Reviews

If you are up for a fresh take on the human perspective, have a look at The Gospel According to Rhys where 1/6th of the world can’t access it, and 5/6th of the world doesn’t want to. You will find the blog at . It is difficult at first to determine what this blog is really about. But the blog is written by a 20 something self-proclaimed geek who lives in Colwyn Bay, North Wales in the UK. He has a long list of experiences on his resume, which I think allows him to offer a unique perspective in his writing style. He has been blogging for some time, and as such has appeared in the Guardian a few times, as well as on Radio Wales’s Mousemat. You can find links to his appearances on his About page. He also has been nominated for two years on the bounce in the Bloggies, but hasn’t attained the ultimate reward of a prize from there. Rhys blogs mostly about blogging, and specifically, how you can get better at it. Take a look at any of his recent blogs to get a taste for yourself: Sunday Speed linking for 19/08/07; Fair Review Friday – Batch 2; The North South Divide; Three Rubbish Things New Bloggers Do and Three Better Things to do Instead; What they Don’t Know Can’t Hurt Them; Football or Geeks?; The Weekend’s Events; Sunday Speedlinking from 12/08/07; Fair Review Project – Batch 1; and Sheds, Thunderstorms, and Cricket.

Despite its rather busy appearance, the blog is fairly easy to navigate. There is a top navigation system that contains links such as Forum, Advertise, Archives, About, Software, This Site, Donations, and Contact information. The posts are left marginalized with black text on white background with a grayish border. There are two navigation bars in the right hand side. The left navigation system includes featured sites, Me Elsewhere, Top commenters, Blogroll, Popular Posts, Recent Posts, and Recent Comments. The far right navigation system contains just advertising he refers to as adicons. There is a smattering of pictures here and there throughout the blog, and quite a bit of advertising throughout. There is also no Categories menu here on the blog, and given that it does take a bit to really figure out what this blog is about, I might recommend this addition. This would organize the blog more for the excellent readership that Rhys has.

I will go with a 3.6 for this one for now. As mentioned, this blog took some time for me to figure just *what* it was about. I would recommend the addition of a categories menu for this problem, as well as a more defined About Page. The About Page is a very interesting piece on what Rhys is about, but I would like to see more about what the purpose of the blog is. The appearance loses some points as well. I would suggest adding more relevant pictures in each post instead of in the odd post here and there. Also, the advertising is bordering on the excessive side. There is some advertising in the header, and in the right navigation systems as well. Overall it just makes the site look much busier than it actually is, and this leads to some distraction from the content. I might suggest just moving one of the nav bars to the left and centralizing the posts. That may make the difference. In other areas though, the blog does very well for content, uniqueness, and activity. His content is written very well, and even humorous which makes the topics more interesting and is probably what has attracted his 125 subscribers. His approach to the topics is appealing which makes the blog unique in its own right and he has been rewarded by that through a very steady following as is evidenced through his subscriptions and active commenting menu. I think after just a few of these formatting things got tweaked, Rhys could see an even larger readership.

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– Chrissie

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If you are looking for a bit of Irish politics or just some running commentary on life across the pond, take a look at MacKozer’s blog. Here you will find a look at Ireland from a Polish Perspective through MacKozer’s Irish Diary. MacKozer’s name is Krystian, but he is known in the blog world as MacKozer and his interests include Scotland, Ireland, Celtic culture, Archeology, and so much more. He is also a musician who plays the guitar and has very eclectic and well-rounded music tastes. But this is not just a random musicians blog’s on political rants. MacKozer also has a deep interest in archaeologist, specifically from the Iron Age in Poland, as well as interests in the Neolithic eras, Bronze Age, and early Medieval archeology. MacKozer’s writing is both intellectual and well rounded, and you can see this in any of his recent postings: 22 Years of Using Computers From 64KB to 1GM Ram, Irish Prisoners Overseas, Fall of the Kaczynski Coalition Government and New Elections in Poland – Expanding Subject Matter of My Blog, GAA at Croke Park, Konica Minolta A1 vs. Nokia N73 – Camera vs. Mobile Phone, and Exploitation.

You will find navigation on this blog very easy. Posts are left marginalized and there are two right navigation bars. Posts are standard black text on white background with a grayish border. The header contains a beautiful graphic background of what I presume is Irish Landscape that serves as a nice backdrop to the Ireland from a Polish Perspective header. There is a top navigation bar here that contains the Home Page to the blog, About Page, MacKozer’s CV, and a link to his photoblog. The left-sided navigation bar on the right contains a recent posts menu, blogroll, subscriptions options, and a healthy categories menu. The categories menu contains many Irish features such as Burren, Carlow, Clonmacnoise, Cork, Dublin, Ireland, Irish Creatures and so much more. The right sided navigation bar on the right contains the standard blog calendar and some AdSense banners.

I am going with a 4.5 for this one. This blog scores well on most features. The content is intellectually written and engaging to the reader, even if the reader does not have a prior interest. The appearance of the blog is very appealing, and most posts contain either relevant pictures associated or a youtube video, thus adding appeal to the already interesting content. Activity is excellent as well, with what appears to be regular and daily postings. The navigation on the blog is very easy, and the blog itself is unique in its niche. The niche itself is doing quite well as over the course of my review the blog went from 69 to 71 readers in the feed, so the blog has a noted successful following and readership. That alone gives credibility to the blog. A suggestion I would make is to take advantage of this readership by monetizing the blog a little more effectively. It may be worth considering making the double right bars into one on either side of the blog postings to make the AdSense a little more incorporated into the overall theme of the blog, as now it sort of seems a little off in left field. Another thought would be removing the block at the top of the first post. It loads so fast it’s often the first thing a reader sees; monetization is good but best when done subtly. Perhaps leave just a sponsored line and move the “Ads by Google” rectangle box to the bottom of the first post instead of top? One could also make the ad box taller if moved to the bottom of the first post as it’s not occupying precious space on the first fold. That being said, overall the blog is doing very well, and there is little I could offer to the author other than wishes for continued success.

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– Chrissie

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If you are considering Texas for a vacation this year, you may want to have a look at the Texas Vacations Blog. On this blog you will find posts centered around the Lone Star State and information on everything there is to see and do for your Texas vacation. Check out any of the recent bloggeries for a sample on Texas vacation information: Watch TPWD (Texas Parks & Wildlife Departments) Videos Onine Free, Summer is a Great Time to Travel Texas, Laredo Hotel Earns Top Accolades, and Development about to Alter Coastal Getaway Port Aransas. Each post contains blog content as well as an attachment to the latest PR Newswire with all of the latest information on Texas vacations. There is little information about the actual blogger, but if you wish to get more information you can use the contact information located in the right navigation bar.

The first thing I will say about this blog is that navigation is nothing less than awkward. The posts themselves have headlines without links which makes it difficult to move around the site or go to direct posts. Posts are left marginalized with black text on white background and there is a right navigation bar. In the right navigation bar you will see a small blurb for an “About Me” section, with no information on the blogger (s?) themselves. You will also find AdSense, and recommendations for books and links as well as an archive menu. Each post contains tags or labels, but there is no recent posts menu or categories menu. Further, the posts themselves have newswire attachments which seem to be the bulk of the content of the blog. The newswires have been pasted into the blog posts bodies, with very little actual blogging taking place.

I am leaving this one with a 1, there are too many navigation issues that affect all other criteria bringing down the overall mark. The blog has little to no activity. There are four months listed in the archive menu for the blog that has been active since February 2006. I do see some activity picking up over the last few weeks, but it is not anything that I am comfortable calling regular at this point. There are some obvious menus missing from the navigation system which make an already weak blog weaker to navigate – recent posts, categories, etc. I think a blog of this niche would do very well with defined categories such as dining, accommodations, and things of vacations nature. I also think a vacation blog would do very well with appropriate pictures relevant to the topics at hand. There is no personal voice to this blog, and the blogger offers no information about themselves as the author or purpose of the blog. The content follows this impersonal theme by consisting almost primarily of newswires that are not of the blogger’s creation. I think this blog needs more than a few tweaks to bring some personality to it which would ultimately increase or even develop the readership. If it is able to make those changes, I think this niche would give it the success and growth it needs.

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– Chrissie

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