Month: February 2002

Kaushik has this weblog as a showcase of different links found on the ‘net that the author has deemed interesting. As Kaushik puts in the very first weblog entry at this site, you may find some “scintillating commentary” when the author has time.



There are some really interesting links that have been posted, and it does seem as if Kaushik only posts those links for the public to read when an opinion is available or the author has some personal commentary to add to it. By doing this, Kaushik gives the reader some insight of why the link is being posted and the opinion Kaushik has of the link or its subject matter.



The layout of the website is Blog*Spot template, and it fits nice enough for the site purpose.



Kaushik has a nice style of writing for what this weblog’s purpose is. The author is informative to his readers without sounding “preachy”, which is what prevented this site from just a 3.0 rating.



RandomNotes

It had been a while since I had written a review of a weblog. I needed something to grab my attention, to inspire me. I needed to go somewhere that appreciated weblogs and was trying to advance the medium instead of wallowing in self-referential crap. I scanned the list of pending sites, looking for something, but I didn’t know what.



Then I saw it. Zero Format, it said. Really? The weblog of an ALA contributor? It had to be too good to be true. It would be like getting to review zeldman again, only this time I would get to do it with a site I hadn’t been a devoted fanboy of.



So, the review.



Let me warn you: if you are a graphics-obsessive, go to this site. No, it won’t take half an hour to download over a dial-up, I want you to visit this site to see what a good weblog can achieve.



A real weblog tells a story, every day, and never posts about posting. A real weblog contributes to the web. And that is exactly what Dennis Mahoney has done with this site.



The standard of writing is exemplary, the volume startling. If this site was never again updated, it would still provide sufficient entertainment for many months, which, in a web littered with the stillborn remains of bloggers content to post a one line link, is a gift that must be cherished.



Complaints? Well, my praise for the site isn’t unreserved. The navigation could use a rehaul – there’s so much content here (most of it high class) that it all screams out for attention simultaneously and so could do with better filtering than it currently receives. But then that’s a minor issue compared to the greatness of what’s on offer.



If you want convincing of this site’s credentials, read the article on what shouldn’t appear in a weblog (but invariably does), and then look through any of the hundreds of sites reviewed here at TWR.0(zero)format

Cipater, named after a song by alleged “band” Autechre, is a weblog run by a group of people with aliases more likely to be inspired by Aphex Twin.



The naming conventions are symptomatic of the tone of the whole site. As you would expect, the font is small and cannot be resized. The design aesthetic is good, but honestly lacks a clarity of purpose. The blogs are often self-referential and full of pseudo-attitude, the perennial replacements for real content. Lower case rules; manga inspired artistry abounds.



The irony is that the writers felt they had enough content to contribute to further weblogs held over at livejournal.com.



Thankfully though, this site appears self-sufficient. There doesn’t seem to be a counter, but there are a healthy number of comments after each post to indicate that this is one site receiving just enough traffic. Looking for something really new? Try elsewhere.cipater.net

Almiro Ricci is not related to the more famous, and let’s face it, more attractive, Christina. No, this Ricci is a Canadian software developer who classes himself as a Generation X-er; unfortunately none of that 90s angst is carried over into the blog content itself.



There’s not much to set this blog apart from the crowd. In fact, as far as I could tell, this blog is just a part of the crowd, although in its defence it is a very young site and needs time to grow.



The posts are generally related to comments about the news, local sports (and by local I mean Canadian) and the occasional blog about blogging. As one who has a great deal of experience of reviewing blogs, I treat self-referential posts with disdain, because they are often indicative of a lack of news. “The medium is not the message” is a phrase often quoted in modern blogging history, and it is a mantra that would be well-learnt by management types and beginning bloggers alike.Almiro Ricci

“A Day in the Life” is the title of Babs’ weblog, giving the explanation right off the bat that this is a personal weblog about what goes on in a typical day in the life of Babs. It’s nothing more, and absolutely nothing less.



This weblog was a fun one to read. I’m using fun to describe it because it wasn’t hard to read, or difficult to understand, or a bunch of incoherent babble. It was just Babs writing about her day, and it was just a fun site to read.



In its entirety, it’s a classic personal website complete with an about section, favorite links, photos, and the norm – all combining to make this a very nice over all site to visit on the web.



I couldn’t give the site a 5.0, because there’s nothing that screams “Gimme a 5!”. But, there’s certainly nothing that takes away from the site, which is why I’m rating “A Day in the Life” a 4.5.Babs – a day in the life