Amongst the plethora of internet magazines currently available Internet Works is slightly different. It’s subtitled “making the internet work for your business”, and is biased towards the business user.
This means you won’t get any of the “hidden camera” type reviews so common to other magazines, but instead articles on web statistics, banner advertising and the much-touted “e-commerce”.
IW has a down to earth editorial technique and a suitably cynical stance on many of today’s internet technologies. This is the magazine to buy to cure you if you believe every bit of hype thrown your way. The news sections are up to date and well written, encompassing such stories as the Norweb experiment into faster internet connections via the mains supply. There are software and hardware reviews as well as a “makeover” section where various well-known companies redo existing sites: IW got our own MediaTel Interactive to do a redesign job on their own website.
Features in this issue include the excellent “12 steps to net profit”, which takes the reader step-by-step through the process of getting their website online. This is a great piece, and offers real insight from writers who obviously know their stuff.
The cover CD-ROM disregards conventional interface design to use a web format, accesible through your browser – disconcerting at first, but actually making perfect sense for a magazine like this. The PC I tested this on threw up an error message and gave up, but it was fine on the Mac. The CD contains some useful software demos such as the inceasingly popular Flash 2, and a website software chooser for the user.
Lastly, the much-vaunted front end for the useful IW website (utilising Flash), appeared to have been stripped as this was written, leaving the site pretty starved for a front end. Still, it never worked on Netscape anyway.
Internet Works is a good addition to the crowded net magazine marketplace, and should find a decent-sized niche amongst the more serious reader.
The magazine has an ad-ed ratio of 31:69 and host ads from Computer Arts, Global Internet and the ubiquitous Microsoft.
