Review 1455

I call this place “DaveDorm” for two reasons. It’s from the Latin dormiere
which means “where one lives”. Well, this is where I live online. The
original idea of this site was a peek into my life.”



Okay, so I expected a blog of a college guy’s life in the dorms, but now I
know better. DaveDorm is not a journal but a blog in the “truer” sense of
the word, which both helps and hinders the site.



Dave’s writing is a blend of everyday life and the news/site of the day
links. When these links are followed by extended, thought-out commentary,
they are worth reading, but Dave sometimes falls into the pitfall of
blogging: linking to the same stories that can be found on a thousand other
sites. Dave writes well, there are no glaring errors and his entries are
very readable, and with a slight change in focus, I think his blog would be
much more interesting.



DaveDorm has a few other sections, but the most elaborated is the “About”
section. In this section you can see Dave in Trek uniform and singing
karaoke (I wonder if he ever combines these two favorite activities), along
with photos and other personal details. It is here that Dave comes to life
as a real person, and I wish Dave’s personality could be so well defined on
his main blog.



Design-wise, DaveDorm is based on a MoveableType template, but since Dave
just recently moved to MT, it’s not that big of an issue. The pop-up windows
for some sections are very annoying, and I’d advise Dave to abandon them
ASAP. Dave also has plans to make his site handicapped and blind accessible,
which is a noble goal. Good luck, Dave.



As it stands now, DaveDorm has the potential to be a really good blog. The
entry topics could be better, and I hope Dave at least changes the blog
colors soon to make it stand out from the crowd. DaveDorm is worth visiting,
but it has room for improvement.DaveDorm