No, really.
As term draws to an end (at last) I am left to face the mountain of housework and other general upkeep things that tend to get pushed to the bottom of the to-do list when school gets busy. One of the things I’ve fallen behind on is this blog, not just in terms of updates but also in terms of design, navigation, archive management, etc.
So there’s some stuff to do — but of course, school has killed my brain, and I don’t remember what the half of it was. Which is where you come in.
Please take a look around, and take a moment to leave a comment on this post. Is there anything here that’s not working for you? Can you get to where you want to go? Are the layouts clear? How’s the loading time? Is there anything you find irritating (excluding my content, I mean)?
If there’s anything you really like, I’d be pleased to hear about that as well — but the focus for me right now is on things that I should fix.
Okay, go!
One more thing: if you want to critique the header, and are referring to a specific image, please note which one it is. I have about fifty rotating images in the header right now, so just saying “I like your header” or “I hate your header picture” is a little less than useful.
It took me for a minute to find the all-reviews archive, but that’s because I was being dumb and looking for it where I’ve got my link, instead of the logical place at the top (hmmm… maybe time to go do a bit of redesigning of my own.) The only other thing is that the “What I’ve Said” box is a little unclear – maybe “What I’ve Said Recently”?
I don’t like the potato header…does that help. I think the ratings guide should be higher up on the sidebar.
I think you should shift the advertisements widget over to the far side, it seems weird being right in the middle where it is. Also, have you thought of putting a little “About this Blog” thing on the top of your front page (a different one from the “About” page) that people who randomly stop by the blog can see right away? I’m not sure if that’s useful or not, but it’s a thought.
Kim
Thanks, all.
slow loading, but I’m on dial up. Agree with above about advertisements at side not in middle. And there are these weird red blips that show up in the “What You’ve Said” box all the time. Not sure if that’s me or you, but think its you as they don’t show up other places I go. Your links lists are long, have you considered putting them on a sep page?
and the time of your server is off, it looks like cent. std time vs EST. Or possibly EDT.
I took another quick look around and everything looks okay to me. Some of the headers loaded slowly but not enough to say scrap them. I prefer the book headers of course.
I did learn something that surprised me. I didn’t know you were younger than me. Not by much mind you but I always pictured you as older (don’t get upset, keep reading) only because you seem so much more mature. I also didn’t know you lived in the same province as me nor that you haven’ t been blogging for long!
I’m a self-taught graphic designer, but I’ve also an English degree, and am friends with Steve Mah.
Your writing style is divine. Do keep that.
I’m used to blogs having a comment link at the bottom of each post, so it took me a while to find where/how to comment on this blog.
I’m not a big fan of the “small caps”. That’s what you’ve got “SHE READS BOOKS” in as well as the titles on your little sidebars (i.e. “ADVERTISEMENTS.” I’m not sure how much you can edit that, but personally I like the look of either all caps (and bold) or normal sentence case.
Also, there doesn’t seem to be a need for three columns. You could combine the two right columns into one with the content in this order:
especially if you’ve tantalized them with the prospect of ratings!)
Ratings Guide (because that seems to be the main thrust/purpose of your blog it helps explain it and is important – if you don’t use the ratings guide that often perhaps scrap it all together, as right now it was one of the last things I noticed)
Search (always handy
What I Talk About (again, helps the first-time reader get the gist of your blog/find stuff)
and then maybe your lastest posts, the latest comments, then subscribe to RSS? There seems to be a button graphic for RSS – you could keep that at the top of the page, and then move the “Like what’s here?” section to the bottom, since they’re more likely to decide they like it once they’ve read down a bit.
I notice your tabs up top are Alphabetical. If you can change that, I’d shift “contact me” to the end, since people usually scan to the farthest part of a list to find “contact me”. And then shift “review archive” up beside “blog archive” so people can see there is a difference, and then leave “challenges” to second last, since it strikes me as the least intuitive, and thus will likely be clicked only by 1) the curious (with time on their hands) 2) the select few that know what you mean and care to investigate what your challenges tab holds.
I like the colours. White is very bright, if there was a darker layout (not black, but dark grey, even on the sides (I’m so biased, that’s what my blog looks like), is easier on the eyes. But again, personal preference.
And finally, as for the headers – they’re beautiful, but I’d love if they were pictures of books. Of people in libraries. Of a warm cozy chair that you sit in to read. Maybe it’s too cliche but it would make your very thematic blog look more like its theme
http://www.sxc.hu is a free photo website. All I looked for was “library” and I found this neat picture.
http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1086242
Anyway
Stuff like that.
AND THAT, my new friend, is my critique!!!