Welcome Guest!
Search
My Sites
Navigation Links
Copyright
All music on benbarden.com is free to share for non-commercial use only. Please see the music pages for more information.
All other content: Copyright © 2009 Ben Barden.
All Rights Reserved.
Review - That Grrl
< Review - Lightening's Blogworld | Site Reviews | Review - Turnip of Power >
Time for another blog review. This time, the site I'll be reviewing is That Grrl.Here's what Laura says about her site:
My scrapbook/ junk drawer online with drawing, writing, rural exploration photos and things that interest me. Canadian grrl. Quietly an Earth Witch. One of those great women in the over 40, divorced, BBW style. We really are taking over the world.
So, what's it like?
Content
Doodles are very common on Laura's blog, and from her header image (which I'll look at later), I'd say it's a bit of a running theme. This is certainly original. There's plenty of humour in the doodles and Laura has even branched this into a separate blog, Doodle Week.There are quite a few posts about blogging, and these are well-written. Sometimes there's a post about blogging with a doodle thrown in for good measure. I think this is the best kind of post on the blog, as it adds a personal touch to the subject matter. Also, Laura's writing style is very sharp, she holds no prisoners, and certainly doesn't hold back in sharing her views. This is good - dry content with no opinion whatsoever can get really boring.
I'm also really intrigued by the idea of sharing comments that she posted on other blogs by re-posting them on her own blog. This is a great way to get your own readers to comment on something that might not have even thought about. It's also a good way to give link love to other blogs without doing one long link love post.
Scrolling back through the first few pages of the blog, I see a lot of memes (online surveys), which I'm personally not a fan of. Other than those, I like the content on this blog.
Focus
I can't help wondering if That Grrl is missing an opportunity by publishing lots of different content on the same blog. The spin-off blog, "Doodle Week", is a great way to take the doodles further. But when I first visited That Grrl, I thought the doodles were one of the main focal points. On further investigation, "Doodle Week" appears to be a group blog. It's very focused.As I said, I'm not a huge fan of the memes. That's just me though. Others may enjoy them. I'm just not entirely sure what the focus is on this blog. It seems to have a few different things to offer - but who is the target audience?
Design
The design of That Grrl is simple and actually rather plain. This gives it a "hand-drawn" feel, it's a bit like a sketch. So at first glance, I'd say it feels right.But when I look at Doodle Week and Word Grrls, the latter of which has a design I absolutely love, it makes me think perhaps That Grrl needs one or two light colours to differentiate between the sections of the page.
Perhaps if the sidebars each used a different pastel colour, maybe a light yellow, red or pink, it would be easier to see where the content ends and the sidebars begin. Also, the footer area could use some separation, similar to the way that ProBlogger sections off his footer.
Summary
The content at That Grrl is definitely the strongest point. The blogging related posts and the doodles are well worth checking out. Perhaps with a couple of extra colours and a clearer focus (if that's what the author wants to do, of course) it could be even better.Related Content
Comments on Review - That Grrl
I suppose every blog layout is either a reflection of the author's personality and/or an attempt to provide a suitable setting or theme for the blog's subject matter .
The problem arises if visitors don't "click in" to a layout or theme - on some blogs the negative halo effect can be so strong as to terminate the visit . I myself found "That Grrl" a visual turn-off initially and had to force myself to stay around - but that's purely a pesonal opinion and for everyone like me who isn't impressed with the layout there will be 1 ( or 10 ) who connect with it right away .
It would be easy to go the other way and have a linear, boring, bland presentation - and while that might encourage people like me to stick around and read, it might well lose hundreds of visitors !
In any case, once the visitor decides to stay it is rewarding and that should be the acid test for any blog .
I remember Laura talking about looking for a layout a little while ago. Actually, it was a layout that she liked but didn't think it suited her blog. I hope you don't mind my saying Laura, but I agree with Ben that the lack of segregation of sections makes it feel a bit cluttered to me - but then again I am on the obsessive side so you don't have to take my opinion to heart if you don't want to!! hehe
Great review, Ben.
I agree the layout is cluttered. I was going to have the web designer do That Grrl a new look but changed my mind and bought it for Word Grrl instead. So, Ben's liking for that blog should go to Courtney at Judith Shakes. (See her link at the bottom of the template).
That Grrl needs decluttering. I do like my scroll bars and the sidebar is fairly tamed now. But the overall appearance is not good. I had someone interested in fixing up something but have not heard back again. She is busy with personal stuff so I will probably do-it-myself which is a cross between luck of the draw and "look... it works!". I'm not a professional web designer I just buy some of the right books. I do think straighter lines would help. Right now my header is not as wide as the rest and that makes it look wonky and messy.
But... did you notice my domain is actually working this time?!!! I don't even know what I did right this time. Bonus. Ben is the only person linking to it directly though. I don't want to press my luck. ;)
Edited: July 29, 2008 13:57
A very interesting and consise review! Id love for you to do a review of our blog!
Thanks Ben. I am on the prowl for a better layout plan. Not really going for the idea of adding different colours to the sidebars though. I had tried that a couple of evolutions ago. I have one of my favourite demolished houses up as a background now and I like that. The overall layout though is in need of a fixer upper.
You are the third person to say I blog about blogging lately. I never intended to do that. I've written for several other sites/ networks and kept newsletters, columns, etc on topic. ThatGrrl is just supposed to be personal, whatever I have in mind to share or blab about. It might be a good idea to pull the posts about blogging if they are becoming a focus. I will think about it.
Thanks for the review. I was looking forward to reading your ideas. :)