Review 2544

The focus of ‘Chew’s Place’ is clearly on the words of its author, Chewie. The design is simple, with little to distract the reader’s attention from the most recent entries. At the same time, many of the usual weblog features are here, too — links, archives, credits, an ‘About Me’ page, and more, hidden by default but expandable with a click on the appropriate link. It’s a simple, clean look, and it worked for me; the posts are ‘front and center’, but the extras are easily accessible, too. Very nice.

I first took a look at Chewie’s About Me page for some insight about the author, and found that she is — among other things — an avid reader, a chemical engineer/biochemist, and an aspiring teacher. I dug into the archives, wondering how and whether those topics would come through in her writing. I didn’t have the opportunity to read the very first posts; only the past six months of archives are available, and it’s clear that Chewie was already in a ‘groove’ in September of last year. It would have been interesting to see how her posts and writing evolved during the earlier stages, but that’s a minor quibble.

The good news is that the archives are filled to the brim with content; Chewie posts daily on a variety of subjects, ranging from commentary on recent news stories to personal anecdotes to book reviews to (more recently) a ‘Photo of the Day’ feature. Most posts are substantial, covering several topics; the monthly archives are huge, with stories and links and opinions to satisfy the most avid readers.

It’s clear that the author puts a lot of time and effort into ‘Chew’s Place’. Those looking for a new weblog to try out should be very happy with this site — with a wide variety of topics and links, there’s a bit of something for everyone here. And if Chewie has missed a day’s posting in the recent past, I didn’t catch it. It’s that commitment to delivering the goods that sets ‘Chew’s Place’ apart. I give this site 4.5 out of 5.Chew’s Place