HateDrama: This site is all about graphics
Posted on: Dec 21, 2007
Positive: Okay, do as I say and don’t ask questions. Go to Hatedrama.com, click on the ‘animals’ link and click through to the second page of graphics. There you will find an angry cat with a machine gun. This is the only graphic you will ever need. You’re welcome.
Negative: Because this site offers graphics only, it seems like the selection is great, but it’s really just okaaay. Don’t get me wrong—there’s a lot to look at, but most of the graphics are not high quality (tons of glitter phrases), and the categories are limited.
Bottom Line: This site is all about graphics to add to your profile or to send to friends—if you’re looking for cute, funny, friendly or hoochie-momma graphics, this is the site to hit up.
MySpaceTotal: Positive: Myspacetotal.com
Posted on: Dec 26, 2007
Positive: Myspacetotal.com is a MySpace goodie site featuring a hefty selection of layouts, video codes, glitter, generators and flash toys flaunting the latest trends in music and pop culture. With the visual preview feature, you can see exactly what you’re getting.
Negative: It’s hard to avoid tripping over ads and popping open partner sites. But, I guess we’re all getting used to that, no?
Bottom Line: If you’re all about the “newest,” “hottest,” “coolest” thing, this site is for you. Don't just sit there looking tragically hip in your vintage Adidas, go get some glitter, yo.
Posted on: Dec 26, 2007
Positive: Over 7,000 layouts with a great selection of categories, representing everything from athletes and celebrities to cartoons and cars. Getting code for your favorite layout is a click away—you can preview a layout and copy the code all at the same time.
Negative: You may have to skip an ad here and there to get what you want.
Bottom Line: freeweblayouts.net = double-plus goodness on the layout front—their selection is huge.
Qnun: Great for classic comic geeks
Posted on: Dec 26, 2007
Positive: This site has a good article section—you can read up on HTML and CSS, as well as popular ‘how to’ topics like adding photos to your blog and installing a music player on your page. You can also email your questions to the webmaster.
Also, here’s an inside tip for fans of classic comics: if you click on ‘premade layouts’ and then on ‘comics,’ you can peruse a nice selection of comic book heroes including Batman, Captain America, Superman, Hellboy and members of the Fantastic Four. All the designs have an updated look, but still capture the spirit of the original illustrations. I haven’t had much luck finding classic comic characters on other tool sites, so I’m giving this site a thumbs up (or make that a right hand of doom up) for original content.
Negative: On first glance, this site could easily be an online catalogue for appliance instructions: BORING. That said, there’s some good stuff to be found if you’re willing to click around.
Bottom Line: Qnun has unique graphics and a well-organized list of articles covering standard MySpace topics including codes, tweaks and layouts.
Pimp-My-Profile: You can save your favorite codes and graphics
Posted on: Dec 21, 2007
Positive: You’ll find all the basic MySpace bells and whistles plus forums and surveys. If you create your own account, you can save your favorite codes and graphics and submit your own layouts.
Negative: Site help not helpful. Posted questions have not been answered. Hellooooo?
Bottom Line: You can scan tons of layouts (over 14,000), join a community forum, rate layouts, and save your stuff.
ProfilePitStop: A Mecca for the music- and photo- obsessed
Posted on: Dec 26, 2007
Positive: This site is a dream for MySpace fans and a Mecca for the music- and photo- obsessed. With tools featured on the homepage, you can download an MP3 player and share your custom mixtape with all your friends through your MySpace page. You can also create a slide show with your latest photos and then take advantage of Profile Pitstop’s free image hosting.
Negative: The last few times I went to this site, there were over a ton of broken links. Boo!
Bottom Line: If the links are working, this site is a gooder—you’ll find some cool retro-style tools that will help you spin your own music mixes and share your fly photos with all your adoring fans.
HotFreeLayouts: Leading the pack in sheer quantity
Posted on: Dec 26, 2007
Positive: This site is all about the layout. With over 10,000 MySpace layouts and counting, hotfreelayouts.com is leading the pack in sheer quantity. A user-friendly platform makes capturing code and previewing layouts quick and easy.
Negative: If it’s not a layout you’re looking for, you’re in the wrong place. Is that a double negative?
Bottom Line: If it’s immediate gratification you seek, you’re in the right place. You can find and load a layout in a flash.
TopBun: Original graphics and layouts have real design value
Posted on: Dec 26, 2007
Positive: I heart Topbun so much I wanna marry it. What this site lacks in volume, it makes up for it in original graphics and layouts that have real design value. You’ll find super sweet drawings under the category of children’s art, a ton of funny Japanese characters, and lots of dark airbrushy graphics for the fantasy geeks out there. This is my top pick for content to share with friends.
Negative: Like I said, the selection is not quite as vast as other sites, but don’t let this stop you—this site is definitely worth a visit. Or ten.
Bottom Line: I clicked on the ‘kung fu’ link because…well, wouldn’t you? I found a cute cartoon character in a series of karate poses. One caption says, “you smell like panda poo," and another says, “your butt is as soft as a cherry blossom.” They had me at “panda poo.”
CodeMyLayout: you can upload your latest layout
Posted on: Dec 19, 2007
Positive: As you look through layouts, your can make comments and rate designs. I dig this - it's well designed and easy to use. And the posts/comments section makes the whole experience more fun.
Negative: the tutorial section is kinda lame. it's hard to read and not super helpful.
Bottom Line: On codemylayout.com, you can upload your latest layout and include a post. You'll find over 650 designs and counting. You can get codes, flash toys and graphics too.
MyGirlySpace: Well organized, tons of content
Posted on: Dec 26, 2007
Positive: This site has lotsa stuff for girls—and actually, with over 7,500 layouts to choose from, there’s lotsa stuff for everyone. Backgrounds range from scenic landscapes to moving graphics and celebrity shots.
Negative: Most of the graphics are, for the most part, fun and earnest (with a few exceptions). If you're a smart-ass or a Marilyn Manson fan, you may want to move on before you vomit pink daisies.
Bottom Line: This is a quality site: well organized, tons of content, useful introductory information and tutorials to help you get started.
MySpaceToolBox: Layouts are listed alphabetically!
Posted on: Dec 26, 2007
Positive: This is a no-frills soup-to-nuts utility site for MySpace tools. At first glance, it seems like a super simple site, but I’ll tell you what I love about it: the layouts are listed alphabetically. I know...radical, right? You can do a keyword search for an actor, musician or geographical location, or just do an alphabetical search. This is precisely the kind of inside-the-box brand of thinking I have come to appreciate and love.
Negative: You’ll love this site if you know what you’re looking for, but it’s not so good if you’re looking to be inspired. Also, you have to choose categories before you get any visual content. And, some of the layouts are a little samey-same.
Bottom Line: The images and graphics aren’t going to blow your mind, but if you’re looking for something specific, this is a great place to start. The site design is streamlined—and at the very least, you won’t waste time or get lost.
NackVision Reviews: Two jazz hands for community spirit
Posted on: Dec 23, 2007
Positive: This site is a resource for MySpace tools with high-quality links and a forum for sharing info on tools. Along with links to sites that host generators, graphics and goodies, there are also original surveys and community forums. When you click on the ‘creative mind’ tab, you land on sister-site iNack.com, an online community where kids can chat and share their writing and artwork.
Negative: This site makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I can’t say anything bad about it—wait a second what’s happening to me? And, where did these pom poms come from?
Bottom Line: This site gets two jazz hands for community spirit. It’s a great social-networking forum and a worthwhile stop on the way to upgrading your MySpace page. Yaaaaay, Internet!
Posted on: Dec 21, 2007
Positive: Wow. They claim to have 600,000 layouts with over 400 categories.
Negative: I get a headache just thinking about all those layouts. I think you can pretty much count on mediocrity with those numbers. For instance, there’s a category for every color, and when you click on one like “yellow MySpace layouts,” you get about six versions of the same, very basic layout: one with a yellow border, one with a yellow bar across the top, one with yellow bars on either side, etc. Pretty lame-ass if you ask me. And, I don’t have a year to look at all the other layouts.
Bottom Line: Tons of layouts. Maybe a few too many.
PimpMyArea: All the standard hits plus other tasties
Posted on: Dec 20, 2007
Positive: The My Vox widget is featured on the homepage. With this widget, your friends can see when you’re on MySpace and invite you to phone chat. You can also view videos and send links to your friends. If you like watching videos of kitties falling into the garbage disposal, women projectile vomiting, and husbands cheating on their wives, you’ll LOVE these videos!
Negative: I like kitties.
Botom Line: This is a MySpace tool site with all the standard hits plus some unique features like widgets and new media to share with friends.
MyKewlSpace: And now I really AM confused
Posted on: Dec 20, 2007
Positive: Mykewlspace.com is a trip. This is primarily a resource site with links (that mostly don’t work) to other tool sites. And, even though this site seems poorly maintained, I have to hand it to them for trying. Instead of doing the samey-same old thing, they're trying to corner the market in potty humor. A fake photo of Georg Bush on the toilet with a link that says “George loves farts!” takes center stage on the homepage. This link takes you to fartnoises.info, which just happens to be a “flatulence blog.” For all the complaints I may have about this site, I can’t accuse them of putting me to sleep.
Negative: When I click on the “confused?” link, I get a page full of jacked-up warnings. And now I really AM confused. A small percentage of their links seem to be in good working condition.
Bottom Line: This is a resource site full of broken links; but to their credit, the links that do work are interesting. For example, if you click on the “tweaks” link, you land on a decent full-service tool site: Myspacetwister.com. If you have the time, you can find some kewl stuff on MykewlSpace.com, but you have to be willing to hit some dead ends along the way.
BlinkYou: Whatever you want for your MySpace page, it’s here
Posted on: Dec 20, 2007
Positive: Whatever you want for your MySpace page, it’s here: layouts, cursers, dolls, graphics, glitter, avatars and more. The top ten newest layouts section is updated regularly—and every day, a featured layout, glitter or generator is spotlighted on the homepage.
Negative: you have to scroll passed ads to get to the good stuff. You’re used to this by now, right? It’s kind of like the prize at the bottom of the cereal box.
Bottom Line: If you have the patience to wade through the ads, there are a ton of crazy cool tools on this site.
MySpaceGeek: A mix of kid-friendly and adult-oriented layouts
Posted on: Dec 26, 2007
Positive: The bulk of the homepage is dedicated to featured layouts, sponsors and tools, seemingly selected by a sole Web master whose photo and latest updates are posted MySpace-style in a comment box. If you like to put your two cents in, you can rate layouts on a scale of 1-10.
Negative: With comments like “I will start uploading tonight” under the news section, this site gives the impression that updates are being made by the millisecond, but the last post was made a couple months ago. Is the webmaster okay? Maybe someone should call 911.
Bottom Line: This site offers a mix of kid-friendly and adult-oriented layouts, all stacked side-by-side in a bohemian everything-goes master list including categories like holiday, dolls, alcohol, sports and Playboy.
Bigoo: All about the extras and the eye candy
Posted on: Dec 23, 2007
Positive: Bigoo has all the generator hits: the crystal ball, the fortune cookie, love notes, you name it. And, you can customize the graphics before nabbing the code. They also have a huge selection of glitters, banners, graphics and more. You can use the Bigoo profile editor to customize your page.
Negative: Some of Bigoo’s links like ‘music lyrics’ and ‘custom doll maker’ take you directly to partner sites.
Bottom Line: This site is all about the extras and the eye candy. You may be disappointed by the layout selection.
UploadHype: Just another standard tool site
Posted on: Dec 20, 2007
Positive: While the layout selection is limited (there are exactly seven layouts in the pre-made layout section for example), the webmaster actually offers to make a customized layout if you email him or her. That is so adorable. I wonder if it’s true.
Negative: This is just another standard tool site. The tools are okay, the layout of the site is okay, and the content is limited and not very original, but still okay. Okay? Okay then.
Bottom Line: This site has most of the standard MySpace tools: generators, graphics, tweaks and codes. Nothing fancy here. Under the beginners section, you can also get schooled on the basics of design—and when I say basics, I mean basics.
OurSpace Reviews: The music video section is a standout feature
Posted on: Dec 23, 2007
Positive: You can watch music videos and create a video play list (this is too cool!). There are some great generator graphics (customized license plates, polls, poloroid pix, weather forecast) and tons of comment graphics for all occasions.
Negative: This site is shystie with ads. Some of their comment graphics will link directly to Google ads instead of the codes. Boo!
Bottom Line: Good layouts, tweaks, graphics; good selection. The music video section is a standout feature.
