayed?

And yeah the share buttons were pissing me off too...I'll most likely just get rid of them.

ant1
Offline
uhajdafdfdfa

the animations didn't work for me (firefox 4)

other than that i think it is fine

8-Bit-Rex
Offline
Chepachet, Rhode Island

Noted. Thanks for the heads up.

2PLAYER
Offline
Rhode Island

I only saw text (mobile version) wink

bryface
Offline
vancouver, canada

my only real feedback is to use a different font than what looks like Courier New.  but if you must, at least alter the line-height in the CSS so that it's easier to read the paragraphs.

8-Bit-Rex
Offline
Chepachet, Rhode Island

Thanks bryface.  I think the layout is much better now.

Sycamore Drive
Offline
East Kilbride, Scotland

The science reference could be taken out completely, it's irrelevant. The dig at 8bc was long, drawn out and unnecessary. It took you 300 words to mention the artist on a blog that I'd imagine is going to be mostly read by chip-fans. You seem to focus on chiptunes being "hard", but I'd imagine the time learning any other instrument isn't taken into consideration when reviewing bands with guitars and such. I also thought the "funny" images dragged down the quality of what you were saying at times.

What I didn't like though particularly was singling an artist out for being bad somewhere in the middle. You say on one hand that chiptune is hard and you want to champion underrated artists, then you have a bit of a go at someone learning for themselves (on emulator, not on hardware, btw).

You've written 1558 words here, I feel that this (given the amount of irrelevant information) is too long. I'd rather be recommended an artist for every 500 words. Cut out the images, the chipmusic artists are hard-done-to references and just write about the artist and their music.

Good on you stepping up and giving this chipmusic blog a go, but these are the things I'd do to make it a bit more readable.

boomlinde
Offline
Sweden

I agree with Sycamore Drive about the content.

- The entertainment/word ratio is way too low.
- The lists and images seem redundant to me.
- The tone throughout the whole article might seem a bit too assertive.
- I think that the harsh criticism in the beginning conflicts with the notion that artists get the "praise they genuinely deserve" on, frankly, very culturally biased sites like 8bc or chipmusic.org.
- Mixing a rant and an artist review is confusing, and the whole article seems unfocused.

As for the layout, the color contrast between the text, links and background is distracting, the margins are too narrow and the grey background adds to the generally cluttered and dense feel. I didn't realize that the dinosaur heads are links until just now. The site also doesn't resize very well, and I have to scroll sideways in anything less that 1200 px width, while the actual content width is just above half of that. The red glow around the headlines looks like something from 1999 (for better or for worse smile).

But yeah, it seems like a good first effort for a blog!

8-Bit-Rex
Offline
Chepachet, Rhode Island

Thanks for the CC. I'll be going through it again with some of those things in mind.

SycamoreDrive: "What I didn't like though particularly was singling an artist out for being bad somewhere in the middle"

The artist I singled out was myself and is made pretty obvious once the link is clicked on.  I guess I wanted to show that I can laugh at myself and not just criticize.  But I definitely agree with your points and will do some revising.

As for the layout.  I like the color scheme and all that so it's staying. I also really like how the red glow looks cheesy haha tongue.  I think it actually fits the layout well.
I'll fix the links so people know they are links (planned on doing it earlier but with interviewing a couple artists it got away from me....which I guess is a good reason anyway haha)

Any suggestions on fixing the size to fit better?  Should I reduce the width of my header? Reduce the width of my content area? Make my date image and text smaller and more to the left?

I'm new at this so I really don't have a clue what steps are taken when resizing on say and netbook or something and what steps I could take to have a better transition to screens larger or smaller than my own.

Last edited by 8-Bit-Rex (Jun 13, 2011 4:33 pm)