Month: May 2004

“kimbalina.com.” When I first approached this blog, I was greeted with a colorful banner at the top of the page with “kimbalina.com” written on it. It gave the page a very nice look indeed. On the right hand side, there were several links to other blogs, various sites, archives and an “About Me” page. She even has several small photos posted on the right hand side of her page. The first thing I did was click on the link to her “About Me” page, so I could get a perspective on who this girl was. There was some info in there on her, such as her name, occupation, and things like that. She even has a couple of photos of herself posted.

I went a little further down and she had a link to “100 things about me”. When I clicked on that link, I discovered that “Kimmy” had info about herself in there that went back to the time she was a little girl. It was very interesting and really kept me entertained.

Once I started reading the main page of her blog, I noticed that her posts were very short, (At least the first few) I thought to myself” What really is the point of this blog”. But after I got through the first few entries, I went looking through her archives. The more I read, the more intrigued I became. This girl has accomplished more in one year then most of us could ever dream to accomplish in a lifetime. In 2003, she graduated with a degree in computer engineering. She got a job with google/blogger, and she has done some traveling. The list just goes on and on. I just wanted to keep reading. She talks about spending time with her family and how she has 5 alarm clocks and she still doesn’t wake up. I laughed out loud when I read that. It reminded me of myself because I have 4. So “Kimmy”, you are not alone.

This girl seems to have a very busy schedule, but she can still make time to update her blog for us all to read. She seems to be such a dedicated writer, and a real down to earth girl.

To sum it all up, I love her design and layout. It is easy on the eyes and well organized. She even has several pictures and links posted on just about every entry.” Kimmy’s ” blog reminds me of one of those good biographies you get at the book store. Once you start to read it, it is very hard to put it down. You just want to continue reading until it’s finished. “Kimmy’s” blog is one of the best i’ve read so far. I know I will keep going back..
Kimbalina

I cringed when I saw that Leave Your Ego at The Door was hosted on Geocities. I cringed again when the site took an inordinate amount of time to load. The cluttered, badly dithered and aligned layout didn’t really do much for me, either. Reading on, I see that the author is a teenager whose long posts are nice and peppery. Despite the layout issues, this site appears to have promise.

As mentioned before, the author is a teenage girl, and this blog certainly reflects that, offering up all the teen angst and anxiety you’ve come to expect from the genre along with a sprinkling of occasional gems. She writes about her parents, her school experiences, and makes much mention of her friends, who apparently read this journal. The archives go back about a year, and, while the entries are very long, there aren’t very many. As mentioned earlier, the topics of the blog have limited appeal. Occasionally, the author does become reflective, but this never reaches its full potential, and the majority of the entries never venture beyond the everyday realm. The writing style is very chaotic, and this may appeal to some readers, though it did not strike my fancy. Here we have an underdeveloped blog, but one not lacking in potential.

The blog is the site. A biography of the author takes the format of a quiz, of the type that normally circulate by e-mail. This lets us know how she feels about soap operas, music, and flipflops, but doesn’t really let us get into her head too much. I would prefer a more traditional, introspective bio, and I suspect I am not alone. Some of her answers do get chuckles, however, such as when she imagines being “papercutted to death.”

The design is far worse than expected, even for a Geocities site. The archives are difficult to find (they appear in a popup window after clicking on the graphic reading “http://”) Furthermore, the site appears optimized for very large screens. In today’s browsing world, this is not practical and quite irksome. The large graphics take a long time to load, and the over-use of pixelization and fancy brushes make them too distracting. The creatively named site sections were difficult to navigate because of their vague titles. I suggest the author go for a simpler, less graphics-intensive and more inclusive layout.

Overall, this site is a very typical blog. It, like most such blogs, holds potential if the author continues to write and begins expand her repertoire. At this current time, however, the appeal of the site is limited. Other teenagers with similar interests may find a kindred soul in the author, but aside from them, readership may be small. Here, broad horizons are the key...leave your ego at the door