chrissie

If you are a cat lover and looking for a fun read, you may want to stop in and see how Ariel is doing at Life Through a Cat’s Eyes Blog. Ariel is a Torti kitty born on the 4th of July and author of her own blog. She is self-described as a diva kitty whose interests include bird watching, cuddles and headbuts, tuna fish, treats, sleeping, blogging, and all of her feline friends. Ariel is a very good writer, and it must be from her appreciation for the film and literary industries. Her favorite movies include Garfield, Aritocats, and Cats and Dogs, and she enjoys reading novels such as The Diary of a Killer Cat, The Postman Always Brings Mice, and Madam Pastry and Meow. You can catch a glimpse about what it must be like to be a cat in any of Ariel’s most recent bloggeries: The Diva’s Rules for the Mom, A Day at the Vet, Nose Twin, Boring Tiles, Dum Neighbors, A talk with Mom, The Middle Name Meme, Very Funny, My New Catster Friend, An Honest Mistake, Kitty Pirate Fun.

Navigation on the blog is very simple, and as Ariel has made it clear her life is as such, one wouldn’t expect otherwise. Bloggeries text actually varies in color from day to day, one day it is green, the next it is purple, but it suits the theme of the blog, and well, we know how finicky cats are anyway. Bloggeries are set on a white background with a pink border that emphasizes her diva nature. Each post also contains very cute pictures of Ariel, and if you are a cat lover, you will enjoy them. Bloggeries are left marginalized with a right navigation system as well. In the right navigation bar you will find the About Page, a variety of Blog Awards, a very impressive Blogroll, Recent Posts Menu, and Archives that go back to March of 2006.

I am going to give Ariel a 3.6/5 here. Her blog is doing very well, and she has made many fans and friends in the blogosphere and has quite an extensive readership. This is probably accomplished through her very active, daily posting that is witty, creative, and very well-written. The blog itself is of course a unique concept and she has utilized this uniqueness to gain a healthy readership in her niche. I think the navigation system which is very well managed could only be improved through a categories menu. And I think Ariel is creative enough to come up with some cute and appropriate categories – naptime, Vets, feeding time, and etc. This would organize the posts a little bit and her many readers would be able to navigate her journal a little bit easier. I also think Ariel may want to consider monetizing the blog with some advertising. I am not sure how many readers she has, but it is sizeable judging by her blogroll and her frequent comments she receives. She may want to consider this to offset the costs of her vet bills. Otherwise, Ariel’s blog scores very well on all other accounts and this blog is a definite recommend if you are a friend of the feline kingdom.

– Chrissie

If you are a food connoisseur and interested in foods of different styles and tastes, you may be interested in checking out Foodies Across Borders. Here you will find a place where friends who live a long way apart share their thoughts and ideas on cooking, entertaining, and eating out. This blog reviews restaurants and also babbles on about current trends in cooking. They also have their own test kitchens where they review recipes and odd product here and there. You may want to grab lunch before you have a look there though, as viewing this site will definitely make you hungry. Take a bite of any of their recent bloggeries to see if this blog whets your appetite: Video: Elton John Gets Creative, Party Porn: Tap the Keg, Food Porn: Jalapeno Shrimp, Getting Ready for the BBQ of the Decade, and Overheard at Dinner.

The blog is fairly straightforward to navigate. The header contains a very handsome looking header with a juicy steak and top menu bar that contains the Home page, About Page, and Archives menu. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there are two right navigation bars. Posts are also standard black text on white background and all posts contain relevant and very appetizing looking pictures with the posts. In the left of the two right navigation bars you will find the about information. You will then find in the far right navigation bar a Blair Valley Media Blog List menu, food blog lists, food resources, and a healthy categories menu. The recipe lover will get a kick out of the categories menu as it is sorted by not only courses but by food styles, gadgets, seen on TV, Eating out, and so much more.

I am going with a 2.7/5 for this blog and will mention that it is the activity that is hurting this blog the most. Posts are infrequent and are being entered less than monthly at times. I think this is a very unique blog that food lovers could really grab a bite out of, so the lack of activity is not benefiting this blog. In appearance and navigation this blog scores reasonably well though a Recent Posts Menu would also help in the navigation area. The content is well written, and in concert with the excellent pictures on site really make each post very appealing to the readership. I would also suggest the left sided navigation bar be moved to the left margin of the page, as with no content underneath the about information there is a lot of white space on the blog. Moving it would eliminate that space in the middle of the blog and organize this a little better. With just a few of these formatting issues tweaked, and some regular writing, I could see this blog doing very well and would definitely recommend it to any chef’s or food lovers in the blogosphere.

– Chrissie

Here is a blog that food-lovers will really enjoy. The blog is called Chow Times. While there is no About Page or direct information about the blogger, it will not take you long to discover what this blog is about. Chow Time! Pretty much anything you want to know, see, or find out about food can more than likely be found on this site. The most recent bloggeries take the blogger on vacation where different areas of the country and their foods are highlighted. These bloggeries include: Bay Area Vacation – The San Jose Flea Market, Bay Area Vacation – U Pick Apples at Apple Barn – Great America Park, Bay Area Vacation – In-N-Out Burger, Yosemite Vacation – Glacier Point, Yosemite Vacation – Sequoias in Mariposa Grove and Dinner at the Yosemite Lodge, and Yosemite Vacation – The Yosemite Valley through Arkensen’s Lens, Atlanta Trip: Snack Box from Northwest Airline.

Navigation on this site is a little more awkward than some, but I attribute that to the wealth of information that is on this blog. The blog opens with this very appealing scrolling header with a slideshow of foods that will make your mouth water. Bloggeries are left marginalized with black text on a beige background and an orange border around the blog. Each post contains a host of pictures that add to the relevance of the post. The right navigation system is extremely extensive with a google search bar that also translates, Recent Comments Menu containing MANY entries, and an extremely comprehensive categories menu that contains just about any food type of information that the food lover might be looking for. There is also an archives menu in this bar that lists the number of entries by each month which I thought was a nice touch. The blogroll is an interesting feature as well, as it includes not only the link to the blog but a description of each blog as well. The blog also contains a visitors widget that shows the visitors online and sorts them by number and by country.

The blog gets a 4 from me and I would only offer a few suggestions that would get this to a 5. The content is well written and speaks to the readers, involving them in the posts by asking questions. Navigation is easy on this blog as well, and I really like the different array of features the blogger has added in the navigation bar. The archives menu, visitors menu, and blogroll – are all unique features that add to this blog’s appeal and really show the blogger connects with the readers. The blogger has a healthy readership with almost 150,000 visitors since January 2006 so I think if the blogger used monetization strategies they would do very well. The changes I would suggest would be some tweaking in the areas of photos and comments. I think the recent comments menu is a little too extensive, and while it is good to highlight your comments, there is too much there and the appearance would be improved if this was shortened to say, the last 5-7 comments. I also think there may be too many pictures in each post as scrolling through each post does take some time. This could be changed by adding an album with categories to it on the blog and putting a main picture in each post and then adding links in the blog posts that take you to further pictures. I also really appreciate the time the blogger takes to connect to their readers, and this could be even further enhanced by the addition of an About Me Page. Otherwise, I find this to be one of the better food blogs I have seen yet, and would not have a problem recommending this to fellow food lovers.

-Chrissie

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