Rejected Website Template - Would Appreciate The Community's Input

Hello,

I have submitted my first Website Template to Themeforest and it got rejected by the reviewer. I was wondering if you could help me out with an objective opinion.

Here is a working preview: http://bit.ly/yO9VZy

And this is the reason for rejection that was given in the email I received:

“We would like to thank you for your submission but are, unfortunately, unable to approve it at this time as it does not meet our current quality requirements. Please continue reading as we’ve explained why we’ve declined your submission.

=== Why We’ve Declined Your Submission ===

Right now, I’m seeing too many issues that I can’t possibly point out what needs to be fixed. So for now, look to tweak and polish this template. With improvements, I’ll hopefully be able to be more specific. For now, please use the following as guidelines:

1. There are a few inconsistent spacing/padding as well as alignment issues throughout the design. I’d like you to go over it with a fine toothed comb and weed out these basic design issues.

2. Please look into how you’re using white space—both micro and macro. It needs to be intuitive, consistent and frame the content correctly in the manner you seek.

3. Overall typography and visual + typographic hierarchy needs additional refinements and improvements before it will be ready for Theme Forest.

4. Important— try to make your theme’s design more unique. Adding features, options and styles will help increase your template’s value and increase its ability to be approved. However, a unique design will be a key factor for approval. Try experimenting with different layouts, placement and positioning etc

5. Even with the current design, a significant increase in the polish of the various aspects of the theme may just swing the decision in your favor. Right now, it doesn’t feel like a premium theme due to the lack of attention to details.”

It seems to me, this is mainly a general response and I really don’t know where to start with adjustments to get my template approved.

I would appreciate any help you can give me – as this is my first template that I tried submitting to Themeforest, I really don’t know what are the main reasons for rejection.

Thank you kindly!

you might want to leave the link or screenshot

OrganicBeeMedia said
you might want to leave the link or screenshot

I have, it is at the very beginning of the post: http://bit.ly/yO9VZy – thank you for your quick reply!

PolkaDotPump said

OrganicBeeMedia said
you might want to leave the link or screenshot

I have, it is at the very beginning of the post: http://bit.ly/yO9VZy – thank you for your quick reply!

sorry missed it, its to early..

anyways, its a great start, but its missing some details. Stuff like slight shadow on the wrapper to differ it from the background etc, take a look around some high quality CSS galleries and some of the themes on here and you’ll see what Im talking about

Also, I don’t think you should be using justified text.

good luck.

Thank you for your input! I will try and add certain details, like shadows and maybe style some of the elements more, but I originally wanted a clean and simple design, without too much styling. I don’t think simple is a problem, because not every design on Themeforest is complex. There are some really nice, simple designs here. But really have no other idea at the moment.

dexterous said
Also, I don’t think you should be using justified text. good luck.

You are right. I will definitely have to get rid of that.