HW: http://nsnsports.net/nek Critique

http://nsnsports.net/nek

This site is very well organized. It has a fair amount of ads, but they don't make the layout jarring like they can on some sites. I love the drop-down feature for the menu, the pictures on the front are nice, and I like how the "Next Live Game" remains at the top of every page.

Now, it could just be my Firefox add-ons causing problems, but it looks to me the only video you can get is when something is on live, which I never found time to see. Archive pages have what look to me like you could play old video, but I can't actually get anything; I think it's just a picture placeholder, which is very confusing.

HW: Writing for the Web

Ticket for Dog Biting
Dog owner was ticketed after his mixed Chow dog bites a second small child, its first offense from a year ago. The child with a bite around the ear and neck was treated at Children's Hospital for minor injuries.


Ten Commandments Legal Battle

HW: CBSAtlanta.com Critique

CBSAtlanta.com

The first thing I notice when I go to this website is how it is easy to navigate. There are handy site links at the top as well as the bottom. The main page appears to have a three column sort of layout, which also helps it.

There is quite a lot of text on the main page, but that's to be expected as it's mostly links to news stories. I like that there are mini video camera images next to story links that have video, and if you hover over the "Most Recent Videos" it will pop up a small blurb about the video.

I think having the "What's on CBS Atlanta" higher up would be nice; it almost gets lost where it currently is, surrounded by news links, but I'm not sure where it could go.

HW: Pimp My Blog

In designing my blog I went with a background that isn't overcomplicated but still fits with the sort of "otherwordly" view of my mind, although it's making me futz with what I want the font color for the "About Me/Blog Archive/Followers" headings. I want something readable but I haven't settled on what that is yet.

The current picture is of a basket of kanzashi (hand crafted flowers made from ribbon) that I made, since I haven't decided if this blog will focus on writing or kanzashi or both (when it's not about homework assignments).

I'd like to maybe find a way to change the link list so that it stretched across the page without having to add links to do so, but the only way I think I can do that is going into the HTML. That's a bit out of my level. I also can't tell if the picture is aligning to anything. I wish it'd line up with the post box, but I think that would once again require to pick apart the HTML.

RSS and follow by email at the bottom. Still easy to find but I don't really want that on the sidebar. I might change my mind when I get more posts on the blog though. I curiously put in for AdSense but that takes 48 hours.

The title "gutting the imaginary" is how I often look at my creative writing - reaching into the innards of imagination and gutting it apart, displaying the results through text. It's become my identifying quote on the internet.

HW: Critique a Blog

Willow Bird Baking

The layout is simple, but appealing. Its links are well organized and it's easy to find other places to subscribe to like RSS and Twitter. The pictures really make up the blog in my opinion, drawing the reader into the post (albeit in a mouthwatering, torturous way) and make me, who doesn't cook or bake often, really want to run to Pricechopper, grab ingredients, and give it a whirl. Once drawn in, the author is interesting to read. As much as I love seeing new recipes, I love learning about the author as well.

Back when I frequented twitter for more than just sidestepping international texting charges I remember how useful twitter was for being updated on new posts, although I also remember blocking it from SMS because it felt like it was too frequent and I stopped caring as much.

It caters to the community and keeps active with having links to blogs that the author reads, its Foodie BlogRoll, and the most recent post has the result of a recent cupcake challenge that had been issued to the watchers, which also provided links to the participants' blog/website if they wished.

The blog's tagline is "Inspiring Kitchen Confidence in Home Cooks" and I certainly think it's managed to accomplish that.