It’s Blusterin’ Time!
And remember: Blustering should be a two-way street; if you’ve asked to be blustered, you better be a blusterer.
If you’re new to this feature or need a refresher, click the label at the bottom of this post and see the first few posts. Otherwise, here are the basics:
What I’ll do is list a site; you’re asked to critique it. But here’s the catch: to induce the most honest reactions, don’t leave the comment using your normal alias/login – instead, go anonymous, and be as brutally honest (or complimentary) as you wish to be. Also, be specific, and naturally, don’t be rude. If I deem anything inappropriate, I’ll have no problem deleting the comment.
So, go to the site listed below, familiarize yourself with it for a few minutes, then come back and leave some constructive criticism and/or comments that you have.
Site: Clash of the Queues
LAMB#: 762
URL: http://clashofthequeues.wordpress.com/
I’m not going to comment on the content because I’m having trouble with your formatting. I really like the concept of your blog but I don’t understand how your blog works and where you discuss the films. Perhaps I’m not looking hard enough, but I feel like it would be too easy to for people to click away if they can’t access the content right away.
I guess what you could do is maybe create a page that explains the purpose of the site and gives new readers a little bit of an introduction as to how to navigate your content.
The formatting of your posts also leaves a bit to be desired – it’s hard for me to tell where one post ends and where one post begins.
The last thing I’ll mention is that some of your pictures are too large and the text gets cramped into tiny corners which isn’t very aesthetically pleasing. But that’s easy to fix.
I sound so horribly critical but I don’t mean to! I’m sure that your content is fantastic, but your awkward formatting is getting in the way. Work it out and it’ll be great, I’m sure
My natural inclination when I first opened your page was to click away. Not saying anything about your content, but it took me a while to adjust to the format of it. Because of the style it’s hard to distinguish the title of posts from the content.
Things I would change (in order)
1. Make your horizontal bar bigger (it’s tiny, with tiny font, and blends in to the background – near completely invisible) – that goes for the title of your blog, as well as your links (contact, podcast, & discussion).
2. Use some pictures in your post to distinguish between the end of one post and the start of another (the stars don’t seem to cut it).
3. Work on your post formatting. Take your Secret of Kells for example: Poster takes up nearly the entire section. Same color font links to IMDB in place where most blogs have title of post (will likely lead to several clicking away).
4. Change background. There’s so much unused space there, it is easy to get lost on the monotonous color scheme and ignore your posts entirely. Be wary of that.
As for your content – I think you’re a talented writer, so limited complaints there. You might want to check out the blog CINEMA SIGHTS – he’s using the same template as you – for some ideas.
Poster sizes – as already stated – are too large. They eat your posts. Overall you’re good but a design overhaul is needed, badly.