The Weblog Review

If you’re a Californian, or at all interested in local politics and the effects of celebrity, you should certainly head over to James Norwood now; leave a comment or contribute a new topic to the forum. This is the kind of site that could really prosper with enough visits; it speaks to a niche audience like the best sites try to do, and provides opportunities to add feedback and spark discussion.

James’ site has something I haven’t really seen anywhere else, and it’s quite nifty: down the left hand side of the page are headlines from a few other blogs that share something in common with this one. It’s a good way to lead the reader to other sites of interest, rather than simply providing a links list (although that too is present). Of course, if you have an RSS reader you’ll not need any of this.

Posts are grouped by category. The politics section is added to most frequently; reaction to Arnie’s decision to run for governer in California is one example of a recent post, and it’s easy to work back through and see the story progress.

The only problems with this site are the relative lack of content (although on that point I’m not terribly concerned – and neither should you be – since this is a site that will grow), and the design. The layout is fine, but the colour scheme and lack of any eye candy leave the site looking plain and a little unwelcoming.

You can easily read the entire site’s contents in a single sitting, getting completely up-to-date with happenings, and leaving you in the useful position of being able to voice your opinions immediately. Get started on some political debate: if you disagree with James’ opinions I’m sure he’ll be interested in knowing how and why.

All About James – The Forum

My first impression of this site was that it was a fairly run of the mill, fairly average weblog with nothing that would provide much of a challenge for me.

I have to say that my first impression was right, astonishingly right in fact. The site design is (I guess) taken from a template. If it isn’t taken from a template then it is certainly very simple in terms of visual design, being simply plain dark blue throughout. Yes, it is easy to read (the main requirement in blog design if you ask me) but not really anymore than that.

There are a few “novelty” gizmos to be found on the site, which didn’t really enhance the content much – for example each post could be spoken orally by some kind of speech program via Windows Media Player (at least on my browser). Admittedly very useful for the blind or illiterate, but I suspect there are not many of these people who visit the site, and the speech was too artificial and stilted for regular readers to use the feature often. There was also a webcam which was switched off when I visited. Also included on the front page were various buttons, none of which I found it necessary to use – “email this post” for example.

There were a number of links to other sites – Google seemed popular, a few other blogs and something called GGSearch, which I didn’t really understand, or appreciate the relevance of.

As for the content, well, yes there were archives going back to May, but May only had one post and June a mere 3. Comments were there and had been made use of. Most of the subject matter covered the Californian political situation in great depth and a few other religious/ general news stories.

There were some quite nice posts about the author’s life and general bio information, but I would have liked to have read more of these and in greater depth. I gather the author is involved with the church, is training to be a teacher and possibly homosexual (at least according to June 2). These things would have been much more interesting to read about than whether Arnie is running for Governor.

There were links to the author’s home page which contained a few photos but not much other revealing information, as well as a forum which contained four posts, none longer than a line.

If I could give some advice to the author, it would be to spend more time writing some content and less time on gadgets. Including the photos of the family gatherings in the main blog (or at least linking to them) may also have helped fill out the gaps a bit more.

All About James – The Forum

What can you really think before stepping into someone’s world, via their own eyes, and read through those intimate personal moments called a weblog? What is your first reaction when the blog is named “‘man.ik-di’pres.iv?” Well, you take a look. You read the little things on the splash page and you hold back just long enough to write this portion of the review before diving into the author’s mind. I can’t help but assume that this blog will be scattered in pain, but I almost hope for raw emotion.

I started with a few of the recent entries, the two that are there. Then I dropped in on the archives. I’m not surprised by entries, but they spark emotion. They draw you in. They’re short, but indelibly moving. The author is obviously a man of few words, but with a writing ability like his, there’s no need for too many words. The author has points. He makes them and moves on. There is little by way of tangents, even if the entries vary to things throughout the day or his idea of “horrorscopes.” The blog itself reads like a well written novel; the kind you read again and again because you loved it so much. Short spurts of wonder and intelligence. This is the kind of blog that makes me want to write quality, not quantity. This is the kind of blog that I love to find and read. This is the kind of blog everyone should get a chance to experience, even just once.

For a site hosted on geocities, it’s beautifully dark. You see only the random picture in the left corner and the quote that coincides with it. You read his versions of the mundane, “the vault” as opposed to “archives.” It’s actually very well laid out and clear. There isn’t a ton of things to inundate the reader with this or that. It’s designed to allow the reader to choose where they’d like to go.

He has a “say a prayer” portion that’s not for the people of the war, or the humans who lost lives. If you click on it, it’s for those innocent, and I mean truly innocent, lost lives of animals. I can’t help but be very sad at the reality of his concern. And I can’t help but hope that his one voice changes the voice of others. This section alone, brought tears to my eyes. You can learn more about his likes and favorites in different sections of the site. You can learn more about him in the about me section.

Regardless of where you go on the site, as a reader, you will probably find something you can relate to. It’s not all filled with pain and angst, as you might think by the dark demeanor, but it is filled with insight. Insight into little things people often overlook in life. Or even insight into things we’ve thought about many times, but never could find the right words to make them real. This site is my first 5.0 because I want to read every word written there… ever. last. one. ‘man.ik-di’pres.iv

I’m sorry, but can’t anyone do something original with the movable type template? I know, a little harsh, but sometimes it’s really hard to have to look at the same style blog over and over again, with a few different colors changed around. Often it just feels as though there’s too much distraction with the sidebars that the content is missed. But, content is the question here… so moving on.

The early archives are rather sparse, but interesting. His first “public” entry is about being a twin and how he responds to the questions he gets asked when with his brother. It’s a funny twist on human stupidity, but shows that he’s a good sport with having to deal with the questions that are often asked, dumbly. He has a great sense of humor. When you read his July 4th entry, you’ll find yourself wishing you had done what he requested. His entries are filled with emotion when he touches on subjects like religion, citizenship, and politics. His entries can often be short and to the point, but they tend to lack the meatier part that draws people into visiting again and again. When, on occasion, the author does get to the nitty gritty, you’re compelled to read every word, wondering what brilliant thing he’ll say next (July 20th).

As I stated above, the design is plain. It’s almost like the generic layout that movable type gives you when you install the blogging system on your web server. I can’t seem to stress enough that there are infinite ways to design a blot. When I visited this author’s actual site, I loved it! If only he could’ve incorporated some of that design with the blog it would be a much more pleasant read.

This author shares a lot of really good links, especially pertaining to politics. He has a lot of outgoing links to some things interesting, some things interesting to the author, and others just for fun. I have yet to see a “deskcam” which allows the viewers to see his desktop. He also has the “escape” link on his site, which, honestly is a good thing when reading or blogging at work. Otherwise this blog is very similar to so many others.

This blog is new to the community of blogging, and while there weren’t thousands of entries for me to read, the ones I did read were quite interesting. The overall feel of this blog is leaning more towards his political viewpoints rather than much else. I can’t help but not like the look of the blog, or even wish there was just a little bit more on the shorter entries. In the end, it’s a blog I’d visit once in awhile for curiosity’s sake, but probably not daily.All About James – The Forum

Any time I see a blogspot blog there’s a part of me that really wants to squirm in my seat. Are the archives going to work correctly? Is it going to be terribly slow? Ironically, this blog doesn’t generally fall into the same category of most blogspot blogs. You want to know what’s really nice? The picture of some kind of art that this author has; it truly is nice.

If you go back to the humble beginnings of the blog you’ll find that this author is a student at Northern Arizona University, studying Criminal Justice. His entries are very well written and quite humorous. He tells of the adventures of dorm living, and the dramas of people who, according to the author, “never escaped the first grade mentality.” For anyone who hasn’t ever lived on a college campus or in close quarters with lots of people, this is the blog to help explain the drama that’s spills forth. There are a number of entries of the author’s thoughts on random different things happening around him. He’s often touching on the philosophical, which is very interesting to read. There’s a slew of intelligence oozing from this blog, even with the occasional misspelling. He is utterly hilarious with his nicknames for J-lo, and his entry titles. They very much draw more attention to some entries rather than others.

The design isn’t bad. There’s not a lot of ruddy code filling up the blank spaces, so you’re left with only the content of the blog to fill in the gaps. Lucky for the reader, the blog definitely fills those spaces with loads of content. Some of the colors work better than others; the purple for the comments is easy to read, while the teal for the “posted by” is really difficult to see. Would you like to know what’s truly wonderful?? Considering that this is a blogspot blog, the archives actually work. So there are many weeks of writing goodness to go back and read, enjoy, and experience.

The archives are part of a wholly different page, which might be a good part of the reason why they work. So you’re not stuck having to worry about them working on some pages and not others, which often happens with blogspot. This is a nice feature. There isn’t an about me page, but you learn very much about the author through his entries. You’d have to read through to understand his ideas on religion, school, and the male mentality towards sports.

This isn’t a site that would visually bring me back again and again, but the content is definitely worth another visit. Just reading the site for the review I wanted to leave comments and reactions to so many of the things that I either understood, or wanted to share two cents with. Its main audience is probably more the college-age readers, but there are many other wonderful things to find even if you are younger or older than this age range. Ruminations