There have been a few Newgrounds Personas released and in light of a version of my theme that will be able to display these correctly being submitted earlier today I've decided to write a review on each of the Newgrounds Personas available at this time.

The new version of my theme is currently in the sandbox, go here to get it now.

1) Newgrounds, Designer: Jawnster, Added: 4/8/2009:

Images:
This is the first Newgrounds Persona so naturally I expected a lot and I wasn't dissapointed. It has a very simple header with a gray background and a Newgrounds logo with a smoking tank man just below the focus point that can accomodate any toolbar setup up to a 300px height.

The footer is a simple gray background that matches the header nicely, but has an angry face in the bottom right corner which can only be seen with a browser width of 3000px.

Since the footer's focus point is the bottom left corner making this visible at the risk of a white bar on the right side of the footer and another white bar on the left side of the header I'm taking a point off.

Text:
The text is a cool gray that and although it didn't quite seem to have enough contrast to me it was clearly legible and compliments the blackground well.

Overall: This is a very good Persona using a classic effect that reveals more of the image as new toolbars are added. The only thing this could possibly benefit from is moving the logo up a little towards the focus point, and although this is not necessary as part of logo is already visible on a standard or default layout it may encourage more users.

Scores:
Images - 8/10
Text - 10/10
Average - 9/10
Number users at time of review: 3

2) Newgrounds.com, Designer: andycastaneda, Added: 4/17/2009:

Images:
The header image is clearly three images stacked next to each other. At the focus point there is a a Newgrounds logo similar to the one the site with the bright yellow and orange sunbeams, in the centre is the classic NG cityscape with dark sunbeam background and at the left another logo and goes against the advise that "subtle, soft contrast images and gradients work best" available in the Persona site How To section. The left section is lower than the right leaving a dark border at the top and shows there wasn't much care in the compositing.

The footer show the same lack of care with similar problems along the bottom of it's three dark sections that consist of similar sunbeams to the centre of the header.

Text:
Because of the contrast between the header sections it's difficult to choose a colour that goes well with the background and the white text was difficult to see in parts over the header but worked well with the footer.

Overall:
This is an average Persona with very little consistancy or attention to the basic design principles introduced in the Persona How-To section.

Scores:
Images - 4/10
Text - 5/10
Average: 4.5/10
Number of user at time of review: 6

3) Newgrounds theme, Designer: AngryCat, Added: 4/17/2009:

Images:
The header image is by far the worst, or at least the most setup reliant of all Newgrounds Personas at this time. At the focus point is an old school Newgrounds logo with old style sunbeams behind and as for the rest the only consistency is the seemingly random blocks of various shades of gray that take over towards the centre. In the middle there's the image of a tankman standing while the other is smoking on the grounds that you see at the bottom of the Newgrounds site but instead of the "Everything by everyone" there's three angry faces.

The footer is a flat gray background with tank_sm.gif on the right which is at the opposite side to focus point.

Text:
The text is yellow, which although goes well with gray background doesn't go well with the orange background it covers on low resolutions.

Overall:
This is a crap Persona and there's little wonder as to why.

Scores:
Images - 0/10
Text - 3/10
Average - 1.5/10
Number of user at time of review: 1

4) Newgrounds Tank, Designer: Mihajlo95, Added: 5/13/2009:

Images:
The header consists of the word "Newgrounds" in a very large font on a black background and the NG Logo is at the focus point. As I've said before this kind of tacky separation is a clear example of what not to do and was very blocky or pixelated, making it look half-arsed.

When I viewed this Persona most of the header text was cut off and only the top of the tank logo was visible, this is a classic visual effect but the text takes away from this because at least on my computer all it revealed was more of the last four letters. The contrast between the sunbeams and the background looked out of place.

The footer is a black siluohette of a cityscape that no one will see unless they have a lot of status bar extensions.

Text:
The text colour is black, making it completely unusable.

Overall:
This is by far the worst Persona and not even the creator is using it.

Scores:
Images - 1/10
Text - 0/10
Average - 0.5/10
Number users at time of review: 0

5) A Newgrounds Theme, Designer: BeeZee, Added: 5/25/2009:

Images:
Although the header and footer are clearly made of three pieces, they tile well and the soft contrast sets this Persona apart from the other mor complex attempts. In the focus point of the header there is a modified Newgrounds logo in which the text is black with an orange logo, giving it a more subtle contrast than the original black and white. The background is made up purely of sunbeams and can easily survive different setups.

The footer is pure sunbeams and maintains a soft contrast as well.

Text:
The text is black, making it very easy to see over the background and easily readable.

Overall:
This Persona is a little bright for my tastes but like the first Persona it is clearly a cut above the rest.

Scores:
Images - 9/10
Text - 9/10
Average - 9/10
Number of user at time of review : 12

6) The Official Theme Of Newgrounds.com, Designer: Spagneti, Added: 7/22/2009:

Images:
Having been named as the official theme I had high hopes, especially since this Persona had been made by one of the Newgrounds staff or at the very least directly approved.

The banded blending make a nice transition between the tank in the focus point and the dark metalic background and similar banding in the footer compliments it.

But why is there a yellow bar in the middle of the header?

Alas, that's not the only downfall. Both the header and footer images are mostly white and this theme doesn't even reach the tab bar of the default layout. It has a yellow imprint of an address bar that makes it extremely difficult to read the text in anything other than a default setup and makes it difficult to use Firefox even with the default layout due to the "Newgrounds, Everything by Everyone" surrounding the false address bar making text difficult to read on those areas.

Text:
The gray text contrasts well in the darker areas of the Persona but is hard to read in the lighter areas, especially in the find bar at the bottom of the browser.

Overall:
This could've been an amazing Persona if it accomodated setups not identical to the author and if there were no whitespace. As for being official, due to the low quality I find it more likely to be a marketing ploy rather than fact.

Scores:
Images - 6/10
Text - 7/10
Average - 6.5/10
Number of user at time of review: 0

Conclusion:
There are a few basic design mistakes being made in these Personas and I hope they are fixed soon as all of these Personas are unique and could compliment Firefox well.

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