What Type of Webmaster Are You?

[Lethe]

You remember those horrid "website review sites" from before? I used to submit a few of my sites to these "website reviews" and I normally get "not-so-great" reviews for only one reason: not enough graphics/unappealing looks. Some of them even said that I had "too much content" and very little presentation, which would "bore" visitors (these were referring to my old (but long-running) ARASHI fansite/shrine too). I didn't really care what these "reviewers" thought, but I did use this as a "test" to see what the trend is when it came to fansites/shrines.

Going back to that, what really is the purpose of putting up a fansite/shrine in the first place? Was it to share your love/passion for that particular subject or are you just showing off your "elite graphic/HTML skills"? My tastes in layouts have changed big time and that I put the visitors/users as a priority more than before, so that means good-sized readable typography, fast-loading layouts (thus the minimal graphics), and pleasant presentation (colors that would work well together and that the site is viewable on all screens (responsive)).

Let's just say, this is one of the reasons why I started steering away from shrines (and sometimes, fanlistings) and just put more emphasis on stuff that I enjoy the most that would also have others enjoy it too (if that makes any sense? XD). There's other reasons too, but this is just one of them.

I haven't seen those review sites myself, but have heard some things about them since coming back to Amassment and chatting with fellow members about old times haha. I'm sorry to hear that made you turn away from shrines.

If you ever feel like getting into shrine-making again, know that we have a variety of styles here at Amassment, with some people being better at certain aspects than others or valuing some elements more than others, and there's no elitist standard to enforce on either content or presentation!

[Mikari]

I design very differently for job and personal sites. When it comes to my personal site I decided not so long ago to stop focus more on what amused me than views, since this isn't a business. I used to have a portfolio but got bored of it since it was too viewer focus and by the book (readability, loading, mobile compatibility). From what I've seen that's what marks the difference between functional and artistic webdesign. It is to accomplish a purpose such as to inform or advertise? Or it is there to impress and amuse at a glance? I'm only interested in the second at a personal level though I still work with the first because video games aren't free and the extra $ will get me more of that. Of course there is a mid point between them, a site that's both functional and visually impressive, though you'd have to give up a little of one to add to the other (HD graphics vs load time and screen size, etc.) It's up to everyone to find their balance, which may change depending on the type of project.

I remember the WPR boom and how they used to fight about who came up with the idea of having a separate layout for reviews because no one knew how to use external CSS or php back then and all the pages had to be edited one by one. XD Though I have mostly positive memories of this time, or more like I chose to focus on the positive and don't want to let the negative side ruin that. There were some review sites I didn't like. I remember when I used to offer sprites from games I was accused of "stealing" even though I was the one saying they are from the game and the other person was claiming they made them. I showed screens of the game to the reviewer and they realized that I was telling the truth, but didn't go back to edit the review. There were also some places that didn't like combo sites (sites with content about different anime, games, etc. on the same archive) though I really liked and still like those. That aside, there were these 2 other sites I liked. One of them was a layout review site and the other was a general review site (for both layout and content) called Crystal Clear Reviews, I forgot what the layout one was called but it had a Greek mythology theme going on.

[Lethe]

LOL my current network layout has a splash page that is totally redundant omg what was I thinking last year. (Well, I know what I was thinking - that I didn't want to completely part with my previous layout just yet - but still.) One more reason to get the new layout up ASAP.

I think nowadays I would only have splash pages for very spoiler-heavy content hm.

[Robin]

I did a couple splash pages back in the day because everyone else was doing them, but I didn't care for the mechanic unless it was to offer users the choice of a smaller or bigger resolution layout. Once most everybody upgraded to bigger screens, I stopped doing splash pages. (Plus, they annoyed me because everybody bookmarked my index2.html page anyway after a while.)