The Weblog Review

There’s not much to the weblog portion of this website. From the end of September, there are only about a dozen entries. None of these entries are extremely in depth, with the longest and most heartfelt one being a brief review of the movie Jackass.

Aside from the brief weblog, there’s also a very well put together photo gallery, a separate portion for rants and raves, and a section called “Cult of Mac”. The ranting and raving portion of the site is by far the most opinionated part of the site, and it’s really the only place where you can really read how Sean feels about certain topics. From the available rants and raves, Sean covers everything from girlfriends to the saga in the Middle East to anything and everything technology-related.

Overall, the writing is just okay. There were too many grammatical and spelling errors for me to say it was anything better than that. This is another place where the lack of entries hurt any type of rating I could have give Sean.



The updates don’t come as often as they probably should to keep a steady stream of visitors coming back to the site.

The layout of the site is nice. The navigation menu on the upper left hand side of the site is very slick. The sidebar of links is also a nice touch and lets readers see what Sean is currently reading and listening to. The design is very clean.



This isn’t a terrible site. In order for it to be a great site, however, I needed to see more quality AND more quantity. Once that happens, this could definitely be a site worth visiting.
Shaghaghi.net

When I find myself saying “Holy crap, me too!” in the three paragraphs of the first entry I read on a weblog, I know it’s gotta be a good one.

Instantly, I liked the design of the site. It’s somewhat simple, yet it’s effective and works well with the site. The blue that’s used for the background give the site a bold, yet not overly bright look, and the goldfish image that’s used is perfect for the site. A great navigation system thrown into the mix makes the overall appearance of this site one I’m definitely impressed with.

The first entry of the site wasn’t the only one I felt connected with. The way Nicole writes combined with the general type of person she seems to be through reading about her daily life makes me feel some type of a connect with this writer. And I don’t think I’m the only one that this applies to.

I like the “cast” section of the weblog. One thing about beginning to read a brand new weblog is having no idea who the heck the writer is talking about. Sure, the author knows exactly who it is and perhaps those that have been regularly following the weblog also have an idea. For those of us just discovering Go Fish, the brief explanations of each “cast member” help us grasp a better understanding of who Nicole refers to.

The archives of this site goes all the way back to April 2002, and Nicole does a very consistent job of posting entries regularly enough to make people come back on a daily, if not more frequent, basis.

After thorough consideration, I couldn’t find a reason not to give Go Fish a 5.0 rating. Keeping that in mind, I’d certainly recommend anyone stopping by this site and reading what Nicole’s up to for the day. I bet you find yourself as entertained and nearly addicted as I did.

Go Fish

Do you have any 7’s. No. Go Fish. That is what I was expecting when I went to visit this site. But of course, I was not given what I expected.

Instead we are given a good cross between what I would say is a weblog and what I would consider a diary. The site focuses on the daily life of the writer. Her rants, her raves, the good, the bad; it is all there.

The site reads like that of a good magazine. You can start anywhere you want, and find a good entry. This site doesn’t require you to go back to day one to know what is going on. Instead you can just pick up where the weblog is, and you will be satisfied.

The design of the site is very well done with only a couple minor complaints. The background of the site is a darker shade of blue, and uses black text which can somewhat blend in after long periods of reading the site. One thing that she does well with her design is that all of her webrings are under a sub-menu called rings. They are not randomly placed, but rather strategically placed which makes the site look good.

Over all you have a good site that is very easy to pick up. The author knows where she wants her site to go, and is taking it there. The design is original, and works well for the site. So now is your chance to start reading a site that doesn’t require any buildup.
Go Fish

On opening this site, it looks Celtic/Goth, with black, gray, and purple colors throughout. But when you click the Who Am I link, a startlingly cute fuzzy animal appears. This must be Trishymouse. I have to say this was about the last thing I was expecting to see, and I started to warm up to the mysterious author.

The author is an systems administrator and a writer. The purpose of her weblog seems to be to capture news and other quotations (with links) that point out the sinister aspects of the US government. In her Who Am I section, she describes her own life to an interesting degree of detail. She seems to be in early middle age, and this fits with her communication style. Her target audience would be other adults, especially those with a left-leaning and spiritual side.

The writing is thoughtful, careful, and expressive, adequate for readers who can relate to the author’s views and approach to life. She does not reach out to draw in readers who are neutral or uninterested to start with. If the author would like to draw in more readers, I’d suggest adding some chatty commentary text to each post. Personally, I like to feel that I’ve gotten to know the blogger a little bit, or I lose interest.

The design and the content are a little incongruous. The design looks severe and a little depressing, but the author shows an optimistic and tenacious attitude about life (if not about the Bush administration). In navigating the site, you have to rely on the back button quite a bit. More sophisticated linking would be helpful. This is a minor complaint.

If you visit the site, do read the Who Am I? pages. They provide interesting background about the author and her family. You can also read her poetry and see her photography.

This site is not so unique or interesting that I would recommend you visit it pronto. But it’s worth a look if you have something in common with the author, or are looking for a well-written personal weblog to add to your bookmarks. I rate it a 3.5.The Journey

The first thing I thought upon opening The Journey was that this was a site of very little interest. All the entries seemed to be links to other sites with not even a comment about the link. I then attempted to look at the archives, to see if the author, Trish Lewis had anything more to say. The first four months of archives weren’t there. Not good. Finally, I found something, and began to read.

The weblog consists mostly of Trish talking about things that are important to her. This includes her family, religion, current affairs, and blogging itself, with many links to outside articles on the subject. Trish seems to be writing for herself first, and others second, meaning that some entries are not as interesting as others, how ever most make for a good read.

A pretty standard Blogger template is used, but that suits the site, as it is about content rather than looking good. One criticism I have is that the content of the site is very hidden – I clicked the Who am I link expecting to find nothing more than a short about page, and instead found a whole other part of the site. This index page is not very well laid out, but contains links to a number of interesting things, such as poetry and photographs. Again, these pages aren’t very well designed (one picture is a .bmp file, for example), but the content makes up for that.

I would recommend this weblog to people interested in subjects listed above, and those only interested in content, not layout, as the design detracts from the entries. If you can see through that to the writing inside, then this weblog is for you.
The Journey