Here is a blog that food-lovers will really enjoy. The blog is called Chow Times. While there is no About Page or direct information about the blogger, it will not take you long to discover what this blog is about. Chow Time! Pretty much anything you want to know, see, or find out about food can more than likely be found on this site. The most recent bloggeries take the blogger on vacation where different areas of the country and their foods are highlighted. These bloggeries include: Bay Area Vacation – The San Jose Flea Market, Bay Area Vacation – U Pick Apples at Apple Barn – Great America Park, Bay Area Vacation – In-N-Out Burger, Yosemite Vacation – Glacier Point, Yosemite Vacation – Sequoias in Mariposa Grove and Dinner at the Yosemite Lodge, and Yosemite Vacation – The Yosemite Valley through Arkensen’s Lens, Atlanta Trip: Snack Box from Northwest Airline.
Navigation on this site is a little more awkward than some, but I attribute that to the wealth of information that is on this blog. The blog opens with this very appealing scrolling header with a slideshow of foods that will make your mouth water. Bloggeries are left marginalized with black text on a beige background and an orange border around the blog. Each post contains a host of pictures that add to the relevance of the post. The right navigation system is extremely extensive with a google search bar that also translates, Recent Comments Menu containing MANY entries, and an extremely comprehensive categories menu that contains just about any food type of information that the food lover might be looking for. There is also an archives menu in this bar that lists the number of entries by each month which I thought was a nice touch. The blogroll is an interesting feature as well, as it includes not only the link to the blog but a description of each blog as well. The blog also contains a visitors widget that shows the visitors online and sorts them by number and by country.
The blog gets a 4 from me and I would only offer a few suggestions that would get this to a 5. The content is well written and speaks to the readers, involving them in the posts by asking questions. Navigation is easy on this blog as well, and I really like the different array of features the blogger has added in the navigation bar. The archives menu, visitors menu, and blogroll – are all unique features that add to this blog’s appeal and really show the blogger connects with the readers. The blogger has a healthy readership with almost 150,000 visitors since January 2006 so I think if the blogger used monetization strategies they would do very well. The changes I would suggest would be some tweaking in the areas of photos and comments. I think the recent comments menu is a little too extensive, and while it is good to highlight your comments, there is too much there and the appearance would be improved if this was shortened to say, the last 5-7 comments. I also think there may be too many pictures in each post as scrolling through each post does take some time. This could be changed by adding an album with categories to it on the blog and putting a main picture in each post and then adding links in the blog posts that take you to further pictures. I also really appreciate the time the blogger takes to connect to their readers, and this could be even further enhanced by the addition of an About Me Page. Otherwise, I find this to be one of the better food blogs I have seen yet, and would not have a problem recommending this to fellow food lovers.
-Chrissie