Legends is a site to see. Upon first viewing, one is greeted with lush and very attractive illustrations. For those who like illustrations of older styles, this site offers numerous and beautiful examples from a variety of time periods. The nicely textured background serves to make the user very comfortable when viewing the site as well. The fonts used to display text are mostly very clear. The one exception comes when the site designers used small italicized text that is difficult to read given the textured background. Thankfully, while this obscured text is spread throughout the site, there are usually few lines of it in any given section.
Navigation of the site is extremely easy, and the means to do so are unobtrusive. It is simple and quite effective. The designer for this page is to be commended. To improve the navigation aspects of the site even more, the creator of the page might consider including a local search engine.
The site is also more current than the main page would lead the visitor to believe. The date on the main page indicates the most recent update to have been on 4 June 1999.
Given the material under consideration by the site (legends), that isn’t bad at all. Legends don’t change that much over time. On visiting the “What’s New?” section, however, one finds that the sites creators are really on top of things, the most recent addition to the page being 7 November 1999. Not only that. A complete history of updates is provided (and there are a large number) back through the site’s creation on 29 July 1997. It is quite impressive in terms of the huge amount of effort put into the maintenance of the page in an environment where so many pages are created, and then forgotten.
The scope of the page is small, and difficult to pin down. The creators of the page state that “This is Legends, a personal journey through the worlds of Robin Hood, King Arthur, D’Artagnan, and other swashbuckling characters of balladry, fiction, and film, from the shores of Avalon to the dungeons of Zenda”. While true, it is a very broad statement and imprecise in terms of the content. Though I had some idea of what I might find on the site, some of the subjects covered came as a surprise.
Given the “mission statement” above, it might be reasonable to expect a full section on the portrayal of legends in film rather than links to the subjects found like “Fairy Tales”, “Sagas and Sea‐Kings”, and “Erin & Alba.” It might be more accurate to indicate somehow that the site focuses on European legends of the nature expressed in the statement above.
The quality of the information provided as well as the links to information off‐site are, though not comprehensive, both scholarly and excellent. While choice of topics to be covered by the site creators may be haphazard, the subjects chosen for coverage are covered well with links leading to quality information. Still, there are curious omissions. For instance, in the section pertaining to King Arthur, the expected main characters have pages dedicated to them. One can find information about Arthur, Guenevere, Lancelot, and other Knights of the Round Table. Also included in this company of major characters, however, is the minor character Elaine of Astolat (a maiden who died of grief because Lancelot refused to love her). Other characters emphasized in Mallory’s “Le Morte Darthur” such as Sir Galahad, Morgan le Fey, and Mordred, arguably Arthur’s arch‐nemesis himself, are missing, and omissions such as these can be found throughout the site. While they do not detract from the impressive quality of the site already present, the omissions made me wonder, as a user, how dedicated the creator of the site was to covering the topics of the site fully.
A note about the creators of the page: while it is not clear that Donald G. Keller or Paula Katherine Marmore have official academic backgrounds in the subjects covered by the page, it is clear that both of them have taken great care in producing this quality site in a scholarly fashion that is both accessible to the interested amateur as well as to the scholar.
In a word, Bravo! Overall, the site is very well done, attractive both in terms of its appearance and scholarly content. In short, it is a good starting place for in‐depth research of the subjects presented. Some topics are missing; but perhaps those will be forthcoming.
I intend to register for e‐mail notification of when the site changes. I can hardly wait to find out what’s next.
