ottawa foodies

I decided to start writing on food, again. Mostly critiquing modern day cuisine, food trends and anything foodie related. This will be in sorts, a type of journal.

Hope you enjoy it! Follow me if you would like. Feedback welcomed.

lejeunegourmand.tumblr.com

New post update! Check it out! lejeunegourmand.tumblr.com/ Follow me on tumblr.

Also, follow me on twitter for updates : twitter.com/lejeunegourmand

Thanks everyone!

Good stuff. Add some pictures . . . most of us have ADD.

Thanks Francis!

I'm not sure I will be adding any picture. Its not really my blogs main focus.

Regardless, I appreciate it!

OK, since you are pimping it now in other threads just a quick comment - the format is rather terrible IMO and not conducive to reading. I guess you are going for a newspaper look - it just does not work IMO, with articles spread all over the main page. It is really difficult to see where one ends and the next begins. I think you'd be better served by a more traditional "blogroll" with newer articles at the top.

I find the format a little unconventional to read in a desktop web browser, but it works quite nicely (and intuitively) in Safari on the iPhone/iPod Touch with it's 'autozoom' functionality. I'd be more interested to see what happens when there are many more posts.. not just half a dozen...

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I'll take everything with a grain of salt. It will only improve.

As per the viewing of the articles, I could play around with the HTML, though, the idea is to click on the article to view it spread properly across the screen.

Pete. I'm using a MAC/iPhone as well and things seem functionally correct, though it might not appear the same on other browsers.

Any other feedback welcomed, guys.

Thanks,

Dominic.

More fundamentally, you do not seem to have a way for a reader to leave their own comments. I believe this will make it very difficult for you to get any sort of readership.

...which is part of my issue with tumblr.

Although tumblr itself doesn't support comments, there are several 3rd party 'hacks' you can use to add comment functionality to your tumblr blog. So.. not impossible.

zymurgist : I doubt that. Regardless, if I had a comment box, most readers would have to have a TUMBLR account in order to leave any sort of feedback (which sort of sucks). I've set up a TWITTER account, along with a FOODBUZZ account(among others)which will reach a whole other audience, leaving plenty of room for readership, comments and general follow-up. Though I'm not discounting the idea of inserting a comment box as Pete mention. More importantly, it will allow non TUMBLR users to leave comments. Its in the works.

I appreciate the concern. Keep them coming.

Not to belabour the point, but your blog as-is not only looks like a newspaper, but acts like one without the ability to allow users to interact with you. Newspapers are dying because people do not like that format. Blogs are flourishing because most of them allow user/reader interaction.

i tried to read your blog, but left before i finished the first article. the blog is grey. there is no colour, nothing catches my eye to decide, hey i want to know more.

we are spoiled for fantastic food blogs out there. the majority follow the same path - paragraph, photo, paragraph, photo, repeat. if i am reading about food i want to see food. food lovers like looking at food. doing something different is good, but i need some visual clues that there is more to see beside a sea of grey text.

i didn't know i could click on any links. i accidentally pushed my mouse across screen and then a link highlighted. if this hadn't happened i would have had no idea.

the writing might be fantastic, there is just nothing there to make me stay and read it.

It doesn't really look like a newspaper IMHO. Newspapers have different sized boxes, pictures, etc... what I see are columnized paragraphs, as if one were to go into Microsoft word and say... 3 columns.

I need something visual in order to catch my attention. I want to know that something exciting it happening. I'm not getting atm.

If you want to go newspaper style, then I would suggest using one of the many newspaper templates that are freely available.

Follow my Twitter to view the latest updates as I revamp the blog a bit.

While I understand the whole "I'm 5 years old and I need pictures in my book" argument, it nonetheless isn't what I'm going for. This isn't about recipes or my lame attempts at making pancakes. I'm thinking about food, reflecting on food.

I'll take what you have all said and work at the blog being a bit more functional and create methodes to capture bored minds.

Thanks, guys!

well, ouch.

who are you and why do you expect me to read your essays on food? why are you writing a blog? what is your purpose? answer these questions and you might get me to linger and see what you have to say.

do you want people to read your blog? if so, you have to market it in a way that entices people in and want to stay there. that is very basic.

if you are just writing a personal journal and could careless if anyone reads it, then format doesn't matter.

blogging is old news, there is tons of information out there on how to write a successful blog, how to format and how to push your information out there for people to read, discuss, debate, enjoy, hate, etc.

I hear you loud and clear. I've already stated that this will all be worked on.

Thanks.

:)

Maybe you've already made some format changes, as I didn't see columns, but it's still not the most inspiring-looking site. I can understand that it's important for you to take some sort of stand, but there's no reason to randomly insult other types of food blogs. Or the people here who you've asked to read your blog. I won't be going back, as I don't like the tone, and with no pictures to 'distract' me, the punctuation/grammar errors were a bit annoying. But then I am a stickler that way!

It's a journal, so as long as you're happy with it, that's all that really matters, isn't it?

Okay... it looks like you've made some changes.

I for one am happy that there are photos, and that you have more of a blog format than a newspaper format.

I have two big issues:
1. You don't credit your photos. Let's be honest, if I were to steal your posts and call them my own, that'd be plagarism. Don't do that with photos. If you do, I'll be more likely to question your words and less likely to read your blog.
2. You come off as really preachy. If it's a journal, that's fine. But, I think you want it to be a blog. Otherwise, you wouldn't care about what we think about it, right? You need to turn the tone down just a touch, unless you can prove to us why your word is gospel.

The grammar needs some work, like Travelicious said. Understanding the plural and the possessive will get you far in life. Also, the quotation in the first piece needs to be cited.

I would also suggest using some hyperlinks to make it more interactive. Unless you don't want it to be interactive (which, to be honest, is the impression that I get).

It's a lot more readable now for sure.

Just make sure you're checking your html or whatever you're using.

"" shouldn't be appearing in your text.

I'm working on a brand identity, logo and a blog revamp... Bear with me.

Thanks for the heads up, Lady.

Oops, my last post didn't what I wanted to show

I mean, I'm seeing things like !--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->

Weird, I can't see that? Thanks though, snoopy! I'll try and mess around with the HTML and see if I can pin point it!

:)

It's on the Food Appreciation: Wasting page. There may be more.

Perfect. I'll fix it when I get home. Thanks again!