Blog Reviews by Bloggeries

Reviews of blogs from around the globe since 2006.
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Archive for August, 2007

World Horror Stories – Blog Review

Monday, August 27th, 2007

rate3 World Horror Stories   Blog ReviewIf you are the type that likes a spooky story or wants your hair to stand on end, you may want to have a look at World Horror Stories. The author here asks when you log in if you are ready for the scariest stories, photos, and videos ever, and if you want to continue through the blog, prepare yourself. This blog is a collection of ghost stories, and gruesome things happening in the world, and is definitely not for the young OR the faint of heart. If you want to see what I am talking about, check out some of the most recent Bloggeries: Mermaid II, Flying Creature, Karaoke Room, Unknown Figure Behind a Girl, White Ghost Figure in the House, Parking Lot, Tour Turns to Horror, Beach, and Audition. Each Bloggerie is a recollection of a story or an event that will make your hair stand on end. Each post is accompanied by either a relevant picture or a video, and while I was in the middle of a review, one of the spooky ghost videos actually shut my computer down. So, I don’t know if someone was mad at me, or if my machine is just cranky today, however….

car accident World Horror Stories   Blog Review Navigation on this site is a little busy, but if you enjoy the content you will barely notice the navigation. Posts are centralized with both a left and right navigation system. The posts are centered on a burgundy background with yellow text and the navigation bars are in spooky black. The left navigation bar contains a PayPal button, ads, a ghostly poll, and results from recent blog polls. Each post contains relevant pictures and videos as well as a dig bookmark along with a reader voting system for each post. I like how this is done as it really shows the readers and the author as well, who is liking what. In the right navigation bar you can submit your own ghost story, read any of the Most Popular Posts, or visit any of the Categories. Categories include Announcements, Asian, Type of Spirit, Unexplained, and Western. You will also find a slew of blog links and widgets for the blog.

I am giving this one a 3/5 for a few reasons. The blog scores well on content and uniqueness, but lacks some things in other categories. The appearance mark would be improved if some AdSense was removed or at least tamed. The blog is very busy with advertising and it really distracts from the content. I liked how the AdSense was formatted to blend with the blog, but there is just too much advertising. For navigation, if some advertising was removed there would be room for an archive menu as well as a recent posts menu, both of which are lacking from the blog and really help readers with navigation. Activity score was also a little bit low, with posts coming in about once a week. Again, this blog is a very unique concept and it would do well with some appearance changes and more frequent bloggeries. The blog also clearly has a good following, which again could be even better with some of these changes. I enjoyed reading this topic and viewing the videos, and could definitely be persuaded to return with just a few tweaks here and there. I think like-minded others who enjoy a good ghost story would agree.
-Chrissie

Laws of the Universe Blog – Review

Friday, August 24th, 2007

rate3 Laws of the Universe Blog   ReviewWe all need to find out zen moments sometime, don’t we? If you think you do, take a minute to check out the Laws of the Universe Blog. Here you will find a blog that the author wishes to use to convey his knowledge gained thus far about the way this universe functions according to certain laws and how we can architect our own destiny by practicing these laws. The author is Malathy Badri, a Math teacher in India who blogs for both fun and money. His life slogan is to pass it on; share, and we at Bloggeries are doing just that by telling you about his blog. You can get a feel for his Laws of the Universe concepts by reading his recent posts You roam the world, we follow; Death penalty to whom?, Make a jambalaya, Perfect Wedding Anniversary Gift, Patrick Bernard’s Spiritual Path, An Indian Dating Website, New Products from Multivend, and Love Letters from God. While not all of these posts are zen related or even contain spiritual musings, they are all a very interesting read.

Navigation on this site is fairly straightforward. I do recommend you view this in Mozilla Firefox as you can, or you may think there are formatting issues with the right navigation bar. There aren’t the site is just better viewed there. I do run across this from time to time and it is no reflection of the blogger. Posts are centered with both a left and right navigation system. The posts are bright blue text on a calming azure type background and links are highlighted in red. AdSense is incorporated throughout the blog with the same color theme so it blends in very well. In the left navigation bar you will find the about me section, archives, blogs that link here, and some advertising. In the right you will see some AdSense, tools for spiritual development links, book recommendations, and a photo visitor log. I do see categories labeled on each post, but I do not see a categories menu on the blog. I also would not mind seeing some pictures added to the blog, from what I can see there is only one on the main page. I would suggest adding some pictures to make the blog a little more fun to read.

I am going with a 3.3/5 for this one. I like that the blog has recent and frequent posting, and for someone writing from India the English is very good. The content is well written, though sparse for the actual topic of the blog niche. I would suggest some more posting on the spirituality component of the blog. I would also suggest some AdSense changes. Currently there is AdSense at the top of the page as soon as you open up the blog, and I think this is a little distracting from the blog content. As mentioned I would also add a categories menu. The blog just needs some tweaking then in Appearance and Navigation categories, but otherwise the blog is doing well on other accounts. For those that have an interest in Zen living and Spirituality, I would recommend having a look at this one to get a unique perspective on the Laws of the Universe.

-Chrissie

eruANNA dot Net – Personal Blog Review

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

rate4 eruANNA dot Net   Personal Blog ReviewIf you are looking for yet another source on blogging, or more particularly, Word Press, you may want to check out Han’s Blog eruANNA.net. To get full advantage of this site, you definitely want to view it in Mozilla Firefox, as with IE I did find some formatting issues. However, with Firefox, you don’t even notice them. On the blog you will get a chance to meet Han, the owner and author of this blog. The blog itself is powered by Word Press, and Han has a passion for this. She uses the blog to post about her life and also to provide tutorials and resources on Word Press and other things for her readers – because she’s nice like that. I find it interesting how she describes the meaning of her domain – eruanna. The name means “grace” in Quenya, and her name Han, also means grace. And if you spend a few minutes on her blog, then you will see she is holding well to her namesake. Her most recent bloggeries include Dodgy Cupcake Things, Wow – Stumbled!, From a Dream, One of Those Posts – 17 Wordpress Plugins, Who’s a Blogger, How to Write Your Own Wordpress Theme and Why I hate Domain Email.

Navigation on the site is very simple and straightforward. Posts are centralized with both left and right navigation bars. The appearance of the blog is very appealing. Posts are black text on white background. The blog also has a very feminine appeal to it without being too pink or girly, but headers are in a very pretty scrolled font. Each of her bloggeries also contains relevant pictures that add to the relevancy of the bloggerie. My favorite picture on the blog so far is from her “From a Dream” post where she did some photo manipulation, however it is just a breathtaking shot that definitely reaches the readers.

1043378055 540dd5cb5e o eruANNA dot Net   Personal Blog ReviewIn the right bar you will find advertising and widgets advertising her most recent visitors. In the left navigation system you will find a main menu that has links to Home, About, Contact, Downloads and Articles, Word Press Themes, Photoblog, Forum, Sitemap, and Advertise Here. This menu is followed by an Archives Menu, Find Me Menu (for her various social networking), Friends List, and a very handy Word Press Pull Down Menu.

I think a Recent Posts Menu would add further organization to the blog. Currently to access recent posts you have to dig through archives, or click on a button at the bottom of the page to reach previous entries. Overall I am going with a 4/5 on this one. I found this blog very appealing on many aspects. The blog scores well for activity, appearance, and definitely uniqueness of the niche. I also think the blog does well for the most part with navigation, but could do even better with a few of the mentioned changes here. The content as well is well-written and her tutorials are handled in such a way that they are extremely user friendly and knowledgeable enough to be credible sources. This blog is one that I definitely recommend if you wish to enjoy a little bit of personal experiences, as well as learn something valuable about blogging or web mastering at the same time.

- Chrissie

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