Appearance and Style - (Out of 20)
Your forum’s appearance is very unique, and I do like it. It allows you to focus on the content if you want, or if you’re looking for other links, you can focus on those. The side-by-side design is aesthetically pleasing, and allows your eyes to focus on the content you wish to view. Another compliment is that your social network buttons look very professional and Web 2.0-like. The main complaint I have is that lime green color is not good. It’s way too bright. It completely overpowers the black text, which is what you want to be looking at. A dark blue color or a deep purple would probably be a better choice for the background. A more minor issue is that the “Search for:” text is black. Against a dark background, and surrounded by white text, that seems quite pointless and difficult to read. A final suggestion would be to get a favicon. That way people who bookmark can easily see an icon for your site.
(Scored 16/20)
Blog Layout and Categorization - (Out of 20)
As I touched on above, the dual-column layout is excellent. It is a clear and easy layout. I’ll start out with your left column. It’s very clean. The comment interface looks very professional. It’s simple, but that’s OK. You need for it to be simple, because blog users like content. That’s what matters. Your right column could be improved a bit. Things are very clumped together on it. It would make more sense to the archive links down under the others. The page goes down longer, anyway. The bottom block is OK. It’s plain, but again, that’s not always a bad thing. Your featured post thing is a very nice feature. Overall, very nice layout! Same with categorization. Although, yours focused more on tags.
(Scored 18/20)
Commenting Activity and Other Interactions - (Out of 20)
Unfortunately, you only seemed to have 3 members signed up on your site. However, that’s not a big deal. Not many people think to join blogs. Your Twitter had 108 followers, which was a much more impressive number. I don’t know how many of those actually actively read your posts, but hey, a follower is a follower. Not many of your posts seemed to be commented on. Perhaps if you held a commenting contest, it could help?
(Scored 17/20)
Quality and Frequency of Posts - (Out of 20)
I read over quite a few of your posts, and they are excellent. One thing I think that would be helpful is that if your post is about a sequel to a book, you post a link to your review of the previous book. I found myself reading one of your reviews, and having no clue who you were talking about. Then I realized this was a sequel, and you assumed I knew the characters. Even in non-series, I think it would be nice if you introduced the characters before talking about them. Always assume the reader has no clue about the book. Don’t get me wrong though – the quality is there. Just a few minor improvements, and you’ll be there. Your posts were frequent, which is a good thing.
(Scored 18/20)
Spelling/Grammar - (Out of 20)
I read your about page, and as I mentioned earlier, a few posts. Your spelling and grammar was nice, overall. You had good and varying sentence structure. Your word choice was elaborate. The only problems I noticed:
- You used an ellipsis (…) an awful lot. I’m not sure why. Most of those could have just been a full stop.
- In your announcement about the new theme, eyes should have been plural. You said something like, “No, your eye aren’t deceiving you.”
- I saw at least one instance where you put no commas in your lists.
- “They’re no great characters, but they work with the story, and I think that’s what counts, and it’s still entertaining to read about them.” I saw a few sentences like these. Try to avoid run-on sentences.
(Scored 17/20)
Total Score - 86 (Out of 100)
Final Remarks: I enjoyed your blog.
What was most liked about the blog: The quality of posts.
What was disliked most about the blog: Some grammar issues.
How could I get you (The Reviewer) to read my blog? No issue was big enough to stop me.
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