Review THIS! Blogs.....

Blogs out there in "blog land".........

Our task this week was to choose up to five random blogs and review them, giving an opinion on the layout, a little run down on the content to familiarize other readers and an opinion on the ease of navigation.

The Countess Counts http://crapmentality.blogspot.com/

Classy and chic, this blog entices the reader into its dark archives This blog is a mix of personal experiences and flash fiction. Her colour scheme of black and purples echo a gothic chic reflecting perhaps her blog namesake. There are good links to her fiction entries and to the many writing memes she is subscribed to. Her seductive logo is posted at the end of each posting. My only criticism is that the page is set at too many postings, making it lengthy to scroll down.

Four thumbs up

http://www.enchantedwoodz.com/

This is a very slick beautiful feeder for Arials writing blog - http://arialburnz.wordpress.com/ and with links to her Romantic Vampire Fiction. Unlike many blogs with music, hers is gentle and lulls the reader into a calm state as they navigate around the webpages. Silver typeset on black background, makes each entry stand out. Though perhaps it is just my screen, I would have like the font a little larger to easier reading. This blog is clean and uncluttered, simple and classy. She links it unobtrusively with her other businesses with her vampire logos at the top.

Three thumbs up

http://inlandempirereviews.blogspot.com/

This blog follows a food reviewer who goes out and tests the local hamburger joints, cafes and inexpensive restaurants in his town. What a great idea! He includes several photos of what he has ordered and gives very honest reviews on each meal, giving a price and a rating. With a funky background which may be a few shades too dark for optimal reading, His blog is another that has too many posting on the page and could do with settings at one or two posts or a several as a teasers.

Three thumbs up

http://islandwhispers.blogspot.com/

This is a writers blog full of animated glittering and synthesized music to read by. I found the music too fast in its pace to feel relaxed to read the information presented. The page was very long, tedious to scroll up and down but presented the reader with many options to link to ranging from other blogers to writers resources that the writer uses. She does acknowledge that her page is very long and asks readers to stick with it. I also felt it suffered a little from death by widgets and sales spots.

Two thumbs up

http://sfgirl-thealiennextdoor.blogspot.com/

Nina is a published Sci Fi writer who uses her blog spot for her writing ideas as well as reviews and random thoughts. I really liked the pictorial recent posts – with the easy to use pull bar. The neat Neo-Earth widget was something I will look into installing. It has a red flashing dot where the visitor to the site is form are and one pinpointing where blogger is from. She has a good array of self publicity with links to reviews and interviews about the her writing and her publications. The light blue background was easy on the eye, though again her blog page ran downwards tediously long.

Three thumbs up