The Faculty Blog is one of the University of Chicago School of Law?s blog sites, with content on all kinds of law news, issues, and cases. Posts come from faculty, alumni, students, and other University affiliates. The blog targets to be a forum for open discussion on anything regarding law. As such, it is open to comments. It has been up and running since September 2008.
The ups and downs
Dialogue through comments and feedback on The Faculty Blog has a very academic atmosphere. Posts on a variety of law topics are accommodated, from debates to critiques and book reviews. Although all posts are in text format, some link to sites with video or audio clips.
The layout is very simple and easy to navigate. The site is split in two columns, the left for blog posts and the right for other navigation options: outside links, categories, archives, recent posts and comments. The site?s colors are also simple — just plain white for background and red and black for the text.
The simplicity, however, is also a downside. Being an academic blog, it is understandable for the site to have a formal appearance, but it does border on becoming a bit boring. Since it is just a two-column layout, there is no dynamics in navigating through the site, just a whole lot of scrolling down, down, and down — not exactly friendly for the non-academic readers. But for its target audience, the layout can be quite acceptable.
There is also no doubt that the content of The Faculty Law Blog is very extensive, which is why its categorization of posts could use a revamp. Posts are mostly classified under authors? names, which is disadvantageous for readers who are not familiar with the posts? authors. Perhaps a separate category list could be made — this time according to subjects of blog posts.
Prawfsblawg contains blogs on law issues, news, and other matters from law professors. These professors are from a mix of universities in the United States. The site is operated by PrawfsBlawg LLC, a limited liability corporation based in Florida. The site has been up and running since December 2008, and has the tagline: “Where Intellectual Honesty Has (Almost Always) Trumped Partisanship?Albeit in a Kind of Boring Way Until Recently?Since 2005.”
What makes it a good read
The site has a three-column layout, and its color of choice is in the shades of purple. Listed on its leftmost panel are links to recent comments and posts, blog categories, archives, a search bar and a space for advertisements. The middle panel contains blog posts, while the rightmost portion of the site lists the authors (the site?s regular Prawfs, guests and alumni). It also contains a list of links to sites recommended by PrawfsBlawg.
Posts on PrawfsBlawg concentrate on law, but although written by professors, the tone of the entries is not too academic. They are still an easy and practical read for non-law folk, like one regarding child obesity or another on video surveillance. Then there are posts that link law to unlikely topics, such as music or film.
A bit of disappointment
One off-putting factor in PrawfsBlawg, however, is the shift of layout when opening a category link. From three columns, the layout becomes two columns, and the color also changes. Although variety is welcome in a site, a constant look should also be kept to create an identity for the blog.
There are also the long lists on the left and rightmost frames. Both exceed the length of the blogs resulting in a lot of scrolling down by readers, which can ultimately become boring. It would be better if all frames ended on the same point, and any extra links, which can?t be fitted into the page, just be referred through other links.
