This way, visitors, but please be quiet and stay in an orderly procession. We are visiting a convent afterall, and the sisters demand... wait! Was that a demon sister, or a sister possessed by a demonic cat that just zoomed by?!! Is that... is that an angel? I think I know her, isn't she that stripper from the Atlantis night club? And what's all this Nun-Fu fighting? HOLY CRAP!.
Review Site: Sister ClaireFIRST IMPRESSION:The very first thought I had when visiting Sister Claire was "Wonderful!" No really, you think I'm joking. I really did think that, quickly followed by "What have I gotten myself into?"
*Load Speed: 8While the comic is color, sometimes dazzling color, the file sizes are kept reasonably small so navigating between pages is relatively quick.
*Color Mix: 9The colors match the theme of the comic nearly perfectly. The story involves the Sisterhood
(white), and an evil
(black) which has found its way in, and poor little Sister Claire in the middle of it all
(gray). The reader is presented with a white on black layout over a gray background, with colors drawing toward the middle. The colors of the comic are generally soft and don't break the feeling, but rather enhance it. Very nice.
There are some small detractions with the Donate button, vote links and ads. It's hard to get everything to match up, color wise, but it is possible. I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to create a donate button that matches the site, rather than using a default one. Same with the vote links. Ads are harder to control, and most times you wouldn't want to control them that much anyway.
LAYOUT:*Content vs Layout: 9The site uses a three column layout, the main content being centered between two side bars for additional doodads. Above is a nicely drawn and centered header with a horizontal menu bar. The comic flows nicely in the content area, and care has been taken that each additional page works properly within the same space, giving the site a nice, uniform feel.
Most everything is lined up well throughout. The artist's blog is below the comic comment, and separated by it's own header, which is quite nice though it's trying to repeat display. A quick adjustment would center that blog header. A suggestion I would make is to create something in the gray background. Perhaps a grayscale rendering of the convent grounds, or something similar to give the site an immersive feel.
*Ease of use / Navigation: 8The menu is well laid out and easy to understand, but the text is a bit small. Setting a point or a few pixels larger text, bolded, would make the menu stand out a little better. The comic uses basic text navigation at the bottom only. Adding navigation at the top of the comic as well would help, oh, and a second suggestion: maybe creating some 'sisterly' navigation buttons would enhance the feeling of the site even further.
Guess what? There are meta-tags! There is a description meta-tag that contains a little info about each comic as you page through the site, and there is even a keyword tag. Sadly, on comic pages the only keyword entered is "comic", though there is a string of them for the home page. Note: keywords should be separated by commas, not just spaces, otherwise search engines see them as one long phrase.
*Clutter: 8There is plenty to do here, with buttons and links to keep your mouse entertained. For the most part it's pretty well organized and doesn't appear cluttered. Some things could stand work, however, such as the Vote links. In the sidebars some items are centered while others are left justified, breaking uniformity.
*Ads & Placement: 9There are two ads that appear throughout the site, one in each sidebar. Both are 'above the fold', meaning a good portion of the ad is visible when clicking into the site, without scrolling down. That gives them good value for the layout, though they would look a little nicer centered rather than left justified.
TOP-DOWN IMPRESSION: 9The site has a good feel, it makes one want to read more. The page isn't too lengthy, and the information found by scrolling down is something you'd want to find there. The sidebars could do with a bit of equalizing, since the left one contains considerably more than the right.
*Secondary Content: 9There is a lot of extra information, even tutorials on how to make your own stuff. Sure, there are extra comment sections on pages where they really don't belong, but I don't want to take away points just because of Wordpress' goofiness. Or maybe it's intended...?
*Social Content: 8Comments are enabled pretty much everywhere. Where comments
should be there are plenty of them, and they are used well. Yamino includes a Twitter feed, vote links, Facebook links, polls and even a link to interact through a MMO game. No forums, though forums aren't always desired. It would be nice to see fan galleries, but those aren't always needed either.
OVERALL IMPRESSION:Sister Claire is a fun romp with a story that kind of steps all over some religious taboos. Sister Claire herself is a ditzy, cute, well meaning girl with a knack for trouble and is fun to follow around. The artwork is clean and pretty, and the website presents it well.
Warning: There is imagery used that may be considered disturbing depending on your viewpoint. If you're a strict Catholic, you need to let go before joining this adventure. A nun tied to an inverted cross planted next to a beheaded scarecrow in a cemetary probably qualifies as disturbing. Does that make you want to go read it? It should.
*Overall Rating: 9I'd recommend Sister Claire to everyone old enough to understand the satire used. Yamino lists it as PG-13.
