So, what makes a good one?
Based on our class last week, I started scouring the web to rant and rave about some frequented sites on the web. I like to save the best for last so I'll do my rants first.
Sites I dislike:
- Intrusive advertising (large ads, sound, multiple ads)
- Unorganized home page
- Uncategorized users (ie bands and individuals come up in same search results)
- Users have too much autonomy - pages can have sound, pictures, slideshows, customized design and users can be of any age
- Too much text
- Too much content
- No multimedia
- Minimal color
- Too many links
- No categories or organization
My raves:
- Organized content and searching
- Easy to navigate
- Easy to share input with users (rating system)
- Encourages participation (users can write reviews)
- Multiple categories
- User friendly
- Multimedia elements (photos and videos)
- Encourages user input (share reviews, pictures and advice)
- Organized in several ways
- Users can search by category, cuisine, event, season, etc.
- Several multimedia elements (photos and videos)
- Email subscription
- No intrusive advertising
- Easy searching across all content (restaurants, travel guides, night life, upcoming events)
- Social media (Twitter, Facebook)
I have to agree with you on the Drudge Report. I haven't even looked at the site in a long time, and when you guys brought it up, I was surprised that it still looked the same! There was just too much random white space and funky fonts. I wonder if they are going for that on purpose. They could definitely use a makeover :)
ReplyDeleteWhile reading your post Netflix website came to my mind. All that makes a good site is there: user friendly, organized, wealth of videos, search by category... Don't you think? Yes, of course, there is a monthly fee...
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