Review #26: BlueBerryPopCorn

This site gets a .

The layout of this site is actually pretty nice. Neat boxes, no highlighting to read the writing, colors that agree with each other. The only majorly annoying part of the appearance is the random capitalization several lines long. "Why am I typing in caps," she says. I believe she decided to just be dumb. The title of her chatterbox is also her being dumb. "Everyone else had one so I am too..." First of all, her sentence is incorrect, or people really did have chatterboxes at one point and after everyone else's chatterboxes were gone, she finally put up her own and will eventually take it down so she will have "had one too." Secondly, why is she taking pride in being a follower?

Content: I am disgusted with each entry. Why must she write every little thing she did in her day so pathetically? She gives people entries with nothing to comment on except vague phrases. If I were her friend and attempted to comment without criticizing on her xanga the best I could do would be "so what." It is no surprise that her last 4 entries received zero comments.

Advice: Caps are not easily read in paragraphs. You need more depth in your entries. Give people a reason to comment or a reason to read at all in your case.

Please,

Will

Review #25: Caitlings

This site gets a .

First look: Oh my, God. If the profile did not list the owner of the site as "caitlin," I would have assumed the site belonged to Jesus Christ. Jesus is this xanga's theme, apparently. As her long list of blogrings suggests, she has xanga premium. This site is the perfect example of the waste of money going premium is, but let us not get off topic. The background picture is disturbing and also makes the black font hard to read. The background covers only half of the page. The background is an awful background. Her site is not completely dull, but it does not have a nice appeal to it either.

Content: Remeber how I said the theme was Jesus? That does not just apply to the appearance but to the entries as well. From the two visible entries, the majority of each entry is nothing but a bible excerpt. Caitlings has reduced the purpose of xanga to quoting the bible.

Advice: Change the background. I am sure there is some other picture Jesus-based to put on display that does not obstruct being able to read the entry. Also, choosing a background that is actually a background might aid your xanga's appeal. Now in your entries, I do not know what everyone prefers, but I do know that many people dislike being preached to especially when they think they are escaping from that by getting on the internet. Not only is preaching not good to do, but your excerpts are not even thought provoking. Maybe you could elaborate on why you chose the quotes, although, that could either make a huge improvement or make your xanga even more unworthy of reading. I have a question for you. Why is your entire xanga crowded with religion? Perhaps religion is all you are about or live for, at least, that is what it suggests to me.

I dislike your background immensely,

Will

Review #24: akaoprah

This site gets a .

I cannot deny my being attracted to this site solely by the name "akaoprah." Seeing the site for the first time, it was not boldly beautiful, but mildly interesting. The name, the profile picture, and the black and white background had me ready for a pleasurable xanga. The font color sometimes makes her entries hard to see against the white part of the background, but there is a good amount of gray and black to make reading easier. The layout isn't spectacular, but she might not want her layout to take attention away from her entries also.

Content: Well, akaoprah definitely knows how to write her entries. She posts interesting thoughts or events, has regular "stupid quotes of the day," which helps set her xanga apart from others. Her entries are, for the most part, a good length if not a little long; however, length doesn't seem to be a problem in this xanga because she writes with personality and keeps her readers coming back.

Advice: There isn't much to advise you on, but if I were to change anything about your site, I would change the colors. Not being able to read the entries easily is, obviously, some sort of problem. Except that, you are doing very well.

Enjoy,

Will

Moon_Starlight_Kiss

This site gets a

First Impression: Upon first glance at Moon_Starlight_Kiss's Xanga, there's not much wrong. Visually her site is fairly pleasing and I have no complaints. Her layout choice works very well for her; not too much scrunching of entries and overall pretty easy to read and understand.

Content: I read the first entry and skimmed the rest of the first page, and quite frankly, I wasn't too impressed. She posts pictures on almost every single entry, and although they can be entertaining, too much is too much. It kind of seems like she just goes on the internet and tries to find cool or cute pictures and then just posts them randomly on her xanga. It's not exactly an original idea and it's not that enjoyable for anyone else. When she does post content it's mostly articles or odd quotes that don't quite fit the mood of anything. Also, the articles posted are so terribly long that I'd be surprised if it kept anyone's attention for over a minute. Fast forward through more pictures and you may actually find an entry that Moon_Starlight_Kiss actually wrote herself, but they're well hidden. Hey, at least she uses correct grammar and spelling.

Advice: Good job with the layout, it's perfect for a xanga site. Not too annoying that people won't want to visit, but also not too plain that it will bore everyone. If I had to suggest something it would be to make your entries a little less long. I'm sure you have plenty to say and would really like to post your long articles, but most people will be intimidated if they come to your site and see a huge long post that scrolls forever. If it means that much to you that you have those articles and other long things posted, try editing them a little so it's more appropriate. And lastly, maybe cut down on the pictures. Once a day is fine but when you have approximately 5 pictures in one entry it draws things out and is kind of annoying.

Happing Xanga-ing!

Grace

Kaedemoon267

This site gets a .

Who knew that the click of a mouse could cause one to become so annoyed. By this, I am talking about the dreadful layout of kaedemoon267's xanga. The colors, not eye popping but definitely not pleasing. The profile seems to be switched around to the right side which in some cases is cool, but on this xanga, it just throws off the balance. Normally, having a chatterbox improves the layout; however, when misplaced, it becomes a mess. And let's not dwell on the should be unnecessary scrolling from side to side. One more thing, the font, could it be any smaller?

Content: "Likey the new layout" she says. No, I do not. Adding a "y" to the end of words is not always cute contrary to popular belief. The rest of the entry seems to be random, unmemorable, and uninteresting. Not to mention, some parts you just cannot understand. When her entries aren't as the most recent one, they seem to be jam packed with useless information that seems to scroll on too long to hold any reasonable person's attention. Why are the entries so long? Perhaps it is lack of events in her day or just a lack of creativity or has she convinced herself that people like to read about political parties in their spare time? I noticed at the bottom of an entry she says, "ran out of things to say." Well, that should not make me as happy as it did. Overall, the entries, unimpressive.

Advice: Choose a layout that is readable and easy to manage. Balance out what is in the layout. For your entries, perhaps make them shorter. If you are seeking more comments, write about events or thoughts that interest both you and the reader(s). Newsflash, your close friends might like to hear what happened in your day whether you did anything or not, but why would other people come to your xanga to read about your nothing filled day when there are hundreds of other xangas providing the same boring content?

Better luck next time,

Will

Hmm, good combination of colors on this site. The entries are easy to read, and the background doesn't blind me. There isn't that much popping out at me on this site which means I'm not very interested in looking, but I wouldn't mind staying a while so long as I don't have a headache yet.

 "Got rice?-*insert something clever*" This header isn't that impressive. It makes me want to say "blah" for some reason.

Content: There is only one brilliant way to describe the content. It is like a phone conversation. The boring -"I'll just say something so we don't have awkward silence"- kind of talk.

Advice: Although the baby-shower background may be easy on the eyes, baby showers celebrate motherhood, and motherhood equals boring mom life. Lose it or bore us. You really need to step up the excitement on your site. Try some images, HTML, etc. and/or talk about something more interesting in your entries. Stuff that isn't what you did during the day disected into little pieces. As for sarcasm, when you are online, sarcasm doesn't fly right. I hope you understand what I mean, sarcastic people are usually smart, or they should be at least.

Wishing someone would scream in my face to wake me up after looking at your site,

Will