Blogbuzz

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

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

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

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, blog review, book 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: blog review, blog, recipes, cooking, dessert, cooking blog

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%

It’s a pretty important issue because more and more people are dedicating some of the space on their blogs to advertising. This can range anywhere from producing enough to offset some of the costs of hosting and domain registration to providing a full blown income.

I’ve seen bloggers and conventional webmasters writing about how they’ve got their sites to the point where they’re earning anywhere from $100 to $3,000 a month from sources such as Adsense, Kontera, Clickbank, text links in and out of posts, 125×125 button ads and so on.

While I don’t want to take away from my original intent for this blog, I also would like to see it start earning it’s keep and help around the house. Granted, it’s probably not going to make my coffee in the morning but it could very well pay for the hosting and perhaps a computer upgrade or three.

With that in mind, I’m going to start by shopping around for a new theme. Something in a three column format that combines my favorite features of easy to read text and color combinations and still have enough room in the layout for advertising blocks. Then all I need to do is design the ad blocks so that they aren’t obnoxious yet still are noticeable enough that people will occasionally click on them deliberately.

“The Blog of Rudy Amid” seems to be about pretty much whatever’s on his mind at the time which can range gaming on the Nintendo Wii to a post about a widget that presents Dilbert comics in color.

Readability 10

Very easy to read black text on white background with a font size large enough that I don’t have to strain even a little bit to read it.

Layout 9

It’s a good basic, minimum frills layout with navigation links across the top and a single sidebar with more. Almost all of the focus is on entries themselves.

Load time 9

Firebug reports 57 requests completed in 10.68 seconds

Scrollability 10

smooth and easy

Writing 8

A reasonably frequent poster with plenty to say about a variety of topics. Some posts do tend to be on the long side but they’re still interesting just the same.

Total Score 46

The Blog of Rudy Amid BuzzRank: 92%

My Life as Mama Jodi is a fun blog that’s loaded with a variety of topics from faith to family to just plain have some fun. According to the ‘about’ page, to say that the author is a busy person would be an understatement. Yet she manages to do all of that and keep two blogs with fresh, interesting and entertaining content on top of everything else she does.

Readability 10

It’s great. Good text size and the color combinations work nicely, very easy on these tired eyes.

Layout 8

There’s a lot packed into the three column layout but it still manages to keep the readers attention on the posts themselves.

Load time 7

Firebug reports 19.47 seconds for 99 requests to complete. Since the posts load early enough in the process, the reader can focus on that while the sidebar contents load.

Scrollability 9

It was a tad sticky while things loaded, but smooth after that.

Writing 9

To sum up most of what I saw in a word. Fun. I like a writer that likes to have fun, they’re easy to read.

Total Score 43

My Life as Mama Jodi BuzzRank 86%