Barrett Johnson

The following is an analysis of a web page entitled Medieval Ages. The URL for the site is http://www.outlawnet.com/~troyboy/welcome.htm. The criteria I am using in analyzing this site is content, interest level, organization, and validity.

The web page is both an informative and factual one. It gives a concise, and yet brief, overview of the Medieval Ages. The text is pleasing to the eye and easy to read and understand. [<=The sidebar running through the right hand side of the text didn’t cause you problems?] The sentences are grammatically correct [<=I think you need to assess this more carefully.] and there are very few misspelled words. [comma splice=>The page is not dated, however, I believe it to be a fairly recent], within the past ten years, work[<=base on…?]. There is also no revision date, which may or may not matter. This is important because there is a lot of information that could have changed or there could have been new findings. At the same time, this information could be the same since the [Don’t emulate your site’s mistake. This is a misnomer; “medieval period” or Middle Ages is more apt=>Medieval Ages] did occur so long ago. This is one of the few flaws that I discovered while analyzing this site.

Three college students designed this site. Their names are Kris Clark, Troy Moore, and Jon Bird. They have no stated qualifications, but demonstrate an enthusiasm and desire to learn about this period. I believe them to be credible[comma] however[comma] based on the many encyclopedias and books that they site as resources. They give an e-mail address for contacting them with any questions or comments that may arise. The authors are not affiliated with any organizations, and therefore[no comma=>], have no links referencing them. However, they do list a few other links to pages that they have written and designed.

The site targets anyone interested in learning about the Medieval Ages. The focus is mainly that of the history, war, and architecture of this period. The site [rework=>is not too in depth as to make it boring], but gives a good overview of the above aspects. There is a timeline that gives an overview of many important events and people that came from the Medieval Ages. This timeline points out [^only] the most important events that occurred[<=what is the criteria for assessing this?, which could limit the site’s effectiveness for some readers. The site also has information on many aspects of war, including castles, weapons, and tactics. There is an overview of the periods of history involved, divided into early, high, and late Medieval Ages. The site also touches upon the architecture of this time. There is a detailed explanation and illustrations for both the Gothic and Romanesque forms of architecture. These are the areas that the site covers, which may be inhibiting when covering other events and aspects of the Medieval Ages. This fact is the only other downfall that I was able to find on this web page.

The site has no “dead links” that I came across. All of the links worked and there were many supporting links that led to an array of different sources used in constructing this site. Many of the links are from universities, including The Labyrinth from Georgetown, and also quite a few organizations. This fact aids the site’s credibility and leads me to believe that this site could be of use to our class when we start working on group projects.