Category: Uncategorized

Yet another chick blog. Yet another well-designed table layout. Yet another bout of somewhat senseless rambling posted to the Internet for mass consumption. Yet another nice layout. The layout was mentioned already, wasn’t it?



Charming Delusions’ layout, a crisp use of tables which views equally well in MSIE 5.5 and NS 6.1, is certainly the best aspect of the site. This is not to say that all of the author’s entries are without merit. To be certain, many of the author’s entries are quite entertaining if one does not mind the style of writing, which is reminiscent of a teen’s diary but not nearly at titillating. The 21 year old author mainly discusses events in her personal and academic life, but often makes references to people who are unknown and poorly defined for the reader. A bit more background, within each entry, of the people and events being discussed would prove helpful to the average reader and would make the entries a bit less confusing.



The author’s composition is fair, but the lack of capitalization and the occasional use of double periods at the end of sentences are wearisome and detract from the content within the entries. This unusual writing style, combined with the author’s tendency to ramble and/or jump abruptly from one topic to the next, will remind reader’s of a teen blog. A “cleanup” of the author’s writing style could only enhance the quality of her entries and, as result, improve the overall appeal of the entire weblog.



Charming Delusions features links to various other weblogs as well as links to the site’s past layouts. The archive links work and there are music, photos, and biography sections within the site. The site is truly well-designed and is easily navigable.



Charming Delusions will appeal mainly to female readers, 16 – 24, as well as college students. Charming Delusions is not the most content abundant nor witty weblog to be found, but it is worth a look.





charming delusions

A highly literate Blog*Spot weblog, The Den of Ubiquity is a fast-paced, somewhat interesting personal blog which is respectable in both content and style.



Author Aaron Humphrey, a 30 year old Canadian techie, has much to offer in his weblog, including personal bits and pieces, as well as an amusing and analytical countdown of his 750 favorite songs. Entries vary in length and the writing here is solid. Entries are literate and well-composed, will little to no grammatical or spelling errors. Aaron’s style of writing is both friendly and inviting, making him seem very much like the guy next door.



The layout of Den of Ubiquity is composed of a standard Blogger template and this weblog views equally well in MSIE and NS 6.1. Entries are archived and all archives are accessible. Links are minimal and most are contained to the side menu area. Aaron’s other Den of Ubiquity, his personal website, is well worth a look and may prove more enjoyable than the actual weblog.



While The Den of Ubiquity is certainly a solid weblog, readers may tend to feel that something is lacking. There is a certain je ne sais quoi which simply isn’t present in The Den of Ubiquity and this reviewer is pressed for viable recommendations. Nevertheless, The Den of Ubiquity does offer quality content and writing and should hold an appeal for mature 20 and 30-somethings.



The Den of Ubiquity

There’s no easy way to review a site like zeldman.com. The eponymous writer is perhaps the best known of all webloggers; he is champion of web standards, involved in independents day and the ultimate designer resource ALA, and his weblog is a portal into the underbelly of the web programming world.



And yet that isn’t all there is to a site that adds to the inherent value of the web. His glamourous life (here with the correct English spelling), perhaps named with a hint of irony, is some of the most beautiful and touching writing outside of bluishorange.



Outsiders might overlook this site, as I first did when I stumbled upon it four or so years ago. It looks simple, with graphics employed sparingly. A lot of the posts really only cater for those with a real zest for web design. But this is a good thing; like the need for web standards, Jeffrey Zeldman’s daily report proves irresistible.Jeffrey Zeldman Presents

First and foremost, the design is painful. (And those damn pop-ups get old in a hurry.) The colors don’t go together, and table cells are fluid and unrestricted (they adjust to the browser window, no matter how big that is), making the main text columns WAY to wide for easy reading. In the same vein as easy reading comes the extraordinary length of the blog entries. Some readers are into this, and some blog authors do it well. I am not that kind of reader, but John does have a style that makes the mass of text easier to get through. A better solution would be using Greymatter or Movable Type–putting “more” text on a separate page, thereby making the front page less daunting. That, however, is a throwback to my initial comment on the poor design.


Beyond a design that would give Jacob Nielsen seizures, the writing is good. Intelligent, structured, and solid–a little biased, but hey, what are blogs for? The blog is aimed at 15 years and older–I’d probably bump that to 18-20. Most 15-year-olds aren’t going to process discussions about government very well.


Obviously this is an outlet for a guy who likes to write, and for the most part, he writes well.

dende a web journal

Perhaps my melancholy mood at the time of this review is what caused me to take such a liking to this site. Perhaps I’m just a darn good judge of incredible writing. I’d like to think it’s the latter. I invite you to judge for yourself.



Billy is 21, yet writes with the heart and soul of a person who’s years his senior. His isn’t a collection of daily today-I-did-this tidbits. Billy shares his feelings and experiences in a kind of lyrical prose that leaves you with goosebumps on your arms:



I’d like to walk down that crowded beach, the three AM winds and the sand at my feet. If only I could share the feeling with more than tiresome words and passing dreams, it’d be the majestic serenade.



You won’t find any entries before February 1, 2002, but the entries available are all thoughtful and articulate.



Lost By an Echo has a very clean, basic, and simple layout that compliments the more complex writing. Having only one image, the loading time is down to a few seconds on a dialup connection. Though a complete archives section is not yet available, one can travel through this site via a “previous” link at the end of each post. The site is searchable and also has a healthy links page.



This journal is the perfect balance of visual ease and mental and emotional stimulation. Visit this site when you have some quiet time to take in everything that’s been shared, and be sure to check back for the archives.

Lost By An Echo