Joketwist
Full Review by Red Herring
Scoring:
First Impressions & Appearance – (9 out of 20)
A joke website, hm? Well, this should be a most interesting review. No small part due to it being the first website without a community that I've reviewed at Forum Promotion. I finally get a chance to use my slightly revised template. That being said, this is probably going to end up being a rather short full review. Mainly because Joke Twist consists of
two pages. Nonetheless, I shall give it my best shot.
So, as always, we begin with aesthetics. Joketwist begins its twists and turns with a very simple grey striped header, its contents fit with but two things: a logo and a "Submit Your Jokes" button. As the owner has mentioned, the button's text has been knocked out of alignment, to negative effect. Fortunately, the logo provides some saving grace; its design consisting of bold text in three different arrays of color: black, red and turquoise. The "T" in "Twist" has been stylized into a corkscrew effect, much to my delight. Overall, I very much approve of this logo.
Unfortunately, the effect is ruined by the gaping white bar underneath the header, which feels completely out of place. I find myself curious as to why the body cannot connect to the header in a way similar to it does the footer, via a gradient. While it's not a particularly enticing design element, it would be much more suitable than the gaping white bar that currently connects the two.
Well, let's move on to the body, which contains the main attraction of this website: the Joketwist. It consists of a slight monotone gradient background with centered text contained within CSS boxes and social networking options. There's nothing impressive here, but I find myself generally content with these design elements. Although I would perhaps suggest make the "Twist" button more pronounced than the filter tags. It's a rather important button after all, one that the entire website is based around. It should definitely draw a lot of attention to it.
We now arrive at the last element on the agenda: the footer, which is separated from the body by a fairly unattractive gradient. I can't say that I am particularly fond of it, but hey. It beats a giant white bar and it still works without being glaring or irritating to the eyes. The footer's contents consist of stock branding and navigation elements; pretty standard stuff, but always good to have.
Overall, however, I'd have to say that I am somewhat dissatisfied with this design. It's obvious that it tries to be sleek and modern, but ends up feeling a bit too rough to accomplish that. Furthermore, this is a joke website, yes? Where has all the color gone? A website dedicated to comedy should avoid being so monotone. A website's colors should match its niche.
It's not bad, but I do find myself disappointed in the end.
Site Layout – (12 out of 20)
Ta ha. Well, considering the fact there are really only two pages of this website accessible to guests, I would be a bit disappointed with humanity if someone actually managed to get
lost in Joketwist. Even if the organization were generally abysmal, I simply don't believe that it would be possible to lose yourself here.
So, speaking of the organization, is it abysmal? Cluttered? Disgusting? Horrendous? No. No it is not. Everything on this website is where it should be: Content in the middle, footer branding/links, social networking, the header. Although if we're being honest here, it'd be pretty difficult to mess it up given how small this website is. Nonetheless, the point stands in that everything is organized properly, although the social networking options do feel
slightly out of place, but that's relatively minor.
There's really nothing else for me to say or critique here. All is as it was meant to be, and that's what counts.
Functionality – (11 out of 20)
Hoo hoo hoo, excellent. We now move on to functionality: the general mechanics and workings of a website. What makes your website tick? Actually, that's rather improperly phrased for this section. What I should be saying is "
How does your website tick"? Well, Joketwist runs solely on one function, so let's find out.
From what I've examined after playing around a bit with this Joketwister, mechanics are fairly simple but delightfully executed. There is one large "Twist" button and a grand total of 21 tag buttons below it. You click on the tag buttons you want to filter through for jokes and then click "Twist", which gives you a random joke based around the filters you selected. It's not the most innovative function in the world, but it works. And I consider myself fairly pleased with such mechanics.
Again, there's really not much else for me to critique. It fulfills the purpose the website sets out to accomplish.
Content – (5 out of 20)
So, we covered how the website ticks. Now we get to the part about what makes Joketwist tick? Specifically, the content itself. Even more specifically, the jokes themselves. Are these jokes up to par and make using Joketwist a worthwhile experience? Am I in for a quality comedy routine that will have me stuck to Joketwist for hours? Or will I merely be twisting my mouth with a yawn out of boredom? We'll, let's see.
"What did the dog say to the hot dog bun? "Are you pure bred?""
"If you were a Pokemon, I'd choose you!"
"What did the elder chimney say to the younger chimney? You're too young to smoke."
"I've often wanted to drown my troubles, but I can't get my wife to go swimming."
"What do cats eat for breakfast? Mice Krispies!"
Ohohohoho good lord, these are some of the cheesiest and corniest jokes I have ever heard. Actually, just about all of the jokes popping up are really on the cheesier side of things. I'm amused not with the jokes themselves, but with just how corny they are. This might be a form of comedy in itself, but I sadly I do not find myself impressed with the selection. Especially considering many of these jokes have been copied and pasted from elsewhere.
I wouldn't be too disheartened. They're good for a few minutes of amusement at least, but I don't believe many would find themselves addicted to these jokes. If I am to be honest, in addition to being corny, many of them aren't particularly good. Some of them don't even really seem to be jokes, which is a bit disappointing.
Spelling/Grammar & Professionalism – (13 out of 20)
Alright then. This is the last section before we wrap this review up. Spelling and grammar: whether or not the English language has been treated with respect. Let's just jump right into it by saying "Yes, it has indeed been treated well." I am confident in saying that I went through just about every joke that Joketwist had to offer. Not once did I encounter any spelling error or grammatical anomaly. Everything was in pristine condition, so either everyone that's submitted a joke has ensured they adhered to that quality
(or they simply copied and pasted), or the owner himself has ensured their quality.
Either way, consider me quite satisfied.
Total Score - (51 out of 100)
Final Remarks:
Well, how shall I end this? I shall start off by saying that Joketwist certainly is not a bad website. It has its fair share of flaws in several different areas, but aside from one aspect
(arguably the most important one too, unfortunately), they are all relatively minor concerns. The main point of the website, the jokes themselves, are a bit disappointing, but they still manage to be a bit entertaining. However, I quite appreciate the goal that Joketwist is trying to accomplish in simply being a simple website that presents you with a random joke to brighten your day...a function that is both incredibly easy and quick to use. It simply needs more jokes and general content.
This has definitely been one of my shorter and less-detailed reviews, but there really wasn't a whole lot to critique or say about it. It's a nice little tidbit of the internet that just needs some tender loving care to succeed.
So with that, best regards Joketwist. Whatever path you walk, whatever road you travel, I wish you the very best of luck.
Strengths:
- - Simple Functional Joke Website
- Great Concept
Weaknesses:
- - Dull / Corny Jokes
- Design Could Do With Improvement
- Needs More Jokes
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