Week 3 - Website I Use Frequently

Common Use Websites

As many of you, I am addicted to the internet. But its not by choice. Everything I do for work, school, and relaxation is now based on the internet. There are several website that I use on a daily basis that I could go into. Many of those are well known websites, but I am going to use two that I read daily for research purposes to keep pace with the book industry. No smock needed for this one, these website are alright. 

Digital Book World 

Effectiveness

DBW is a site that focuses on the change of ebooks and electronic publishing and monitors different high level trends in the industry. This site is affective due to its professional outlay and consistency across all of its posts. Although its a little cluttered with text, there is a proper balance of photos and links that capture the eye and encourage the reader to explore. 

Specifics of Design and Principle

The page is set to allow the visitor to browse easily and find what they are interested in. The page is also set to highlight features and posts they want you to focus on. Additionally, they have professional bloggers that feature articles and opinions, and they do well to feature pictures of the authors to make it personal and identifiable. Lastly, their menu options and selection for browsing are intuitive for the user. 

Coming Back Again

I come back to this website because they constantly post new information and keep their page fresh. They also keep the synopsis of each story short and to the punch to make it easier for readers to find an article they are interested in. Basically, I can go to their website and quickly get up to speed in the industry without wasting anytime trying to navigate. 

What Could Be Improved

Although this is basically a newspaper online, they could do a little better job with laying out where their articles are and reducing the amount of text. They have a Book wire feed on the right that pops up with every page and I don't think its very useful. And they do keep things consistent across every page, but I think they need to differentiate their pages slightly to know that you are looking at a Podcast page vs. their regular news articles. 

The Passive Voice

Effectiveness

This is a blog that functions mostly as a launch pad to other articles and blogs that are relevant to the publishing industry. They do not create any original content, but they do an excellent job with summarizing articles and providing links to them so I can get information at a glance in a very quick way. Their content updates constantly and is a great reflection of what is going on in the industry at that very moment. 

Principles of Design

The page has a great overall theme with a simple feed. Its straight forward and easy to browse. Its not too cluttered with advertisements and they keep their navigation bar fairly simple. This is an extremely clean and simple website that serves a single purpose and doesn't try to do more. Although they could do a little more if they wanted (specifically making their own original content), but they choose not to. 

Coming Back Again

I return to this site for the same reason that I return to DBW in that their content is fresh and its easy to navigate. This site does better than DBW in navigation and simplicity of information. They also keep things updated with new information constantly and create the right kind of balance by offering around 5 to 6 new articles each day. 

What Could Be Improved

When you click on a link, it takes you to a separate page that displays more or less the same information. Its mostly to see the comments that are placed on the page from others. I think this is their way to keep traffic on their site, however I think that they could eliminate this page and simply encourage people to leave comments on the actual blog instead of their own.