Month: January 1970

The look of the blog was very simple. It was clean cut with just a text box and a small amount of links on the side bar. There was no clutter, and there was nothing at all to take your eyes away, or distract from the main text blog. It was simple, clean and very easy on the eyes!

This weblog is an online problem page. The blog is based on the fact that people, all ages, write into “Bubby” who is a grandmother of 88. She then offers the readers various bits of advice and tries to guide them through any difficult times that they may be having. The problems that are answered range on every subject available, which includes friends that cannot dance, smelly workplaces, recipes for cookies, and failures of relationships.

When you look at this blog, you get from it what you want. You may take it seriously and get some good advice on life, or it may make you titter with some of the problems and answers, or you may just think it is all a wind up and that both Bubby and the readers are fictitious. Whatever, I bet that reading this will make you smile in some way.

The design is very simple and very clear. There is nothing at all on the weblog that distracts you, or tries to temp you away from itself. There are no long lists of links, no other sites to lead you astray. The site boasts a few nominations which adds to its credibility.

The main bonus is that it is such a refreshing site that is like no other that I have come across before!! I have never seen a problem page weblog, and whether you take it seriously, with a pinch of salt, or with your tongue firmly in your cheek, it is different! It makes, well I thought so, a refreshing change to the norm. If you are looking for it, there are some valuable pieces of life help on this site.

I liked this blog, and I think that I liked it because it was very different to anything that I have seen. It is a great idea to have a problem page online that is accessible to everyone. I liked it because it made me smile. I liked it because it was simple and because every entry was something different as you never know what question is going to be asked and answered nextso you never know what to expect next as you move onto the next entry. Help Me Bubby

On arrival at creating space 101 now entitled ‘squeeze’ you are immediately presented with a fairly standard blogger template with but a few adaptations to colour, layout and with the edition of a rather large orange slice as a banner – the tagline reads ‘fresh, tangy ideas’. That sounded promising, and after reading the small about me section in the left hand menu I headed off in search of the archives.

Squeeze has been in existence since September 2003, and the vast majority of postings are of a personal nature. My initial readings were a little frustrating due to occasional character problems ‘today… it’s’ being just an example. I appreciate however this has more to do with the authors keyboard, and is not intentional, at least I hope not!. That aside, on the whole I found that the author’s style was simple and easy to follow, although not overly fond of the shift key it seems because capital letters are hardly ever utilised. As I said most of the entries are of a personal nature, generally describing life events as they happen interspersed with the odd meme. Now the vast majority of entries failed to grab me at all, but one or two did manage to stand out from the crowd – generally when the author really unleashed, let go of the shackles and got reflective. It wasn’t life changing stuff, but it was interesting in a learning about the individual kind of way.

The design is a simple adaptation of a generic blogger template, clearly the author of this blog likes orange – not only do we have a slice of orange as a central theme in the banner but all the graphic lines and fonts are orange too. There’s nothing seriously wrong with that if orange is your thing, the text was clear and easy to read after all. Some interesting links reside in the left hand column, some of which are worthy of further exploration.

On the whole Squeeze isn’t all that bad as blogspot sites go, it’s a fair enough contribution to this world we call blog – the design isn’t dazzling but has enough touches to make it truly individual, and the content although personal contains the occasional interesting post. It isn’t a blog I would frequent on a regular basis, but one maybe worthy of a look in every now and again. I do believe most entries are tailored towards people who reside in this authors social circle, as knowledge of the people who are mentioned here is essential to understanding half the posts. Not really spectacular but showing some potential for the future – 2.5creating a space 101

With a name of “Make the World a Better Place” I didn’t know what to expect. I thought that it would be about a tree hugger and how to “fix” things. I was wrong.

My first impression of the site is not a favorable one. The url that was submitted by the authors choice takes me to a blogspot page with the most recent post being in August saying that the site had moved to a new site. There were a plethora of url redirection warnings, which was way too many.

When the site finally loaded, I was greeted with a lot of information. First readings of the posts contained a lot of information about the topic. There are a lot of quotes from articles and or people that inspired the post and a lot of his thoughts on the topic.

After reading the front page I looked for the archives. I thought there would be an archive list by date, but unfortunately it was just by topic. While there are a great number of topics for people to pick from, this was a major pain for me. I like to see the “entire” picture and not just bits and pieces by topic. I could not really see how the author has grown which I was disappointed with.

The design of the site is nothing major, but it works. The yellow/green and white color scheme again does not do anything for me, but it isn’t harmful either. This is a standard two-column layout with the navigation on the right. I am glad there was an about section, as it really gave me insight into the author.

Overall I thought there was too much that was being presented to me. While I normally would enjoy this, with the vast range of topics, this was more of a hindrance. I also wish that the archives would be put in a standard format as it really does make reading a site that much easier.
Tikun Olam: Make the World a Better Place

When I first visited this site, I immediately saw the generic Blogger template, only it had a few tweeks, which make blogs often look so much better. This is the case for “a likely story”. She has made something rather generic into something very cutesy and attractive. I was interested to see what kind of person would match the layout. There were very few links on the side bar, which wasn’t too helpful in seeing the author’s likes, but I figured there was only one way to find out.

While reading this weblog, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t full of meaningless babble or rants and raves; this blog consisted of experiences that the author found fit to blog. Now, although the content isn’t exactly geared to amuse the curious onlooker, it is interesting to hear what is going on in her life. I really enjoyed reading about her daughters A and E, however, I found that the stories and such wouldn’t quite keeps all readers busy. Perhaps if there was more about what is going on in the country and her views on the subject, it would become more reader friends. However, I am unaware of who exactly she is writing this blog for. All in all, a perfectly ordinary blog of a woman who really loves books, church, and family!

The design, as I said before, was very nice. I really enjoyed the touches she added to personalize an over used template. The colors are soft and very easy on the eyes. Snaps to Angela for a very nice color scheme!

I think, altogether, this blog is only getting better. As the author said herself, “Each time I visit someone else’s blog, I find a new trinket to bring to my own.” Obviously, this blog will only ripen with time. Until then, it’s still a little bare and lacks some author/reader interaction.a likely story

As soon as I arrived at today’s adventure, I was impressed. A Likely Story is a blogger template, but it just looks nice. Maybe I’m bias and I like it because it’s pink but hey I think it looks great. The site is laid out very simply, which is good, as anything more extravagant would detract from what you find as you dive in.

Our writer is a married woman with 4 children, and a love for movies, literature and shopping. The fact that she shares these loves in each of her posts make it very easy to get involved in her life. I started my reading at the best place – the beginning – where she starts her blog. Watching these first posts of frustration and ambition to get the site up to her liking, all the way up to the most recent, more informed and confident posts are like watching a child go from her first steps to watching her walk down the aisle (okay I may be a bit dramatic here, but you get my point). Reading each post seemed to take no time at all, and by the time I was done, I wanted more.

Most posts are about her family, which she obviously adores (and why not, they sound pretty great), and about her interest in literature. She posts links to several books she is reading, has read or is looking for. I’ll admit it, I fell in love at that post. There is no real target audience, as she seems careful to give enough detail to keep the interest of those not included in her immediate life, and not so much detail to offend those who are. It’s a hard line to walk, but she does it – and does it well. Something I have to commend her for.

The actually site is neat and tidy, with no dead links and nothing that really distracts you from what you are there to see. There are a few perma links to blogs the writer enjoys, an interesting quote of the week (no really, the week of January 21 is pretty great), and archives going back to June of last year. The customized colours make the site a little more sleek and stylish and a little less blogger-ific. There was no about me page, but if you start at the beginning, you will find all your info right there in plain site, so I’m not holding my usual pet peeve against her.

Overall this site was a great read. Nothing too deep, and nothing too flighty. It’s the yin and yang of blogging. It’s made my morning read, so I’m hoping the posts will be often. I really have nothing to suggest as far as improvement, as I found no flaw with the site. Keep up the writing and we’ll keep reading.
a likely story