Want to get ACTIVE? (WebActive - Magazine)

Member Name: brianlfc

Product:	WebActive - Magazine
Date:	12/08/01 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap and Cheerful, Lots of Simple to understand info

Disadvantages: none

Having mistakenly took the magazine called “WebUser” as by the publishers of “Computer Active”, who are VNU Business publications, I have now come across the REAL Internet related magazine from this company, the magazine is called “Web Active”.

So now I’ve cleared that bit of useless information up, I’ll get on to reviewing the magazine. Having heard of this magazine, but never seen it on the shelves of any shops (there are actually one or two people writing into the letters page complaining of its unavailability), I was eager to see what all the fuss was about.

Whilst out shopping the other day, I came across it, so I bought it, after all, at 75 pence, its not going to burst anyone’s bank, is it?

So what’s the magazine like?

Well, it’s like a thing, with lots of pieces of paper and writing on, <snigger>. No seriously, if you have, in the past, read Computer Active, you’ll know what to expect, yes, a no-nonsense magazine, that doesn’t give you a load of bull and is a very easy read, you don’t get the usual disks full of old and out-dated software, to which you do on most other Computer magazines, just a simple magazine, well not actually simple, but you know what I mean, I will run you through the main parts of the magazine.

News-file: Yes, this is your norm for Computer magazines, its just basically a few pages telling you about all the latest news and information regarding various things like, the latest innovations on Internet use, they also mention one or two, non-Internet topics, but as you can expect, a very easy read, and no useless dribble and hard to understand jargon.

Top 10 sites: This is a regular feature, and what it includes is, they choose a subject, i.e. Comedy, Sports, etc, they then give you a rundown of their choice of their top 10 web sites, under these categories, as well as the address for the web site and
a very quick description.

Surfs up: This is just a simple “send us your favourite web sites, and we’ll publish you in the magazine” section, yes, you guessed, what you do is, send them your name and address, and a bit of information on your favourite web sites and why you like them, if you are chosen, you get your ugly mush in the magazine and you chance of 5 minutes of fame.

Security: This has got to be the most important aspect of the Internet and its usage, security, as there are that many hackers, viruses and general nasty things/people out there nowadays, that you must make sure your computer is well-guarded, in this section, there is a complete run-down of all the needs and useful information needed, to help you secure your Internet usage.

One thing I read in this section, that I never knew was, you know when you are making a transaction over the Internet? Well, if you want to make sure the link is secure, take a look at the web address, it should start off with the letters https rather than the normal http, very interesting and something I never knew.

Site-Seeing: In this section, it’s just a case of different web pages to visit, for different topics, i.e. Hobbies, Downloads, Motoring, etc, you are given a pretty in depth write-up regarding the various sites, as well as giving you a rating for each one.

Cyber Celeb: Each month, a certain celebrity is chosen, and they go on to review various resources and web sites, that can be found regarding this certain person, this months celebrity is, Steven Spielberg.

Workshops: This is something you’d expect from the publishers of Computer Active, as their workshops are the mainstay of their magazines, what they include is, a very useful section, where they aid any newcomer or even the odd seasoned Internet/Computer user on certain subjects, things like “How to play games online” and “How to attach files to your Emails
”, I think you catch my drift.

Search Engine: Similar to several of the before-mentioned sections, this is just a review of certain sites, about a certain topic, they reckon each month, they just type in a certain word, i.e. Gardening (this months topic) and hit the return key, they then go on to review any sites that are returned, giving them a rating and write-up.

Online Gaming: This is basically a section where they review and try to aid you on all aspects of online gaming, in its various forms.

Readers Home pages: This is where you send in your web page address’s and hope you are chosen to get your web page reviewed, wow, imagine all that free publicity, it would be the equivalent of being the top rated site in the major Search Engines, and at no cost whatsoever.

Letters Page: err, well, a load of letters from readers on a page, well, what more can I say about a bloody letters page? Apart from, err, they can’t reply to your letters personally, but will help you out, should your letter get printed.

Q&A: Questions and Answers, yes, a section where they answer yours and other reader’s questions, and give you some sound advice on various problems you may or may have encountered regarding Internet usage.

Summary: Oh well, as you can probably make out from my review, “Web Active” is a very useful addition to anyone’s magazine rack, and at a measly 75 pence, is not too dear, the only thing I have to gripe about is, there are quite a few different web based magazines out there, and there is only so much you can write about Internet usage, so you find each magazine is virtually the same as the other, although, up to now, I’d say Web Active is the better of the three I have read, hence my recommendation.

Summary: