Drunk Writer Talk Blog Review

Review a blog from T, Tr Eng 121
Drunk Writer Talk

This blog drew my attention from their title: "Drunk Writer Talk", which could go one of two ways: a sloppy slur of thoughts or a humorous group of folks with something to say. In my opinion, it was the latter (thankfully).

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First impressions: The layout is unique, and obviously took some sort of blogging skill. It is apparent the editors of the blog took time to personalize their webpage and care what people think. There is a small survey on the right side of the page for visitors to rate the page, I thought that was a nifty tool- I wonder where they got it? I suppose I could Google it. Speaking of Google, this blog also has an interesting Google News Bar at the top of their page. I'm not sure the relevance it has to their website, but I found that I liked it anyway.

Quality Criteria Ratings (Scale 1-5, 1 being poor, 5 being outstanding):

• Continuity of Focus? 5- well, since this blog was created for one purpose, the participation and involvement in English 121, the focus is to post responses, reflections, and assignments as according to Jenn, which the group follows. There aren't any random posts of spilled-wine-at-midnight-thoughts to deter from the point, so all points earned here. 
• Content clarity? 3- While each post does have a title and a point, it is a little unclear what the post is overall regarding. I think with a more clear title and structure of post this number could easily be bumped up.
• Organization: 4- The blog has structure, an archive, contributors, a title, etc. All parts are in place, but there are a few outlying images and sub-titles that I am not sure have a point. For example, what is the "Saving Lives One Grandma at a Time" and following icons about? I can't figure out if it is simply an expression of character or part of the theme.
• Design: 2- I have a tough time grading this low, especially since it seems they spent time customizing their blog, but it is not reader-friendly. The italicized white text which is in far too thin of margins is difficult to read. The background, while interesting is distracting from the text. As I said before, the random texts and icons have me confused. My suggestion would to widen the text content margins and make the text box opaque, not translucent. That being said, I do like the calligraphy title and tea time picture. I am a little confused how "Drunk Writer Talk" translates into a Victorian tea blog design, though. I might be missing the point.,, I do that sometimes.
• Amount of Relevant Info: 3- There seem to be a lot fewer posts than I would expect. I only found one chapter five review and two chapter seven reviews. For having three editors, I would expect three of each. There were not any chapter three reviews, but perhaps their blog wasn't up and running yet. 

Overall I think the editors of drunkwritertalk121.blogspot.com have creativity and inspiration, but the blog could use some tidying up. They do their in class assignments, but lack on homework (from the blog perspective, they could very well be turning in hard-copies of the homework). 

-AA