Review: Fleur #1

Written by Adok

date o'release: mar'98
rar-packed size: 1,848,950 bytes
langs: english
main editor: ezah / dilemma
url: ftp.cdrom.com/pub/demos/incoming/mags

this diskmag is a bit older, but nevertheless i want to review it because it's one of the most promising mags of 1998. fleur, a co-production by the groups dilemma and dinasty, is the first diskmag from hungary in english language. it was started because the editors were of the opinion that the scene currently lacked decent diskmags, and they wanted to help solving this problem.

fleur's interface is a mix of imphobia and shine. after the intro screen the main screen pops up, divided in three parts. the text of the menu or the articles respectively is displayed in the central part. a non-proportional font is used. the width of a text line is about 60 characters, and it's centerred as regards the screen width. the entire mag is controlled by the cursor keys - left/right for browsing through an article, up/down for selecting an article -, whose keyboard handler is so fast that you can easily jump over a page or even an article.

fleur is divided in the sections editorial (plus general info about the mag), common stuff (pc news, c64 news, messages, adverts, upcoming events), interviews, reviews (stuff from various parties), articles, party reports, charts, and party results. there are also a gallery and party pictures. however, the control gets crazy after having selected a picture; then it isn't possible to select all articles anymore.

an excerpt of the articles directory: "photoshop vs. art", "a totally useless idea" (giving up all groups and create a scene where friendship rules), "where those swappers are?", "craps in demos?", "why are there so few diskmags?", "the short history of the hu. scene", "is modem scene dead?".

the charts have an interesting concept: beside international charts there are also sections where you can vote for the best demos/coders/etc of your own country. if at least ten votesheets from your country have been sent to fleur, they will publish the charts of your country in the next issue. which can also be regarded as a trick to make more people vote for fleur.

the tool mxm2xm is attached to fleur.

overall impression: fleur contains some interesting articles and has a nice interface. i like it.

- adok^hugi