My own reviews would be limited to my interests, and perhaps that's a good model for others, too, like myself. However, the programmers here are on a whole higher level of understanding when it comes a wide variety of software, and able to intelligently talk about their more complex and arcane features. For example, although I'm deeply involved with and interested in text editors, I could not have written the in-depth review/s that mouser did on the subject; I just don't know enough about code folding and other, high-end features to write about them with ease.
On the other hand, like nudone, if graphics — or perhaps word processing, spreadsheets, or disk management — software is your expertise (i.e.,
love), then you have an advantage that can be shared with the rest of us. Same is true if you develop an interest say, in some utility software or outlining software or what have you, for example.
Review categories can naturally be expanded; for example, when mouser followed up on his text editor review to update many programs there, and nudone's
recent extended review of DonationCoder.com's Graphics winner, ACDSee, which has now evolved toward professional photographers with ACDSee Pro. Those kinds of reviews are not only enormous time savers for users, but are able to show you
why certain programs deserve our attention.
For my
Archive Tools review, most of my time (literally a entire month) was spent testing the programs' features, and then retesting and retesting in comparison with each other. I also tried to read every review I could find online of archivers, and detect their weaknesses and strengths. Most reviews were interested in only one thing — compression ratio — and nothing else. But compression ratio alone doth not make a great archive
program. Thus, there's a measure of judgment that one must bring to the final review.
Fortunately, when I had questions or needed help with certain archivers, someone here in the DonationCoder.com family came to my aid, and mouser himself is a lifesaver, so you won't be alone. These are some things to consider, and if you do decide to dive in and write a review, you'll learn more than you ever expected to, and have a blast!
