Reviews

Well after a short break from all of us at Bloggeries I am back with a review! Ghislain’s Blog is a blog about… well I don’t know! The blog itself has no real direction and as such I can’t point out one thing which the blog is about, in fact, after reading it for a good amount of time, I just feel confused, and the strange text formatting does not help a thing! However not all is lost, the design is fabulous!

The design consists of mainly grey, and while this may seem a bit down for some people it uses the color without looking bland. While there is no one single thing that really shouts at you from the design, the shades of grey going from light to dark really bring out a depth within the design. The design could do with being slightly more unique however, and the lack of any logo or header image means the user will not be able to instantly recognize the blog, and being that the design is not unique to this blog, it could mean the average Joe can’t tell Ghislain’s Blog from another random blog using the same design. There are 3 columns within this design, something many blogs try to avoid doing due to not allowing enough space for the written content, however, unlike many other attempts to use the 3 column design, this one pulls it off. The content is on the left and the two menus on the right, this means that the user can quickly view the content without having to view between two menus. The first menu uses a lot of images, and this can really create problems for users with slower internet speeds, the pictures are random and like the rest of the blog, have no one direction. The 2nd menu is short, and for some it may seem pointless to have two menus if you do not have enough to fit onto them. Visually the menus have plenty of color due to the pictures, and while the issue with speed is present, it does add more of an element of change between the content and the menu.

The content is strange to say the least, while I am trying to work out what it is about, it does not help that it has strange formatting, some what in the style of old ransom notes demanding money. What small amount of written content there is within the blog is written well, and if it was not for the formatting it would be much grander. That is really all I can say about the content, as I can not find a direction, and to really review content I need to know what the heck it is about!

Overall it is a shame this blogs content is ruined by strange formatting and lack of direction, otherwise it would be a great blog, the design is great and only ruined by the pictures. I see this blog going far if some more effort was put into it, and it was cleared up slightly. I shall be rating this blog a 2. The content really let it down, but the design has helped it.

Ok, I am feeling slightly down after the last review I did, which only got a 1/5, so I was excited to review a blog that I loved, and feel has only a few downsides. Secret Squirrels In The House is a small little secret diary about a mother of 3 children.  Two of them are grown up and one teenager is still at home.  She also has just started a new marriage and has plenty to blog about, and while she may be going slightly crazy it is still something very interesting for people who know her, and more importantly people who don’t!

The design, while slightly basic, is very nice and easy on the eyes. I do not know if the design is unique to this blog, however; I feel it is most likely not.  If indeed it is not unique then it has been edited well and not over-used by other blogs. There is a very large header image which could do with a bit of scaling down due to it taking up nearly half the page before the fold on a 1024 resolution.  The font of the header image could do with being changed slightly due to it being hard to read, however; it adds a classic feel to the whole blog, which (without sounding too evil) goes well for a blog about a 40 year old mother. The colors used on the blog are great on the eyes and while testing I found that none of the colors cause any problem for my color-blindness, which is great. The design, as I said before, is classic and reminds me of the 20’s and 30’s with the use of patterns from that era, it is not overpowering in any way. The menu is pretty much a basic menu, with a small bit of information telling you what the blog is about, and then a link to a more advanced about page. The blogger has a shoutbox on the website which allows for visitors to leave general words of wisdom and comments about the blog, and so far that seems to have been used mainly by people who read the blog with every update. It also provides a small bit of information explaining who each person that she talks about is.  Within the blog she uses code names so that no one finds out who she is and who the other people she talks about on the blog are. Then there are the general things, such as, the archive and blog roll.  The blog roll {links} are not too large and keep the page nice and tidy. It then has some rather random links and images related to certain aspects such as Fighting cancer, which is nice to see.

The Content is well written and is done in a format which you would expect for such a personal blog.  While it goes into detail about each thing, it would be nice to see more of her thoughts and feelings and not so much about her children. It is great to see the blogger use blogs as a way to let the world know that not everyone is as normal as you would think, and in the bloggers own words she is slightly crazy, which gives the posts, as serious as they are, a bit more depth and humor. There are a large amount of pictures used in the blog posts, however; they are not too large and don’t have too large of a file size. It is a shame to see that this blog is using typeblog for a number of reasons that will remain unsaid, and it would also be nice to see this blog with a domain name.

Apart from the few things I have said, I feel this blog has done well in providing an insight into the life of the blogger and a somewhat crazy lifestyle. The design is nice and while it is not perfect the content has been written well. I would love to give this blog 4/5, and as such I will!

Adventures Of Linx, not to be mis-read as Adventures of Linix. If you are looking for a blog that looks at the upside of everything then this will not be the blog for you. The blog posts some of the things that are happening in the world on the bloggers take on them, as well as some posts related to his personal life.

The design is very basic and uses only 5 colors and no images, this is great for both loading time and the validation, it is also very nice for those who have been up for hours and are reading the blog, I always feel that it really matters how easy the blog and colors are on the eyes, and I tend do these reviews at 3AM and as such, I can comment on this area. The blog design is uncluttered and the lack of images gives the feel that this blog. The text and general style of the blog is professional. The menu is basic and contains only a small amount of information, it would be nice to see just a little bit more, the menu at current contains Archives, Categories and Links. It would be nice to see some more information such as how to contact the blogger and recent comments, however this is not to important. The menu is contains a very small search box, I found it hard to quickly go down to it without trying to aim my mouse cursor with skill, I feel like the search box could do with being slightly larger. The amount of posts per a page is.. 1. This really needs to be at least 3 as it is a waste of time for me to keep clicking next page, for example a interesting blog post on “Linx Makes A Mockery Of An Evangelist, Waits For Lightening To Strike” was hard to navigate to. This is something that the blog owner will have to address.

The content is very negative about every subject, however this is the aim of the blog poster and it works well by keeping the posts within the same post style, it also means the blog feels very unique and while being negative the posts always have a funny point to them, be it a image or just a general comment the poster looks at life and events around the world in a very unique way.

All together I rate this blog high, however due to the few issues which I stated above I shall only being give it a 4, which is still very high compared to some of the blogs. I wish the blog creator tons of luck, and to start cheering up! I must state I really do enjoy blogs which have been create just for the fun and general want to to please others, and this like lots of other blogs I reviewed is not commercial. So great job!