MightyGuide.net features a mighty clean design, somewhat atypically putting the logo at the top of the sidebar rather than the header which remains reserved for the main menu. This works well and makes it look more unique as well as efficient. The site tends to give out the attention being paid to detail. In that same spirit, however, there are a few imperfections which I would like to point out.

First, the "read more" button in the "about us" block doesn't seem to work work, albeit there is a prominent "about" link in the main menu at the top.

Secondly, I would make the search box just a little brighter so it is better visible on the dark background on which it lays. Especially on certain LCD screens (like mine), they currently almost blend in to the background if the screen is looked at from a lower angle. Even though, in addition to being a nitpick, all of this really depends on the screen type and settings, it may be best to be safe.

With regards to the article view, there are issues with the ad boxes as the margin between them and the content seems too low and one of the ads sometimes messes up the view and don't always show consistently in the same way. For example, on this page the second ad box is practically in collision with the "share and enjoy" buttons and for some reason jumps off to the right. Having a second ad box might not even be necessary, but if it is kept there is apparently some tweaking to be done in terms of margins and position. And while we're at tweaking ad colors could be adjusted to match at least the ad title colors of the ad in the sidebar. Also, the ad in the about page trumps the available text a little too much. It might be better to use a much smaller format there.

I would also suggest changing the section titles within articles to headings (h2 or h3) instead of using the html "strong" tag making them a little bigger which would make the sections stand out and the article overall more attractive to read.

Finally, I've noticed that many articles that can be accessed via tags and categories menu have nice squared images in their teasers yet none of them are showing with such an image on the homepage. Having an image display in teasers for all articles on site would add to consistency and make homepage and other listings more attractive.

Design Rating: 8/10

Focus:

The name, "Mighty Guide", by itself isn't very clear. However it does fit the purpose of the site very briefly although effectively outlined in the sitewide "about us" block and in the about page. The naming of article titles and the format of articles as "how to" guides ties up the content of the site into a single consistent theme which makes it appear very well focused and gives it identity.

Focus Rating: 10/10

Content:

There is over 300 guides or how to articles available on site put into 22 categories and accessible via the tag cloud so there is plenty to find. Articles tend to be relatively brief and split into multiple sections usually starting with an enticing introduction about why would someone want to do the guided process in question and then proceeding with more information and instructions.

However, given that these are how to guides and often contain step by step instructions it may be a good idea to use numbered lists or subheadings more for each step which would be easier to follow than when the steps are buried within the text of the section.
This is especially important if we assume that the reader wants to actually have the guide open in one window or tab while trying to do what the guide is about elsewhere therefore interrupting the reading often. If each time such a reader gets back to the article he or she has to scan within the text to get where he or she left off it can get frustrating and make him or her look for another guide.

Content Rating: 8/10

BestInLife.net greets us with a fresh and somewhat shiny look thanks to the cool blue color scheme and a gentle glow behind the shiny and somewhat futuristic looking site title. The overall first impression is that of a clean clutter free web site showing you no surplus of unnecessary information. The sidebar has just what one might expect, a search box, categories and a tag cloud. The main content area starts with a spotlight of an article with a wide image helping make the homepage more attractive, continuing with two columns of teaser blocks, some with and some without an image and finishing with a display of popular and random articles.

So what could be improved? Most of the issues are relatively minor and would only add to the already quite clean design. Let's start from the top.

The adsense ad box at the top of the sidebar clashes a bit with the gradient on the left. The best solution would be to make the background of adsense transparent, but google doesn't have that option so the remaining solution is to increase the left margin to about 40 or 45 pixels which will reduce the clash and to make it perfect decrease the width of the gradient between the main content area and the sidebar. While we're at adsense, it might be a good idea to match up the colors of adsense titles and description to the equivalent on the rest of the site. So titles would be light blue (#1D75CF) and description text would be gray (#84878E). It's just an idea that might make adsense blend in a little better making it seem as a part of actual content, even while the "Ads by Google" note still makes it clear it's an ad. Who knows, it might result in more clicks. :)

Moving on, there are a few slight margin issues. At the top article spotlight box actually touches the header area. It would probably be better if it had a margin-top of around 10 pixels. The same issue exists between the pager below all teaser boxes and a block displaying popular and random articles. A margin of around 10 pixels would help there as well.

Titles in teaser boxes are cut off and since I've seen a similar theme before I think it's just a characteristic of the theme that might be worth fixing. I can't help but think that cut off titles are a bit of an usability issue. If titles would be too long if they weren't cut off there may be a few work arounds such as making the titles smaller and making sure margins and/or paddings put them, even as long as they may be, neatly in the top center area with enough line height and spaced out from the description just enough to still look good. Speaking of teaser box styling, not all of them have an image thumbnail impairing consistency a bit.

And here's one final nitpick as far as homepage or sitewide elements are concerned. The XHTML validation button has a border and these kinds of buttons usually look far better without it.

Moving on finally to the content view, the only complaint I have is the article font color and size compared to the font color and size of the google ad box embedded in the article. The adsense font is bigger and darker and therefore makes the actual content seem meager in comparison. The problem is further exacerbated by the left margin between the article text and the ad box being a little too low. What would fix this is either making the article font bigger and darker or making the adsense font smaller and lighter, mainly the description text. Adsense allows adjusting the font size and they have an option for "small".

Other than that I would suggest making the embedded media where available centered rather than left aligned and perhaps making the section titles bigger by using html headings (h2 or h3) instead of html strong tag. Other stuff is quite alright, especially that nice tabbed widget with recent posts, bookmarking buttons and tags.

Design Rating: 8/10

Focus:

"Best In Life" suggests quite an open ended topic especially given the arguable subjectivity of "best". :) There is however an about page which explains the purpose quite well and puts it into the right context. All articles are about what is "the best" and there are also specific categories which articles can be browsed by. In any case the name of the site, its explanation and content seem to be quite consistent and relevant to each other.

Focus Rating: 10/10

Content:

We are offered nearly 100 articles in 20 categories all about the best things of a particular kind, from five best commercials of all time to best way of losing weight to best time to plant strawberries. Most articles, judging from the tag cloud, are about food and food recipes which probably isn't surprising because food is such an important part of life and what makes it good. :)

Articles are generally not too long (or quite brief) and contain multiple sections titled in bold which helps readability. Overall I think BestInLife.net has a bunch to offer and I suspect the amount of content is gonna grow.

Content Rating: 10/10