Butterfly Dani is a beautifully laid out blog, its tasteful simplicity to the extreme with just enough color to make it pleasing to look out without detracting from the content in any way, shape or form. There is no about me page as such but there is a ‘100 things’ page which is especially informative on the person behind the blog.
Archives go back to March 2003 and the vast majority of her postings are personal journal entries, about life in general, be it college, work or everyday occurrences. But this is not someone who will shy away from putting forward an opinion on everything from politics to religion as well. Most of the posts are short and to the point, not a word wasted, and I think in this particular circumstance it does her credit. She has a good writing style, does not mince with words and comes to her point effectively. Her writing style is in fact much like her design, well structured and beautifully set out.
The design of the blog itself does the author credit, and quite clearly it is one she has put a lot of effort into. Not only is it beautifully laid out but there are no broken links. However, initial appraisal was done viewing the site on my 1024 x 768 browser, when I looked again using my 800 x 600 browser there was some overlapping – particularly the right hand column which overlapped the center. It’s an unfortunate flaw in an otherwise beautifully simple layout.
I enjoyed my visit to Dani’s site, her writing is beautiful and the content despite being largely personal was on the most part very interesting. The design is well laid out and suits the content very well, and except for the overlapping on a small screen resolution was well edited and flawless. You will find no broken links here. The rating was particularly difficult to appraise here because although I enjoyed my visit I am not sure it would be a site that would draw me back on a regular basis. Bearing in mind the overlapping I believe this site is a good 4 still, because I consider it to be one of the better blog ‘journals’, full of well written and well documented life experiences. If you enjoy connecting with an author on a personal level then this is probably the blog for you.
Update : Dani does have javascript inplanted in her template which loads the correct css file appropriate to user’s screen resolution. butterfly dani