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The Doctor Who News Blog

Please Note that The Doctor Who News Blog has closed, and the new url is http://whoviangalaxy.blogspot.com/

Info

Web Host: Blogger
Run by: Brad
Opened: 8th August 2008

Review

Owner
The owner is always talking and welcoming visitors to the site. Brad is always polite in the site's cbox as well as in posts. This draws visitors to the site very well, so more people want to come back often.

Layout
The layout for The Doctor Who News Blog is straightforward, very beneficial is definitely appropriate for the sort of site it is. This makes it easy to have a look round, without getting distracted by bright colours and lights. It is mostly all grey and white, but altogether the layout seems very professional and trouble-free.

News Posts
The news post, which is what the site is mostly all about, hence 'The Doctor Who News Blog', are fantastic and very regularly posted. Nearly every single piece of news (that would be of any intrest) is posted, in the owner's own words. The site is always reliable for all the latest news and are always written in a terrific and very understandable. Brad provides you with all the information about the topic with no mistakes, and uses a related picture every time, often made by him. 

Spelling and Grammar
All the time I've been reading the posts and pages, I have not yet found one mistake. Of course, there could be one lurking somewhere, but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack! The grammar is superb too!

Pages
The pages are a real highlight to the site. Although, the name makes you wonder if there is anything but news, but this just might be news to you, as there are fabulous pages to spend hours and hours looking at! There are Doctor Who episode guides, where you can learn about every single episode there has been from the new series, including the Children In Need special, Time Crash! The synopsis for each story is written in the owner's words. All of these are presented neatly and clearly, and have a picture from the episode. There are sometimes more than one, on stories that need more to be said. The Sarah Jane Adventures guides seem to have more information on than the Doctor Who ones at the moment, with a synopsis, again written by Brad, Cast, Information and a very interesting bit about continuity, which gives you fantastic bits of facts and information based around the episode. New guides for both sections are posted very near after the episode has finished broadcast. There are a few magazine pages, with Doctor Who and Torchwood Magazine, plus Doctor Who Adventures. These show you the covers of the latest issues, and when clicking on them, guide you back to the original site to give you all the information about the issue. There are a good selection of websites on the links pages, but, apart from the official sites, are the only sites linking back to Brad's. I think the highlight to the pages might have to be 'The Creatures of Skaro'! It is a fan-fiction story, written by Brad, all by himself, and comes out with very detailed, intriguing stories. They are extremely professional, and are fantastic reads. At the time of writing there have been three stories, and each one is different. They are all about the Daleks, and the latest one features the potato-faced menaces from Sontar, the Sontarans! Earlier this year, it was announced that there was to be a site reviewer page. Unfortunately, after just one review, the page shut down due to Brad's busy life. This was a shame because the first one of these, Tardis Base was fantastic! To fill in for this loss, though, are new upcoming pages, like Torchwood episode guides, which follow on from two previous successful pages, and Character guides, which should give you a good look into many faces from Doctor Who! These will be great once put on the site. The pages are neatly displayed across the top of the page, under the banner, but over the posts. This makes it easy to see, so you can you can find and visit them without trouble.

Sidebar
The sidebar at The Doctor Who News Blog is pretty short, but is good, as it does not look messy. At the top, it gives 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. Plus there is sometime a feature at the top, to tell you something that you can visit on the site. At the moment, it is their 'The Last Sontaran' episode guide, which you can visit by clicking the picture. There is a gadget showing the followers of the site, and has gained a very respectable amount already! There is a chat box (cbox), that seems to keep going wrong at the moment, but a new one is put up afterwards, an archive for older news, a facebook link, where you can join TDWNB's facebook group and a link to a friend's site. These are a few great things for the sidebar!

Other Features
Banner; The Banners of The Doctor Who News Blog, are always fantastically edited and radiant. The main one had the logo, nice and big, so was clear, with the words 'Bringing you the latest news from Doctor Who', with the Doctor next to the Tardis on the right, with a lightning background. This worked very well. Lately, it has been changed for The Sarah Jane Adventures. It is the same as the last one, except that there is a new, starry background, and now, instead of the Doctor, there is a Sontaran.

atts key suggestions
Can't think of anything, but I have to put something, so;
  • A few more features in the sidebar
  • Different banners for different parts of the site
Note - these are only suggestions, which you may or may not want to take into account.

Overall
The Doctor Who News Blog is an amazing site, which should definitely be on any Whovian's things-to-do list! There is so much to read and do, it's a friendly atmosphere and is well structured.

Rating:
9 Star

Word Count: 1030

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