Bloggeries

Fruit lovers are going to love this next blog! This blog is all about fruit plain and simlple. The blog is called Fruit Species, and is run by blogger known as Fruity. Here at this blog you will be able to find all kinds of fruits from all over the globe, including exotic and rare fruits. The blog is not a blog about the most ordinary of fruits, and you will find information here on any kind of exotic fruit found anywhere in the world. Each bloggery is accompanied by a beautiful picture of something you have likely never seen or heard of before. To see these for yourself, check out Fruit Species most recent bloggeries: FRUIT Thumbnails, Passion Fruit (Purple Rind), What’s Your FIVE Favorite Fruits, Dragon Fruit (White Flesh), Hardy Kiwifruit, Pulasan, and Cape Gooseberry.

The blog is formatted a bit differently I think, and there are some navigation issues with the blog. Bloggeries are left marginalized and are in white text on a dark green background which creates a perfect background for a fruity theme. Each bloggery also is accompanied by a beautiful picture or set of pictures of fruit, which are only enhanced by this color theme. The blog has a right navigation system that contains a Google Search Bar, About and Profile Information, AdSense, Top Page Views Since Sept. 13th Menu, Blog Widget (currently not working), Top Favorite Fruits Voted by 50 Surfers Menu, a Fruit Menu which is a list of 25 fruits and essentially functions as the Categories Menu, Fruit Recipes, Blog Reviews, Food Blog Links, Top 30 Commenters Menu, Blog Directories buttons, and Blog Visitors Widgets. There are some other blog features as well which seem to be floating around where a left navigation bar might be, but they are formatted way at the bottom of the blog. This problem was not rectified by switching to Firefox to view the blog so the blogger may want to look into this. In this section contained subscription info for the blog, technorati links, and Blog Awards. I would suggest moving subscription buttons into the right navigation bar near the top so that new readers can have easy access to it, as this may help with subscription stats at this point. New readers may be missing this with its current location.

I will give this blog a 3/5 and right now it is mostly formatting that is affecting the score. The appearance of the blog is lovely and scores well, the theme is very appealing to the niche the blogger is writing about. The content is done well as well, and is extremely informative to the readers of the blog. Navigation again does have some issues as previously mentioned. Activity is not as frequent as it could be, and I imagine it might be difficult finding regular content on this topic. I might suggest to get more traffic to add daily content to the blog if possible. Suggestions for possible content would be fruit recipes, fruity drinks, and so on with any of the blog’s featured fruits. Overall however, this is a unique blog that is doing well with its concept as a foundation and a clearly established readership. Should the blogger be able to do some tweaks with the formatting and update a little more often, its success can only grow.

-Chrissie

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If you are looking for a good political blog to sink your teeth, and your opinions into, you may want to have a look at the Take a Stand Against Liberals blog. I do offer a reader advisory warning on this spot however, if you are looking for a clean blog without profanity, this may not be the one for you. The blog is politically motivated with a definite stance and strongly voiced opinions and as such, does contain some language for the over 18 crowd. This language is not pervasive on the blog and only comes up now and again, but nonetheless, due to this content, the advisory is issued. However, if you are the type that this does not bother, you will probably love this blog, particularly if you enjoy hearing strong opinions. The blog offers a fresh voice with the purpose of ‘screwing politically correct b.s.’ and offers in its header a quote by Ronald Reagan: “It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.” The blogger with this fresh voice is known as Jenn of the Jungle and hails from California. She offers in her profile information that the blog is entirely her own opinions and invites you to either disagree or otherwise while at the same time noting that death threats are not welcome. She disclaims that the blog is not endorsed by anyone, other than of course her dog Liberty who may be running for President I 2008. You will get a great taste for this blog in just the first few bloggeries you get to read: Be Vewy Qwiet, We’re Huntin’ Tewwowists; Lieberman Tells it like it is; Charges Dismissed; More Idiocy in Coloradistan; Par Tay Another Dead Terrorist!; I Love I.C.E.; and Winning Hearts and Minds.

You will find navigation on this blog very simple. The header sports a patriotic banner supporting the troops with a blinking banner that throws out slogans such as “We stand with Israel”, “Defeat Islamo Fascism”, “Islam is not a religion of Peace”, and “Infidel Blogger” among many more like minded quips. The blog is cleanly laid out with black text on white background with many colors through ads and banners adding some pizazz to the blog without overwhelming it with distraction. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a right navigation system that contains ads, About Me page, Last Posts menu, Archives going back to September 2005, Links and Awards (such as Best Political Blog), Email me Info, and Blog Widget Buttons. The only thing I do not see in the navigation system is a categories menu, though I do see labels attached to each post. Labels for this blog include the like of ‘Screw Terrorists’, ‘Illegal Immigration’, ‘Bill Clinton is a tool’, ‘Indoctrination Centers’, and ‘Muslims take over the World’ to name a few.

I am going to go ahead and give this blog a 4.5/5. There is little that I can offer in the way of improvement as this blog is clearly doing very well. This is noted through its hits counter of over 170k and its well established readership that offers a running commentary on every post. The blog is neatly laid out and easy to navigate though I would suggest a categories menu for the right navigation system. The appearance scores also do well with relevant pictures adding meaning to every post. Likewise, the content is fresh and unique and offers a crisply written style that I think would be an enjoyable read to anyone, regardless of what way they swing politically. The only other suggestion I would add for this blog is that it make a move to its own domain. The readership could clearly sustain it, and the blogger would be able to retain permanent ownership of the obviously unique writing style. This is a definite recommend from this reviewer and will definitely get a bookmark from me.

-Chrissie