This post is directed to Sarah ( themngopngn ) of Rev.iew.me in reference to her review of this site. I will be quoting chunks of the review throughout the post; however, you can read the full review HERE.

Before I begin, I would just like to mention that I take criticism very well and welcome it with open arms. But there is a difference between providing constructive criticism and spewing off irrelevant points due to the reviewer’s own incompetence (most likely coupled with laziness), to review a site properly. Thus why I was so put off by this so called ~review~.

So let’s begin!

First Impression-
This is definitely a different website. I have never seen anything like it before. The name is unique, even though a lot of people use “faux” nowadays. The blog is so big, though. There is not a welcome message.

Faux has always been a commonly-used word, especially when dealing with fake fur or other products. Thank you for the compliment. As for the welcome message, I don’t see why you make such a big deal of it. Looking at YOUR SITE you don’t have a welcome message either, which makes you a hypocrite. I may consider adding a quick reference note above my blog in the future, but at this point it is not necessary. A visitor can easily figure out what the site is about simply by looking at the links at the top of the page. “Portfolio”, “Textures”, “Tutorials”…. it’s not that hard to figure out.

Organization-
Content should be changed to “Visitor” since ‘content’ means everything that is on your site. Besides that, why make a page for the visitor material when you already have everything in your top navigation?

Nit-picky are we? Content can be anything which has substance and isn’t subjective to everything on the site. Also, the little footnote at the bottom of the page explains why there is so little content. I plan on adding a variety of other content for visitors to look at such as my written works, activities, etc.

Content-
The home page is okay. Like I said above, there is no welcome message. You may want to add one? Perhaps in the header? I could not really tell what your ‘theme’ is if you have one. A reviewer should be able to know what your theme is within the first 20 seconds of viewing everything on your website.

I don’t understand what you mean by “theme”. If you’re talking about the purpose of the site then one can easily determine that by the links, as I mentioned above. Since you’re coming from Rev.iew.me you should have known what my site is about ahead of time because of the description provided on the review page. “FAUXISM.org is a graphics domain. It features my blog, graphics portfolio, resources and tutorials. Graphics resources include brushes, textures, stock, and icon textures.” But I guess you failed to read that prior to writing your review.

They should also be able to see your personality and hear your voice. From the bug/oatmeal blog I am guessing that you are a boy since you left oatmeal sitting out for a day at your desk? That was a bit disgusting.

A visitor can get a sense of my personality and voice through my blogs. I don’t understand how this part of your review is in any way relevant to my site. I am female and it is extremely rude of you to assume I am male by judging me through one photograph.

Why do the textures and tutorials links link to the content page? You should try using PHP includes to avoid this problem. It makes editing everything much easier.

The “Textures” and “Tutorials” links in the header link to nothing. If you click on them they simply refresh the page that you are on. If you actually paid any attention to the links you would have noticed more links drop down instantaneously after hovering over either of the main links.

The drop down menu works perfectly in Safari, so it baffles my mind how you did not notice that. The reason I have the main links not link to anything is because I do not have separate pages differentiating the different types of textures or tutorials. Therefor I would have to link them to the content page, which in my opinion is a bit redundant. The header drop links serve a quicker way for visitors to find what they are looking for instead of going to the content page first.

If you are going to provide things for other people to use, make them free or have them login first. The brushes page is more of a teaser than a pleaser. The textures link links to this brushes page. Like I said, PHP includes… Tutorials leads to the same page as well, and I am not going to spend my time to go back to that “content” page.

The resources I offer ARE free. Visitors must login into the forum in order to download the resources because they are hosted there. The resource pages are simply previews of the resources I offer on the forum. If you had read the “how to download exclusive resources” you would have known that. I have already discussed the header links issue that you bring up yet again. Organization my dear. Keep the same thought within a single paragraph instead of bringing it up in 10 different places.

I feel that that the “Domain” page could have been organized better. Perhaps like you did your “content” page? Also, make a form for people to apply to be hosted. Do not make them comment. I would not want my application to be there for all to see. Do not be lazy, just create one. Even a 123contactform.com or freedback.com form will satisfy.

There is definitely not enough content on the Domain page to be split into separate pages. And I do not think that having 2 sentences on each page would be very visually appealing. Each section of the Domain page is clearly distinguished. My buttons, the people I host, my affiliates, and a tiny blurb about me. How is that disorganized?

For hosting, I do not offer any application for visitors to fill out. What’s wrong with commenting? “Hi I’m interested in being hosted with you. Please email me back.” It’s private and it’s quick. How does that make me lazy? Because I definitely don’t want two forms on the same page. Wayyy too redundant. The comment form serves the purpose of getting in touch with me and if someone wishes to be hosted by me then they will have no problem doing so.

For the Lights MB site, I am supposing that it is yours since you said that people must be a member of the dang forum in order to be able to download them. What is the point in downloading them? I would much rather search for them some place else rather than join a forum to get a brush pack.

What is the point of downloading the resources?…. Are you serious? The purpose of any resource is for graphic artists to use in their works. What an ignorant question.

Most of my resources are unique, high quality, and high resolution that you cannot find any where else on the net. Sure you can find something similar for a couple of the sets. But there are no high-quality resources anywhere else such as those exclusives that I offer on the forum. And it’s not just ONE set that I offer, there are hundreds of sets.

If you don’t wish to join the forum, then that’s your prerogative. As I mentioned in a previous post here, I am not obligated to share my resources in any specific way. By not complying with the guidelines you would be missing out on amazing resources that you will not be able to find anywhere else on the net.

Though I did not validate your website, you may validate the XHTML here: validator.w3.org/ and the CSS here: jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator .

I have no plans of validating my site since it functions properly across sever browser platforms, with a few glitches in IE which I am working on rectifying.

It was rather difficult to review your website since not all of the pages were linked properly.

All the pages are linked properly. It’s your inability to navigate the site properly that is the problem and in no way is a fault of my own or the site. If your browser for some reason disables javascript then that is your fault that you disable vital components for websites across the net to function properly.

That is all I have to say about your review. Thank you for taking the time to review my site. I really do appreciate the effort you put into the review regardless of its poor quality. And I would just like to apologize in advance if any of my remarks come off as rude. I do not mean for them to seem like that as I tried my best to state everything matter-of-factly.