The Website Reviewer’s Creed

This article is to guide current or potential web page reviewers on how a review should be done.

A review is a critique. Not to be destructive, but to be helpful and pull out the bad stuff and suggest how to make it better, not leave it at that. (or bash, added sidenote)

Part I: The Reviewer’s Creed

A reviewer has no business reviewing if they have only one mission: to put other sites down. First, look at your site. Can you honestly critique another when your site is in a horrible shape? Few web page review sites are amazing. The rest have no idea how in the world they decided to become a reviewer. To be a reviewer is to become a webmaster/webmistress first. Whether you ran a graphic site versus personal site or something all around it all falls down to your own knowledge and experience of the Internet and web page design. A webmaster is someone who can effectively run the website through a balance of design and content.

If the design and content stinks, get out. Learn the basics. Do you know what a triple background is? How about a division layer? How about tables? How about cascading style sheets? How about the basic skeletal structure of a webpage? How about a proper absolute position? Or maybe what is the optimum resolution you should use for most visitors to view your site? How can you optimize your site for the search engines (SEO)?

Maybe you have seen a lot of sites? That means nothing when you cannot code a site properly. It does not matter if you used a WYSIWYG editor or Notepad. Either way you will eventually see what the outcome of your site is, but know your code first. Use the WYSIWYG on those late nights when your eyes get blurry. There is nothing shameful in using a webpage editor. Even the most experienced professionals are known to use them. Though some webmasters and professionals will prefer to wing it from scratch, others need help. A webpage takes time and effort, and sometimes a few crutches are needed along the way.

Before even considering your first site to review, think about your experience. How long have your been online? What is your webpage coding and design knowledge? Are you resourceful enough to know where to find the proper tools to make a webpage shine? Are you patient, are able to organize your thoughts, while able to provide proper feedback?

Sometimes a person becomes a reviewer when they are new because they happen to have talent. Talent does not fly far and makes a review seem paper thin. With proper knowledge and experience in both design and webpage coding, a review literally blooms. In the end, it helps the reviewee learn how to harness the tools and experience needed to improve their own skills. A reviewer must have a hold on describing any problem and try to suggest a solution.

As a summary of what I have been talking about, don’t rip up someone’s site. Work with what they have to come up with a solution. A reviewer is not like the website fashion police. A reviewer is there to help.

Part II: The Review

Most review sites have a rubric that they follow by. Usually it can be broken down into several general categories: Originality, First Impression, Design, and Content. Sometimes there are others depending on the staff’s preferences. Here are a few tips on how to consider each section of a review while examining a website.

Originality. Some sites have it and some do not, but there are literally millions of sites online that have a similar idea in any language. This category is on many review sites and is a ridiculous part of the rubric. Throw it out! It can go into the ending summary as an opinion statement.

First Impression and Overall, that is your opinion. Every single opinion even if you hate Britney Spears (example) and the layout has it, this is the category it goes in. And even though celebrity images are considered illegal to use, it is moot to criticize the image unless it really is a shotty looking image. Yes, you may not like the celebrity and know that it is illegal for use. However, that does not belong in the review and should not be a means to slough off a few notches. Keep your opinion to this category and if you cannot, do not review it. Just because you may not like a celebrity or an item on a layout, does not mean you throw up a review that is just plain trash. As an alternative, warn the website owner about the illegal usage and give a link to a credible site illustrating this point. You will come off much more polite. Major praise is allowed for exceptional sites.

Design is based on technicalities of making the picture look better to enhance the site. Furthermore, design is how the layout is set up and if it loads in decent time or looks okay in different resolutions and browsers. Even the navigation is a part of design. Where you put your navigation is how efficient your visitors can surf your site.

The content of a site, has always been a debatable category depending on what type of site. If a person has original content, kudos, but a person who made an effort to try to leave something even a personal site for visitors, should not be docked. They should however be encouraged to think of more content to suit their personality as the content is an outer extension of relating the website owner to the visitor. I could care less how many people have a quiz or horoscope. It is what the person enjoys that made the site. For crying out loud, give it a break and get off the high horse. Now, I do agree about the “coming soon” activities. If it takes a month to get a well planned project up, then okay, but more than that, then it is not worth the time to even put up a “coming soon”. Visitors look and look and then they get bored and do not come back. Keep your site fresh, even if it is personal. A minimum of 1 blog a week is perfect. Daily blogging or every other day I call sainthood.

The Splash page is another category that is debatable. Should someone have a splash or should they not? Technically, no, but it is a nice little peek into what to expect on a site. IF a site does not have a splash page, the ABOUT, DOMAIN, or WEBMASTER/ WEBMISTRESS section should suffice instead. They all usually fall into the general category to get a look into what to expect on the site.

In conclusion, no review will be unbiased, but with some of the warning signs and considerations listed above, finding a good website reviewer will be an easier task.