At first glance, I was certain I would be disappointed with my experience at scribbleskidsart.com. While their name and logo are simple and their message clear, my first take on this website would not exactly be defined as highly impressed. However, after a time, my opinion of this website changed for the better...

Overall Look and Feel
The home page design reminded me of something thrown together by an amateur website designer in their spare time using the most basic three color template available. The overly simple blue leftbar and plain white body with virtually no formatting leaves the visitor initially unimpressed.

As I perused the website, I noticed that any formatting present was primarily either a simple left-aligned paragraph or centered text. Everything is displayed using a relatively medium-large, boring font, and page headings usually contain some simple, yet relevant clipart. Most pages are sectioned out by basic red horizontal lines. Some of the pages displaying multiple pieces of artwork look a little sloppy, as the graphics were not cropped to common sizes.

The overly simplistic nature gave me the feeling that this site was designed for five year olds. It's definitely no corporate masterpiece. Then it dawned on me...that's exactly who it was designed for! It is consistent and simple - even if boring and a little messy at times - and even the most novice web user would most likely understand what they're looking at right away.

Moving Around the Site
Navigation is extremely simple. There is so little to the style and design of the site that it's just-plain-easy to get where you want to go. All of the main topics are listed on the left, and most pages have clear blue hyperlinks within the body text that take you to the next logical place you would want to visit. There's nothing confusing about this website at all.

If a link takes you away from scribbleskidsart.com, they present the target website in a new window, keeping your visit to this website intact. Nice touch and properly done in that respect.

Strength of Content; Power in Ideas
What made my visit to this website truly intriguing was the nature of the content. There's just a lot of stuff to read and look at, and a lot of offerings in the way of contests, art education, art history, articles, and other resources. They are targeting youth artists, and seem to stay true to their mission. There is wealth of knowledge here, and you're not flooded with advertisers and sponsors at every turn. This site is also obviously always evolving and current. Nothing felt stale. Monthly awards offered by this website to various contest winners ranging from art supplies to blue ribbons and a place in their "Hall of Fame" for things such as "best artwork" and 'first to answer the monthly quiz correctly" keep their visitors coming back and contributing to this growing community of young artists.

Conclusion
The website's content is right on the mark for its target audience. If you're under 18 and an artist or interested in art, then this website has something to offer you and there is true value to the information held within. I highly recommend spending more than a few minutes browsing its pages.That being said, this site could use a major design overhaul by a professional website developer. There's a ton of potential here. A touch of real art-in-design could turn this diamond-in-the-rough into a real gem!

About The Author
Dan Lineaweaver is Chief Consultant with Skyward Thought, a hi-tech creative services company located in Jonestown, PA near Harrisburg. Dan has been in the industry for over 11 years writing software on and off the Internet, and developing creative solutions for companies large and small throughout the world. Dan regularly works with programming and database architectures such as .NET and SQL Server, as well as creative tools such as Sony Vegas for audio and video editing, Adobe Photoshop, and various others. To learn more about Dan and Skyward Thought please visit http://www.skywardthought.com/ or email Dan at [email protected] article is accurate at the time writing and is published in Sitecritic.net - Web Reviews, Design Ideas and Articles. You may reproduced this article only if this section remains intact.