The Weblog Review

Wondergirl is Sarah, an 18 year old interested, amongst other things, in web design and photography. This is her weblog.



From a visual standpoint, the site is well organised and laid out, with DHTML drop-down menus as the main form of navigation. The overall effect is a good looking site with a lot to offer.



However, for someone with a professed interest in photography, the design could have been so much more imaginative, like the numerous photography-based blogs around the web.



Content-wise, there is a lot on offer at Wondergirl. The blog is extensive and offers a peek inside the personal life of the author, and there are enough off-blog sections to keep the reader interested and entertained.



All in all, a pretty decent blog, worthy of a visit, just with nothing truly original to add to the genre.Wondergirl

Another group blog, only this time with one peculiar difference: the contributors aren’t all teenagers. They appear to be between 21 and 26 years old, although that’s all I could glean from the “about” section.



The posts offer insight into the lives of the writers, and the choice of perspective and narrative style differs dramatically from the blogs of the younger generation.



Not everything here will find an audience, but there is enough content to satisfy just about every conceivable visitor.



The navigation isn’t without its idiosyncracies. For example, of the four links at the top of the page, two of them go to the same document. That aside, the content is organised well, with an archive as well as a best-of section.



The layout and colour scheme are good, but more of a love-hate feel than most pages. Many readers might find that the atypical colours used don’t look right, although it is more a matter of taste than a traditional blue-based colour scheme.



If you want a new perspective on the group blog, this is the site to visit.Bad Samaritan

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. First impressions of a website count for a lot, especially when you’re reviewing them. So what impression did I get of this site when I first arrived?



1. It takes forever to download, and even when it does you’re left wondering what it was that took so long to come down.



2. The design is simple and, in web terms, old fashioned. Simple can be good, but it isn’t here.



3. The filename (though I could be wrong here) does not fill me with confidence as to this site’s longevity: blogexperiment.html. So how long before an experiment has run it’s course?



The colour scheme is almost interesting. The logo and navigation links, all plain text, seem to carry a colour gradient across them. This effect is done subtly and looks quite good, though I don’t know how practical it is. A stronger, site-level colour scheme would have been more effective.



It took about three attempts at loading the page before I actually saw any content (it seems that a small gif file didn’t want to leave home). The posts, though filled with enthusiasm, left me dry and didn’t particularly make me want to read on.



This site isn’t without its problems, but it might be worth a visit if you’re particularly curious.cloudblog

The blogs at nosuch.org vary in length between brief comments and veritable essays. Though this makes for a welcome change of pace in my opinion, some readers might be put off by some of the grander posts. Quite a few of these blogs would easily have supported their own section under the heading “writings”. The decision to leave them in the master blog is a brave one that may go wrong if readers aren’t prepared to put the time in.



If you do make the effort to work through the posts, there are some very good pieces scattered around.



The site is well organised (except for the front page being too long – the scrollbar almost disappears), with links set to one side and the content in a nice, large, web-friendly typeface. The masthead is a little plain and dull, and upsets the balance the rest of the page works so hard to achieve.



This site is pushing a 4.0 rating, but doesn’t quite get there because of a few elements that don’t fit (as mentioned). Despite that, if you have a little spare time, this site is certainly one that I would recommend.Nosuch.org

Another interesting read from the growing numbers of teenage bloggers. Fortunately it doesn’t carry quite as ascetic a tongue as many of it’s peers, but there is a degree of teen bitchiness on the site. Not too much, though, just enough to keep the posts entertaining and amusing.



The design is good, and the colour scheme solid and attractive. The text could certainly do with being larger (the author likes it small), but otherwise the site is pleasant enough to behold.



The navigation doesn’t hold any particular structure, which is fine since the majority of the content is tied up in the blog.



The constant ascii smiles might grow tiresome for older readers, but since the site is aimed at a teenage audience, it is well suited.



Overall a good blog, with enough to keep even the most casual surfer satisfied.Grateful Days