My first impressions were good. A nice look using oranges and yellows, very warm, very welcoming. I expected a site that was easy to read and easy to navigate. Not too many different sections to the site, so perhaps a “no thrills,” type of site?
I began by looking at the bio section, to see if I could form an understanding of the writer. This I found impressive, with a number of different headings and extensive detail, though it was easy to read as much or as little as you wanted. However the next section I went to, was the daily section, assuming that it was where the writer keeps her entries, I was wrong. However, the daily section had some rather nice elements such as routine, which gave you an insight into her daily schedule in the gym and to her body mass index. So where are the entries?
The entries were only accessible from the front page and this was where the archive was also found. Once finally in the archive, I chose to read a couple of randomly selected months. The posts varied in length, the longer ones were fairly interesting, and I found that the actual entries were easy to read, though having the archive ever so slightly hidden with only the ability to chose a month, made it hard to find different entries, especially as there are entries as far back as march 2001.
The photo album and writings were the extra sections that could be viewed. Both made a worthwhile visit and the photographs were not all the typical “me and my friends” type. Though this was true, the template on the other parts of the site wasn’t used and instead a dullish grey background became the back drop to the written work, in other words, very hard to read, though this was only apparent in the writings section as the rest of the site was easy on the eyes.
The site has a lot of potential, with some fairly interesting entries and nice extras. If the navigation was restructured so that the archive was more accessible and it was clearer what each section was, with the same template used throughout, the reader would find the site a much more enjoyable experience. Having said this, the reasons for visiting should not be over looked and once the navigation is mastered, it becomes less of a problem.
diva geneva