Current Review
The Blog Herald - Blogging about Blogging
The Blog Herald is arguably the largest and oldest blog about blogging. Originally started by Duncan Riley, it is now in the hands of SplashPressMedia Ltd., which gives it the financial means to include several contributors.
The simple and effective design by Brian Gardner makes the Blog Herald resemble a traditional newspaper, with serif titles and sans-serif content. It is divided in 3 columns, with main content on the left taking the most space, a second column with sponsors and news items, and a small third column with contributors, resources and some unobtrusive ads.
The site is divided into a number of categories, which are accessible from the navigation strip at the top of the page. Categories included are Editorials, Interviews, News, Opinion, Features, Reviews and Tutorials.
The Good Stuff
Navigation in the Blog Herald site is easy. The dark header and footer areas contain the most important links and sections, and the main content is focused because of its white background. Every post contains shortcuts to the relevant categories and the post title serves as permalink, making it easy to copy/paste the link.
The content is very diverse, thanks to the many contributors. Clicking the names of the contributors will show their individual posts and you’ll soon notice that each one has their specialties. While browsing through the site I’ve found many interesting articles about the many different aspects of blogging, from design to marketing. Most articles have medium length, with some longer posts and only a few short ones. They are to the point, with good structure and clear focus.
Critiq’ed
Currently, some days have 4 posts and others only one. With so many contributors, I would assume that maintaining a solid publishing rhythm would be no problem, much like the way a traditional newspaper works.
The Blog Herald only provides one main RSS (or Atom) feed, giving you no possibility to subscribe to posts from a specific category or contributor. To me, that seems like a missed opportunity, because not everyone will like to swallow the many posts per week.
Although the site has a very pleasing layout, it is a bit dull. Looking at the front page, there are only 2 illustrations (besides the sponsors). I assume that it would be reasonable to hire an illustrator to lighten up some of the posts, or at least the Editorials? A quick glance at the articles on A List Apart shows how it can be done unobtrusively.
Selecting a specific category page will show posts that end with […] or More […] to indicate they continue further. They should be shown with the same “Continue Reading” link that the posts on the front page carry.
posted 24 June 2007 @ 14:55 by Adii » 0 Comments
Previous Review
SuTree - Tutorial Videos
Reviewed by oVan
SuTree is a giant library of video tutorials and how-to guides that are submitted by the users and - in the spirit of Web 2.0 – evaluated and rated by the community.
Currently there are over 5000 lessons online in more than 20 top categories like arts & crafts, kids stuff, money & […]
22 June 2007 » read » One Comment
General News
The Launch of The Web Critiq
I can proudly announce the launch of my new brain child and fun-filled side-project (to my blog), The Web Critiq. I’m very excited about this project and I hope through being objective and fair, that I can make a few friends and enemies, as well as building a “critique culture”, where it is healthy and […]
