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.AdriCULOUS wrote: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.
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!