A Handicapped Bitch in Recovery!
A Handicapped Bitch in Recovery! is all about hope in the face of challenges. It’s a blog about its author, Ian‘s fight for his life amid health problems. For almost two years now, Ian chronicles his struggles, his joys, his sorrows, and even his anger. Ian is a survivor, for sure. And it’s great that this blogger gets to share his story of inspiration (in his own way) to the rest of the world through his blog.
Visual Aesthetics – 6
The site uses a modified Blogger theme that’s mostly black-on-white. The copy is readable enough with good contrast. However, readers might get distracted with flashing and marquee text on the right sidebar. Ian is also fond of varying the text’s font size and colors–while this can help as visual cues on what he wants to emphasize, this is not exactly compliant with Web markup standards and can mess up the formatting when viewing the site through a feed reader. The author’s extensive use of images on his blog posts is a saving grace, though, as this helps readers visualize what is being written about.
User Friendliness – 7
As earlier mentioned, the site is easy enough to read with good contrast between the text and the background. Some usability issues are present though. For one, the post titles are too small to easily distinguish from the blog post, and the titles don’t serve as links to posts’ static pages. However, the right sidebar features monthly archives since the first post, and this helps in navigability.
Reading Enjoyment – 8
Ian comes from what one might call an alternative lifestyle. While you would expect it to be difficult to relate at first, I find the author’s writing enjoyable, even coming from one on the more conservative side as I. The blog posts are written in a conversational manner, and not too formal. Being written in English, the site might be asking for a visit by the grammar police, but if you can look past that, you probably would appreciate reading about Ian‘s challenges and how he overcomes them on a day-to-day basis.
Useful Info – 5
A Handicapped Bitch in Recovery! is more of a diary-type blog than a site that aims to provide information to readers. Look to it more for enjoyment and inspiration rather than information.
Overall Experience – 7
Given some themes involving alternative lifestyles, this blog might not be for all audiences. But if you look past that, you’ll see a story of struggle and survival and a story of inspiration. Ian, the author took to blogging as a means to connect to the world. By reading his stories, one would tend to appreciate life more.
[tags]gay, survival, health[/tags]
