Review please!!

This one used to be my favorite theme for my cricket blog... I don't review the content but the design, SEO aspects etc. The following are my thoughts:

- Header: A lot of space on top is wasted due to a tall image and Google ad. You need to get an image of half it's height.

- Header: Get an image the border of which is same as the background color of the header so that it blends well.

- Title: Use Chai-Coffee in the title (along with Sam's lodge) to get SEO benefits

- Tagline: Push Chai-Coffee to the beginning of the tag line

- Sidebar AdSense background: Need to change the background color to closely match with that of the sidebar color

- Posts: Keep 5 posts on home page

- Footer: The Nasa widget is spoiling the layout of the whole blog

- Titles: Select good catchy blog post titles...

That much for now... Will provide more details later

Nice and neat blog. Not too crowded and not too empty. The image that I had for your blog whe I read your blog's URL actualy carried throughout when I read your blog as well. Thats nice consistency.

But this template wiith all the images and stuff, takes a considerably long time to load. Try to make it lighter if possible.

Thanks Ajith and Zeon.

I will start searching for a new template - hopefully something realted to chai or coffee..  Do you guys have suggestions - where can I get good templates?

From an amateur point of view, which is me, your blog is neat and the content is very informative.

Thanks JK.. i just checked your blog, you have a wide template - not narrow like mine... Do you have any suggestions about where i can get good html/css templates?

You can try the few templates available in blogger itself. just go to layout, click 'pick new template' choose from it. There is a few template here, try it if you want. Sometime you might have problem with the template if you use templates other than one in bloggers, the template might load slowly.

@Ajith, Thanks again for your points. Regarding your suggestions, here's what Ive managed to do so far:

Header - Ive searched for good images for the blog header (havent found anything great yet), and for the time being, I have changed the background picture  (now its filling the enitre header without any space wastage)

Title - Brought chai-coffee to the top

Tagline - Still thinking of something witty, which can bring chai-coffe into the first line

Adsense Background - Its matching the sidebar now

Post - The blog already has only 5 days with posts on the home page

Footer - Changed the dimensions of the NASA widget to make it look better (Hope its better now)

@JK thanks a lot for the link - haven't found anything I liked there yet.. I'll keep searching.. :)

hi Sam... 

U have a lot to offer other than just plain chai & coffee...  :) U seem have ur say in practically every field..

Keep it up.. Jack of all trades.. :)

As others have said, try to organize ur template.. It seems really crowded with all the widgets... 

i took my template from this site.. have a look at it... 

http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/

have a look at my blog as well.. 

http://itsmedhruv.blogspot.com/

Hi Shrinivas, thanks for the comment..  .. I have reduced the number of widgets on the present template to make it load faster.. About changing it, I will do it once I find the right one... I am in the middle of my exams, so not able to spend enough time on the look of the blog..

Btw.. I visited your blog.. Great template.. I will definitely keep coming..

I have finally bit the bullet and changed the template.. Please do check and give your suggestions.. Thanks

chai-coffee.blogspot.com

Hi Samuel,

I am no expert - having started to blog recently. So I tend to like almost everything. May be I will turn more discerning with time.

So I focus on the things that I like the best.

The look and feel of the site was very "uncluttered" and the blog has a nice name.  I havent read enough yet, just the posts on exit polls and the cheap obsession (hell, I agree), and I must say that the writing is very very good.

One little suggestion (validate it with more experienced bloggers before you even consider it) - The text content can do with slightly larger fonts with more spacing between words and sentences. My feeling is - that might make it easier to read.

All in All - great blog mate. Keep writing

Blog Gore

Thanks Gore.. I got the same feedback about the fonts from others too.. Thing is, I'm know very little about html/css coding.. Will try my best to change the font..

ok, the pluses first:

The quality of content

The variety

The look and feel is very attractive now.

The not so pluses

it takes forever to load. The template is heavy methinks.

The posts could use some more editing. That is, of course, if you want to make them crisper. But i m inherently biased towards brevity , so take this with a pinch of salt pls.

Whoa!! Here I was thinking that the template was much lighter and faster than the older one!! Anway, will see what I can do..

About the posts, one of the reasons for naming the blog chai-coffee is that each post can be read and commented upon by the time you finish having your tea or coffee! I guess maybe the close spacing of the fonts is making it look big, I will try to rectify that..

Thanks a lot dude

Love the template dude.Nice contents(i have read only couple...will read the rest later)...nice cartoon(exit poll and chai cofee) ..

Thank you! Thank you!