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Review
Page: A
Tribute To Kurt Cobain
Reviewer: Robert Brooks
Date: Jan. 22, 1999
Introduction
Every once in in a while, or I should say quite often, we come across a page in which we think it is good, only to find that it was updated a long time ago. Does this give you a reason to leave the page? In a sense, yes. We can never be sure why a page was never updated.
Graphics
Judging from the graphics on this site, it seems that the page has done a rather good job with the graphics. There are no major problems using either browsers, although the site recommends Netscape Navigator. There are several componets in the interface: the image map to the left is a neat feature on the page. On either browser, you can move your cursor over a link and it would highlight. Each image has a "fading" shade to it.
The Page
In this History section, there is an article about Kurt's life. Including his days in Aberdeen, Wash. However the article itself has several misconceptions that were brought to my attention almost immediatly. For example, were Kurt and Courtney married on January 24, 1992? In addition, the article does not seem to have a definite finish to it.
Most pages have a lyrics section of some sort. This page is included as one of those pages. It contains all of the albums but not b-sides and rare songs. When you click on an album cover, you get the lyrics. Nothing fancy at all. The album covers are aligned neatly horizontally.
The same layout in the lyrics section is applied to the tabs also. There is a difference. This time it does offer anchors, each one listed by the track it appears on the album.
The gallery section is divided up into the following areas, including a description and number of pictures available, and any other comments:
Portraits: Containing ten pictures of Kurt. The pictures are in a table, all in thumbnail.
Guitars: A little more than its prodecessor, containing seventeen pictures. The same setup in the tables applies.
Nirvana: Consists of seven pictures.
Miscellaneous: Consists of seven pictures.
As you can probably tell, I am quite dissapointed with this section. It could have put in a lot more effort than it had. If you can not do a lot of one thing for your page, it is better to not do it at all. Unless you try to improve.
In the video section, you will find nothing spectacular. The only clips it has are:
An interview.
Heart-shaped Box from the '93 SNL appearance.
Aneurysm in São Paulo in 1993.
'School' from the 1991 Reading Festival.
Solo from 'About A Girl' in the 10/31/91 show.
In a completely different and seperate section, there are some rare lyrics on this page. The links section is small and probably outdated. For those of you who like to look at guitar tabs, there is a program from this page you can download that can help you exchange tabs and many other things, the page also offers a screenshot of the program itself.
Connection
About the test:
Both browsers were closed during the test.
Internet Explorer was opened and tested, Netscape was tested after.
Address for the main page, or page that consists of contents, or the page that was viewed in the screenshot was pasted in the testing browser.
Time was ended when the icon in the top right hand corner stopped.
Internet Explorer: 31 sec.
Netscape Navigator: 07 sec.Netscape did a terrific job loading, beating Internet Explorer 3x the time to download. So now I can see why the recommended Netscape after all. :)
The connection test was done on a 56k Winmodem connected at 42,666 bps. Remember download times will vary depending on your modem speed, browser, server of the page, telephone line activity, and your internet service provide (ISP). This will not guarantee that the page will download at the same rate on your computer as it does mine, this is just an estimate.
Conclusion
A very simplified page. A little old and outdated. However the page was way ahead of its game when it was last updated in 1997. This gives a perfect example of how a good site can just fall and be forgotten.
A Tribute To Kurt Cobain is authored by barfasta@online.no and is hosted by Scandinavia Online.
Nirvana In Nirvana © 1998-1999
