I wasn’t quite sure what to think when I first arrived at “Mondo Irlando”. I was hit full face by the colour scheme, and large garish handwritten graphics. Judging from the first page I could only assume that I had arrived at a review site, of films, music, and erm other things. It did not appear to be a weblog in the traditional sense, in that the first page at least was not organised chronologically. Then, of course, I discovered the Duke’s Journals.
Overall I found the site a little frustrating to navigate. I read film and music reviews, the journal, and something referred to as the articles. Its easy to access yes, but there is no organisation chronologically, and the overuse of graphical links was all too distracting. Much to my surprise I found the content largely well written, albeit more than a little offensive on occasion. I found he lost a great deal of my respect when he resorted to obscenities.
I found navigating the site a little frustrating. There was an article archive, and a review archive, but no journal archive from what I could see. There were no additional facilities there for readers to interact directly about specific posts, merely a guest book. I feel the site would benefit from the addition of some sort of comments facility, unless of course the author does not wish to promote reader response. There is a lot to see here – MP3 digest, and Mondo radio show I am sure will appeal to a lot of people in particular.
The design overall did absolutely nothing for me. It was black and red, with large handwritten graphics as headings and links. The graphics especially I found detracted from the content. I also found I developed eye strain after a solid hour of reading through the archives. Improvements in the site design would do nothing but benefit the site. I can appreciate that content matters above all else, but when a design detracts from content that is largely brilliant then a serious rethink is required.
Mondo Irlando has a great deal of appeal, just not for me. Its an interesting, and extremely well written review site. Its intended, I think, for a mature audience. I can see it appealing to film lovers and music buffs who would appreciate his honest and open style, and with improvements in the design and its navigation I can see real possibilities for this site in the future