What the Cat Said is a blog site that revolves around computer science such as breakdowns of concepts, memes of ‘r/programmerhumor’ quality, as well as other related content.
The user interface for the blog website is simple and clean. The content itself has a fun and witty personality to it which makes it more fun to read while also allowing me to gain a sense of Cat’s online self. The links within the navigation bar are cleverly named as it still has the fun personality yet still allows me to know exactly where the public and process posts are as well as where to navigate to other pages without me having to guess what link leads where.
The design decision on having the navigation bar take up nearly half the screen page when the viewer is at the top of the page seemed strange at first but as I got used to it, I began to appreciate this design decision a lot more. The links were not squished all the way at the top and instead were given extra ‘padding’ on both the top and bottom parts thanks to the large logo having to take up more space within the navigation bar, expanding the overall height. The added padding also makes the overall experience feel more relaxed which if it were to be all squished at the top would induce an almost anxious feeling in me.
The only issue that I had was the fact that the ‘Stranger Encounter’ process post was the only post that was written in two columns as opposed to the rest of Cat’s posts which were written in one. It threw me off a bit as it was inconsistent with the established content as it was also written in a different typeface.
TLDR; Cat’s blog site is engaging and fun, and the user interface is simple and minimalistic which I really like. There are no real accessibility issues as it is easy to navigate the site and the viewer does not have to assume what link leads where. The only issue that I really have is an inconsistency with the number of columns that one post has as opposed to the rest of the posts on the site that only has one.
Overall, Cat has a solid start with her blog site. I’m excited to see where else she will take the content.
Link to Cat’s website: https://whatthecatsaid.ca/
