Code

For this week's website review, I've chosen to cover Neopets -- one of my favorite websites as a 90's kid (and admittedly also as a 27 year old adult). For a website that appeared fairly complex in terms of style and design, I was quite surprised to see how simple the HTML appeared and how easily I could understand what was going on in the HTML aside from the bits of javascript that I don't understand yet.

Like previous reviews, Neopets was structured simply and intuitively. The web page was sectioned with divs, and class names also appeared to be created by a human. The class names gave an idea as to how they styled a section by their naming patterns. The HTML was indented, showing the nested relationship between parent and child elements. Overall, it was a very logically structured, "clean" code.

User Interface - UI

I've always enjoyed Neopet's user interface. I find it simple to navigate, and easy to get where you need to go. I suppose a good part of that is due to this site originally being designed to be used by children. The navigation bar on the website links to just about any page you would need to go to with the use of drop-down menus. There are also many interactive maps on Neopets that have labels for every location or store you can travel to.

As far as design goes, Neopets is rich with art that is truly unique to their brand. There are so many different kinds and styles of neopets, fictional foods, locations, and items. Every page has beautiful landscapes and sceneries on it. There exists so much imagery that captures users' attention no matter where you click.

User Experience - UX

The user experience on Neopets is truly one of a kind. I think as an adult I still find myself getting sucked back into this from time to time because of the user experience. Neopets is filled with bright, warm colors and extremely adorable artwork pretty much anywhere you click. I think the design choices were intended to inspire joy and happiness within the users, and that's exactly how I feel when I log on after a stressful day at work.

There are several maps and pages of the website that are interactive with the users, tailoring an experience that is both personable and one of a kind.

Summary

Overall, Neopets is an intuitively designed website. The code, UI and UX are perfectly crafted to make an experience that is engaging and rewarding for users. Given that the website and fanbase is still going strong since it was first introduced in 1999, I would say that the website and brand are successful and deserving of five stars across the board.