I found this link a few days ago. A friend had made a comment about a site requesting membership to her web ring and showed us the link. I had to review it. It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a site that I can’t stand.
It’s an eye-bleeder. There are some elements in there that are really nice, like the title graphics in a lovely cursive-ish font and the text color. Mind you, she used at least two different fonts when one would have sufficed, thus diminishing the value as a “nice” element. Then, of course, there’s the background, which is animated. Animation = evil.

Then there’s that awful flourescent green brick with purple graffiti look. Ugh. It’s awful. Pick a color scheme, all right? There’s also moving fairies. I hate fairies on web pages as decoration already. They’re cliche to the point of nausea. (Right up there with unicorns.) And when those fairies move, I feel that they should be shot. After all, my favorite fairies are Lady Cotterly’s.

Also, on the front page, her links page has a comment about how she’s got so many links on there that it now requires her own page. Psh. 1.) Big deal? Most sites have their offsite links on one page. 2.) It’s not that impressive of a collection. Grr.

Another annoyance: any time you click a link, the URL across the top doesn’t change. I hate that.

In short, this site is a wonderful example of what not to do when designing a web page. What a waste of bandwidth.

The few saving graces that is may have are of questionable copyright, or have been done better somewhere else. In short, I wouldn’t bother with this site unless it was to stop by and give yourself nightmares.

Link: Enchantress Moon’s Grove
Score: 1/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

This is another site that I came across by going through the searches in my log. And you know what? It’s a rather nice site.

I like the fact that it’s a white site. It’s different. It’s clean. It’s highly educational. And it’s a bilingual site, which automatically earns it coolness points.

I’m going to guess that the German side says the same thing, though, since I can’t read a lick of German.
When you go to the site, right across the top, it says “Traditional Wicca does not cost money”. That’s a point that I love to see driven home on the net, especially with this plague of groups that claim they’ll give you initiation into Gardnerian or Alexandrian traditions for a fee.
The “What is Wicca” page is content free at this time, which is disappointing, but happens. Hopfeully, Pandora will find time to update.

The “What is a Coven” page is informative for the seeker. I don’t like the fact that there are links that take you away from the site at the bottom of the page with no indication that they do so mixed in with internal links. The essays linked to (both internal and external) are damned good, though.

The “About Alder Stand” is wonderful. If that doesn’t give a seeker an idea of what’s required for working in a BTW coven, no much will. Still the same issue of some off-site essays, but still educational. Just watch where you click.

Notable Links and Recommended Reading are good stuff. There’s no books on the reading list that I scream in horror over. There are some links on the list that I’ve given glowing reviews here.

The sitemap is a saving point for this one. The navigation isn’t too greatly planned, so the sitemap will take you to all those places that you wouldn’t get to from the navigation at the bottom of the page. (I don’t care for relying on sitemaps for navigation, though. I have my sitemap so search engines will hit every page. They only crawl so deep, you know.)

All in all, a good place to learn about BTW.

Link: AlderStand
Score: 8/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

Here’s another site that I decided to review by looking through the logs. It came from the webmistress’s region, so I’m guessing that she wants one done. Or maybe I’m being egotistical. Whatever. Either way, the logs are my friend.
I have to give Arwen Nightstar, the webmistress, credit: she’s put together a beautiful site. While I don’t normally like sites that use different backgrounds, the way that she’s done it is wonderful. Instead of doing a single background for the whole site or a different background for every page, her backgrounds are different for each section. And each background is absolutely lovely.

The only thing that I don’t care for about the first page is that the top link sends you to another domain.

That said…

Stir the Cauldron is beautiful to look at. The only things that I don’t like are the scrolling text under the title image and the Comic Sans font. What’s good here? Her bio is wonderfully written, and it has some lessons for seekers about covenlife. (I miss the beautiful background, though. Too bad it’s not here!) The pictures that she has up shows a normal person, not someone trying to look ooky-spooky. She presents herself as a real person. I don’t care for the fact that the more in-depth site map to go to the different sections is in the Caudron section, rather than on the front page. To be honest, I think that the Cauldron page would make a wonderful home page for Anisoptera.

Or maybe not, because it is a bit on the long side for a home page.

The Pagan Table section is warm and welcoming, and absolutely beautiful. It also has some of Arwen’s yummy recipes.
Arwen’s Grimoire is just wonderful. There’s great information throughout. Her reading list is great. The only beef that I have with that is, while she’s right about Gimbutas being important to read, she doesn’t mention that Gimbutas’ theories have largely been debunked. That doesn’t, however, make them any less influential to modern pagan practices. Her tarot section is absolutely incredible. (I suck at tarot, and I learned quite a bit while there.)

Some of the navigation was inconvenient to me, as it’s not consistent throughout the site. That’s pretty much the biggest complaint that I have. It’s still possible to get in and out and move around rather easily, though.

There’s lots and lots of other cool stuff, including free email addresses and a mailing list. Stop by Anisoptera and see what cool things you can learn.

Link: Anisoptera
Score: 8/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

Let’s start with “it’s pretty”. It’s all brown and earthy, which is different. It’s got a lovely textured background and the colors go so nicely together. It’s in comic sans font, which I think is the most hideous of all common fonts used on the web.

The site uses frames, which, for once, don’t offend me. It’s actually kind of pretty the way it’s set up. However, because of the way that it’s set up, frames are completely unnecessary. The same effect could be reached by using tables to code, or (even better) CSS. The main beef I have with frames in this site is that I hate not knowing where I am in the URL. I like to be able to link my friends to specific pages, and frames take that away.

The site started losing me once I got a little further in. The “Way of Woman” link just really lost me. It starts out with this quote which just completely didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t even realize that it was a quote, at first. I thought I wandered into someone’s blog by mistake. Then the attempt to tie the quote in with the site just… lost me.

Note: when using a quote, it should be relatively obvious why you’re using it. I mean, I shouldn’t have to sit back for five minutes and try to figure out why the hell you used that quote to begin with. (Thinking on the quote itself is cool. Wondering the reason behind it or what that quote has to do with the price of tea in China is not.)

The seven-fold path is cute. It’s rather cliche, and the writing is rather…. Well, very Starhawk-ish/ Z. Budhapest-esque. It seems rather pretentious to me. And the text is too squished together. A little space between the paragraphs goes a long way. And apparently, 7-fold-1 and 7-fold-2 are the same. Blah.

The cycles page has a rather pretty graphic that almost fits in with the look of the site, along with some coding errors in the text. The text on earth cycles and seasons are just too difficult to read. It’s too small and too jumbled together. (Of course, I also work on a higher than normal resolution, and the text size can be made larger in the edit menu on Mozilla Firefox. The same probably holds true on Internet Explorer and other browsers.) Moon time, however, I rather like, in spite of the lack of spacing between the paragraphs. It’s a nice attempt at helping us view our mentrual cycles as a good thing, rather than that pain in the ass event that occurs once a month.

It’s an interesting look at women’s spirituality. It’s a nicely put together site. If you’re looking for something that empowers women to be women, rather than trying to act like a man in order to compete in a “man’s world”, then this is the site for you. If feminism of any sort doesn’t appeal, then this site probably won’t appeal, either.

Link: WomanWay
Score: 7/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

First of all, this is a huge site. I don’t think it’s possible to read every single bit of content on this site in a day, so I’ll comment on what I’ve seen.

There’s a lot on this site that’s outside my scope of knowledge, so I’m not willing to rate it based on the veracity of claims that I know little/nothing about. So, I’ll pick what I do know about, and hope that y’all will add your own commentary about the areas that I can’t say much about.

First off, let’s go with the look itself. This site just looks neat. I like the blues. It’s easy to read. It’s easy to get around. I don’t care for the text block size; I think it should fill the browser of a maximized 800*600 browser. That’s just a personal preference, though.

I love the warning not to rip off her stuff on the first page. It would be nice if there was a “this is what will happen”, rather than a vague “you’ll be sorry”. Nothing like visiting a witch’s web site and seeing some sort of a threat, even if that threat doesn’t apply to you. I find it kind of off-putting, personally, and I’m rather militant about copyright infringement.

There’s a mailing list, a message board (quiet right now, but probably because it’s a pretty new thing for them… message boards are hard to get going, IME), and a water witch web ring.

Then, there’s the articles. Lots and lots of articles. I’ve seen none of these articles anywhere else, which is just really cool. Original work is always A Very Good Thing on a web site.

The “Introduction” link in the drop-down navigation menu doesn’t work; it actually gives a very odd error. But the Sea Witch link below does, and it’s a very nice description of a more balanced path. It seems that “weather witch” might also be an adequate description of the path. The Charge of the Sea Goddess is a charming piece.

The “Getting Started” and the “Elements” sections are pretty much the same type of material that you’d find on your basic Wicca 101 site. It’s concise and well-written, though.

Down in the Witchcraft area, there are a variety of articles. The article on traditions is great. It’s sound in common sense. The British Traditional page is, in my opinion, severely lacking and riddled with misinformation. The poor quality of this really drags down the tone and the credibility of the site.

The Life as a Witch section, however, is a must-read for any beginner. Again, it’s filled with common sense suggestions, which is very important for new seekers. The recommended reading sections throughout are also rather good. I even agree with a lot of the recommendations, which is almost unheard of.

By and large, it’s a site worth the visit. Especially for the beginner.

Link: SeaWitch
Score: 8/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus

Um, right. The first thing that I see on this page is “Anyone can visit and read this web site. ” Of course anyone can visit and read the site. It’s open to the public. You don’t have to pay to get in there. You don’t have to have a password. So, to say that anyone can visit seems a bit silly to me.

There’s a lot on this site. Unfortunately, most of it is on the first page. To me, this is a bad idea. The first page of your site should be like the cover of a book. Something nice to look at, something to give you a hint at what it’s all about. The first page of your site shouldn’t be the meat.

Unless, of course, you’re producing a one-page site.

Most of what’s on here is pretty good for the beginner. It’s a bit fluffy (but most truly beginner sites are), and it manages to be for teens without talking to them like they are stupid. The background is kind of icky, but I suspect that’s an attempt to make the pages load faster. The navigation is kind of a nightmare.

All in all, it’s a good site, just a pain to get around with shoddy navigation and a front page that never seems to end. If the navigation were better, it would have gotten a higher rating.

Link: Teen Witch
Score: 5/10
Reviewed by Enyo Perseus