(http://maidensoul.net)
For some
reason, the layout reminded me of china town. Don't ask why,
because I have no idea. The layout is, again, the typical blog schematic.
Posts on one side, navigation on the other. To the credit of the webmaster,
on the other hand, there is a nice little graphic on the top right hand
of the screen as well as a footer image that closes the top banner.
Very nice additions, but for the most part, this site looks a little
typical.
With the graphic design background the webmaster has, there are endless
possibilities for the design of the site.
Typical
can also be used to describe the navigation. There are text links
running up the side of the page. Very over used and not enough of a
graphical interface. To differentiate from other blogs, try adding a
hover effect/etc. Again, the graphics displayed in the canvas page show
the skills of an 
individual
capable of creating an amazing navigation system.
When it
comes to content, this review comes full circle. Of course the
site's main focus [displaying ones art/writing skills] is typical, but
the content and skills displayed are impressive. I am not one to judge
writing, but it is pretty simple to tell the difference between crap
and not crap. The writing on this site actually kept me entertained,
as did the graphics. Both the drawings and photoshopped images were
worth viewing. There are only a few pages about the author, and you
are not bombarded by her blogging. That is a major plus, as it shows
that her site is based off of content and not just spurt of the moment
blog posts. The site also contains some tutorials and webmaster tips.
I read through them, and for the most part they are useful. The part
of the site I 
spent
the most time on was the xuebook [guestbook] script. It is an awesome
looking guestbook and seems to be coded very well. Overall, the graphics
and scripts seem to be the main attractions to maidensoul. The content
is very strong, but the layout could use a little touching up.
