TheShould.com features a rather simplistic nearly black and white design. The homepage seems rather misaligned because the sidebar extends far deeper than the content area creating a large gray gap. The tags block as well as the right side to the categories and pages block are empty giving the sidebar itself a rather choppy feeling. For some reason google ads in the square ad on top of the sidebar doesn't display on homepage making it empty as well.

Empty blocks should probably be removed and the categories block should be extended to display across the sidebar width. Recent posts block is currently redundant since it displays exactly five recent posts, same as the main content teasers so it's probably best removed as well. But even with these changes the sidebar would still be too high on the homepage compared to the main column. The only ways to remedy that is to either remove even more from sidebar (an ad perhaps), move something from the sidebar to the main column, perhaps two columns put horizontally next to each other below the teasers, one displaying the video and another the ad or add something entirely new to the main content area (or main column).

The search box in the main menu could be moved a few pixels higher to make it more centered.

Finally, there is a noticeable difference in post title font style between the home page and the category pages which is bad for consistency. The article view however is good.

Overall the minimalistic design, mentioned font style inconsistency, some empty sidebar blocks and to top it all an about page under construction makes this site feel somewhat unfinished. The nicest touches are probably the rounded corners and perhaps the logo, but unfortunately that doesn't say much. It needs work to be any more impressive.

Design Rating: 7/10

Focus:

Site's name, "The Should", is somewhat peculiar, making a modal verb into a noun, but that doesn't really detract from its direct inference to the meaning and purpose of the site which is especially clear when coupled with the titles of articles available on homepage: answering "should" questions (or even expressing imperatives?). It's in any case quite short and catchy.

As is typical to this kind of sites, a number of which was already reviewed, what wins points in terms of focus is the direct correlation between the site name and the titles of articles, all of which faithfully and strictly relate making the focus unmistakable and strong while overriding the tendency to cover a wide range of topics. About page could still be useful though and there's a link to it, but it's currently "under construction".

Focus Rating: 10/10

Content:

This is getting old, which isn't a bad thing. There are 124 articles answering questions with "should" as the primary variable. How many times should I feed my dog? Why should I stay single? How often should I fertilize my lawn? Should people drink distilled water? Questions go all over the map and this is just a random and still interesting sample. TheShould.com answers them all in fairly brief, to the point, relevant articles with sections to make them even easier to follow. What's there to complain about?

Content Rating: 10/10