http://www.acornrack.com/sunsetbeach/
The next site on my list is Sunset Beach, a city rp based in the lovely state of Hawaii. I've never been there though so I guess I'll have to graciously accept a complimentary trip to Hawaii from the owners to fully see the parallels between the actual experience and the site.
(Obviously I'm joking... but wouldn't that be GREAT?!)
The AD is nicely written out, telling you that again it's located in Hawaii and throwing in the "AD" portion trying to draw you in to the site. Now that we've gotten that established, drop it like it's hott (with two "t's"!), show me your bikini, and lets head onwards to the review of Sunset Beach!
First Impression:
I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts! (That's what she said!) The layout is very nice and simple, a nice image on the top with links under it. And the colors look like it's emulating a sunrise or sunset. So overall very nice.
The Public Area:
The Front Page is a rehashing of what was posted on the AD and that's fine, so no problems here.
(Spelling/Grammar: "concerthall" is two words, "dont" needs an apostrophe)
The Rules Page is split into 3 sections for easier separation of rules. Overall it's your standard gambit, so no problems here.
(Spelling/Grammar: "instant massagers" should be "instant messengers", and OCC should be OOC in Rule 2. [Both Errors] )
Face Claim Page, Adopt and Affilates page are self explanitory, moving on.
The Application:
The Application is the standard that generally everyone has, however NO RP SAMPLE REQUIRED. (Jello Points for you! ... it's like Brownie points.. but I'm Jello.)
The Private Area:
Layout Extension! Woo! Basically there is a navigation bar on the side now so everything still stays nice and simple. Everything for the private area is on the intial screen load so that's also nice. As with most City RP's they generally do not have private pages so that means less work for me and onwards to the next section!
Forums:
Good amount of forums and each forum has a nice description however this is where I have my first little nitpick for the site. The forums for me seems like a giant text block, aside from the large text separating each section the actual forum names, and descriptions seem to mash together and there's no clear definition of their space. I see the little ">>'s" before each name but it still feels like it's hard to navigate. This brings up my next point, with great forums comes great unnavigability (Booyah! Spiderman reference!). The scrolling is somewhat of a pain since the descriptions are in fact good, so the good turns into the bad in this case. I've always been a fan of hot links to each individual section and subsequent hotlink to top, or the script to separate forums entirely.
Other:
Member list is organized fine, showing the avatar and a short bit of information on each. The names themselves aren't links so for me that was 10 seconds of staring at the screen but I quickly noticed the outline of the pictures as the links.
Member profiles are nicely organized and are generally filled out well, though there are some who have been on a month and their information is still "coming soon."
Roleplaying:
From what I read on the forums I categorize the RP level of this site to be High Intermediate to Advanced.
Rating: 7.0 out of 10 Points.
Overall Sunset Beach is a good site with a nice layout and where I think the simplicity makes it all the more better. The Gossip accounts are also nice and adds a bit of uniqueness to the site, however after that point in the end it is a city RP. The location obviously gives the opportunity for nice events along the way to encounter celebs or international stars (hint hint?). Don't worry, the first one's free, tell your friends. (No really, I could use some publicity...)
Reviewed by: The Jello Emperor
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