Mac Musings

Rest of the Mac Web

Daniel Knight - 2001.04.09 -

Last Wednesday, we launched the Best of the Mac Web survey. We asked your feedback on 40 of the top Mac-related sites, Apple and rumor sites excluded. We also excluded retail sites and OS X sites, the first deliberately and the second because they're all so new.

The goal of the survey was to find out how aware y'all are of the various sites and what you think of those you've visited. We hope to publish those results on Thursday.

We also asked for feedback, especially on sites we may have missed. We were deluged - and half the requests mentioned Mac Evangelist. My bad. Mac Evangelist and a few other sites were added first thing Thursday.

The Rest of the Mac Web

We had to be selective. SiteLink lists nearly 200 Mac-related sites. Other link sites (another category we ignored) list even more. But we tried to pick out the top 40-50 sites that we figured most people would have heard of.

Frankly, several of the sites we listed were ones I'm not familiar with. I don't frequent the gamer sites or the software update sites, but I know they are popular categories. Thanks to the listing on SiteLink and feedback from Bryan Chaffin at The Mac Observer, we started out with a pretty rounded list.

But readers let me know who we'd missed. Here are some of the sites they suggested - and some may appear the next time we run a Best of the Mac Web survey.

The Ezines

It used to be easy to classify ezines: They came out every month or so, and you had to download a stuffed DocMaker, PDF, or other file before you could read it. The Web changed everything, especially ezines. Some remain monthly, some still have a non-Web emphasis, but most are Web sites that distinguish themselves with monthly - not daily or weekly - updates.

1984 Online

The UK's "premiere independent Macintosh e-zine," 1984 Online combines a PDF ezine with regular Web content.

ATPM (About This Particular Macintosh)

ATPM retains the monthly focus like a magazine, comes in three different downloadable versions, and also publishes articles on the Web.

MacNow

MacNow is a monthly ezine. The most recent issue is from February 2001.

Mac OS Journal

Another monthly ezine, MOSJ tends to come out toward the middle of the month.

MyMac.com

Formerly My Mac Magazine and appearing monthly, MyMac is now updated once or twice a week.

The Software Sites

Aquafiles

This one could be listed as a software site or an OS X site. Aquafiles tracks software specifically for Mac OS X.

Mac OS Archives

Looking for software? Mac OS Archives has lots of shareware and freeware available for download.

MacShare.com

Another place to find and download freeware and shareware.

The X-Sites

Apple Onlooker

Apple Onlooker appears to be a new site with a focus on OS X.

MacOSX.com

Mac OS X forum central.

Mac OS X.org

Another OS X site with lots of forums.

mac os Xcentric

Mac OS X headline news.

OS X Talk

Based on Slash, OS X Talk works like Slashdot and provides one more place for OS X users to get news and discuss things.

The Rest of Them

Applefritter

A very cool niche site, Applefritter looks at prototypes, hacks, and other obscure Apple hardware. Our favorites are the Compubrick series and hacks. Tom Owad has been running Applefritter since July 1999.

Apple History

If you're interested in Apple history, this is the site for you. Glen Sanford has been running Apple History since 1986, and in addition to a good history of Apple Computer, the site has profiles of every Apple model.

The site has an Aqua look and is available in German, Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish translations.

EveryMac.com

If I'd found this site in early 1997, Low End Mac might not exist. EveryMac has profiles of every Mac and clone made. You'll find the same kind of technical specs available on LEM or the Apple Spec Database in a very convenient layout.

GraphicPower

I'll admit, it's hard not to like a site that references Max Headroom (see 20 Minutes into the Future), a look at a dystopian future dominated by network television and Microsoft. GraphicPower has been around since 1998.

The site has been getting some links recently for "OS X Sucks" articles. We'll be watching to see where things go.

The Mac 512

This is what you call a wonderful niche site with a strong focus on the old compact Macs. Until recently, mac512k.com was one of the few places you could find ancient Mac system software on the Web. (For more on that issue, read Passing of a Free OS.)

G. Younk has been running the site and user group since 1998.

MacCreator

Eolake Stobblehouse says his site, which is about creative use of the Mac, is "a little dormant at the moment." That's probably because he's busy writing for several other sites. Does the site have a future? Time will tell.

Mac Night Owl

Gene Steinberg's excellent Mac Night Owl should have made the original list. It was a Homer Simpson "Doh!" moment when Gene sent me a note reminding me about his site.

Mac OS Zone.com

An old friend that's morphed a lot over the years. The new look is very clean and very blue. Of course, you expect a nice interface from a site dealing with interface.

MacUnlimited.com

Mac news, reviews, interviews, analysis, and more from the UK.

PriceMac.com

Comparison shopping (think MySimon.com) especially for the Mac user. The site appears to be quite new. It's certainly new to us, but worth a visit next time we're ready to spend some money.

Secure Mac

Would you believe we had a hard time accessing Secure Mac? Once we connected, we found a site dedicated to Mac OS security issues.

Utterer.com

It's hard to describe Utterer.com - maybe as an irreverent Mac gaming site? The reader who suggested it says it's a great place to start the day.

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That's another 20 or so Mac sites for you to check out. You might find yourself adding some to your daily, weekly, or monthly surfing schedule.

We don't know if any of these will make the cut for our next online survey (tentatively scheduled for six months from now), but there's some neat content out there - whether the site is hugely popular or not.