Saturn

The SM Toolbox. Now THIS brings back some memories. There was a time I swore by this site. It was a time when I thought Angelfire was godlike and when tiled backgrounds and banners for a website were the norm. It was also a time that I didn't even know how to create graphics. let alone much about design. Since then I have come a long way, and as such I can look at this site and feel that nostalgia that I once felt, but be sad that this site is in disrepair.

There are all sorts of web graphics here. Banners, backgrounds, seperator gifs, all sorts of nifty things if you want to accessorize your site, however I don't recommend overloading your page with these as it can really make a good site look bad. In the day and age of css and pretty designs, this sites seems almost archaic. There are some links here for tips and tricks, but some of them don't work anymore. Some were hosted on Geocities and are long gone. Others are really outdated and just bleh. Unfortunately almost all pages on this site have tiled backgrounds. They aren't BAD backgrounds, but they are meant for an 800x600 resolution. That is great, until you are on something higher and you have BARS going through the text rendering it impossible to read. Control+A does the trick though.

The "Newbie" section is amusing. However I don't understand why you would encourage newbies to design a website which such lame reasons?! My whole thing with designing a website is to have a website for the RIGHT reasons! Not just to be cool in the eyes of your peers. Have a good concept as well. Your everyday SM site now is swallowed up in the sea of GOOD SM sites these days and will get few hits other than what you can con out of your friends and what you get from yourself. You need to create something GOOD, not just some random crap site. (If you don't understand what I am saying, read the drama article on De'Angelo as well as viewing his sites. It should explain it all to you.)

I can't really go much into this site. It is here, it is old, it needs updating, and it needs a redesign. It had its day, and it is long gone.

Uranus

I love metatext. That's where you have something self-referential, like a novel about an author (think Misery) or a movie about making movies (Ed Wood). And going in to review a site about how to make your site less bad is just weird to me. In a good way. The Sailormoon Toolbox explains how to do basic HTML just enough to push your page off the Ugly list. It's a page we desperately need. And unfortunately, we still need it.

The first major problem here is that there's about four hundred four 404 links here. I can only assume the site is long dead. But when it was alive it was a soup-to-nuts guide on going from not having a web page to having one. That is to say, it started with basic HTML, talked about common mistakes, went through uploading, and then discussed promoting your site, by giving some popular link exchanges to try to get on. This is the second problem. Much of the advice is very outdated, and the link lists it has, many of them don't exist any more. It also gives tips like not having graphics more than 50 kB in size. That's far too small an upper limit. Even here on the Pocky Box we use images over three times that size, and we're very light on images. The SM toolbox was clearly written for the age when 28.8 kbps modems were the standard and ISPs couldn't even consistently provide the bandwidth for them.

The rest of the page tips show similar anachronism. It suggests not using frames, because it cites a page showcasing the disadvantages. That page was written when 60% of web surfers were using Netscape. Need I say more? Well, then I'll mention the "cool" rippling water Java applet that was impressive for about ten seconds in 1998, and the advice to use a rainbow gradient on your text to make it look pretty.

The one thing the site still does well is housing web graphics. There's a nice collection of banner backgrounds and some buttons and even separators, although no one really uses those any more. But if you were a new site builder, going with these older techniques would probably be a good way to cut your teeth before trying some of the more modern tactics.

A great site that once was. That's all you can say about The SM Toolbox. If someone would run with this concept and re-do the site looking toward the needs of the modern web site, I would be a major boon to the Sailor Moon community.

Chibimoon

Upon arriving at “The Sailormoon Toolbox” I was, at first, pleased with the layout. It’s nice, it’s simple, and everything looks organized. (Apart from the broken counter image...) But, after the first two clicks of my mouse I was just bored. The front page is semi-acceptable, but once you start going through the subsections, mind you some are broken, you see that there really is nothing to look at. It’s just a few lists of links, containing more broken ones, and there is nothing to look at!

I like a website that’s simple and easy to navigate, but this is ridiculous! I’m bored out of my mind! Once you click on some links, such as Sailor Moon background images, finally you’ll find something to look at. “Sailormoon Toolbox” offers some simple images, but they are just bland as well, and there is an occasional missing image.

I am also confused. The shrine links are broken, but there is a lot of HTML tutorial, and unoriginal java script tutorials, too. Just think of it as a Sailor Moon basic HTML tutorial site, but the only place you’ll really see Sailor Moon is the front page and the simple image pages. There are already enough basic HTML sites out there to teach you how to use the rippling lake java script, and I’m tired of seeing them!

In conclusion, this site was a good attempt, but just so bland. They offer some pretty simple images, which anybody with just basic Photoshop or any graphic program knowledge could make more advanced images than these, and they also offer some basic HTML tutorial. But that’s about all you’re going to get. If I wasn’t reviewing this site I would’ve clicked out of it after the first few clicks. I wanted to bang my head on the computer desk for more entertainment, or maybe get my grandmother to paint something so I could’ve watched it dry. Yes, I’m too lazy to paint myself...

Pluto

The SM Toolbox. Well, no splash page so right to the main page we go. This appears to be a "how to build a SM fansite" page. Interesting. Well, the background is plain white with a chibi Eternal Moon on the top,navigation in the center, and links on the bottom. The visitor number isnt working. (I dunno why, but for some reason, i see this problem alot."

Alright! Lots of coding and background pictures for making a sailor moon site. This is begins to look like a "How to Make a Sailor Moon Fansite for Dummies" guide or something. Regrettably, 25% - 33% of the links do not work, but I will say the overall content of the stuff that works is quite impressive. There's A LOT of stuff here. I get the feeling that if I read this entire page, I'd be here for a long time so I'm speed reading. Hey, its good to have LOTS of content, so dont get me wrong, ok?

Newbies section is a guide to basic HTML, uploading files, graphics, etc. More and More information is flowing from this site, and Im learning some stuff too. Not bad.

Toolbox links is other SM sites of interest and places where you can get images and sound clips as well.

"Whats new" section doesnt work, and I dont plan to sign up the newletter.

Overall opinion: If you're a newbie to the web designing world, this site will probably be a great place to check out. if it wasnt for all the broken links on this site, I would say this site was decently good. Just fix those dead links and you should be just fine.