The iBook & PowerBook Page is just a bit player in the realm
of PowerBook sites. We have a few editorials, but mostly we gather
links to articles of interest to PowerBook and iBook owners
elsewhere on the web.
O'Grady's PowerPage (begun 1995)
O'Grady's
PowerPage, part of Go2Mac.com, has a very attractive, fast
loading home page featuring the ten most recent site articles.
Begun by Jason O'Grady in 1995 to cover the PowerBook 5300, it's
one of the few Mac-centric sites to bear it's founder's name. The
site is displayed using Verdana (when available), one of the best
web fonts available, at one size smaller than whatever is normal in
your browser. Should that be too small, you can increase size in
Internet Explorer or iCab.
O'Grady's is first and foremost a news site with a lot of brief
stories about Apple, PowerBooks, iBooks, and related technologies.
Readers are given the opportunity to provide feedback on each
article.
PowerBook Central (1996)
PowerBook Central
won't win any awards for flash. The home page uses a very subdued
color scheme in a three-column format. Text is one size smaller
than your browser's default, but you can increase that in Internet
Explorer or iCab. PowerBook Central will display in the very
legible Verdana font if it's installed on your computer.
The home page is extra-wide, probably optimized for a
full-screen 800 x 600 browsing experience (I prefer to surf with a
half-screen browser window, which is about 640 pixels wide on my
21" screen).
The best reason to visit PowerBook Central is for current
pricing. The site has PowerBook and iBook price trackers that are
updated regularly. In fact, most of the site content is
deal-related: bargains on refurbished and discontinued models make
up the bulk of the site's content.
The PowerBook Source (1997)
The PowerBook Source (PBS) has a very clean one-column design
containing news for the past three days. It loads quickly and is
easy to read. PBS will display in your default font and size. Those
using Internet Explorer or iCab will be able to resize type if
necessary.
PBS has a forum and helpful price guides for memory, batteries,
and cases.
If you're looking for one PowerBook site to visit daily,
choosing between PBS and O'Grady's won't be easy. They are simply
the best PowerBook sites on the Web.
The PowerBook Zone (1998)
The PowerBook Zone (PB
Zone) has a nice, fast-loading design and is updated regularly. The
page design is probably optimized for an 800 x 600 screen, since the
navigation bar on the right is hidden with my browser window at
about 640 pixels wide (half the width of a 1280 x 960 monitor). The
site uses your default font at normal size. Text can be made larger
or smaller in Internet Explorer and iCab.
PB Zone does a good job tracking current PowerBook and iBook
issues, regularly including reader feedback on the home page. The
site also has forums.
iBook Zone (1999)
iBook Zone is the oldest
site dedicated to the iBook, started on July 21, 1999. The home
page is an attractive single-column design that loads fairly
quickly and uses an easy-on-the-eyes shade of blue for accent.
Text will be displayed in your default font and size; it can
also be made larger or smaller with the Larger and Smaller buttons
in Internet Explorer and iCab.
iBook Zone is updated irregularly, usually one to three times
per week. There's not a lot of content, but what's there is worth
knowing.
iBook2Day (1999)
iBook2Day is a
subsite of iMac2Day, one of the earliest iMac sites. The home page
has an attractive, fast loading design with a blueberry accent.
Text is displayed in Geneva at one size smaller than your default,
which can make reading a bit difficult. Fortunately the Larger
button in Internet Explorer and iCab can easily increase that to a
friendlier point size.
iBook2Day is updated very infrequently. When I visited, the last
five articles were dated 1/19/2000 (although labeled 1999),
1/8/2000, 1/3/2000, 12/31/1999, and 12/27/1999. iBook2Day is the
weakest site in this overview.
iBook Planet (1999)
iBook Planet, a
publication of Mac OS Planet, is very different from the other
iBook and PowerBooks sites - it looks like a personal iBook fan
site. The look is cluttered, unprofessional, and incomplete. There
are places where the text overlaps design elements, such as in the
right navigation bar. I find their logo (right) especially
amateurish. The site was recently resurrected and has some good
content (including a recent article on running OS X DP3 on an
iBook).
The page is rendered using your default font and size; using the
Larger and Smaller buttons in iCab and Internet Explorer will
increase or decrease font size. The page is wider than my normal
browser window, but probably looks fine with a fairly full-screen
window on an 800 x 600 monitor - such as the iBook's screen.
iBook Planet is a helpful site, but the cluttered look works
against it being perceived as a quality site.
Honorable Mention:
Charles W. Moore's Road Warrior columns
One of the longer-running PowerBook columns is the Road Warrior
by Charles W. Moore. The column recently moved to MacOS Daily (it
had been on MacSimple, run by the same people) from MacOpinion,
where it was a staple from December 1998 until the end of 1999.
Prior to that, Moore had been writing a general Mac column for Mac
OS Daily, which closed up shop in late 1998 and is currently being
resurrected.
Charles also writes regularly for Applelinks and has his own
Miscellaneous Ramblings column
here on Low End Mac. On those sites, he covers a broader range of
topics, but frequently focuses on PowerBook and iBook issues.
Further Reading
