My first impressions of the site were not accurate. A picture of a baby and a title that appeared to be a play on words, which I couldn’t fathom. An orange and yellow template, (the colour scheme did nothing for me). A personal web log? No. The site is techie site.
AWesome is a clever title. The site concerns Active Words software. It is authored by Marjolein Hoekstra who has decided to share tricks, tips and undocumented features of the software with us.
The design is straight forward. The top line contains a home page icon, and links to an about me section, and links to the software’s site and a community forum concerning the software. The about me section is informative, contains a mission statement for the web log and contains some random family snaps. There are two side panels, left and right. There are links to previous posts, Active Words software related sites and downloads, a search engine, and a Yahoo messenger online indicator to initiate instant messaging. Navigating the site is easy and all the links are functional. The only draw back for me would be that the page is a little cluttered, but not badly so.
I watched a live demo, Basic ActiveWords Functionality, http://www.activewords.com/demos.html in order to get a feel for the software. I haven’t used the software nor am I familiar with scripting. However I now understand that the software uses text as commands to… launch programs, open files, open folders, substitute text, navigate to web sites, send e-mail messages, and execute commands. Very nifty.
The main posts contain technical information about using the software and links to other helpful information. The site has been up and running since March 20th 2004 and Marjolein has posted 32 times with different slants on the software. They are categorised into amongst others; ‘tips and tricks’, ‘beginners’, ‘active words website’, ‘weblogs’, ‘promotion’, and ‘blogging tools.’ The posts are very well written and contain screen shots to help the reader understand the process being described. I am a reasonably skilled PC user and found the articles easy to follow.
I tried to download one of the WordBases, but the file extension conflicted with a Real Player wide band content file type. The download worked though.
The target audience for this site would be users of the Active Words software. It appears to be a useful site, which is well written and presented. Marjolein is enthusiastic and committed to her project. I feel it is worth a four out of five.
AWesome