The Weblog Review

My first impressions of the site were not accurate. A picture of a baby and a title that appeared to be a play on words, which I couldn’t fathom. An orange and yellow template, (the colour scheme did nothing for me). A personal web log? No. The site is techie site.

AWesome is a clever title. The site concerns Active Words software. It is authored by Marjolein Hoekstra who has decided to share tricks, tips and undocumented features of the software with us.

The design is straight forward. The top line contains a home page icon, and links to an about me section, and links to the software’s site and a community forum concerning the software. The about me section is informative, contains a mission statement for the web log and contains some random family snaps. There are two side panels, left and right. There are links to previous posts, Active Words software related sites and downloads, a search engine, and a Yahoo messenger online indicator to initiate instant messaging. Navigating the site is easy and all the links are functional. The only draw back for me would be that the page is a little cluttered, but not badly so.

I watched a live demo, Basic ActiveWords Functionality, http://www.activewords.com/demos.html in order to get a feel for the software. I haven’t used the software nor am I familiar with scripting. However I now understand that the software uses text as commands to… launch programs, open files, open folders, substitute text, navigate to web sites, send e-mail messages, and execute commands. Very nifty.

The main posts contain technical information about using the software and links to other helpful information. The site has been up and running since March 20th 2004 and Marjolein has posted 32 times with different slants on the software. They are categorised into amongst others; ‘tips and tricks’, ‘beginners’, ‘active words website’, ‘weblogs’, ‘promotion’, and ‘blogging tools.’ The posts are very well written and contain screen shots to help the reader understand the process being described. I am a reasonably skilled PC user and found the articles easy to follow.

I tried to download one of the WordBases, but the file extension conflicted with a Real Player wide band content file type. The download worked though.

The target audience for this site would be users of the Active Words software. It appears to be a useful site, which is well written and presented. Marjolein is enthusiastic and committed to her project. I feel it is worth a four out of five.
AWesome

I clicked on the link to the diary. I was greeted by black and white. Stark. But it served to showcase the bold statement – My Life Is Better Than Yours, a statement that is ripe for a challenge. Oh yeah, I think. Prove it! Already I am intrigued.

I started off with his bio entitled Super Timmy D Boy which gave me some basic information about him plus a spoofy photo of some outrageous body builder’s body with Timmy’s face pasted on top. Cute. In the bio is a FAQ list that includes statements like this: I don’t think your life is better than mine. A. It’s okay to be wrong. That pretty much sums up the super self-confidence that you are about to experience at Timmy’s place.

I began my tour of the entries with the Timmy’s Best link, which is a nice feature in a diary by the way. It’s very handy for the new visitor to your site. Oh my! In no time at all, I am laughing out loud. This guy is hilarious. Raunchy, irreverent, politically incorrect, macho….and hilarious! Here’s a quote from an entry about attending a birthing class with his wife:
….my only goal in taking the class was just to learn how to duck when the wife starts swinging during labor. Pray for me.

I read several entries from the archives that were written in a one line dialog style that were very funny. In the older archives there seemed to be no comment function, but in the latest months there is. He has a fairly large number of commenting readers, which is a good recommendation for his diary in itself.

I cannot find fault with this diary unless you are a person who likes a lot of visual stimulation from your blog browsing. At Timmy’s it’s all Black and White. And in my opinion, it works with his writing style.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, and after reading the rollicking, good natured, if testosterone saturated entries, I am left with the embarrassing possibility that his life actually MAY be better than mine!

My Life is Better than Yours

I have to admit, my stomach sank when The Daily Post first loaded in my browser. It appeared as though I had been sent to review an entire weblog community with the likes of LiveJournal or Xanga. Instead, I quickly discovered The Daily Post to be made up of a handful of webloggers aiming to create an ‘international flavour’ to their site. Other than that unique facet, there was nothing particularly stunning about the site itself – a pretty standard looking template-design divided into the weblog, a photoblog, and ‘bits and bobs’ which is the English (and, as usual, more eloquent) equivalent of ‘miscellaneous’.

The setup of the weblog is still something of a mystery to me. While the front page lists seven members, I could only find three of the members’ entries readily available on the site. And those entries were combined into one weblog with no apparent way to view each user’s comments separately. This was a little frustrating since the members’ all employ different uses for their weblogs. Some are extremely political, while others are simply thoughts and comments on their current life situation. In addition to this hodgepodge of entries, some unidentified entity posts news briefs throughout the weblog. Having such diverse elements all piled into one category makes for a considerably choppy read. One minute I was hearing about the users promotion at work and the next minute I’m being spoon fed another user’s views on feminism. Each is fine in it’s own rite, but to try and combine these elements into one is illogical. The writings in the weblog – no matter what the subject material – do appear to be well-thought out and well-articulated. However, I feel like their writings have done nothing to further their goal of an international theme. It is no more international than any other group of weblogs that have members from various countries. After reading through the entries on the main site, I did find links to “members’ weblogs” on the members page. Upon discovering these links to members’ weblogs, I couldn’t help but wonder what I had been reading for the last 10 minutes on the main page if not the members’ weblogs. Upon visiting these sites I found an even more diverse selection of weblogs with no underlying theme. I will say that one member’s site was closer to achieving the goal of weblogging from an international perspective more than any other. She spoke, quite well, on the excitement and nervousness of traveling to a foreign country and growing up in the process. This site was definitely the highlight of my time spent sifting through The Daily Post. Another interesting feature outside the weblogs was their Alpha Bio system. They claim to have pioneered this technique in which the members use each letter of the alphabet to describe something about themselves. I found this to be a very clever twist on an old idea and a point of pride for the site.

As far as the design of The Daily Post, it’s very straight-forward and easy to navigate. The template is a familiar one, coming from Movable Type. I did find their variety of content to be appealing. I spent at least an hour maneuvering through the various aspects of the site with little repetition. Navigating the site was not bad, but there were enough small flaws in the link hierarchy to make it frustrating at times. I expected the site’s main logo to take me back to the main page every time, but it took me to various pages depending on where I was at the time. Also, the inability to separate each individual user’s contributions was very frustrating.

I would like to point out an unintended aspect of this weblog site that I found to be the most intriguing. I was able to observe the birth, movement, and growth of this weblog community via the brief background information and the various admin. posts. Perhaps my fascination by this was underscored by my relatively little experience in reviewing weblogs, but I found this site to be a perfectly documented example of how the weblog organism evolves over time. They originally had been hosted by a different, larger weblog community and, eventually, broke off and created their own domain. On that same note, it was fun to see that this community isn’t done growing. In their quest for an international community, they are now offering free web hosting and other perks to join the ranks. It will be interesting to watch this site grow and (hopefully) flourish into a larger, more international community.

Overall, I simply wasn’t that impressed with this site. Perhaps some of my disappointment was due to the initial promise of an ‘international flavour’ which was not fulfilled. More likely, though, my disappointment came from the lack of each user’s separate identity dramatized by the over-abundance of different weblog themes. If they decided to combine all the users’ entries, some sort of congruousness among entries would have helped lock the reader’s interest in the site. While I simply couldn’t maintain much interest in this site, I haven’t given up on it. It is apparent that this community will continue to grow and evolve as more members sign on. I can only hope that it eventually grows and evolves into the weblog community it purports to be!The Daily Post

My first review, and it’s of a site belonging to a fellow reviewer. No pressure, right?

My initial impression of ODAAT – One Day at a Time was good. Very good. The layout is crisp, fresh, uncluttered and clean. I didn’t have any particular expectation of what lay ahead, here, but I must say I really enjoyed what I did find.

I started out reading about the author in the ‘me, me, me’ section. I like the fact that it was quite open and honest. The author is now in Alcoholics Anonymous after having battled with alcohol since the age of 16. I, myself, had the same problem, and I felt an instant connection to the author because of this. Also, the author lives in England, which I found to be quite interesting.

This blog has been in existence for just over a year, and having gone back to the very first posts, I was pleasantly surprised to find they are of the same high-quality writing as the newest posts. The topics covered range from one end of the spectrum to the other. Some are rather personal, some funny, some political – all just as interesting and well laid out as the other. What I found especially nice, is how the author seems to speak to only you. It’s not phrased as if he is speaking to a large audience. I get the feeling that he would say the same things, in the same manner, if he were sitting across from me at a coffee shop. I found that this style of writing helped me to really feel as though I were getting to know him, and not just reading about him.

As I mentioned, the design of this site is crisp. It’s not at all a cluttered mess as some blogs can be, and I was easily able to navigate my way around. The font is quite legible, and the colours are rather pleasing and easy to look at for a long period of time.

I enjoyed perusing the pictures section. I was quite interested in seeing pictures of Bristol, as I once had a friend who originated from there. It’s a lovely looking place. We’re treated to an adorable picture of guinea pigs, and to some wonderful pictures of his sisters wedding. I’m going to have to check back often for pictures of the author’s tattoo to be posted, as he mentioned on February 3rd, he would do once it was healed.

I found the added features of the ‘My Books’ and ‘My Albums’ to be a really nice touch. The author obviously has a knack for giving reviews, and extends it to his personal reading and listening interests. There’s also the option of skinning the site, which I admittedly played around with quite a bit. The frog skin is absolutely adorable, and there’s even a [Finding] Nemo skin, which made my day.

All in all, I have to say that this blog was a very enjoyable review. I’m more than pleased to have lucked out with this site, as it was an absolute pleasure to poke around in. In fact, I loved this site to much I’ll be adding it to my own blogroll, so I can stop in on a daily basis. Anyone who enjoys a good read about varying subjects by a personable fellow would enjoy this blog.

ODAAT- one day at a time

http://www.mac-con.com/christweb/

Before I even clicked on the link to do this review, I was worried. Any blog that obviously promotes or preaches anything is always a bit much to deal with. ChristWeb is a Christian blog, but also deals with political issues as well as random personal thoughts. I will tell you it is very very difficult for someone with strong convictions on things like race, religion, language or sexual preference, it is hard to read the entire thing with a completely open mind.

Regardless of my opinion on the ideas being written, the writing itself is fantastic. The authour is obviously intelligent and does put a fair amount of effort into his writing, as well as research as he often has several things to back up his points. There is no real audience intended, but I think mainly people with the same ideas are following – as comment boards aren’t overflowing with arguments.

ChristWeb’s red and black layout is catchy, but not distracting from the content. The links all work, most to blogs the reader himself enjoys. There are many posts relating to a King Of Blogs contest, which I was unable to figure out, but congratulations on winning all the same.

Overall, the site was well written, and had some very interesting views on things. A lot of people will enjoy reading this, but again I give my warning. Strong opinions on things may be faced with a complete 180. If you can’t read another view point without getting pretty angry, some posts are not going to be for you.ChristWeb