The Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog contains posts on issues and news regarding law and public policy. Its authors include the Marquette faculty, alumni, students, and others associated with the university. The site has been running since September 2008.
The plus points and the downside
Although the blog offers a wide range of categories, it is noticeable that the concentration is law be it criminal, family, or environmental law. The discussion is academic, and posts and comments go through editors of the site to make sure that civility and decency are maintained in the site.
While the site is an educational outlet, posts are written in a reader-friendly manner. Photos are also attached to some posts, usually just one placed at the beginning. This breaks the monotony of the blocks of text on each page.
The site has a three-column layout. The leftmost panel contains links to the categories, archives, comments and other outside links related to the blog. The central panel contains blog posts, while the rightmost frame contains names of blog editors and faculty, student and alumni contributors. Profiles of the editors and contributors are provided, as well as a link to each contributor?s posts. A faculty, student, and alumni “Blogger of the Month” is chosen and posted in the same panel.
The main page automatically shows 11 blog posts, resulting to a long downward scroll for the reader. Posts on the main page could have been cut shorter and a link could be made for continuations. Links for comments are posted at the top of each article; it could work better if the comments link be placed at the end of the post, letting the reader digest the information first before generating his or her opinion.
Layout- and content-wise, Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog is already quite easy to navigate and browse through — save for a few minor kinks that need tweaking.
