Month: April 2002

When submitted for review, Bruno had a different URL. Usually a redirect page turns me off, but the redirection to such a well designed site was no problem. The problem is that with the site redesign, Bruno left off his archived entries for the last year.



I like the layout tremendously. The clean design with easy to navigate links is a plus. The graphic is cool blue and twisted. Everything works and works well on this site. The scroll is a bit fast for an old lady, but I finally got the hang of it. I don’t especially like the guestbook format, but perhaps he will find one that works better. All you have to do is close the browser on it and it moves out of the way of the main site.



I adore “about” pages, and Bruno’s was no disappointment. It told me who, where, and why. His “essays” section has some interesting reading. I would have liked to read some of the archived entries from 2001.



I’ll check back on Bruno to see where he takes the site with the new design. I just hope he considers adding archives to his 2001 entries.

Dissension

Obviously the name of this site is a reference to the phrase “Beating a dead horse.” With that in mind, I wasn’t sure what I would expect out of this site.



Page loads and of course we are thinking about horses, and there is a picture of baby ducks climbing. What does a baby duck have to do with the weblog? I don’t know.



The next thing I notice is that the design of the site is a blogger template that some how managed to win the template contest. Yes it is a good one for multiple content areas, however, they are so spread out that it makes them not flow together. I really cannot comment any more on the design, as it is a template.



Finally I start to read the site, and I am entertained by it. A lot of the posts reference us to another site, with a little description or note about it first. I liked this part. The personal stuff was in there from what I could tell out of sheer need to just post about it and let it out. I found some of the posts to be quiet entertaining, while others, you guessed it, were “Blogging a dead horse.”



The score of the 2.5 is because it uses a template, with out a good integration into the site. Maybe a different template would help, I don’t know. But also because of the more often personal posts being just like the title. There are some good reads here, but you have to look a little bit for them.blogging a dead horse

What is going to happen when I visit this site? Evil Overlady and a .co.uk site, I have no clue. And to top things off, when the page first started loading, I got a nice bright pink background staring at me for about a second.



Then the rest came in to play. What we have here is a weblog that almost reads like a dear diary type weblog. Some of the posts have interest, while others do not. But the fact that it read as this type, kept my interest. I was reading it, and almost feeling guilty like I was sneaking a peek at my little sister’s diary. But none-the-less it was still very entertaining and well written. Being that I am in the US, and she is obviously in the UK, I found the differences between the English languages amusing.



The design much improved after it loaded correctly (see bright pink above) and just had a bright pink border. The border was nice as it complemented the headings of sections in the site. I am not quiet sure about the crown jewel on the right with the word random over it, as it didn’t change. The about section helped a little bit, but almost everything you want to know about the author is in her weblog.



The site is a good read with nothing to fancy, nor nothing to boring. As I said, I almost felt guilty reading it because it reads like a Dear Diary. Maybe when you read it you won’t get caught and feel so guilty like I did.Evil Overlady

I have to admit, I didn’t know what to expect with a name of Mad Bull and picture of a bull on the main page. At least he is consistent.



The author has really good posts. I read them and it seemed like he is/was that guy you always want/ed to be. He is always having fun. Especially more recently due to the holidays, but that is ok. All of his posts are well written and are easily read. They also are a lot of fun to read. They keep you very entertained, and clue you in ever so carefully to more of the author’s life.



One thing that I didn’t notice before I started reading, but I should have, was click on the Actors link. He talks about a number of different people in his weblog and you don’t know who they are. But if you see who’s who in the actor list, you get a better understanding of his posts.



The design is nothing to go home and tell mom about, but it definitely is not that bad either. I like the fact that he does have a cartoon bull on the weblog, just to remind us that it is Mad Bull’s Blog.



Some of the links on the right side do not make sense. Some were for Jamaican sites, while others I did not have a clue about. Maybe a little bit of grouping would help.



Over all I thought the site was a fun one to visit. Even if you go and read the site for just the holiday events, you will find that it is an enjoyable site and almost be forced to read more into the site. I hope you enjoy your visit at the Mad Bull Blog.Mad Bull’s Blog