The Weblog Review

A nice design with colours that are easy on the eye. I nice simple navigation made up from links. A simple 2 column blog. Links in the 2nd column and information on what the author is reading etc.



Richard openly admits that he started his site as “something to do” but it has taken over and is now a daily task! You can tell this by the daily entries. Richard lets you into his life and lets you know what he likes, dislikes and how his days have been! There are an assortment of photo’s thrown in which are good, I liked his style!



The design is clean and simple with no fuss and nothing to distract you from the main blog. The links live on a page on their own which I think is a good idea as it allows you to surf the page without distraction. His writing is concise and interesting and you feel as though you could get to know him via his blog.



The photo’s, for me, were a plus on this site, and the fact that there is really on his writing to take all your concentration. I do like simple blogs where you have no fear of getting lost!! I do like the blogs that tell the stories of a persons life, and this certainly does that! He also has a web cam, but I missed that with the time difference!!



Overall I really enjoyed reading this blog and I loved the simplistic layout. I may even have to pop back again!barkins.com

Well I liked the big whale picture on the header of this site!! he site intro told me to expect posts on language, folklore and mac stuff. I started to read.



This blog delivered exactly what it promised!! Links and articles on languages, folklore & mythology, Mac usability, and Booklore. I was pleased to note that there were a few personal entries in there, including the Friday five. This weblog holds a mountain of information and some interesting facts.



I liked the design as it was very simple without loads of links and long navigation to deter you from the actual blog itself. I liked the big bold red whale! It really caught my eye!



There is some help on hand in the sidebar to help you to decipher some of the words used. You can also get information from the about section, though information on the author is limited. I never out too much information as she likes to keep her private life private!



This is an interesting blog, though I do think its appeal will be those with the same interest as the author. This is the only reason why I marked this 3, as I do think it is a more select blog.

Glosses.net::Makeup your mind

I liked the design and the photo, who I guessed to be Maura. It was a nice design with everything nicely packaged and easy to find. It was nice and clean cut and not to cluttered!



The weblog is the diary of Maura. It is a catalogue of her life, what she gets up too and what she thinks of life and what is around her! She tells you about her life and her friends and family. You can also watch her on the live web cam!!



I liked the site and the links she has to her photo’s, which are worth a look. The blog is not bogged down by lists of favourites, infact she limits it to her top dozen, which keeps the clean design. You do not distracted by wandering off out of this blog, which is an advantage to keep the readers!



I enjoyed reading this as I do like personal blogs, I like the online diary concept. I found the writing easy to read and enjoyed looking at the photo’s.



This is a good one for the nosey!!!maura.nu

My first impression upon visiting Dazzle’s Original Fiction was pretty good, easy to read, nothing jumped out at me and it certainly didn’t take long to load (in Netscape or IE, but I would certainly use IE).



Let me start out by saying as a ‘weblog’ this one stinks. I have no idea when each entry was made, and outside of knowing that the authors name is Paul Millar and he is from the United Kingdom I know zip about the author. Okay, now I can move onto what this site is really about.



Paul Millar’s site is a collection of his short fiction writing. You are greeted with his most recent story on the front page, five others are linked to the right. There is an archive section with an additional eleven stories. I can’t say that I read much anymore (fiction), and when I started reviewing Dazzles’s I was kind of bummed out because I knew I would have to read a whole lot of fiction, which I am just not into. Well, Paul Millar took my disappointment and tossed it out the door. I think I realized that I was hooked on the writing when I was a paragraph or two into the story “Give It Away”. The author describes a group of youths (in youth attire; skate boards, hooded tops) as; “Each one thinking they are individual, not knowing they are uniformed.” And “Many stare at him – barely disguised snears – look at the grown-up infiltrating, invading, OUR space.” I was in the same uncomfortable situation not two weeks ago, passing some teenagers outside of a record store as well.



“Memories Of A Dead Woman” spooked me pretty good (and while I was at work yet). My favorite would have to be “Sounds From Within”, about an out of body experience. I’ve heard stories about such things, in this story the author makes you feel like you are the one having the experience. At the end of this one you take a deep breath and feel glad you are alive, just as the main character does. I wish I had the kind of talent it took to write that story.



I was tempted at first to classify this site as ‘adult’, there are certainly stories that have adult like content. “Distractions Of A Beautiful Stranger” is one. Had the author not made me the person looking at “A Beautiful Stranger” through his writing, I probably would have classified it as such. After all, this is literature (real writing), and you can’t put that into an age group. I would not recommend having this site on your computer at work though. This is best read at home with a hot cup of tea in hand. I will say (because really, I am quite the critic) that I thought “Dead Loss” really stunk because it was hard to read. Maybe its some weird type of ‘prose’ thing, but if you are going to write something and put it in paragraph form, you better gosh darn have some type of punctuation. Reading that story was like running a sprint while holding your breath.



The author also has an e-book you can buy, for only $2.88. My pay day is Friday, and I am seriously considering buying it. You’ll have to follow the links on the right side of the site to find it. Look under “The Jesus Christcafe”, for it.



In summary, this is a well designed site. There are archives (to older stories), a link to where you can buy the author’s book, and a comments feature at the bottom of the entry page. I have to say though, as a weblog it stinks. I loved the writing, but Paul Millar is a mystery to me. Two and a half stars, check it out, if you are into a good read. Dazzle

When I entered this site all I could think of was wow. I’m a big fan of Flash and this site was flash-packed with special effects and pretty graphics, and I knew this was going to be a very, very enjoyable review. Its always enjoyable to enter a site that has something different and unique, it makes you want to press all the links, click all the buttons and search every nook and cranny looking for anything special that you may have missed. GavinVincent.com is such a site.



Lets start with the weblog, anyone who can design something this cool must have something interesting to say yeah? Err… the trouble was I couldn’t find the weblog, I pushed everything I thought would get me to one, but no, it was nowhere to be found. Perhaps its hidden somewhere in this new version that I’ve totally missed? So I looked around even more and still couldn’t find it. I’m not sure the protocol on reviewing a weblog I couldn’t find, and I can’t help but feeling its staring right in front of me. If there is a weblog, well, it was hidden well and good and I apologize in advance if I totally missed it. It’s a little like a web site version of ‘Where’s Wally?’.



So all I can talk about is the design. Its nice, clean, and it works as to expected. I’m not sure how you could hook up an online blogger with flash, but I suspect if there were a weblog it would need to be in a different frame outside of the flash content. I don’t want to seem critical of the site, the design is amazing, but its not one designed for the use with a blog.



I was bitterly disappointed that I couldn’t find any content in this site apart from links to older versions and even they didn’t have weblogs. All in all this site probably should not have been submitted, though I feel compelled to at least plug the art work and flash content. Overall I give this site a 1 out of 5, add a blog and it could well reach 4.5.

Gavin Vincent