Website Review: Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

This is an unusual website. I like unusual websites because they're not boring. "Nomadic Matt's Travel Site is far from boring.

What makes "Nomadic Matt's Travel Site" unusual?

Most travel-related websites are filled with information, but aren't written from a traveler's perspective. This one is. Even though Matt hails from Boston, Massachusetts, he's traveled enough to make a lot of deploying military people feel like they haven't been anywhere.

Site Design

This is one of those cases where, although the website looks good and it looks like all the pieces fit together nicely, I think it would be better served as a travel blog.

Matt has a lot of pictures on the site. Well, most modern blogging software packages have gallery functions that can do exactly the same thing. Any good content management system would work as well.

I hate to continually promote WordPress as a blogging platform because I know b2evolution (a CMS) can do things as well in most cases. WordPress, however, has well-supported plugins that would take care of the videos he has on the site.

Article and Post Content

From what I can tell, the blog articles are all contained on one page and it has the same title as the home page: Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

There are a couple of other pages which duplicate the home page's title, but Nomadic Matt's Pictures isn't one of them. "Nomadic Matt's Travel Tips" would make perfect blog posts.

My Overall Opinion

There are a lot of interesting pictures, videos and information about the places that Matt has traveled to. He'll have even more after his next trip to Europe in 2008. At present, it's a site that I would bookmark to look at once every month or so. If it were a blog, I'd subscribe to the email feed so that I'd know when the content is updated. Right now, there's really no way to tell without going through all the pages.

I like the site, but it needs some optimization to make it better.

Would you like a Review?

My reviews aren't the best. They aren't even close. They are one thing, though. They're absolutely free! No refunds and no exchanges. Make your blog the very best you can make it and then submit it on my "Request A Blog Review" page and I'll try to make my review the best I can make it.

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todd from Hawaii Picture of the Day on 2008-06-01 at 4:25 am (Reply)

Hi RT,

Cool site, Matt has definitely traveled to some very interesting places. I do agree with you though, as far as presenting his site as a wordpress type blog. Having all the content in a scrolling frame feels kind of "old fashioned" (in Internet terms anyway).

Todd

todd’s last blog post… Sand Crab

Suraj Singh on 2008-06-03 at 1:11 pm (Reply)

This site has some cool & nice information

Suraj Singh’s last blog post… "Registered Dietitians" In Virginia

Tool Belt on 2008-06-01 at 5:30 am (Reply)

Wow that is really weird. I feel like I am looking at a windows desktop. Very clean design, and it seems you can find everything pretty easily.

Stevo on 2008-06-03 at 7:27 am (Reply)

The site has a lot of potential. So much information - too much information.

I've been trying to convert Matt to WordPress and get him to streamline his layout. Photo gallery software incorporated into WP, and static pages would do a great job improving the overall look.

Stevo’s last blog post… prayers at the tomb of the boy-king

Suraj Singh on 2008-06-03 at 12:55 pm (Reply)

Ya it's a cool website. It gives a lot of information.

Suraj Singh’s last blog post… "Registered Dietitians" In Virginia

Justin from Electric Airsoft Guns on 2008-06-03 at 6:46 pm (Reply)

What struck me the most was the background. I haven't seen anything that bold in a long time, and it looks really great and calming.

Pinnacle Trade Show Displays on 2008-06-07 at 4:07 am (Reply)

I like it! When I click on "about", the page actually tells me ABOUT Matt. I travelled to Europe for about 4 months when I was young and had the chance (and no reponsibilities). I admire Matt for what he is doing - I wish I could have travelled more - one needs to do it when one has the chance. I'll encourage my kids when they're old enough. I like blogs where I can follow the life of an interesting person, or a person doing something interesting - I think Matt's site definately qualifies. One thing I'd like to see though is bigger pictures. The picture gallery is good, but I wish when I clicked on a picture, it was bigger so I could see more detail.
RT - I'm curious. How many of the people that you review their sites come and leave a comment that says "Thanks". Just wondering. Steve

RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2008-06-07 at 4:27 am (Reply)

I get a thanks sometimes, but usually only when I shoot an email telling them the review is done.

I'm not too worried about it. I get plenty of benefits without the thanks.
2. Pinnacle Trade Show Displays on 2008-06-07 at 4:37 am (Reply)
  
  Hey RT, I'm glad you're up and commenting. This comment will finish the job and bump a certain test off of the "Recent Comments" screen.
  My wife and I are making our daughter write "Thank You" notes for all of the birthday presents she got recently. She asked if she had to do ALL of them because she'd already gotten the presents, and its a lot of work (she's young). I think it's important that people say Thanks. Keeps our society civilized. Steve

Nomadic Matt on 2008-06-08 at 5:33 am (Reply)

RT-

Thanks for the review!! It had a lot of good critism about my site. Since your review, I've changed the layout. I think the new format works better but you are right, I need to better optimize my site. I am going to make the move to wordpress for the blog.

There is an RSS feed button on the blog that gives you updates and I update the site everyday with whats going on but the reader has to physically come to the site to get an update.

Nomadic Matt on 2008-06-16 at 1:00 am (Reply)

Hi,

Following steve's push and your comments, I have fully designed (and hopefully optimized) my site. Take a look. It should be a lot better now.

Nomadic Matt's last blog post… Unusual Place of the Month: Kutna Hora Bone Church

RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2008-06-16 at 1:11 am (Reply)

It's like a 500 percent improvement. Other than a few pictures being sized wrong (like the one on your about page), it's totally awesome.

Nomadic Matt on 2008-06-17 at 10:17 pm (Reply)

Thanks for the feedback. What photo sizing issues are there? Would love your feedback….especially as I'm not good with photos.

RT Cunningham | Untwisted Vortex | Philippines on 2008-06-18 at 8:08 am (Reply)

As an example, your picture on the "About Matt" page is 373px × 605px (scaled to 183px × 247px).

If you're trying to make it smaller (obviously), you have to preserve the aspect ratio. In this case, it should either be scaled to 183 x 297 (based on width) or 152 x 247 (based on height).

The easiest way is to keep your original, work with a copy, and resize the picture before putting it on the page. I recommend FastStone Image Viewer, but it can be done with Irfanview as well. Resizing before putting images on pages will also reduce bandwidth. Browser resizing doesn't always product the best results and even the thumbnails produced by WordPress leave a lot to be desired.

Stag Weekends on 2008-06-18 at 1:19 am (Reply)

great site, maybe a map of places he hasn't been yet would be cool

Chris from LondonSightseeingTours on 2008-07-31 at 9:18 pm (Reply)

I really like the site apart from the small issue that I have to scroll across to see the whole site - which in todays internet age shouldnt be the case.

Bill from Travel Directory on 2008-09-20 at 6:51 am (Reply)

Matt's travel site is nice, but I see a dead image in the header, and the copyright notice on the bottom should include 2008. I also have to scroll, but I am an older gent that uses low resolution.

Stephen from Manzanillo Mexico on 2008-11-13 at 4:30 am (Reply)

Good catch on Matt's site about changing the copyright. I'll let him know. He's got quite a nicely designed site now. Less unusual, more easily navigated and content rich.

I really like reading his site and I hope he is able to keep traveling!

My latest blog post: Manzanillo Weber Barbecues and Grills

Interactive Travel Map on 2008-11-21 at 10:50 am (Reply)

A lovely travel site, thanks for the post. How may I go about getting a review of my own travel site, iGuide (http://iguide.travel) on this site? Thank you!

An American Living in the Philippines

Website Review: Nomadic Matt's Travel Site