Welcome back to those wild college days, everyone. We are about to join a sorrowful Peter, aka 'Slugger', as he retells his days of sex, drugs and, well, rock-n-roll and the friends he found and lost along the way.
Review Site: Pictures of You, by Gibson TwistFIRST IMPRESSION:I remember when I was little my grandmother made this bread that was absolutely horrible smelling. When we opened the door I thought, wow, Grampa's had way too many beans. She actually called it "Stink-bread". That bread was one of the most wonderful tasting things I've ever eaten, but had it not been from my grandmother, I never would have tried it.
That brings me to my first impression of Pictures of You. Upon first visiting the site you're greeted with this message:
Granted, the theme of the comic is not for kids, but this message makes one think "Ok, this is a porn site." Hmm, let me check my anti-virus. Yep, all updated, click OK to have my eyeballs seared and my computer infected. But that's not what happens. What's inside is something worth finding.
*Load Speed: 8The site is not graphic heavy and loads quickly, once past the warning message.
*Color Mix: 9The colors of the site not only work together well, but also set the mood for the comic itself.
LAYOUT:*Content vs Layout: 7Although the overall layout flows with the comic content, the divisions on the main page can confuse. The main page contains a blog on the right side which is in a borderless division. The blog cuts off at the bottom of the page, and the page doesn't scroll, so you need to place your pointer over the blog and scroll to read it. There is a scrollbar on the right side of the window, but it gives the feeling the page itself scrolls while only a small portion actually does. Plus, when reading through the blog you see it's dated June of 2009, nearly a year ago. This gives the site a feeling of not being updated, even though it updates three times a week.
I would suggest keeping the left side layout but replacing the blog with a teaser image of the current comic. Also, get rid of that terrible popup warning and place a disclaimer warning with the teaser image, either above or below. I like the character image on the left with the links that flow around it, perhaps you could expand that with a script that changes the image to another character with each visit.
*Ease of use / Navigation: 9The navigation is easy to find, and easy to use. It's nice that the navigation division stays in the same place while reading the comic or the comments but it limits what you can do with that area. At least in the comic section the non-scrolling division is a very small portion of the page, so you don't have to think of where your pointer is when scrolling (usually). The addition of a "Favorites" link to save your place is nice, especially considering the size of the archives and the amount of reading involved.
*Clutter: 6The home page is very clean, but when reading the comic you find a pile of icon links under the comic image, separating it from the comments area. There are so many image links there that they become a forest, and to really 'see' them you have to stop and study them, something I don't believe most readers will do. It's been noted that readers don't see the Donate button, even when they look for one. However, all the clutter is contained in one place, kind of like cleaning your room by sweeping everything into a pile in the corner.
I'd suggest adding two more pages to the site, one to display your Recommended Reading in a nice format, and another for your Comic Resources. Take your Donate and Vote buttons and place them under your navigation links on the left side, they'll be easy to find there and would be where most people would look first. Also, make the links division able to be scrolled in some way, or let it scroll with the page. There are already navigation links along the bottom of the comic, so scrolling the sidebar with the page wouldn't hurt anything.
*Ads & Placement: 6I see three ad banners, one at the top of the comic, and two lost in the clutter below it. There is also one small banner at the top of the blog on the main page. The ads could actually all stay the same and be much more valuable if the excess link images were cleared.
TOP-DOWN IMPRESSION: 7The basic layout allows for a large format comic, which is well drawn and written. The black background doesn't distract, and actually works with the darkly emotional feel of the comic. The background used for the comments works with the style, but the comments themselves seem awkwardly laid out. Text flows around and under the commentor's avatar (which is a bit largish), making it feel out of place. The ads and links under the comic get quickly skipped over to get to the comments.
*Information: 5The website is primarily the comic, and that's pretty much all there is. The meta description, while accurate for the home page, doesn't change with the comics, nor does the meta title. There are no biographies or introductions for the characters that I can find, they introduce themselves throughout the comic story. There isn't much information about the author, aside from the outdated blog. Contact information is a simple email link, which could do better as a form, and result in a lot less spam. Plus a contact page could give other information such as convention schedules and other projects.
*Secondary Content: 4There is no secondary content, aside from the Archives, which are laid out similar to the home page except the blog is replaced with the archive list. The archives seem small at first, listed by chapter with a few links under the chapter, but each link opens a sub chapter with lots of page links.
*Social Content: 4There are comments on the comics and that is the only social aspect. Each comic does have a large number of comments, which indicates a fairly dedicated readership. I think forums would be a nice addition, along with other social tools to encourage reader feedback. I would think there would be a nice selection of fanart with such a readership. A gallery for it would be a good thing to add.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: 8The popup warning upon first entering should go away. I can't even imagine how many new readers are turned away by that. Certainly the comic is not for children, with recreational drug use, profanity, and some nudity, but none of it is extreme. Not enough to warrant that kind of warning.
The layout sets the mood for the story, which is thoughtful and very well written. The art of the comic is good. The site would benefit by some additional pages with extra content, and some social tools. It would be nice if the comic pages had their own descriptions, but the warning popup probably keeps them from being indexed anyway. The author does provide a descriptive comment as the leading comment with each comic.
*Overall Rating: 7Good artwork, compelling story, fairly pleasing look. The warning is worse than anything contained in the comic.
Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys reading novels and is old enough not to be offended by occassional profanity and drug use.
