Yummy.

Had a nice evening out with the gf this evening… Went to The Keg for dinner. Jez! Expensive. I was expecting the bill to be about $60-70, it was closer to $85. Hmmpt. Damn Keg sized rum n’ cokes. It was a good meal but oi-vey. I think of it this way… For the same cash I could have had King’s take-out 3 times! (King’s is a awesome local Chinese take-out joint… mmm…)

After dinner walked along the Niagara River to take a look at the Festival of Lights. It is basically the same as last year. Lots of Disney movie characters etc. We’ll go back when it is cold enough to freeze the spray from the Falls. It creates crazy icicles as the wind blows the water mist around. After I get a digital camera (one day…) I’ll toss some photos up.

Got a little Christmas shopping done today. The mall was busy but it wasn’t as busy as I expected. Strange how I always find it soooo hard to pick out gifts for my Dad and sister. Gee, golf balls again? Hmmpt.

Just watching some hockey. What are you up to?

Cleanup.

ok… Obviously I’ve been doing some major changes… I agree the site was a bit cluttered… I think it is a little cleaner now… There are many little modifications to be done to tweak the new look.

Blog Review comments

I submitted my site for review at www.theweblogreview.com this is what I got:

My first impression of unsung is that it was just busy. At the base is the unsung logo background, and over top is layered a very blocked out collection of tables and graphics. The unsung logo in the tables blinks, which is very distracting. I didn’t know if I’d be able to concentrate on reading the entries, and worried that the site was all graphic, no content.

Fortunately, the writer does actually write. Dag, the writer, is mildly obsessed with the Sabres and blogs often about programming miscellania. In addition, Dag writes about his daily life and current events. Most of his entries are fairly short, and I’m left wishing he’d write a little more about what he’s going through.

It does take some clicking to get to any blog content at unsung. First, you have to get past the flash page, and then you have to read the introduction provided in order to figure out where you’re going. Of course, I found the introduction unnecessary since the site navigation links are located at the top of the page, and again just under the logo. My suggestion is to lose the introduction on the index page and have actual blog content there instead. Dag already has an About Me page, which is pretty informative. All of the links work and the only thing, other than just the general busy-ness of the design, I can complain about are the occasional spelling and grammatical errors. There isn’t anything too offensive, but they’re definitely noticeable.

There are more extras at unsung than I could name: 2 guestbooks, shoutbox, guestmap, word of the day, chat forum, Sabres schedule, lyrics section, a section of links useful for programming, Dag’s design/programming portfolio, little Emoticons in all of the blog entries, links galore, and a page specifically for humor. I visit a blog for the blog content, but others may find all of this more useful.

Unless Dag simplifies his design somewhat, I doubt I would become a regular reader. Normally design would not deter me from reading, but the flashing logo gave me a headache. Overall, it’s a solid blog.

** my comments ** 🙂
I have a few computers at home and on 1 of the 3 monitors the flash “flashes”… on the other two it does what I intended the flash to do which is rotate the letters. NO flashing. It is simple, smooth animation… but in light of the fact that most people seem to have poor quality monitors with lower refresh rates.. I guess I will have to change it.

But comments like “First, you have to get past the flash page, and then you have to read the introduction provided in order to figure out where you’re going. Of course, I found the introduction unnecessary since the site navigation links are located at the top of the page” merely show the reviewers lack of attention. Getting to the blog is one click, from the BLOG link?! Why would you HAVE to read the homepage to figure that out?? Just click to the blog. 😛

Update: Blogreview is gonzo. (Dec. 2013)