Kids Craft Zone

Nobody wants to give me advice on my site! Come on please!

Just be patient, maybe others haven't dropped by this thread yet.

Anyway, I like the overall look, but I feel it is like a basic css template taken somewhere. Also you need a nice logo and that shadow extend background with the blue hue seems a little out of place, maybe making it plain and a hint of a brighter pastel shade could be better.

The Feel is more like a blog but the layout is not intuitive for use, it seems navigation is all over the place. You need to rethink the layout and add some separation elements on the page so that it doesn't look too busy. Although there is this minimalist charm, it feels busy to look at because of font styles/colours that seems off together or is not emphasized well enough.

That would be my .2 at the moment...

That would be my .2 at the moment...

Nothing like giving your twenty cents.

The colors and general layout looks good. I would standardize the fonts in the content area a little more and add some more spacing.

The layout and colors are good. The text on some pages needs more spacing between the lines though. I feel that there are too many ads for a kids activity site. The google ads in the middle of the pages needs to go (what if a kid clicks on a link that they don't want)

Also what kid is going to have a digg or stumbleupon account. Useful for adults but these should be moved to the bottom or the top of the page so kids don't click on them by accident (pretty button!)

I hope this helps you out.

Hi Emily,

Sorry I wasn't able to review this site sooner.

At first glance the layout looks good. nice and clean, good colour scheme. Seems easy to navigate. The colourful photos are very striking. If anything it might be a bit generic looking. For a kids craft site I would expect something a little more unique.

In the body area of the home page there's a lot of vairation in font styles and formatting. Try to keep things more consistent. For example, the text in the first few paragraphs is about 2 sizes smaller than the explainations under the Recently Added Projects. I do like that you've highlighted the types of projects (project, activity, decorating), although I would probably do it the other way around. Kids Homemade Hat Project instead of Kids Homemade Hat Project.

The categories on the left look more like SE keywords than human friendly navigation items. Keep in mind that kids visiting this site might not have the same reading comprehension levels as adults would. Leaving out some extra words would make it easier for them. (and I don't think using the full keyword phrases here would help you that much with SE's anyway...)

I'm also wondering if the placement and styling of the google ads could confuse them.

On the actual project pages, put in a bit more spacing paragraphs (add some margins in your CSS). The font size here, again, is unnaturally big. Maybe you think that would be better for the audience though....

It would be really, really beneficial to have photos of the actual projects. It would be a huge, huge, help to the site. I can't stress that enough. People will be more interested in the projects if they can see what they look like completed. Also, some people are very visual and would have an easier time completing tasks with photos to show what they should do at each stage.

Also think about whether people would want to share your articles with others, by posting links or using StumbleUpon.

What's with that random link on the right side of the navbar that keeps changing with every page? A lot of people wouldn't notice but I find it rather strange that it's there (doesn't fit with the rest of the items on that page), and that it keeps changing every time I load it.

Hope that helps,

The layout is nice - but my one vice about your site is where the 'Login' feature is located. It's right at the bottom of the page - I don't think that's very user-friendly.

Perhaps move it up, next to the "Home", "Archive", and "Feed"? It would look much nicer, in my opinion.

Other than that - the neutral colours make a nice touch, and the font size is readable.

Another suggestion I have, however, is do something with the layout of the text a bit - it's seems a little "blog-like" to me. Perhaps change the formatting or something - add a few columns in, perhaps?

I'm not an expert critic, so please don't take any of my comments to heart - just a few suggestions from a fellow webmaster.

Good luck with your site,

Chris.

i like it it look professsional