since i’ve been thinking about poet-novels, let’s have two poet-novelists battle it out in this week’s edition of Wednesday Website Wars!
Kazim Ali
vs
Ching-In Chen
which author website do you like better and why? or, if you are not into competitions, tell us one thing you like about each. or, if you havent had your morning coffee yet, tell me one thing you dont like about each. how would you describe each website’s “personality quotient?”
let the battle begin!
Craig Santos Perez 
kazim ali’s: elegant, candid, and contained. i’m struck by the efficiency of the web design, how almost all the info fits concisely onto one main screen, with clickaways to more detailed book info and multimedia links. wonder if the font in the page header is based on his own handwriting?
ching-in chen’s: descriptions that come to mind are energetic, abundant. i didn’t understand the blog widget in the middle of the front page at first, but then, duh, i got it. there is a *lot* of content on her site. sometimes i didn’t immediately understand why certain things were placed where they were (like press kits off on a side link), and sometimes the info was repetitive, but if you keep going through the site you can find a lot of good stuff. navigation-wise, it was like having a chatty, slightly rambling conversation with the poet-novelist in person.
gosh roz your insights into the websites are so enlightening! stunned at how much you are able to see that i never even thot of! thx so much for this & other comments!
c
Both are great sites, but my vote goes for Ali’s – I like the handwriting at the top a lot…makes it feel personal. It’s simpler style doesn’t overwhelm. Sometimes less text is more : )
Chen’s web site is also really nice on the eye, but that is largely because I love her cover art. Great to use it on all pages as the banner too. It’s a beautiful cover.
Ali’s site gets my vote.
Partially because I preferred its concision and utility. (All pertinant information was contained in just two pages, all links were useful and appeared on the home/bio page, and there were no broken links.) Partially because I preferred its visual style. (Monochromatic background extending the full width of the screen, the use of a handwriting font for the menu, and the right-justified title give the graphic layout a less “canned” feel.) And partially because I am the web designer’s father and there is nepotism involved.
thanks for your vote JH! yeah i love the cover art too!
D, thanks for your vote also! kudos for raising such a talented web designer! i hear they can be quite rowdy as teenagers 😉
c