It’s Little Ladies’ Choice for Web Fun
For girls who just want to have Web fun, there are delightful choices for two age groups.
Headbone (https://www.headbone.com), which was reviewed in a previous column, is a smart and engaging site for the younger set, ranging in age from about 4 to 10. For teenagers from about 14 on up, there is the gURL zine (https://www.gURL.com), now in its fourth issue.
But first we take a look at a brand new site, Purple Moon, designed to appeal to girls in those transition years from late childhood to the verge of teenagedom, ages 8 to 12. The site, which officially goes online next week, is making an auspicious debut. Unlike most sites that hit the Web as ragged works in progress, the creators of Purple Moon spent five years researching their market.
The venture, which follows the adventures of several girl characters in a fictional junior high, is backed by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, and others.
But judging by the site, which was previewed over the last several weeks for the press, all that money and time did not add up to quality.
Although promoted as enriching and adventuresome, Purple Moon is more like a mail-order catalog. For example, in several spots, girls are invited to buy Secret Path Stones that can be strung onto a necklace cord. Each “stone” contains a message “to celebrate your own special abilities,” such as Creativity, Confidence and Self-Reliance. ($5.95 for a set of three.)
A Self-Reliance stone? Even the most cynical New Age huckster might balk at that one.
The characters come from diverse backgrounds, but familiar territory. The Asian girl, Miko, is the brainy one--her section is called, Miko’s Chess Cafe. The blondest girl, Nicole, is the most vacuous, interested only in shopping and her career plans to be a model.
And the personality of an African American figurine named Nakili is described as “fiery, funny and bold.” You just know that when she gets dialogue, many of her sentences will begin with “Honey” or “Girl.”
Not all of Purple Moon is a wasteland. One section features a fable, “Mariko and the Sea Dragon,” that is nicely written and beautifully illustrated. But it’s the exception. Maybe there was, among the creators of this site, a shortage of Creativity stones.
On the other end of the spectrum is gURL, which has no major backing, no merchandising support and is put together by a handful of students of New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. They may not have the bucks, but they make up for it with intelligence, irreverent humor, great design sense and wild imaginations.
gURL is far more concerned with the real world than fantasies. One of the contributors wrote a bittersweet piece about being called a tomboy when she was growing up.
There is a frank but unsensational advice page, called “Help Me Heather,” that answers girls’ questions about relationships, friendships and sexuality. There are also reading lists, comics and, in a section on appearance described as “a love/hate look at beauty culture,” clever, computer-generated make-overs.
And everything is packaged within a wonderful graphic sensibility.
I give them an A+.
* Cyburbia’s e-mail address is david.colker@latimes.com.
