Initial instincts about a site can often be bad, or good, depending on the content and execution of the site. When I first came across soiledmypants I thought, “cute.” It’s a nice little design, with a picture of the author, I’m assuming, in the header.
The blog is a little confusing, but it doesn’t take too long to figure things out. If you visit the “vintage” link you’ll find a listing of all the archives for this blog. The blog itself, going back to the beginnings, looks as though it was started on another site. This particular version of the site was a continuation of something that once existed before. Where any of those writings are I’ll never know, but you first get introduced to the author in a very humorous light. The entries focus mainly on the daily thoughts of the author. They’re filled with lots of emotion about experiences. One of the most entertaining entries I read was about her trip to Los Angeles. It brought back a lot of my own memories of living there, and it was a pleasure to read.
The entries focus mainly on the ongoing struggles and successes of this author’s life. They’re well written considering she’s not English or American. There are a few typo’s but they’re easily overlooked when reading more of the entries. This blog is quite an entertaining read, however if you’re not interested in acting or improv then you might want to avoid some of the more recent entries that talk mainly of these things. This blog seems to be a means of self-discovery for the author, and I applaud her for doing just that.
The design of the blog works well enough. I enjoy the picture changes when you go to different pages of the site. I definately like the greens that are used as well. It’s simple, but easy on the eyes. One of the few downfalls I noticed were the links. The text pops. It’s hard to describe, but there’s a javascript that makes the words change spacing… a lot! When you hover the links turn red. It’s not so much that I dislike red, it just doesn’t go very well with the rest of the site in it’s hues of green. Some pages stop “popping” when you hover, and others continue doing this regardless. It’s not so much that it’s unpleasant to the eyes, it’s just visually distracting. The archives, as I mentioned are a little hard to find, but once you find them, there’s a lot to read. One last thing I noticed is the fact that this site is contained inside of frames. I have nothing against frames, as I use them myself, it just takes away the ability for people to link directly to a specific entry (thus is the reason why I didn’t just link you to the Los Angeles entry).
There’s a short bio of the author on this blog. There are also places to view the art, and acting, however when I tried to view these pages they wouldn’t load. There are loads of external links to blogs this author reads. You can comment on recent entries, but because of comment hosting with yaccs, the older entries are archived.
This blog is an entertaining read for the most part. I enjoyed the entries and archives I read but would like to see a little bit more from the author. She’s got quite the sense of humor which makes reading the “everyday” entries all the more interesting in the long run. She spent a lot of time on the design of this blog and I commend her for the accomplishments. She has big dreams and is beyond determined to reach each and every one of them. You read that in her entries and you feel her determination through her words. soiledmypants.com