The Weblog Review

What we have here is “a blog devoted (mainly) to visual communications in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and healthcare sectors” – clearly not a weblog for the average internet surfer. But it is certainly worth one visit to see what a textbook weblog should look like.



This weblog is very beautifully laid out. The color scheme Lee uses is very professional looking. The general idea of the weblog, its’ title and description, and even the graphic used in the banner all tie together wonderfully.

Lee’s been around the block a time or two when it comes to writing. In accordance with what I read, quality clearly has the upper hand over quantity. And quality is something that proves important when covering topics such as the ones that Lee provides us with.

There’s not a lot to critique at “The Eyes Have It”. It’s all very straight to the point, grammatically correct, and an overall perfect weblog for all its intended purposes.
The Eyes Have It

Prepare yourself. You type www.justafreak.com into your browser’s address field, and you get hit with a yellow screen, a flash intro, and some type of funky techno music. Sounds like it could be a real mess, doesn’t it? This freak pulled it off with style. Even after listening to the music at least a dozen times, I didn’t get tired of it.

Once you move past the flash intro and into the main part of the site, you’ll notice that Steve, the freak behind the scenes of justafreak.com, has put together quite a large website. There is a navigation menu just barely peeking out of the left side of your computer screen, but I found the text menu along the bottom side of the site much more helpful and less cumbersome.

Steve’s weblog has the subtitle “about as good as refried beans”. Depending on your opinion of refried beans, you may or may not deem that an accurate description. The weblog is relatively new (since June 2002), and is updated perhaps every other day. Most if the information that’s posted in the weblog pertains to Steve’s personal life. And since this is clearly a personal weblog, the writing substance fills in nicely.

My first and only thought of improvement would be to be able to read more from Steve on a more consistent basis. However, time constraints play parts in everyone’s lives, and I’ll be content to just read Steve’s weblog when he can and does grace us with his entries.

As I mentioned before, this site is very thorough and extensive. Each section of the site, whether it be the about section, the poetry section, or even my personal favorite – the thoughts section, is very well written and pulls you even figuratively closer to this weblog owner.

Check out this weblog. Why? Because according to Steve, “resistance is futile”.
justafreak

“James Wages Web Design Page” is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a page about web designing and less like a weblog.

For a site that’s about web designing, I would have expected the site itself to be laid out a bit better than it is. I have quite a bit to say about the layout itself such as the color scheme and various usage of fonts, however it’s not really my job to critique the layout.


From what I understand is this is supposed to be a blog about web tips for web designing. But there isn’t much to read except for 5 posts which range from the topics of the width of a page, to keeping your HTML files small to frames


I guess this is a useful site for someone looking, or already familiar with web designing, but over all, I didn’t like it. I think it should be reviewed in a few months, or at least the site should be updated more than just once a month.

James Wages Web Design Page

Wow. If ever a site was made just for me, this was it. I could have cheerfully spent hours surfing through this site. Why? Because it’s dedicated to everyone’s favorite guilty pleasure: reality tv.



First things first: the design. It’s beautiful, in that it’s perfect. Chock-full of helpful links about shows, articles on shows, episode recaps on shows – if you like anything about reality tv, this is one of the best sites I’ve seen. It’s well organized and extremely easy to navigate through. There are so many links it’s impossible for me to tell whether they all work or not, but suffice to say that I didn’t see any while I was surfing around – and I was there quite a long time.



Sure the topic is specific to a particular audience (folks like me), but the great thing is that this website actually has two sections! The second section, which seems to be brand new, is dedicated to essays and commentary on our culture and the blurring of reality and fiction. The first essay is about “TV Turnoff Week” and why he doesn’t like it. Well written and informative, I look forward to more entries to this section of Andy’s site.



I’m going to finish this review so that I can go back to his site – I have a feeling it’s going to become my new addiction (besides reality tv, that is).reality

While the title “Journal Life” is not what you could refer to as an exceptional nor provocative name, it does do justice to the original purpose of this blog. Simply stated: a daily writing down of thoughts and various other events of importance to this down-to-earth blogger. The author is a full-fledged grandmother at the ripe “young” age of forty-one, so she has enough to write, that’s for sure.

In her own words, “there is so much more that you could know about me, and in time through reading my journal you may discover those things about me.” Up close and personal, this is who I am, nothing more and nothing less. This young grandma collects teddy bears, was born with one kidney, is left-handed, and she is seriously considering joining WLS (please see her Foodlog for more information if you do not know what that abbreviation stands for). “I hope that you stay long enough to truly know the person I am,” she writes in her biography, and I am sure she really means it.

This site provides a nicely designed blog with soothing bluish slate grey on cream white which is very easy on the eyes making it a relaxing read. The navigation is a bit awkward at times, e.g. in order to see older entries you need to go via a calendar to pick out individual dates rather than specific links based on categories. This could be improved later for quicker access allowing one to jump around the site easier.

Her archived entries go back to October 2001, and since then there are alot of interesting and less interesting entries to be had. About reading books, “I was soooo excited this morning when my dad called and left me a message on my voicemail at work. My BOOKS had arrived!!” Vacation day, “There is nothing better than waking up at your regular time in the morning and then realizing that you are off work that day.”

Oh yes, there’s alot about food, really alot. Types of foodstuffs, the pros and cons of eating this rather than that, the temptations of eating too much. I find these inner dialogs focused on eating and non-eating the most interesting as they offer a real glimpse into this grandmother blogger. In her Foodlog she tries to get better focused on her weight loss and get back on track. In her Booklog she lists alot of interesting literature, and finally in her Barterlog there is room for bartering second hand books (in good condition) and other stuff. She even has a wishlist, but I have never seen a Palm m505 Color Handheld (for 290 bucks) ever mentioned before in someone’s wishlist! Shame, shame. Quite unique.

I would say that “Journal Life” is worthy of a good read. It may not appeal to everyone, but I am sure there is a personality niche out there to which this kind of talk certainly appeals. At least stay long enough to truly know the person she is.Journal