A different outlook on the 'net (.net)

Member Name: Stalin

Product:	.net
Date:	09/07/01 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Range of content, Humour

Disadvantages: Nothing super-advanced/super-basi c

When you first look at .net, you would be forgiven for wondering what on earth it was. OK so the title lets you know that it is something to do with the Internet, but beyond that it's not clear. Take last month's issue for example. The cover story is about how to increase traffic to your website. "ah" you think. "It's for webmasters". But allow your eyes to stroll down the page, and you will see various everyday articles such as an instant messaging supertest. It gets even more confusing if you look at this month's edition. With the words "The Sex Issue" printed boldly on the cover, you might be thinking "A smutty soft porn mag masquerading as an Internet publication.

So what is it? Well, I think it is closer to the former description I used. It's articles cover various 'net related content. It has the usual sections: news, reviews, previews, letters and editorials. By far the biggest section, however, is the tutorials. This mag is really about improving your skills. Articles include the technical side of things, such as coding in ASP etc. as well as design and content help. In terms of difficulty, articles range from intermediate to advanced level, with nothing too simple or too complicated. They are generally informative and well written, as you would expect.

However, there is another side to .net, and that is it's humour. There is a certain attitude running through the whole mag that gives it a very light hearted feel. Articles start with lengthly introductions, often about seemingly irrelevent topics, but it's all done to make you smile. Refering back to that article on improving your visitor count, one of the strategies they attempted was standing in London with a placard. Not exactly traditional advertising. You might expect that "The Sex Issue" would have an 18 rating and be stored away on the top shelf. However, because they approached the topic in such good humour
as they did, this didn't happen.

This mag does indeed cover 'net issues. However, it is far from the sterile state that most similar publications are in. It really has a grasp on reality, it knows that even the most dedicated of webmasters wouldn't want to sit through page after page of dull tutorial. The range of content is unmatched, often with a bit of celebraty news thrown in too. It is unique in every sense of the word.

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