Personality

Onyx, the first two things people see about a site that affect their perceptions negatively are the domain(angelfire, geocities, all those long ones count against you), and the layout. Your layout definitely could use some work(just some constructive criticism).

My site(http://houseofkirby.mwgnet.com) is hosted by my british friend, and I really don't deserve to be hosted by him. But, it's good in that there's 20gb of space(I have to share it with him, but who the hell cares, as I'm not likely to crack 50mb anytime soon), and while he has to pay for it, I don't(no banners, and it supports CGI too!). So I'm a lucky bastard, but I got the domain problem down.

As for layouts: Sidebars are a must. I've never seen a site with a good layout without a sidebar(or topbar) that I can remember. Generally, sidebars are on the left, and in my opinion they look better the longer they are. My website has the essentials for a layout, but I think it could use an overhaul.

Oh, and as for the content on your site - I didn't look at it all, but I think the best part was about the guy on hormones playing with his breasts.

Yeah I know my layout sucks, and I don't give a crap. I could learn enough html to make it snazzy but why bother when most of the ppl who visit it either already know me or are bored enough not to care? As for being on angelfire I can't do much about that without having to shell out money I don't have. I *could* have my ex host a site for me, but his server's always going down and he's already hosting one for my useless practically nonexistent neopets guild (which I mostly use to store stuff that's not guild-related anyway because FTP spoiled me ). And I REALLY don't wanna hafta associate with my ex any more than I have to, lest he get ideas in his head. (It's really scary when he actually thinks. )

Well I still have trouble with tables, so I use dreamweaver for that. But trust me, a simple sidebar makes your site seem WAY better than it is.

Haha i got 4 frowns for okranabo and one frown for onyx of borg!

Poor Onyx... screw Oraknabo.

hey Rexmundi, is Oraknabo yours? He just insulted my bot!

Who hasn't he insulted?

Onyx...

you should check out my site...you might diagree with my absense of sidebars but honestly why on earth would you want to create something that has the exact same layout as everyone else's sites on the web. anyhow, just a suggestion it is fun to have a bot, but to present your site in a robotic form is just a bit too mainstream and lazy in thought. (not saying that your site is any of this, i have not seen it yet, just my opinion on the overall accepted thought that if everything and every site were to be set up in the same way with the same tools that the layout and design are considerd "good").

http://www.norrocgallery.com

I agree with Paint. A sidebar does not a website make. I've seen hundreds with that were awful, and hundreds without that were fantastic.

A site without something like a sidebar is very inconvenient, and irritates visitors, and it also conveys the message that the author is too inept to create one(notice all those personal pages made with fill-in-the-blank forms on AOL and the like are like that). A sidebar does not a website make, that's true, but a website makes a very bad first impression without something like a sidebar.

As I've said before, what do I care what impression my site makes? It's not there to be popular, it's there so ppl who already know me can see if I've actually updated it recently. (You'll notice I'm lucky if I bother to update it twice a year. )

A site that has a sidebar just for the sake of having a sidebar is just as irritating. When it's needed, use it. When it's not, please don't.

Of course there should be some navigation schema if there are more than just a couple of pages on a site. But to think you have to do it as a sidebar just because everyone else does is just not very creative.