| Heather Rycraft |
|
| Basic Description | |
|---|---|
| Site Name | Council of Elrond |
| URL (make it a link) | www.councilofelrond.com |
| In twenty five words or less, what is the site about? | The site is an information centre for the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as the movie version. |
| Who Is the Audience? | |
| Age | Any, but mainly 13-25 |
| Gender | Any. |
| Special Interests | The Lord of the Rings books, movies and actors. |
| Reason for visiting | To find information on the books or movies. Also for the community aspect. |
| Experienced? Novice? | There are articles for both novice and experienced readers of the trilogy, from the difference between the books and the movies to Elvish lessons. |
| What is the purpose of the site? | |
| What should visitors be able to do after visiting the site that they couldn't do before? | Talk about the characters (and actors) using their proper names, speak Elvish, debate the finer points of the trilogy, have a better knowledge of the people, places and things from the books, not be confused when reading the books. |
| Can they do it? | Yes. |
| The site's contents | |
| Information on site is good? very good? poor? | It is a community site, so any user can submit an article or encyclopedia entry, but anything submitted is edited by the admins, so the overall quality of the information is very good. |
| Does it teach something, entertain, sell something? Does it do something else? | It both teaches and entertains. Although the only people who would be entertained are fans of The Lord of the Rings. |
| Is it professionally written? | Yes. |
| Is it date stamped (so you can tell if it's stale)? | Yes. |
| Are there broken links? | No. |
| Navigation | |
| How easily do visitors get around the site? Any problems? | Very easily with the menus on the left, and the main links across the top. |
| Is there a search function | Yes, but not for the whole site. You can search just the news articles, or just the gallery, or just the forum. |
| Drop down menus? Graphic buttons and text links | Drop down menus and text links. |
| Is there contact information on the site? | Yes. |
| How's the page size? Too long? Too short? | The main page is a bit too long because of all the news articles listed. |
| Visual Impression | |
| Graphics complement text? | Graphics complement the text, and keep the menu and top banner separate from the bulk of the page. |
| Eye candy that distracts? | No. |
| Graphic density: enough, too much, just right? | Just right, it isn't a picture-heavy website unless you're in the photo gallery. |
| Color choice, backgrounds and objects | Very good, the site has about 12 different themes that registered members can choose from, all are cohesive and most are easy to read. |
| Is text readable? | With most of the themes, yes. |
| Rich Media | |
| Used? What for? | No. |
| Used appropriately? | N/A |
| Work as expected? | N/A |
| Necessary to the site? | N/A |
| Speed | |
| How fast does it take to appear? (Try three separate times to compensate for Web traffic.) | Between 5 and 7 seconds. |
| Does the site require plug-ins? | No. |
| In Conclusion | |
| I like or dislike this site because: | I like this site because it has information for those who are new to The Lord of the Rings, but is still interesting for people who grew up with the books. |