Anyone that works in a cubicle is sure to appreciate this blog. This blog is called Alpha Dork and offers insights from a jaded office worker in the hope of providing them TO jaded office workers alike. The blog is an attempt by the blogger to escape the cubicle life through random thoughts, rants, views, and the occasional office survival tip. The blogger says this is a stand for all Joe Schmoes and Plain Janes who are tired of lateral promotions and power trip superiors. The blogger refuses to spend 30 years working up to the big office 20 yards away, and if nothing else, the blog will lead him out of the cubicle if for only a short while. You can get some insights for yourself by checking out any of the most recent bloggeries: The Five Workplace Eating Styles, This is the degree all in moment, Office Survival Tip #3 – Delegate Your Work to the Temp, Addicted to Technology, Office Survival Tip #2 – Befriend the Janitor in your Building, Those Darn Herpes Medicine Commercials, Office Survival Tip #1 – The Internet Saves Your Sanity, and Money vs. Happiness.
The blog is very cleanly laid out and this makes it very easy to navigate. Bloggeries are centralized with black text on white background, and there is both a left and right navigation bar. The blog is fairly new at this point, only a few months old at the time of the review, so the navigation bars do not have as much meat as some older blogs might, but this should come with time. The blog also contains a small top navigation bar, where you can access the newest article on the blog, About page, or advertising information. In the left navigation bar you can find an Archives Pull Down Menu, Recent Posts Menu, and Recent Comments Menu. In the right navigation bar you can find Subscription information, Office Survival 101 guide, and an ad for ‘drop your entre card’. Right now the blog is missing a categories menu or labels on its bloggeries, so I would recommend adding these features to the blog, simply to bring in more traffic if nothing else. Each bloggery is accompanied by a relevant pictures that add meaning to the bloggeries. And each bloggery is very well written with a distinct tongue in cheek taste that I am sure every cubicle employee will appreciate.
I will give this blog a 3.4 which for a blog so young is excellent. The blog is missing some blog meat at this point that is leaving a lot of space in the navigation bars. For the time being I might recommend taking out one navigation bar and putting it all in one navigation bar to alleviate some of the white space on the blog. The content is spectacular, and I sense the blogger is a writer in his free time and it definitely shows in the content. At this time, the blog needs some more exposure and that alone I think will ensure its success. This blog is a fun blog to read and parallels a stand-up comedy routine almost, making the truths of life very funny. With this kind of quality content the blogger should do very well with this blog. I also recommend the blogger stay a little more active with the blog and update daily if possible, even if to only offer a few quips here and there. More updates will definitely bring in more traffic, and with the quality content on this blog, the blogger would definitely benefit in growth from more frequent updating. I recommend this to anyone spending the majority of their time in a cubicle, and in fact, I work from home and will be keeping a bookmark and an eye on this one. I also recommend the author ads categories which would increase navigation and organization. Unique and funny blogs like this do not come around that often, so I hope the blogger continues with this and he will be sure to see some success.
-Chrissie