The design is smurfy; I’m a big fan of the miniature ‘about me’ box on the front page. I think it’s important to give your visitors an idea of about whom they’re reading.
The content of the blog was aimed squarely at one slice of the population: the author’s friends.
To an outsider, the blog is nothing but a summary of her day, complete with talk about people we don’t know at places we’ve never been. Some people solve this problem by including a page where they list the “cast” so to speak: a list and short description of their friends.
The writing, in and of itself, (aside from some minor spelling errors, but I’m not going to get THAT nitpicky) is solid. The summaries, while somewhat alienating to strangers, are in fact interesting enough to read through, and coherent and fluid enough to make sense.
All in all, ‘Single File Line’ is a very good effort, and quite worthy of the time I spent there.
Single File Line
Review 310
The design at Mental Masturbation was somewhat trite, but clean and interesting. Everything worked, which is a plus, and the site was quite easy to navigate.
The writing was impressive. Interesting commentary peppered with nifty links: everything a growing blog reader needs.
A lot of blogs tend to focus heavily on their friends as an audience, and if this is their intention, more power to them. This site does lean a bit toward that direction, but what struck me is how the author can be so personal, yet simultaneously inviting.
I definitely enjoyed by time at Mental Masturbation, and I intend to return quite regularly. I humbly suggest the same to others, as it’s a fine use of time.
/mental.masturbation
Review 289
If only I knew the language Ollo.net
was written in, I might be able to give
it a much better review. My best
guess is that the language is Dutch,
but I may be wrong. Nevertheless,
the web site was able to convey it’s
purpose and allowed me to navigate
easily–something that many, many
web sites in English fail to do.
The site was primarily composed of
a variety of links, organized by a
variety of subjects. I looked through
some of the links and was pleased
to find them current, interesting, and
not broken.
It took a little guesswork, but I
eventually found the weblog area of
the page. It appeared to be a group
style log, with two authors making
daily contributions. Naturally, I had
no idea what they said.
The design of the site was sharp,
with a nice green color scheme. As I
said before, the site was easy to
navigate and made sense using
visual clues rather than words. A
definite plus for those who don’t
know the language.
Certainly Ollo.net is worth a look.
Perhaps a reviewer who knows the
language can do the site more
justice than I.
Ollo.net
Review 272
Coax me is an above average weblog that combines interesting content with a nice, clean design aesthetic.
Well, that’s the intro done with. Though nothing here really sets this site out from its peers, the smooth interface makes a welcome change from having to search long and hard for any form of navigation (although the writer refers to the various ‘cliques’ to which he belongs as ‘cliches’; most likely a simple oversight unless it is spot-on humour).
The content is good and well balanced, and will certainly keep the reader entertained and interested as they delve deeper into the site, but once again you get the feeling that something is missing. It might be me just having ‘one of those spells’, but I think this site needs something. Unfortunately for everyone concerned, and especially myself, I can’t put my finger on the deficiency.
Maybe it’s a smoother writing style or more mature and seasoned outlook that I’m looking for; if that’s the case then I’ll return here in a few months because this is where I’m more likely to find it than a lot of other places.coaxme
Review 343
The design at AtariGirl is suitably in keeping with her obvious interests; the logo is exactly 80’s console, and the pixelated graphics continue the theme of retro looks and squeezing as much code into a few bytes as possible.
The only strange part is the list of favourite Nintendo games in her bio. Nintendo? Didn’t they have something to do with the death of Atari (my history might be off, of course).
Retro gaming is remembered with nostalgic overtones, but it is worth considering for a moment why it is that the previous generations of games are so loved.
They certainly don’t compare graphically to their offspring, but the most important reason for their continued success is their playability, and the continued enjoyment that players take from console antiquity. Sure, they looked poor on the whole, pixelated graphics and a handful of colour, but there was heart there that even the most glamorous of modern games lack.
By now I hope that you have derived my point, and are on your way to the site.Atarigirl