The Weblog Review

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

Unless Microsoft Word is lying directly to my face (Microsoft lie? No!), confessionalism is not a real word. Therefore, it must be either a typo, or a creation unique to this website (assuming they got there first).



It doesn’t really matter anyway. The posts have little to do with confessing, which is a good thing because it would be harder to consistently entertain with that kind of content.



This is a good site; the posts are long enough to be considered in-depth and involving without being convoluted or merely filler, and the majority of what I read kept me reading; the point was kept and consistently developed within each post, and after reading a couple of weeks’ worth of material you end up with a good appreciation for the site.



However, it does fall into the trap that unwary bloggers fall into with alarming regularity: the uninspiring design. The high calibre content is not quite matched by the template-driven layout; the site could do with a bit of an overhaul and perhaps should be made simpler if anything. Nothing should divert attention from the core resource here, which is the blog, as it is worthy of attention and should not be ignored simply because the site looks amateurish.



The score of 3 I have given could easily have become a 4 had the design been just that little bit more focussed and developed.

Confessionalism

The Mad Rantings of Tam Za comes across almost as you would expect. The site’s name, perhaps a failed attempt at ironic humour, reasonably sums up content.



Though not entirely mad, the posts, or rants if you will, come across as disjointed and irksome. The site, inadvisably, makes use of a comments system that unfortunately highlights the slow traffic throughput, and there are numerous design issues that spoil an already average blog.



First of all, there is little correlation between the masthead and the rest of the colour scheme (which, incidentally, doesn’t work), and the images used in the image flip in the top corner lack taste.



The majority of the posts here are merely links elsewhere, and if you are at all like me you might find yourself following them and not bothering to return.Mad Rantings of Tam Za

Yummy Pi is at once both easy to classify and yet hard to rate. On the one hand, it is obviously a site created for personal expression, thus making it very easy to pigeonhole as a “Personal” site.



Yet at the same time it is the same as 95% of all weblogs. It is another voice among the millions, another set of opinions and tastes, and doesn’t have anything to set it apart from the rest of the field.



That isn’t to say that the site is not worth visiting. The writer expresses herself clearly and in an interesting manner (though the constant textisms are an acquired taste), and the design, layout and colour scheme are well suited to the content and technically proficient.



But there seems to be something lacking from the posts that so many others also lack, that certain je ne sais quoi that sets a personal site above and beyond all else.



Visit this site, make up your own mind. That’s the reason we write these reviews; they are a guide, not an excuse to exclude a voice. Yummy Pi, though arguably (and probably only in my opinion) nothing special, is still a weblog, and still a good read.yummy pi

The image used is interesting to say the least, it leads the eye nicely down to the entries and the theme is carried throughout the entries.

However when I tried clicking the link “About” I was shown a “Page can not be found” screen, which disheartened me slightly.

The entries are funny, and yet peculiar at the same time, and usually each conversation is carried on with the rest of the group so it’s worthwhile to read preceding entries before continuing to read later entries.

Overall a very effective group blog with members posting daily.

strangers and a web log