Majin Planet

Dranet:Dragon Network

URL: www.dranet.com

Dranet:: Dragons Network is one of my all time favitore Dragonball Z websites. I have been a fan of them for a very long time. I know the webmaster, which is one of the nices guys you will ever meet online. One thing he is not is a fan of anime. He belives that Dragonball Z is not anime but beyond what anime is. The heart of a true fan here and I respect him greatlly for that. This is my updated review of this site as its gone threw some big changes since I last did the review. If you wish to view the old review please check it out here. This review is also the first one to use our new rating system which for websites is base off of 6 sections I review. If your site was reviewed and would like a rereview with the new system please contact me vai e-mail. Thanks.

OK now thats out of the way lets talk more about Dranet. Now the first thing you will see is the layout is very simple, yet it looks really nice and clean. Unlike many sites that try and flash things up with scripts, and big images and flashy effects, here we find none of that other thing your basic news script or PHP mysql content build. Now what I love about this site is the fact on how well put together it is. However with the end of Dragonball Z in the US many sites have had a hard time going on. Many close and open new sites, some contvert their sites to other animes and more. Dranet has done things a bit different so lets get to business.

The Webmaster/Staff: Like I said, this guy is the coolest. If you ever get him online you will find that he’s one of the coolest cats around. About a year ago when I was too a Dragonball Z webmasters he desided to support my site so he linked me. At this time is when we started becoming the best of online friends. From time to time he even took time to help me with sections, gave me feedback and help me out when I need it. He’s one of those rare webmasters who work alone. He does a good job with updating things and has been working hard bring visitors new stuff. He’s taken some hits as of late as his message board DBZGameInfo.com was hacked and then closed down because of a problem with another DBZ site. Overall he’s one of the best webmaster around.

Site Desgin: This layout is one of the best layouts I have seen. It takes me back to the days before images where used a lot a time when it was simple. Today sites like Dranet are full of member scripts, flash templates, big overside images in the layout, a list of affiliation, top sites and network buttons on the menu bar. Bright colors and crazy desgins. Not here. He took the time to make a simple layout and did what most webmasters don’t do - work on the content. I’ll get to that in a minute. I really like how the classic 3 sides are. A menu, a body and then a side bar. Also the layout changes from page to page. From section with more content taking on a more 2 col look. Just a great layout for a great site, no questions on it here.

Graphics: Once again this site out does it self on graphics. The images used for the layout are so good, the images used in news post and in other sections is done wonderfully. Really this site is a work of art. Some times he takes images from other websites owners who allow him to host them on his site. Because his site is a DBZ/Gaming site he as some very rare screenshots from some of the top DBZ games. I really like the way he used the feather filter on some images to make them “fade-into” the background. Now I will give total credit to him for this idea. I never asked him how he did that, but messing around one day in photoshop I found it and well I guess I kinda over used it here huh? Anyway he gets a grade A from me on his graphics.

Desgin Code: I have seen so many good sites out there, but once I few the sites source code.. oh my god what a train reck they are. Here once again he is better then the rest as he is one of the rare webmasters out there who are up-to-date as it comes to HTML standards. Some webmasters don’t understand how your code is can effect the final out come of your layout. Back in the 4.0 years web browser makers added their own HTML tags, which for the most part only worked in that browser. Some gave the same effect but was wrtten different in the other browser or wasn’t even supported. Now I can go on about that, but for dranet.com he used HTML 4.0 Standards his code is nice and clean and easy to read. Nothing really more I can say about it.

Navigation: Very good here, he used a simple side bar listing all the main links to all the main section. He used down to earth names for his links and are very easy to understnad. One thing I get really pissed about are dead links in the naivagtion menu. From time to time I see them here. Some times this is due to a page getting updated (Uploaded) or a server overload. But when you visit a site and see the same link broken week end and week out, thats bad. Not here, all his links are up-to-date and is very easy to make your way around the site with no problems. More webmasters need to follow his lead on this.

Content Quality: Some webmasters will say they have great content and lots of it. Well having a lot of content is great. But when you don’t use propper grammer, or misspell words too much or some sites use internet short-hand (which is like LOL for laughing out loud for those who don’t know). Which is fine but for a web site I think you need to take the time and finish off the word or please use spell check. Dranet has no problem here. He’s a very good writter and I enjoy reading his reviews and news post. If your looking for good overall content, hes your man.

So what can I say about this site? Well besides a few little things that I find to be a problem, the overall rating of this site is a five out of five. He’s a hard working webmaster, hes make a few choices that I would find to be a problem. Like donations, he had up a donations list but it seems to be gone now, so I really don’t know if he still does this. Unlike most he never asked for too much which is a good thing. He updates almost everyday. From time to time there will a few days with no new updates. But when he updates I get some really good DBZ/Gaming news and from time to time other news about other animes. Most of them are from FUNimation which is in fact affilaited with which is unlike other DBZ sites. So if your looking for a simple DBZ fan site to get the latest news, and other good overall content, Dranet:: Dragon Network is your place to be.

Pros:
- Good overall layout desgin
- Great information and news
- Great reviews
- Updated almost daliy
- Cool Webmaster

Cons:
- Has news and content on other animes
- Sometimes hard to contact

Ratings (Overall base on all 6 section)
1. The Webmaster/Staff: 5
2. Site Desgin: 4.5
3. Graphics: 5
4. Desgin Code: 5
5. Navigation: 5
6. Content Quality: 5