The well-built Sailoruranus shrines
are not at all ubiquitous, and since some pages like Initial U, World Shaking!,
Turbulence, and the lesser-known Violent Winds have established their policies
of either closing down completely or not updating much anymore, it wouldn't
at all hurt if another quality page pops up to record and explore the life
and powers of great soldier of the wind. This newer page entitled
Wind Spirit is one of those pages that shows that attractive and informative
shrine pages have not completely died out. In terms of both graphics and
text, the layout scheme sets the mood for the character; there's an ethereal
and celestial feel throughout, but that is no doubt due to the seemingly
intentional faded title-text, the large open white spaces, and the light
blue colour found throught the page. Indeed, setting the right kind of
mood for a page does make a lasting impression for you visitors. The page
has been getting some attention lately, receiving a fairly good review
at the Small Lady. It would be at this point pertinent to mention some
of the reasons why it can be considered not only a reliable source for
Sailoruranus and Tenoh Haruka information, but also a fun and interesting
alternative to some of the other pages out there.
Immediately within the page, the
author begins presenting the usual statistics for the Tenoh Haruka, along
with his or her own opinion of the character. Because of the redundancy
of basic information all over on the Net, the writing of an individual's
own unique set of thoughts for a shrine page is highly encouraged nowadays.
The "stupid rumours" area skillfully sets a lot of so-called "facts," ones
that have been formulated by S.O.S. and other such sources, straight. Kudos
to the webmaster. Wind Spirit also offers the usual sections like the voice
actress and seiyuu section and the fun YKYLTMSUW section. One interesting
and slightly original feature the visitor should make an effort to explore
is the "Mirror," where the webmaster exhibits characters from other series
who share specific traits with Haruka. The "Put a Haruka in your computer
" has some cute and well-prepared wallpapers and other goodies for any
Sailoruranus fan.
Though Wind Spirit does have its
strong points, the author might want to work on some of the writing and
layout features. Some of the pages often come off as rather hollow and
empty; the light blue used in tables can appear to be like islands in a
vast and desolate see of white. The present background might better off
be replaced with a different shade of colour such as a light or medium
grey. A cleverly rendered background image or two on some or all of the
pages wouldn't at all hurt, either. The author possesses an enthusiastic
and competent writing style, but sometimes the language is a little difficult
to follow. The wording also tends to call to the author for the use of
better sentence variety. For instance, the sentensce "Thus, Michiru sometimes
has to retain her to prevent her from saving the victim-of-the-day 'before'
their heart crystal had been extracted" has the potential for bringing
in some confusion onto the reader. Did the author intend to say the word
"restrain" instead of "retain,"
by any chance?
It's a little unfortunate to mention
that there only two types of text featured within this shrine: the regular
Times New Roman for the actual content and the stylish and quirky blue
text seen on the title images at the top of every page. There is nothing
wrong with this, but the lack of font variety may breed monotony in the
future. There is no special requirement for the Arial and Verdana font
styles, but they do make things rather neat and tidy on pages like this.
Furthermore, setting the text slightly smaller wouldn't be a bad idea.
Some sections also require a bit of scrolling, and smaller text with multiple
html documents per section could help in the organization department. There
aren't any large images on many of the pages, so multiple documents may
not be needed anyway.
In summary, this Sailoruranus shrine
has lots to offer: information, opinions, and fun things to do. It's
very nice to see a nice and new shrine to the character after seeing so
many other ones like it go down. Hopefully, Wind Spirit will help keep
the Sailoruranus spirit alive with its interesting information and nice
graphics. There is nothing much wrong with the page at all, and it can
stand some cleaning up here and there. It's no doubt one of the best shrines
to Haruka out there and it shows lots of potential. |