chrissie

Here we are taking a look at a personal blog called “Strumpet” that sates in its header ‘I will chastise this high-minded strumpet’ a quote by Henry VI.  Here you will find a collection of anything and everything as the blogger is inspired on many daily musings. Meet Ron Lyre, the blogger, though he professes this is not his real name and that is about the only true essence you can get from the blogger out of his profile page. But perhaps you can muse a little more on what this blog is about through any of its recent bloggeries: Hmm, floor pie. Stratford upon Avon Food Fayre a Success; For sale one full length crow feather cloak; Is it Me or Wot?; Peter Sellers does Laurence Olivier; Laurence Olivier does Henry; Laurence Olivier does Hamlet; Laurence Olivier does Peter Sanders; Thankfully this sort of thing goes on in Detroit and not Stratford; There was an Irishman and a Parrot; and TURNIPS (the end of summer) by Ron Lyre (a poem).

I would like to say navigation on the blog is easy, but you will find yourself spending as much time navigating this blog as you will trying to find out what it is really about. During the entire review, I found several popups through technorati tags or otherwise that just would not seem to quiet down. I tried viewing the blog in Mozilla but this did not seem to change much. Bloggeries are left marginalized and there is a right sided bar that might be called a navigation system, though there is very little blog navigation going on there. Posts are black text on white background and the blog does not have a set color scheme, but is very lively with color and activity. Each post also contains either relevant pictures or YouTube videos or these pictures or videos are the post content itself. In the right ‘navigation system’ you will find an About Page that tells you very little about the author, Pay Per Post ads, advertising and more, a Tag Cloud (that I advise you to steer from otherwise you will spend a healthy amount of time closing windows), and lists of menus such as Ron’s Reads or Ron’s Other sites. You will also find here a recent reader’s widget, auto roll widget, directories ads, subscription options, and an archive pull down menu with posts going back to August 2005.

I am going with a 2.4/5 for this blog, the only thing really saving it at this point from lower marks is its frequent activity of about 19 posts in September. I still am not quite sure what the blog is about other than ‘perhaps?’ life in Stratford. The blog was  busy with advertising and pop-ups that spending time on this blog was not enjoyed. I also found there to be very little content or writing and the blog is filled more with pictures and videos that take a long time to load. Also it’s all copyrighted to the point I couldn’t even use a graphic or give this blog a few links. I think the blogger needs to organize an about page that gives the readers a connection and perhaps a reason to stick around, and I also think the pop-up situation really needs to be controlled. Further, the navigation bar needs some cleaning up and get some actual blog elements such as a categories menu, recent posts menu, and things of this nature to make the blog look less like an advertising forum, and more like a personal blog. Other than regular content, there is not much that I can say about the blog and, given that I still really don’t know what it’s about, am finding difficulty recommending. Perhaps the blogger can make a few changes and cleanup to create a more distinct connection with a readership. Best of luck!

-Chrissie

Here is a blog that anyone who enjoys gaming of any kind can and will appreciate, and it is appropriately named Game Addicts. The owners of this blog are self proclaimed gaming addicts and spend a lot of time not only playing, but coding games as well. With this blog they can add writing about games to their resume as well. The blog is very well written and hosts authors directly involved in the game industry and has credits from international press that puts them in an excellent position to report on the very latest gaming news. Their mission is ‘to report on the latest gaming industry news and play addictive games en route’. You can see they accomplish this mission very well through any of their recent bloggeries: Rumors of New Xbox 360 Bundles Afloat, Halo 3 sets New Entertainment Record, New PS3 Coming our Way?, Halo 3 Could Fire Microsoft to the Top, Pelican Controller Charging Station for the PS3, Burnout Paradise Confirmed, Eye of Judgement Priced, Shocked Three Times Over, Super Mario Galaxy Leaked, and Could Rumble be on its way for the PS3?.

You will find navigation on this site very easy as the site has a clean well organized design. The theme is white text on blue background and links are highlighted in fluorescent green and blue which is well in line with the gaming theme. There are two let sided navigation systems and bloggeries are right marginalized. In the far left navigation bar you will find a categories menu, latest posts menu, subscription options, affiliate links, and fave sites menu. In the right navigation system you will see AdSense that is very well blended with the overall theme of the site. There is also a top menu that contains a Home link, About page, and Contact information for the blog. Almost every post contains excellent pictures or graphics to add relevancy to the post and adds a dimension of meaning to the content. And given the gaming nature of the blog, the pictures are well in line with what gamers would expect and are of excellent quality. The blog also offers a Game Addicts Forums section where Games Addicts fans can meet with fellow gamers, coders, or game designers.

I will go ahead and give this blog a 4.5/5, it is clearly doing very well and there is little that I can offer as far as improvement would be concerned. The blog scores perfectly on all criteria with its excellently written content and easy to navigate layout. The blog also is very aesthetically appealing, and while this sort of theme may be difficult on the eyes for some blogs, it fits very well with the overall theme of the blog and it blends in beautifully. Navigation is so easy on this blog it deserves nothing less than perfect scores, and the same goes for Activity with its regular content that clearly keeps the needs of addicts met. If you are a fellow gamer, this is one blog you definitely want to keep an eye on as I see nothing but continued success for this site.

-Chrissie

Those little widgets have the right idea by making quality content / products easily accessible. You have a great blog but you should make your older content more accessible than just browsing through categories which are quite long at this point. I would also recommend some more content and maybe a photo to your about us page. I wanted to give you 5 but without the search I had to modify Chrissie’s 5 to 4.5.

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– Rob