Blogbuzz

Be Your Own Detective is an educational type of blog where you can learn a lot about ways to find out things about people using online resources. From simple advice such as googling yourself, that blind date your friend set you up with, or a potential employee to things like getting credit reports and other information in public records to make sure that it’s accurate.

One of the posts that I’m sure will be a strong traffic magnet for some time to come is titled “My Super Duper Free Links Page“. It contains a huge list of links that are useful for conducting different kinds of investigations, most of which are free.

The list ranges from State Public Records Links and Government Agencies to Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies

Readability 9

Text color used is #40454B (dark gray, almost black) text in a 12 point ‘Verdana’ font makes reading pretty easy. Personally, I would have just made the text black instead of any shade of gray.

Layout 9

A customized Blogger layout where the content loads on the left side before the sidebar starts loading.

Load time 7.5
It’s a bit long in loading, firebug reports 136 requests (1.03mb) loaded in 24.66 seconds, however since the post content loads early and the scroll is so easy even while loading, the load time isn’t really an issue.

Scrollability 9.8

There is only a slight hesitation as the page first begins to load and then it scrolls effortlessly even though the page is still loading.

Writing 9.5

The writer has an informative style that’s tempered with a bit of humor and shameless self-promotion thrown in for good measure. Overall it’s a very educational read for those wanting to learn how to find out things about themselves or others online.

Total Score 44.8

Be Your Own Detective BuzzRank 89.6%

Technorati Tags: blog review, detective advice, detective blog, buzzrank

Life With Rog is more than just another “married with children” type of blog because the author is a Christian who doesn’t mind letting his faith show in all sorts of little ways in a lot of his postings as well as the cool video in footer called “Everyday Life”.

He shows a real talent for writing and presenting a story in such a way as to keep you glued to it looking for more. A great example is Battle : This author’s True Account, which is indeed a harrowing tale.

Readability 9.2
Font size and color combinations make for an easy read. No highliting or magifying needed.

Layout 8.2
looks like a standard “blogger” layout in shades of brown and tan. It grows a horizontal scroll in my 1024 wide browser but the main content is on the left side so you don’t have to side-scroll in order to read it.

Load time 7.5
Firebug reports 115 request (655k) in 19.96seconds…

Scrollability 9.5
a tad sluggish while the site loads and then perfect after that.

Writing 9.5
He talks a lot about his family life, parenting, and offers a Christian point of view in in his writing which makes “Life With Rog” different from most blogs. It’s definitely one to add to your routine reading list.

Total Score 43.9

Life With Rog BuzzRank 87.8%

Technorati Tags: family values, christian blogger, christian blog, christian point of view, family life, blog review, christian values, blog review, buzzrank

All by itself, Blog Hunting is a name that catches my eye because I think that even those who are subscribed to a lot of things are always interested in finding stuff they haven’t seen before. Part of the problem with doing that is that it can sometimes take a surprising amount of effort and searching to find the really good blogs.

Blog Hunting takes some of the effort out of that because the author is only writing about sites that she finds interesting or useful in some way. For example “Cute And Fuzzy Is Right!” is about a blog that’s loaded with irrepressibly cute animal pics. “Not Your Typical Pastor’s Wife” talks about a blog with that pronouncement scrolling across the top and is loaded with a variety of humor.

Some might wonder why I would mention or recommend another source of blog reviews, thinking that perhaps I’m helping the competition. However every reviewer has a different style and taste, just as every reader has their own likes and dislikes. I think it’s safe to say that anytime you’re looking (dare I say hunting?) for interesting blogs to read, Blog Hunting is a good place to check.

Readability 10

Good color and font size combinations make for easy reading without having to magnify or highlight the text

Layout 9.5

A two column layout that dedicates more than 3/4 of the screen to post content, leaving a single sidebar for navigation elements and Mybloglog and Blogcatalog widgets. There isn’t any advertising elements there as of this writing however it could easily accommodate some without taking away from the primary content.

Load time 9.5

Very good. Firebug reports 41 requests (170kb) loaded in 7.69seconds

Scrollability 9.5

Scrolls smoothly without problems. The scrollbar got a little ’sticky’ while the page loaded but it loads fast enough to more than make up for it.

Writing 10

Reading this blog kinda feels like you’re chatting with a friend about interesting things they’ve found online. It’s a light, friendly style that makes the reader welcome. Something that I think the Internet could use a lot more of.

Total Score 48.5

Blog Hunting BuzzRank 97%

Technorati Tags: good blogs, buzzrank, review, recommended blog, blogs, 97% buzzrank, blog review, blog hunting

A Short Tail is a relatively young blog that as yet has only 11 entries on it so far, nine of which are short stories presented by the persona of “Italics The Cat”. The stories themselves cover quite a range. From the thought provoking Monica’s Day Off to funny yet at the same time moving stories like Burgers In The Dumpster. The stories aren’t limited to a single chapter either, Wendell In The China Shop continues the story that began with Burgers In The Dumpster and leaves plenty of room for more parts to the story.

Readability 10

Font size and text colors choices make this very easy to read without any magnifiying or highlighting tricks needed. Links are obvious because of their colors and underlining but at the same time they’re not glaringly “in your face”

Layout 9.9

A Short Tail uses a basic 2 column design with a single sidebar puts the posts in the primary focus. Sidebar links are available but not overly conspicous

Load time 9.9

I honestly don’t think I’ve seen a better page loading time for a blog. Firebug reports 15 requests (95kb) loaded in 4.75 seconds flat.

Scrollability 10

Scrolling is smooth and easy from the second the scrollbar appears.

Writing 10

I can’t help it, I REALLY like the stories appearing on A Short Tail and not just because I’m prejudiced either. They’re simply some really great stories.

Total Score 49.8

A Short Tail BuzzRank 99.6%

Technorati Tags: recommended blog, 99.6% buzzrank, blog review, short stories, story blog, blog, buzzrank, writing blog, review

Simply Stating the Obvious is a great blog to read if you’re looking to just relax with some light, friendly fun. You’ll find anything from the latest on CBS soaps and musings about favorite programs like Journeyman and as Liz says on her “About” page, “anything and everything that strikes my fancy”.

I agree by the way, that NBC’s Journeyman needs to stay, or at this point, be brought back. They had a great storyline going and just left it hanging.

So if you’re looking for a good blog, Simply Stating the Obvious is a good place to go. You’ll have fun reading. Oh, and lets not forget contests! There was one recently involving the new A&E miniseries remake of “The Andromeda Strain” and she’s talking about another contest coming up sometime soon.

Readability 8.5

Not bad, the text color of #666666 (medium-dark gray) on white background made me have to squint just a tad but the font size was large enough to keep it good and readable.

Layout 9.5

A three column arrangement with a narrow header that allows a large portion of the first post on the page to be visible above the fold. single post pages would benefit from having next & prev post links would make browsing site easier

Load time 9.8

Excellent. Firebug reports loading 50 requests (216kb) in 9.75 seconds

Scrollability 9.7

Great. Smooth scrolling even while the page is loading

Writing 9.5

The author has a light, friendly neighborhood type of style that makes posts fun to read because it’s more like people just chatting than the way some blogs can sound more like somebody with an eternal ‘tude ranting about stuff.

Total Score 47

Simply Stating the Obvious BuzzRank: 94%

Technorati Tags: 94% buzzrank, buzzrank, blog review, recommended blog, blog, review

watchuonline.com has the dubious distinction of being the first blog to achieve a zero score. I was referred to it by my wife who found it while dropping Entrecards. I decided to take a look at it for myself when I saw the trouble that she was having. The full story follows.

Readability 0

Because of how the page loads and is taken over by what appears to be a full page popup ad for blinkx.com. The actual blog content is only visible for a short period of time and honestly can’t be read.

Layout 0

It’s nearly impossible to determine anything about the layout because the site is only scrollable for the first 10-15 seconds of loading, it’s then taken over by some kind of pop-over ad for blinkx.com

Load time 0

Without doubt it’s the worst I’ve seen for any website in years.. Firebug reported 285 requests that loaded 14.94MB after 2.78 minutes. The page never did finish loading, shortly after that point my browser locked up and had to be restarted.

Scrollability 0

Scrolling is only possible for the first 10-15 seconds of page load time, after that scrollbar dissapeared when the pop-over loaded and never returned.

Writing 0

The only chance I had to read any of the content was by choosing to “view source” and read it through the html, which is a lousy way to have to read a blog (or any website for that matter) and would only be wothwhile under the most extreme of circumstances. A situation that I doubt will ever apply to watchuonline.com unless whatever it’s put through some major re-design of how much and what kind of advertising to use.

Total Score 0

watchuonline.com BuzzRank 0

[it's normally my custom to include links to blogs that I review, however in this case I simply can't recommend it enough to do that. Those who wish can visit the site easily enough but remember this: you have been warned, my browser locked up and died trying to load this site. (Your Mileage May Vary)]

Technorati Tags: slow loading, popup, blog review, blog, not scrollable, entrecard, large, popover, not viewable, site to avoid

The Luminous Rabbit is the first “Book Review Blog” that I’ve seen and while it’s still relatively new with only three posts on it thus far. I think it’s got a great potential to establish itself as a kind of “authority site” regarding the books that are reviewed there.

For example, In a review of “Worlds of the Imperium, by Keith Laumer” is a title that I’ve never heard of before yet with an interesting enough sounding plot that I might be willing to give it a go sometime in spite of a few “cons” about the book.

The Luminuous Rabbit is definitely going to be a good place to look for good recommendations for your reading list.

Readability 9.5

The text color is gray (#474B4E) on an off-white (#FAFBFB) background but the font size is large enough so that it still manages to be readable without a need to magnify or highlight the text

Layout 8.5

It looks like a basic “standard blogger” type of template. It puts the posts first by loading them before the sidebar so that visitors can get right to the main content while the sidebar stuff loads.

Load time 9.5

Fast loader! Firebug reports 34 requests loaded in 7.25 seconds

Scrollability 9.8

Barely noticalble lag in scrolling but not enough to be a problem.

Writing 9

I like the author’s style. Each review explains the pros and cons of the book in such a was as to give a good idea what it’s about without unnecessary spoilers that would ruin it for potential readers who don’t want to know what happens until they read it.

Total Score 46.3

The Luminous Rabbit BuzzRank 92.6

Technorati Tags: blog, new blog, book review, blog review

Dessert Haven is aptly named. The sign at the top urges visitors to “Go ahead, free yourself of guilt, indulge your sweet cravings!” and then the writer proceeds to provide plenty of tempting amunition for that tasty task.

If you’re looking for a variety of dessert treats this is definitely a good place to look for them.

Readability 8.2

The text color is a #666666, which works out to a medium gray on a background color of #CCF8FF, which is a light, almost cyan, shade of blue. I think a text color a few shades darker like #2B2B2B would stand out better against that background color.

Layout 9

It’s a refreshing variation that moves away from the standard vanilla Blogger templates. I like the hanging sign style of blog header. I uses a bunch of the “above the fold” space, but more than makes up for that by giving the blog a unique personality.

Load time 7.5

Firebug reports 129 requests (585K) in 32.11 seconds. The sidebar loads first so you don’t see any of the post content until it’s finished. Fortunately the sidebar isn’t overloaded and comes in reasonably quick. I’d recommend that if possible it would be great for the template to be adjusted so that the post content loads first, especially if there were to be much more added to the sidebar.

Scrollability 10

Smooth scroll, no heavy javascript or flash widgets to slow things down.

Writing 9.5

There’s some interesting recipes, usually with pictures showing the finished product and always with clear directions for making it. The blog is also not exclusively recipes and includes occasional random thoughts about other topics

Total Score 44.2

Dessert Haven BuzzRank 88.4

Technorati Tags: dessert, blog, recipes, cooking blog, blog review, cooking

I finally managed to take the time to come up with a new theme and came up with this one courtesy of Florida Rentals on the www.wpthemesfree.com WordPress Theme site.

After a bit of customizing some of the color choices, this theme now fits the kind of thing that I really like in a blog. It’s easy on the eyes, color combinations are easy to read without having to highlight text. It’s also a fluid-width design that automatically rescales when the browser window is resized.

Another good feature that I consider important for SEO purposes is that the content loads first and then the sidebars, so that the main post content will be higher up in the source code when Search engines spider the site. It also means visitors don’t have to sit looking at sidebars while the main content waits for them to finish loading. This way, if the sidebars DO take longer than I’d like to load, at least the main content is loaded first.

With the new theme in place, I’ll be getting about the business of writing here more often.

Technorati Tags: color+combination, fluid+width, new+theme, seo, SiteBuzz, wordpress+theme

If you spend any time dropping entrecards, sooner or later you’re going to run across Monkey Fables And Tales. The entrecard for it is easy to spot: A red background with an irate looking blue cartoon monkey asking “How about if I spank you?”

This blog describes it self thusly: “Nonsense served almost daily. Some of which may be true, some not so much. Plus some other crap.” and regardless of how true any of it is, there’s a lot of funny to be found here. One Prime example that’s had our house laughing heartily is this recent gem: I Could’ve Used Dear Abby’s Advice

Any time a blog post can manage to work in the phrase “Holy mother of methane, what the hell was that?!”, you know it’s got to be worth a read.

Readability 9.5

Text colors have just enough contrast from the background to make it easy to forget about reading and just enjoy the humor.

Layout 8.5

Slightly customized looking version of a standard “Blogger” theme

Load time 8.5

Not bad. firebug reports 10.8 seconds to load 74 requests

Scrollability 7.5

I found it to be a tad sluggish to scroll although I couldn’t identify the reason.

Writing 9.5

This stuff is Funny!

Total Score 43.5

Monkey Fables And Tales BuzzRank: 87%