Category: Uncategorized

First impression; flash intro, never my thing. Generally not blessed with that desirable trait of patience I frequently shut sites down with slow loading and seemingly pointless flash. On this occasion I thought it only fair to sit through it and wait. In their defence there was an option to skip the intro, an option I took the second time I loaded it only to be presented with a second page and an “entry image”. I never quite see the point in these things.

When you eventually pass through the flash introduction and pretty images of falling snow the site design isn’t that bad, it’s very simple and understated. Quite clearly it is designed with the smaller screens in mind, leaving a great wedge of yellow at the side of anyone with a large monitor. A minor misdemor by all accounts.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the blog, I had a feeling it may well be a personal blog – I refer to as a journal rather than a blog, and I was pretty much right by all accounts. It’s a conglomeration of journal entries, random links and personality tests, nothing unique but no less worthy than any other. It was easy to navigate and the blog itself was nicely designed and easy to read.

I noticed in passing that some of the entries were encrypted, requiring a password to read. I must admit to wondering the point of all this, when quite clearly some of the passwords were displayed above the section. There may be point to it, but it eluded me.

I was left wondering if this site would appeal more to Steve’s friends and acquaintances than to random visitors, but still it remained an interesting voyage into the life of a stranger in passing. I gave this site a rating of 3, a good design despite the seemingly pointless flash introduction, an interesting journal of personal entries, the odd cool graphic, but no come back factor.
justafreak

If the Art of Rhys-isms were a movie, it would star Jackie Chan – it’s a rollercoaster of site, intensely personal and an addictive guilty pleasure. Never mind the misspellings or the occasionally reckless grammar: your host, Rhys Wynn, is Graham Norton on speed and too much fun to ignore.

The site initially appears too busy and jumbled with its jam-packed frames and intense banner. (I’m tempted to raise funds for him to get rid of the annoying Blogspot ad banner, though I suspect he’d put the money towards a pint.) However, once you get to know Rhys you’ll realize quickly that this blog IS him.

A Welsh programming student at the University of Liverpool, Rhys frequently posts stream-of-consciousness missives about his exams, his latest games, his quotidian trips to the pubs and so forth. The casual nature of these posts plus a section devoted to extraordinarily detailed biographical information about him result in a nearly instantaneous feeling of familarity towards Rhys and his mates. Add to that Rhys’ charming Welsh/Liverpudlian slang and you’re hooked, ready to forgive the occasional assaults on traditional English.

This is hardly a political or newsy blog. If anything, Rhys might delve into the specifics of certain games or programming tricks, but for the most part you’re with him as he goes about his day and night as a student and you’re happy to be there. It’s not a perfect blog, either; as mentioned above, the grammar and spelling are often dodgy and the site is cluttered and assaultive. However, it is one of those rare sites which totally embodies its author. It never overreaches or tries to be something it isn’t – and more pointedly, it’s ridiculously fun to read. The Art of Rhys-isms

On my first glance at Catalogablog I thought “I don’t know what any of this means!” I’m classing myself as your average blogger, and I had no clue what IFLA, TEI, OPML or Exclusive XML Canonicalization were. Perhaps I’m just ignorant, perhaps they’re American things, but it made the immediate impression that this site wasn’t going to be accessible for everyone.

I decided to go right back to the beginning and see how that helped, but it was just the same. Catalogablog is not your average weblog and is not for your average reader. It is a news and links weblog about issues to do with cataloging and data.

The design of the site uses a standard Blogger template but with all the lastest “must have” extras: RSS feed, a Creative Commons license, XML. The site owner is obviously in the know about all things weblog.

All the links to and from Catalogablog are also about library cataloging and related topics and to find this site useful or user-friendly you’d have to have this same interest or career. However, if “Library cataloging, classification, metadata, subject access and related topics” were your thing then Catalogablog would definitely be the place to go.

Although this weblog did nothing for me, I feel that if you went there for the purpose it serves then you would recieve very thorough information, and for that the site deserves recognition.Catalogablog

PaulFrankenstein.org lives up to its name–it’s a little bit pop culture, a little bit scary, and a lot of fun once you surrender yourself to it.

There doesn’t seem to be an overall theme for this website.The “Frankenzilla”, as it’s called, contains everything from relationship help to political rants to who’s who in the blogging world, all tied together with a quiet, sly sense of humor.

Paul Frankenstein, the owner of the website, doesn’t seem to have much to say with his own words. He gets his points across using various links and photos, and I must say that he does this very well. The posts are organized into a myriad of categories, such as “Love and Sex”, “Crass Commercialism”, “Tunes”, “Flotsam”, and “Politics”, just to name a few. At times, however, you wish he’d say more and expand on his wonderful ideas. The blog is like a playground for whatever thought he might be entertaining, I’d just wish he’d let them grow into full.

Despite this, the blog is enjoyable and easily read, thanks to the colorful layout of soft yellows and oranges. The photo banner at the top changes with each refresh, bringing an element of fun and suprise. The blog is well organized, with posts archived by aforementioned categories as well as by date. The links the author provides are just as random as the blog. The condensed history of China, old travel photos, a novel in progress, and the author’s favorite blogs are just a click away.

Overall, I’d say that this is a wonderful blog to visit to find out about some really cool things on the web. paulfrankenstein.org

Blog.org – now there’s a domain name that’s just screaming to be huge! With a domain name like that, how could anyone possibly go wrong?



With probably one of the longest taglines I’ve ever seen on a weblog, David, the creator and author, uses “daily updates on the Internet and public policy, broadband, virtual community and more from the UK-based consultant and journalist” to describe his weblog. And well, the tagline describes the weblog to a T.

David posts on a frequent and consistent basis. More often than not, readers are only treated to a few of David’s own words that briefly describe the particular external link he’s featuring that particular day. From time to time, the author does expound a little more in depth on why he’s linking a particular site, sharing his opinions and thoughts on the matter at hand. David’s a good writer and typically knows his facts, so having him share more of his thoughts on what he’s sending his audience to via the links in each of his posts would definitely add more personality to this weblog.

The layout is brought to you by Moveable Type as one of its standard templates that come along with every download. There are a ton of links grouped down the right hand side of the blog that can lead you anywhere from the archives of the site to nearly any subject matter that could possibly cross your mind.

I expected a lot from a site with a domain like this one. You see the word “blog” everywhere you look now, and I was expecting something huge, something that would just jump out at and scream. I didn’t really find that here.

Blog.org isn’t the type of weblog you’ll find yourself growing easily attached to if you’re looking for anything along the lines of a personal weblog. If you’re in the market for a weblog that’s going to give you an occasional link here or there that you might find worth checking out, then this is a spot I’d visit.


blog.org