Doctor Who Base

Info

Site Address: http://doctorwhobase.blogspot.com/

Web Host: Blogger

Run by: Alex

Opened: 20th August 2008

Review

Owner

There is no cbox on the site and in the posts, the information is mainly just facts and figures, so, sadly, we do not get to see the character of the owner. Sometimes in websites, if this happens, it seems like the site is running itself. I believe on the sidebar, though, is a message saying that the site is made by him, the banner made by Brad (from The Doctor Who News Blog) and a feature promoting The Doctor Who Who News Blog, plus a welcome sign. This shows that there is a 'human' behind it all. At least the words in the episode guides are written in his own words, so we see some personality there also. Clearly it shows that the owner is very good friends with Brad.

Layout

The layout for Doctor Who Base is very similar to The Doctor Who News Blog. It is straightforward and simple, not making it too challenging to look round. The colours are mostly all grey and white, with lovely colours in the banner sidebar and posts. This is a great starting layout to start with with a site. It is easy and uncomplicated, so you can grow onto the design in the future.

News Posts

The main part of the site at the moment are the news posts. There are good choices of news, if not all news is posted, but it is mainly just news posts. The posts are written in the owner's words, but are usually quite short. There are some good facts in the posts, but, that's mostly all it is. There isn't much extra info, apart from telling you a bit about the item, when it comes out and the price. I think the content and information given should be improved a little to make the site better than it is. There are usually pictures, often images of the piece of merchandise. Another thing I would say is that quotes should be marked clearly, as it is all in the same colour and not italic or bold. This would be good to see. 

Spelling and Grammar

Most of the time, the spelling and grammar is excellent, apart from the odd one or two slips, which can't be helped. The same can be said about the grammar. Another thing I would say is that sentences are quite short and there are a lot of them. You might consider putting words like 'and', 'also' and 'but' to help the news posts to flow more.

Pages

There aren't really any 'pages' on the site yet, apart from episode guides of the new series of Doctor Who. These are not linked onto another page, but they are older posts. When the site first started, these were the first things to be posted on the site, before news had started at all. These are linked in the sidebar to each single episode, but there are no Series 4 ones linked, although they have been made. These guides have a pictures from the episode, plus a synopsis written by the owner. I think these guides should maybe have a little more facts and detail, but they play a nice part to the site.

Sidebar

The sidebar on Doctor Who Base is pretty short, but is looks great, so it looks neat. At the top, is a welcome sign, giving a nice warm welcome to the visitor. This sign might just make you want to become a follower of the site, and there couldn't be a better place to put it! Just under! Below these things are features which give you information about the next episodes of Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures in the UK. These have a picture from the episode to look more colourful and better. There is no chat box (cbox), so unfortunately visitors cannot talk to people on the site, which is a shame, because I think visitors should be able to talk and leave messages. But it is the owner's choice thought! There is a list of Doctor Who episodes from Series 1 to Series 3, with linked episode guides made on the site. This is great, as it gives an easy way to access those guides, but I would suggest putting the Series 4 ones up too! There is a very short links list, an archive for older news, a message giving information on when and who created the site and different parts to it. Plus there is a link to The Doctor Who News Blog. There are a nice few things in there, which hopefully makes the site a bit better.

Other Features

Banner; The Banner for Doctor Who Base is made from Brad at The Doctor Who News Blog, and is a really great and colourful one! At the moment it shows the Sarah Jane Adventures team, a Sontaran and a clown, with the Sarah Jane logo and the Doctor Who Base Logo in the top right.

atts key suggestions

• Some way of interacting with vistitors more. A Cbox?
• More to news posts, making them flow more, and some extra information besides facts.
• Possibly some new pages? As it is called Doctor Who Base, so it should not be just for just news and a few guides, but could be a lot more!
• More to episode guides in the future. A few more facts?
• I think overall just a bit more to the whole site really!

Note - these are only suggestions, which you may or may not want to take into account.

Overall

I think this is a great site in the making that has good news and episode guides, with great potential.

Rating:

Word Count: 961