Fireballs here on a Thursday. GVNP took yesterday off. Love Bites not seen recently. What the hell is going on around here, honestly? Kitty, being the MVP of this site, and me, the sneaky Manny Ramirez-like compliment to her Big Papi-esque performances, are fucking CARRYING your sorry asses. Get back to reviewing, dammit! Oh right, Kitty hates the Red Sox. Bad analogy there, my apologies to our humble Queen. Okay, she's Derek Jeter and I'm...Tino Martinez, circa 1998? Tino and I almost share a birthday, so he was always my favorite Yankee, although for me, that's like saying because Goebbels was born in December, he was my favorite Nazi. (Disclaimer: I have no idea when Josef Goebbels was born, nor do I have a favorite Nazi. Just thought I should clear that up so no one got the wrong idea.) One other quick sidenote. Since I've ignored my shitty blog for so long, I'll be starting a new one on Blogger quite soon. I'm sure you're all fascinated to hear that, but I'm looking to try to make this one everything that I want to see when I review blogs, so it's only in the planning stages for now.Anyway, I'm here on a Thursday, let's get to it, shall we? Today's entry is Winged Emotion. It's being reviewed (because I'm at work and work is evil, and won't let me download Firefox, bastards) in Internet Explorer (gah!) at 1152 x 864.
The template is a pleasant enough mix of blue hues, but I can't tell if it's professionally made or one she "borrowed" because I don't see a credit link. It's centered, which is always good, sidebar on the right, and neatly organized for the most part. I dislike intensely when my cursor changes when I hover over a link, however. She changes the pointer to a cross, which I utterly loathe. Apparently, she's quite the photog, as a click on her flickr link reveals she has 1190 (!) photos online. The archives are on a separate page, as well, which pleases me, although I don't know by her post titles (which are short, to be precise) what the subject of most of her posts are about. Not that that's a huge bother, because most people (including myself) make very little sense when titling posts. There seems to be some slight sizing error on IE with her secondary pages, however, as both her links page and archives page are slid to the left, and interfere with the border of the centered block of text. My guess is that this probably looks fine in Firefox, but since my idiot employers won't let me use it here, I can't tell that. We'll hear in comments, for sure.
Content-wise, it's a "slice of life" blog, for the most part. She's recently gotten a tattoo, yesterday, it seems. Okay, now reading down, she coded this template herself. Well, congratulations on that, you've done a good job, for the most part, other than my little issues with the secondary pages. I need someone with a real browser to tell me whether it's just an IE issue though. There are only 10 posts on the front page, again, this is a good thing. Too many posts on the main page pisses me off greatly. There are also no little wonky gadgets that people seem so fond of, either. The header isn't bad, not something I'd have chosen, honestly, but it's centered and clean.
Okay, constructive criticism here. I can't quite put my finger on it, for some reason. I don't hate this, but I feel so little for it that it's quite difficult to really put into words. There's nothing here to grab me as a new reader. I'm quite sure within her circle of blog-buddies, she's loved and adored, but the content doesn't grab me, the template is well-done, but nothing special, and with "slice of life" blogs, it's difficult to jump in the middle without having to wade through post after post. Maybe it's my lack of patience with these types of blogs, because I need to be grabbed almost immediately, but this is just a Big Mac in a filet mignon universe. Either be more interesting to those of us who don't know who you are, or find a way to grab me and hold on to me.
For coding your own template. More people should have the balls to try it.
My patience is running thin with these "slice of life" blogs. Honestly. If your goal is to write for your friends, fine. Just don't expect me to want to keep coming back.
I give her props for coding the entire template herself. The only thing that strikes me as kind of strange is how small the picture of the girl in the header is. I would make it more front and center, and take out the grayscale background it seems to have. Otherwise, well done!
ReplyDeleteContent isn't horrible. It's what she wants, and I can't fault her for that. It isn't something I'd read daily, but it's a lot better than some of the stuf we've gotten in my opinion.
*sigh* I remember when getting a tattoo was an exciting experience, rather than just something you do so often, it's not a question of where, why, what, it's a question of "When ist he next one?"
I have to say that I have found this blog to be one of the most mundane, boring blogs online. Ironically enough, this blogger routinely goes around to people's blogs who are reviewed on the other site, and attacks them. I thought you were exceptionally nice in your review, Fireballs.
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