The essay “Cats, Man’s Other Best Friend” by Anthony J. O’Malley caught my eye because I happen to love cats. Well actually, I love animals in general, but cats have a special place in my heart and in my life.
The website O’Malley designed is very simple with no links and a single long page. The background, very appropriately, is black with white cat paws. The pale green table on which he writes his text is not a color I would have selected. He starts his essay with a retrospective on his black and white cat Humphrey. A white table color with black text would work nicely with the theme as well as add a nice contrast to the black background.
O’Malley includes various pictures, most of which have been redesigned to depict incidents he describes within the body of his essay. These made me grin, but they did not look very professional. I did not like the picture he selected for the beginning of his essay. The lack of color made it difficult to see the details of the picture.
The simplicity of the site and the subject matter kept my interest and led me to read the entire essay. I related my own experiences of cats I have lived with in the past and of the ones I have now. I also own a dog and in comparison to my feline friends, I find dogs to be very needy, dependent creatures somewhat like human children. Though I love my dog Cindy very much, I have more respect and admiration for my cats Steve and Buffy. Dogs, like Cindy, need almost constant companionship. I find at times I can’t even go to the bathroom without the dog following me. My husband says that her nose is always up my arse and proved his point by having me walk around the house twice. Yes, the dog followed my every step even though she is old, has bad hips and knees and has difficulty breathing. (She is 91 in human years). Also, when I leave town, I have to arrange for a babysitter for the dog. The cats are just fine on their own as long as they have lots of food and water. I dare not go on or I will have written my own essay on the virtues of cats.
Overall, I liked the simplicity of the site, the ease of reading, and of course the subject matter. O’Malley kept it simple. Complex sites tend to make me lose interest. The only thing I would change would be the first picture and I would change the table background to white.
