Doctor Rumours

Info

Site Address: http://www.doctorrumors.blogspot.com/

Web Host: Blogger

Run by: Jake

Opened: September 2008

Review

Owner

The owner of Doctor Rumours, mostly, greets people in the cbox, but not all that often, but we can establish that he takes pride in the visitors that the site has already got. Jake also talks a lot in the cbox, but lately, it has not always been about new visits. He sometimes includes his own life in the posts made, which is good, and occasionally makes the site feel like an actual 'blog'.

Layout

The layout works nicely for the site. There are many colours, but none of them are too bright. There is no colour scheme as such to Doctor Rumours, but the background colour is a darkesh blue, with the post section black, and sidebar a green and a blue lower down. I think there needs to be a little sort out to colours, as I don't think the variety at the moment attracts visitors to the site too well. There needs to be some sort of format, to just make it look a little tidier, perhaps?

News Posts

I wouldn't say that there were a lot of news posts. Occasionally there are, but it's mainly about news on the site or information and news that the owner has just found randomly. Now, I think by the name of the site that it's supposed to be rumours from the Whouniverse, but it is still slightly confusing to try and latch on to what the main theme of posts are. The posts themselves are brought out pretty regularly, but there hasn't been all that much on news recently. It all needs to be a bit more clear.

Spelling and Grammar

Spelling mistakes don't occur all that often, but there are a few points on grammar. Capital letter misuse occurs quite frequently, putting small case letters at the start of a word meant to start with a capital and stuff like that. Also, it's all a bit jumbled up, if you know what I mean! There doesn't seem to be a lot of structure, so it would be nice to see improvement on this topic. But I don't want to sound negative!

Pages

A new page, the Banner Designs page has recently launched. The whole idea is for people to ask for a banner, made exclusively by the owner, for his or her site. This is a great idea, and I hope the owners of other websites like them. One query on that matter is that the banners made don't seem to fit the size of the site they are aiming at. They all seem a bit big, but I won't dig too deep into that, as it's for Jake and the other website owner to talk about.

Sidebar

The site's sidebar has a lot of gadgets in it for information and just for fun. It contains a welcome sign, again, welcoming people to the site, the owner's email address, so that you can contact him if need be. Next Time videos remind you of the next episode to be broadcast, of all shows; Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Also details are shown under each video of what the episodes are. Visitor information ends the first part of the sidebar, with page hits and who's online at the time of your visit. The site has only been running for just over a month, so I'm not suprised that there aren't that many visitors, but as the site grows older, I'm sure the figure will get bigger. Following on from what was in the first half of the sidebar, a picture and dates show the next episode of all shows. This should possibly be with the videos, but not a major matter. The cbox is in use a lot of the time for chatting, and is also good for opinions and views on the site from visitors. There is a regular poll, and a list of useful websites. A great feature from Blogger shows which Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures episodes were shown on this day. At the bottom are a few links to random things, like scripts from Doctor Who, found on The Writer's Tale website.

Other Features

Banner; The Banner for Doctor Rumours is quite good, but is a little large. It means you have to scroll down a bit to get to the main part of the site. The design of the banner is great, though. It has Mr Smith, but in the screen it has been changed, having the site's logo, plus all three show's ones too. Cleverly, the site's name has been edited into the keys at the bottom of Mr. Smith, which looks great!

Copyright Notice; Just a notice showing that all the shows are copyright BBC and such.

atts key suggestions

• Sort colour scheme
• Sort out a few other things like Posts, Grammar and Sidebar
• Just mostly everything I have said above

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

Overall

A lovely little site, that seems to have a variety of different posts and great features, but a little more work would make it even better! 

Rating:

Word Count: 878

Life, Doctor Who and Combom

Info

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

Web Host: Blogger

Run by: Combom

Opened: March 2008

Review

Owner

The owner of Life, Doctor Who and Combom is sometimes refered to (well, on Planet Gallifrey, at least) as the 'Lord of Speculation'. This definitely shows, due to the amazing posts, where the owner speculates every topic imaginable! Although Life, Doctor Who and Combom lacks a cbox, like many other sites do, when are able to pick up on the owner's personality very easily, due to the amount of posts created by him every day! The site doesn't really need a chat box, as you can tell that people would only leave pleasant ones, due to the quantity of visitors the site earns every day, but there is more on visitors a bit later!

Layout

The layout for the site is one of the simplest layouts that I've come across on Blogger sites, but fortunately, this is not a bad thing, as it simply does not need an exciting, eye-catching look, due to the content itself. It stands out from the rest, so when you visit for the first time it definitely hits you as to how white and plain it is, which is great! But the best thing need not be in the layout, as it's the posts (and the sidebar) that really matters!

News Posts

There is an amazing variety to the different posts made on Life, Doctor Who and Combom. There seems to be so many bits of news posted every day! You can learn from the title of the website that it is not all about Doctor Who, but has lots of variation, in all topics the owner is interested in. From the title, 'Life' shows up clearly. As the owner goes through life as he normally would, he picks up on bits of information, stuff that he is interested in, and makes fantastic posts all about them. Material that you would never find. Even if it's something small, it's posted, and it is great and absorbing (though, not literally!). Most of it though is just all about Doctor Who, and takes loads of news, and puts them on the site. Just lately, has there been hundreds and hundreds of Torchwood filming pictures, and they're all on there! I don't have a clue where they all come from! And now there is a weekly post on who could play the Eleventh Doctor! I could go on to talk about it, but there is too much too talk about. I think the main point that I would like to get across is that the site is magnificent! All posts have images, and some more than one, like with the Torchwood Filming photos. One thing I will say though is that there is nothing to separate the quotes and his own words. I think this should be made a bit clearer.

Spelling and Grammar

From what I can see on the site at a glance, everything seems top notch, but with an occasional formal statement, and a ':)' smilie, which actually makes you feel at home, with no pressure put on you! That's good for visitors, and all the grammar is great as well!

Pages

No pages are linked onto Life, Doctor Who and Combom. There doesn't need to be though, as the site is mainly used just as a 'blog' and not like other owners, who have made their sites into bigger 'websites', as such. Plus, there is already too much to read, with the frequent posts, let alone have even one page!

Sidebar

The sidebar for the site, in itself, is one of the two main highlights, the other being posts. If I had to list and talk about every single item in their, you would probably be moving on to the next topic, as it would be too long! So, highlights anyway. At the top (here we go again!), the profile of the owner, Combom. Plus a little joke in the about me section, which is quite a laugh. Then there's a visitor count, and I must say that the site has had a suprising number of viewers (over 60,000 since August!), and I'm bewildered as to where they come from, but we know! Thanks to all the great gadgets on the sidebar, we know exactly where they've come from, with website and all, a tally of countries, showing the flag and which pages visitors most like looking at. These things are found just below that, with an option to change the language of the site. This feature must be very helpful for people who speak any language other than English. A label list helps you get to the topics you need to, and the archive, showing all posts, grouped in weekly sections. Then there's 'Links to Useful Sites'. Well, it's all said in the title really, and a blogroll of friends sites. Number online at the time is shown by a marvellous widget, and pictures linking to assorted sites, and it all come together in one neat, satisfying sidebar!

Other Features

Banner; The Banner for Life, Doctor Who and Combom looks very... different, but not in a bad way! I think, at least, it shows the back of someone's head (possibly the owner's?), with the title of the site written in a stencil-like text, but not in an organized fashion. The banner fits the site nicely!

Burp!: Well, it starts off with that anyway, but there is a section at the bottom of the pages, dedicated to telling you everything to know, so you can guide your way through, plus giving credit to whoever needs it. I actually found it quite an enjoyable read!

atts key suggestions

• Er, quotes made clearer, and that's about it! Just keep doing what you always do.

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

Overall

I couldn't think of one site better to give you news, rumours, information and anything else about Doctor Who, and any odd thing that comes up in life, so if you like that sort of thing, you'd love this incredible masterpiece of a site. With clever links in the posts and it's family friendly words to a link to the Fortean Times Magazine website, it's all fantastic!

Rating:

Word Count: 1053

Timelords Vs Daleks

Info

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

Web Host: Blogger

Run by: Jamie

Opened: September 2008

Review

Owner

We learn from the site that the owner's personality is a great one, and is shown through the cbox and many of the posts. The site's cbox has very recently been put up, but there aren't many people chatting or making comments at this time. But when people do say things, Jamie is quick to say hello, and welcome them kindly to the site.

Layout

Timelords Vs Daleks uses one of the original Blogger templates, but is one of the best. It mainly has a white background, with a great light blue next to the banner, and light orange backgrounds to headers in the sidebar. Apart from it being a tad to big, the banner gives lovely colour to the top of the site, and the posts always contain pictures for the same affect, which leads us onto the next topic...

News Posts

The whole idea of the site is to give you all the news from the Who world. There are a suprising number of posts each day, which is fantastic if you want to be updated on news a lot of the time. Most news that you'd find interesting is posted, on all three topics, Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. It is always written in a tidily and understandable fashion, with quotes and press releases marked clearly in red. Pictures are put in on every post, which is magnificent as the site then does not look too boring. Occasionally the pictures are made by the owner, and I have to say, very well!

Spelling and Grammar

Looking through the site, there doesn't seem to be very many spelling mistakes at all, but one thing I would say, is that a lot of the time there is a misuse of capital letters, meaning that sometimes when a word is supposed to have a small letter at the start, it is sometimes replaced with a capital. None of the first words in a sentence have that problem though.

Pages

I cannot find any pages on Timelords Vs Daleks yet, but, as the site has not been running for long, there might be a few in the near future, perhaps? There is enough to keep you occupied on the main page for a while, though.

Sidebar

There are some magnificent things in the site's sidebar. At the top is an owner's profile gadget, which is possibly supposed to be a welcome sign? Maybe, for the welcome sign, there should be a proper one, but it is not too major. A poll is usually running below it, in which a few people vote, but not a lot, and this is mainly because the site hasn't been going for long, so is not attracting a lot of visitors. The cbox has just been put up, and below it is a schedule for the next episodes to be broadcast of Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. These are good for if you forget, but you shouldn't do! Also, USA broadcasts are sometimes mentioned. A hit counter and an 'online now' gadget tell you brief visitor information, and a nice-looking countdown for Doctor Who's 2008 Christmas Special is below it. A short section of links and the site's archive also feature at the bottom.

Other Features

Banner; The Banner for Timelords Vs Daleks looks excellent, and contains pictures of latest episodes. At the moment, two pictures of a Cyberman and Elijah Spellman are cut out onto a starry background, with the site's, Torchwood's and The Sarah Jane Adventures' logos around the center. Although you can see it and know what it is, I think the site's logo should be made more clear, so you know exactly what site you are looking at!

atts key suggestions

• Banner Size needs a little bit of an edit
• Cut down on capital letter misuse
• A few pages?
• The welcome sign more clear
• Siet's logo more clear on logo, so you don't get confused with Torchwood's and The Sarah Jane Adventures'

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

Overall

Timelords Vs Daleks is a fabulous site in the making, for the latest news, and has the capability to become bigger and better in the future!

Rating:

Word Count: 729

The-OncomingStorm

Info

Site Address: http://www.the-oncomingstorm.blogspot.com/

Web Host: Blogger

Run by: Bex (TOCS)

Opened: May 2008

Review

Owner

From before the cbox was taken down, we became aware that the owner of The Oncoming Storm was kind and respects her visitors. The cbox was taken down, as the owner hoped for more comments on posts, and, thankfully, it's working, as most posts get on average 3 comments each. This is satisfying, and shows that people are still sharing interest of talking and commenting on the site. 

Layout

The layout for The Oncoming Storm has an fantastically eye-catching layout. The layout colours have changed quite recently, and now the site looks very professional and fitting. There are various different colours now, ranging from the dark blue background colour and the standing-out white outlines, and so, nothing looks out of place, but looks just right. A visitor could get drawn to the site by just the layout any day!

News Posts

On the main page of the site, the news posts are shown. On average, only one news story is posted a day, so you couldn't say this was a great news site in itself. When they do come out, they are fantastic posts, with a great avatar to the top left of the post, usually not to do with the news story, but appropriate for the post. Bex finds interesting news you would most likely to find enjoyable to read, but a lot of the time there are, at least at this time of year, posts saying that there hasn't been much news today. Even though there may be things, it doesn't matter, as she finds something to post about new features on the site or like, which is great, as the pages are the main part of the site.

Spelling and Grammar

If you were set the challenge of searching through the whole site and its pages to find at least one spelling or grammar mistake, and you could not stop looking until you'd found it, it would take you up to your demise, and then still go on in the next life! Enough said?

Pages

I think this is one of the best blog sites for pages. You can't normally find this many extras, and even been made into the main part of the site! Bex puts so much work into the pages, and it definitely shows. If you ever said that you would be able to get bored with the site, then you must be lying, because there are many things, from information about the owner, characters, quotes and more. Media, with many splendid galleries, banners and wallpapers made by the owner. Another thing is the avatar page, which is not hosted by blogger, in which you can request for an avatar, specially made for you. There are a few great games, where you can enter the monthly caption competition, try to guess who the character is by the clothes they are wearing and which episode a picture is from. There are then bright and interesting episode guides for the complete four series of Doctor Who, which are linked onto pages, with gerat contrasty avatars for each episode. These are linked to all the episodes from that series. The guides themselves give you brilliant information from the episode in an amazing layout. And then there are the fantastic stories, also written especially for the site by the owner. There are four short single stories, which are great if you want a moderately quick read. At the moment a new series of thirteen stories, like a normal series, but with new companion Beth, are being made, and already two parts have been added. These are really long, and loads and loads of work goes into them, and it definitely pays off! I think the stories are the best part of the pages! They are so original, but at the same time quality writing, that should even be made into a short book!

Sidebar

The fantastic layout really helps to give visitors and easy and great way to view information about the site and the pages linked off it. At the top, is the usual warming welcome sign, explaining what the site is dedicated to, which is not hard to work out! Under this are a few pieces of information including the site owner, page hits and when the site opened. There is also a part saying the month's music, which gives you a tune from a Doctor Who soundtrack for the month. Not only that, but there is a player that plays the tune whenever you arrive on the site, to emphasise it, plus to make the site more lively. It then tells you how many people are on the site exactly at the time you are looking, with a clever widget, and it also tells you the most number on the site at one time since the owner has been tracking visitors. Usually there is a poll on various different subjects, which is great, as you can see what people think on a certain topic. After that, and the main part of the sidebar, are the site's pages. These are very clearly marked, easy to access and looks impressive. Each section, Information, Media, Games, Stories, Episodes and TOCS Series 1, are marked with a Doctor Who picture, fitted to the right size, with the name of the section in the bottom left of the image in white. These are quite random pictures. Another way to put it is that they don't have much to do with the section, but that does not matter at all, as it doesn't have to! One thing that I might suggest though is on the series of episodes written by Bex, you might consider putting the ones that have been written, and have links to them, put into a different colour to make them clearer, but, apart from that, marvelous!

Other Features

Banner; The Banner for The Oncoming Storm fits the site nicely, and looks vibrant, so that's good, but I might suggest putting a new one up every so often, and possibly making the logo stand out a bit more, to show exactly what the site is!

The Month's Music; At the bottom of the sidebar is a player which plays the chosen music for the month from a Doctor Who Album.

atts key suggestions

• Change the banner a little more often!
• Possibly news posts more often, and maybe about about merchandise, as there is news out there! I can understand that most work goes into the pages though!

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

Overall

This is an amazing must-visit site! Whether you are a beginner to the world of Doctor Who, or a full-time Who fan, this will be a fantastic reference and information site, but with inspiring stories, fun things to do and great things to look at! You won't get bored by the features and hard-work poured into The Oncoming Storm, with all the regular updates, and great news stories, when they are posted, of course!

Rating:

Word Count: 1192

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

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

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

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:

Word Count: 1030

The Bad Wolf TV

Info

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

Web Host: Blogger

Run by: Blogger Woman

Opened: July 2008

Review

Owner

Apart from in the posts, the owner doesn't get to interact with visitors much. The cbox has recently been taken down, so to try and get more comments on posts. It looks like this isn't working much yet, as not many posts get comments. But in the posts, the words that are used seem to talk to the visitor, which makes them feel welcome to the site. At the moment, the owner cannot here thoughts and comments that visitors may want to share. At the top of the sidebar, though, is a welcome sign, which is also quite warming.

Layout

The layout for The Bad Wolf TV is very colourful and effective. It draws you to the site nicely, and keeps its audience's attention. It is satisfying and simple, but sometimes some of the colours make it hard to read.

News Posts

The news posts are updated quite regularly on the main page. Although, not all news is posted, the owner comes up with a wonderful selection. Most are written in the owner's words and are posted in rich colours. Mostly red and white, and sometimes purple. They are written in such a way that readers feel like the site is talking to them, so attracts the visitors to read them. Most posts are headed with a related picture. Sometimes, the pictures are made by the owner themselves, which look great. Sometimes, however, it is not completely clear what are quotes and what are the owner's words. Despite the fact that the site brings up great posts, I might like to see a little more content. But I might be a little to early to say this, as I'm still not sure whether some things are quotes or not.

Spelling and Grammar

All posts are written in good spelling and grammar. You might have to go a long way to find one major mistake, at least! This makes it easy to read, so it is not too taxing for the reader.

Pages

I have found two pages on the site at the moment. They are and Avatars page and a Wallpapers page. The owner has made all the pictures, and some of them are really good, and quite a lot of effort has gone into making them! It doesn't say whether you can use these or not, but I presume you can if you give credit. Maybe there should be notices on these pages explaining what you can do with them. The pages are linked near enough to the top of the sidebar to see them clearly, under the header, 'The Bad Wolf TV Stuff", so you can access the easily, without too much effort. It would be nice to see a few more pages being made and put on the site, because it has definitely got potential!

Sidebar

There are some good choices of items in The Bad Wolf TV's sidebar. There is one main problem, in which I'll get onto a bit lower down, after I've said what there is. At the top, is the site's Welcome! sign, with a delightful short comment from the owner, aimed towards visitors, to feel appreciated. Under this, which is very helpful, is the owner's email address, which you are able to use for any queries or comments regarding the site. Two gadgets to show how many visitors are online at the present time, and the site's visitor count. Under this are the page links and a comment about the removed cbox. One of the great things on the sidebar is the "Stuff of the Week", which has the character, quote and episode of that week, which is a nice fun thing! There are polls and poll results, as well as recommended websites, Next Time trailers and website awards (which the site has been awarded a lot of. Congratulations!). The main problem, unfortunately, is that, although all the colours are really pretty, and I agree that they are, but some of the colours just make the writing really hard to see on the sidebar. Mainly red and light purple. You have to strain your eyes, or tilt the computer screen to read it properly. I think it is mainly the purple background of the lower part.

Other Features

Banner; The Banner shows all three side to the Whouniverse. It has the Sarah Jane Adventures gang, the Torchwood team, and all the friends from the end of last series of Doctor Who who came back, all in three groups. They are cut out into a black background, which is quite effective! The logo stands out really well, and looks good!

Music Player; At the bottom of the page, there is a music player, so you can listen to Doctor Who-related music to liven your stay, while you look around. You can choose what to listen to.

At the bottom of the page is a picture of various new series characters from Doctor Who, as well as the site's followers. Remember to follow if you want to be up to date with the latest news!

atts key suggestions

• Possibly put the cbox back up, because it is hard to chat on posts!
• Change colours in sidebar, so it's easier to see and read!
• Make quotes in posts more clear.
• More pages?

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

Overall

This is a bright and colourful site with brilliant posts all about latest Doctor Who news. A few things need to be moderated though, and then it will be even better!

Rating:

Word Count: 937

Tardis Newsroom

Info

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

Web Host: Blogger

Run by: Dave (Doctor_No1)

Opened: February 2007

Review

Owner

Unfortunately, the owner of Tardis Newsroom does not get to interact with the site's visitors all that much. I see that the whole point of the site is to give you ALL the latest news that there could be, and it definitely does! This means that, as it is used as a fantastic reference to all things Who, the posts aren't written in the owner's words. I'm not trying to say that they are supposed to be though, as the site wouldn't be what it is. The only communication is the site's cbox, which is well hidden near the bottom of the sidebar. Even that isn't in much use a lot of the time! There wouldn't be much point in commenting on posts though, as there are so many new posts every day. I can see what the owner wants the site to be and it works very well!

Layout

The layout for Tardis Newsroom is a plain blue feel. Nothing too special or fancy, making it nice and easy to understand with no distractions, but could maybe be a bit boring at times.

News Posts

The whole point of the site, I think, is to fill it with as much news and information as possible, becoming a fantastic reference site. I'm am still very puzzled as to where they find all the news! It's amazing! This site has ALL, I mean ALL the news you could ever want! Of course, I don't think you are meant to read the whole of the posts, but are there as a reference, so you can see them, and then know certain amounts about the story. Links are clearly put to the site that it came from, under the main part of the post, so you know where the information is coming from, and can also read it on the main website, which it came from. A lot of the time, there are posts which contain various different stories. Very short, compiled into one post, but with links in them. Also with these, a lot of the time, come clever, witty post titles, like "Last Sontaran, the seeing I, Dalek image winner and another impossible podcast"

Spelling and Grammar

Well, as no posts are written in the owner's words, it's a little hard to talk about this topic, but the other sites, at least, use good spelling and grammar! Well... occasionally, if it's not the Sun!

Pages

The are no pages, at least, for the site, but the owner does run loads of other related sites, which is again, amazing, because of the effort but in! Like Tardis Newsroom, there are spin-off sites, Torchwood Newsroom and Sarah Jane Newsroom, also full with the latest reports. Tardis Scanner seems to be the main one, packed with more than you could ask for! I would recommend having a look! These other links are displayed near to the top of the sidebar.

Sidebar

The sidebar is absolutely crammed with so much news and information about every topic, from Actor to Merchandise, and from other news on other websites, to a review round-up. It's amazing! It's all updated, usually by matters of blogrolls. Plus at the moment on the top, there is a next time feature, showing the trailer for this year's Christmas Special, The Next Doctor, plus a 'Featured Site', that changes regularly. Below that is the archive for the site, but at the moment for me it doesn't seem to work very well, and doesn't go to the page you want!

Other Features

Banner; The Banner at this time in the year changes quite a lot. It often shows promotional pictures, screen captions and other pictures. At the moment it shows one of the classic series versions of the Tardis, with, what looks like to be, an alien planet in the background. The title is always very simple, and has colours that go with the banner at that stage. Unfortunately, though, the title is a bit blurry, so looks slightly untidy.

Next Episode Countdown; There is usually a countdown to the next episode of Doctor Who, under the banner, but not one embedded from another site, so looks professional and great!

Series 4 Poll; At the time of writing, there is a fourth series poll for Doctor Who, and looks very colourful, so remember to vote when visiting!

Tardis Scanner Link; There is a linked picture for their main site, Tardis Scanner.

Tardis Viewscreen; At the bottom of the page is a viewscreen, showing a fun slideshow of merchandise, either out already, or upcoming, with the title of the product

Tardis Webring; Shown at the very bottom of the page.

atts suggestions

• Maybe more interaction with visitors?
• Probably not a new layout, but maybe an update?
• I might suggest moving the cbox further up the sidebar, so more people can see it an comment.
• Nothing much else!

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

Overall

This is an amazing site for what it's trying to achieve, which is loads and loads of news, but maybe not classified as a 'fan site', but more for reference.

The rating is very difficult, as it's different to other fan made sites. For the effort and what it's trying to achieve, a definite 10/10, but does not have the features of a fan site. So, I'm going to give a different rating this time;

Achievement Rating:

Word Count: 918

Doctor Who Fans

Info

Site Address: http://doctorwhofans-drwhomad.blogspot.com/

Web Host: Blogger

Run by: Drwhomad

Opened: 12th August 2008

Review

Owner

The owner of Doctor Who Fans is always attentive on the site's cbox, making visitors feel welcome all the time. They are respectable in all news posts as well, making the site feel warming to guests.

Layout

The layout for Doctor Who Fans has recently been changed and is now delightful to look at. It makes it easy to see what you need to know in a very professional and colourful way, with all the brilliant pictures in the sidebar. The main colour scheme is nice green, with a bit of grey and dark orange.

News Posts

Regularly updates news posts make up the main page of the site. These can be normal Doctor Who related news, or some can be information about the site and its pages. It is all written in the owner's own words and is always understandable, making them enjoyable to read. All posts contain a related picture to attract the viewer to various different pieces of information. Not all news that the Who world spills out is put up, but most main news is.

Spelling and Grammar

All text is written using great English spelling and grammar, finding it very hard to spot just one mistake, throughout the whole site. The text is informative and detailed, making information easy to take in.

Pages

Links can be found to the site's pages in the top of the sidebar, on the right of the site. They are marked clearly, so is not too challenging, hopefully attracting more visitors to the pages. You notice them as soon as you come on, which is great, as they are definitely one of the highlights. Pages avaliable when this is being written are About the Owner, Site Reviewer, Games, Links and Fan Fiction. Unfortunately on these pages, there aren't any pictures or banners, and on the sidebar, there are headings without anything under them, which looks a bit untidy. But I think these might still be moderated. At the moment there is one game, Who Said What?, where you have to guess which character said the quote. There are various different website links in the links page, which would be good to look at, but the Fan Fictions are fantastic. These will keep you occupied for a while reading, because they are very long, which is brilliant! New pages will be put up soon, including Episode Guides to Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Sidebar

There's a nice selection of stuff in the sidebar. At the top you have the Pages clearly marked. The banner has not yet been added to the site, because there has been a little trouble putting it up, so the pictures for the next episodes of Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures gives the site a spot of colour. This gives you the data you need to know, if you've forgotten the next episodes. The blog archive gives you the option to go back and see earlier posts, while there is a gadget to tell you how many people are on the site at the time you are looking at it! You can talk in the cbox to other Whovians and become a follower to check up on new posts!

Other Features

Banner; The Banner at this time is not up yet.

atts suggestions

• Banner needs to be put up
• A little work on the pages to make them look and feel more satisfying, plus maybe the main page?
• More Features on the main page

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

Overall

I think this is a splendid site with strong potential when completely finished. 

Rating:

Word Count: 627

whoviavortex

Info

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

Web Host: Blogger

Run by: Patar

Opened: 3rd May 2008

Review

Owner

The owner of whoviavortex always kind and welcomes visitors, and also chats in the site's cbox. The owner also puts information about the site in the cbox, to inform people of what's to come in the future of the site. They have a welcome sign at the top of the site and the words the owner uses in the posts, always makes the visitor feel as if they are always welcome. Having a great interaction between guests and owner is always great for a site!

Layout

The layout at this time is smart, simple and effective, which makes the website easy to read, so, not distracting visitors or looking messy. The colour scheme is a greeny-blue, and goes well with everything on the site. The banner, posts and pictures on the sidebar make the site colourful and pleasant to look at.

News Posts

The main page of the site is devoted to the latest news surrounding Doctor Who and its spin-offs. It is updated when the owner can, and comes out with delightful posts. Although not all news is posted on the site, much of the main news is quick to be put on, making it a reliable source of top news. The posts are always written in the owner's own words, and when quotes are taken, it is all clearly marked. One suggestion may be that there could be a little more content to the posts.

Spelling and Grammar

All text is mainly written using good English spelling and grammar, finding it quite hard to find a mistake, throughout the whole site. It is also always written in a satisfying, original tone, which does not make it hard to read, so is, therefore, a joy to read.

Pages

Along the sidebar there are many links to other pages of the site, including episode guides and galleries, showing pictures from the last four series of Doctor Who. There are three main pages, apart from the main one; whoviavortextra, Torchwood, Gallery and Fun Box. These are all linked off in all different sorts of ways, although sometimes, not very clear to see on the main page sidebar.

Sidebar

There is lots of information packed into the site's sidebar. At the top, you can see a clever logo, with one half the normal Doctor Who logo, while the other is a silver one, underneath the words 'welcome to whoviavortex'. This works nicely at the top of the page. Under that you can see the next episodes of Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures that will be broadcast, with times and dates. This is great if you can't remember the next time one of them is on! The cbox is kept nicely moderated, with a chat option built in. The owner says hello to new visitors, brings out new site information and chats on it a lot. There is usually a poll running, and site pages are linked. There is a guide to all episodes of Doctor Who, with the whole of Series 4, and a few others with links to complete episode guides. At the bottom is a series of links, categorized under various headings. So there's lots of things to keep you busy here.

Other Features

Banner; The Banner at the time of writing is a fantastic colourful banner, promoting the first episode of the second series of The Sarah Jane Adventures, The Last Sontaran. It has pictures of a new Sontaran, and old one, the SJA logo, a Sontaran battleship and the logo. Although the logo could be made a little bigger for everyone to see what page they're looking at!

Music Player; At the bottom of the page, there is a music player, so you can listen to Doctor Who-related music to liven your stay, while you look around. You can choose what to listen to.

Next Time; There is usually a next time countdown at the top of the page to the start of either the next Doctor Who, Torchwood or The Sarah Jane Adventures.

atts suggestions

• More content to posts
• Posts more often
• Pictures with the next broadcast episodes at the top of the sidebar
• Tidy up site pages, to make them more visible to see on the homepage
• Make the logo on the banner a bit bigger!

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

Overall

I think this is great site if you want the latest top news, with information from the Who-universe, while having a friendly chat and listening to some top music!

Rating:

Word Count: 774