.

Social Shopping Web sites

2008-11-17T15:01:00.001-05:00

The sites we researched and found to be innovative are Kaboodle and Stylehive.Stylehive is more innovative because it integrates elements of MySpace with the interactive concepts of social shopping found in Kaboodle. The main purpose of the site is to allow users to share with others things they found to be fashionable. Stylehive users can personalize their profiles, blog about fashion, and

Photo Sharing Web Sites

2008-11-17T14:01:00.006-05:00

We found Flickr to be the most innovative of the photo sharing Web sites. It is innovative because: Site is used by both amateurs and professionals. Able to search for photos by place using an interactive map and tag photos by geographic area.Comment directly on photos (not just underneath).Similar to social networking site; able to have "friends" and join "groups." Emphasis on the

Who cares about social aggregators

2008-11-17T14:01:00.005-05:00

Who cares? As a group we were underwhelmed and unimpressed by the content of social aggregators. We didn't see anything innovative about the sites we researched. All of the sites offered the same basic idea and no one site stood out. We also questioned if there is anyone out there who would want to use a social aggregator. We looked at about a dozen sites and only found one that could be

Video Sharing Sites

2008-11-17T14:00:00.008-05:00

For our class assignment, we've explored social media through the video sharing sites below.Youtube may be the overall leader in video sharing site, but these other sites are popular because they serve different functions:Hulu This site hosts full length tv shows and has better quality. It also has special news categories including a category called "Election '08" which has all debates and

Effective and Ineffective Representations

2008-10-22T12:40:00.003-04:00

1. FredFrap.comFred Frap’s homepage as a whole is still very busy. The color scheme was poorly chosen and distracts readers from what is meant to be focused on. I dread this site because my eyes are over-stimulated. Also, the way the information is organized in a floating manner makes the homepage far from user friendly.2. Yahoo.com Yahoo’s homepage, on the other hand, is easy on the eyes. It

Good and bad design

2008-10-06T13:29:00.005-04:00

I think an example of good design is the old Facebook.com, which was simple in design and didn't have many of the bells and whistles it does today. It was an effective tool for socializing online because there wasn't a bunch of nonsense you had to sort through in order to get to what your friends were trying to say to you. It was a simpler time.An example of a Web site trying to do too much with

Good v. Bad Designs

2008-10-06T12:04:00.008-04:00

The Bad: Creation MuseumThis site is an example of bad design because it does not have much of a hierarchy on the page, has no photo (just a background picture), and has hard-to-read text because of all the neon colors. The title of the museum is also broken up into different font sizes, styles and colors, which makes it hard to determine what the name of the museum really is. The rest of the

Good Web Design vs. Bad Web Design

2008-10-06T11:43:00.004-04:00

Good Web DesignI think ESPN is an example of a site with good Web design. The site includes a lot of information, but is not overwhelming. The text is black, which keeps it simple, so as not to clash with the photos. Additionally, the site utilizes tabs to link to different sports, which prevents clutter on the home page. Finally, the pictures not only coordinate with the topics on the home

When Good Web Design Meets Bad Web Design

2008-10-06T11:17:00.003-04:00

Good:Music Web site Pitchfork is a prime example of excellent Web design because the site's elements are unified, simple and in harmony. The site is clean, with similar fonts and colors, as well as a tidy organization. Each section of the site is clearly labeled and slightly different then its neighboring sections, yet there's a unity in fonts, colors and layout. The navigation bar on the left

Good vs. Bad Design

2008-10-06T10:53:00.004-04:00

Good Design:The Chicago Sun Times, one of Chicago's main newspapers, has a really good webdesign. The main story from the day's paper is usually front and center on the page. It is also easy to navigate through as links to the other sections are at the top. The front page also allows you to scroll down and find an easily accessible list of the columnists that have written today. Besides the one

Good and Bad Web design

2008-10-06T10:18:00.011-04:00

Good design:Washingtonpost.com is one example of a well-designed Web site that makes its content easy to read and navigate. It has a main story and photo to attract the reader to the headline news of the minute, with the most previous past posts directly below it. The Web site banner is easy to find and makes it clear what the Web site is at the top. The main colors of text on the page are black

Good and Bad Web sites

2008-10-05T19:47:00.019-04:00

Good Web site:Baltimoresun.com is an example of a good Web site. The main story (about another Ravens loss) is clearly displayed in its own box with a picture, accompanying text and additional links. The font for the headline is also the biggest on the page, indicating that it's the focal point for visitors. There is another box next to the main story with the most recent headlines. The rest of

Good and Bad Website Design

2008-10-05T17:54:00.004-04:00

Good Website:FoodNetwork.com is an example of a well designed website. It is very easy to tell right off the bat what the website's content is based on. It is also very easy to use with a clearly defined navigation bar with drop down menus at the top of the screen. There is also a search bar at the top for easy use. If you're looking for a particular recipe there's a recipe finder you can use by

Bad and Good Websites

2008-10-05T16:42:00.010-04:00

Well-designed website:An example of a good website is www.nytimes.com. It has a simple, clean look and is easy on the eyes as it utilizes dark colors for font (black and blue) against a white background. The name is squarely in the middle and at the top of the website and the colors are used in a consistent manner with blue for headlines and black for categories. The ads are placed to the

Websites-Good vs Bad

2008-10-05T07:55:00.004-04:00

Good:http://www.hp.com/This website is very easy to read, which is important because it is selling products and you would not want to get users confused. The web page design is simple and I like its use of harmonious fonts and colors. The clear links and navigation tabs, makes maneuvering to the various sections of the page easy. The placement of pictures of its products grab your attention. I

Good and Bad Website Design

2008-10-02T21:21:00.009-04:00

Ugly design: Miniclip free games site. This site bombards the user with graphics and video. The ads take over the screen and it is hard to figure out what is an ad and what is a game. There is a video of a game and also a video of an ad. To get to the list of games you have to scroll way down the screen and then through a massive list written in a small font.Nice design: University of

Design Analysis

2008-10-02T14:55:00.008-04:00

Ugly: Craigslist.comThe Web site that immediately jumps to my mind when I think of inefficiently designed sites is Craigslist. Though there are no lurid lime greens or hot pinks jumping off the page, the essentially monochromatic blue design is very minimal on contrast, making it hard to really read anything. Though it does make use of a grid pattern, the site is very texty and fails to really

High school websites: Nice and Ugly

2008-10-01T12:34:00.010-04:00

http://phs.prs.k12.nj.us/ComputerClub/ is the website for the Computer Club at my high school in Princeton, NJ. Interestingly, the Computer Club has a pretty bad website. Instead of a proper title, the page says "New Page 1" at the top. There's really no organization to the page, which is long, and you have to scroll way through to get to the links, which appear throughout the page instead of on

Websites: Good and Bad

2008-09-30T15:26:00.003-04:00

http://www.thecreationmuseum.org/ is an example of a site that uses an all black background which makes it a little tiresome to read although besides the red font, the colors are not that damaging to the eyes. There is no menu bar and everything is center justified. There is no unity in color or font size so unless everything is read it is hard to understand what is most important on the page.

Analysis of Web site design by Vicki

2008-09-30T13:48:00.005-04:00

TeacherXpress.com is most certainly an example of a Web site with poor design. The site fails at satisfying the simplicity that is needed to create a successful site. There is too much text that is small and close together, making it difficult for the viewer to read, let alone use. The page is very long, requiring several scrolls to get to the bottom of the page. And the entire page is boring!

Open-Sourcing the U.S. Election

2008-09-26T09:49:00.011-04:00

Here's an intriguing feature from the Economist, the formerly print-bound magazine that is moving creatively into the dynamic Web. Its "Global Electoral College" invites people in other countries to signal how they'd vote in the U.S. presidential contest. It presents a world map that assigns "electoral college" votes to each of 195 countries based on population. A "vote now" button lets people "

2008-09-22T15:30:00.004-04:00

citizen journalists report from 'purple states'

2008-09-22T13:35:00.004-04:00

I think the 'Purple States' section of washingtonpost.com is one of the most important interactive sections of the press.It gives the audience the opportinity to cover the elections from their local towns.Purple States citizen journalists join forces with washingtonpost.com to cover the issues that matter most to Americans leading up to election day

Obama's Website: Past and Present

2008-09-22T13:32:00.000-04:00

Slate.com has posted an article that shows changes in the information contained on Obama's website since the convention. Using Versionista, readers can follow links to specific portions of his website such as education, social security, rural-issues and Versionista gives both the previous Webpage and the current one side by side, with deleted information highlighted in pink and added

Yahoo!'s 2008 Political Dashboard

2008-09-22T13:23:00.002-04:00

One interactive news site that presents information interactively that couldn't be done in print is Yahoo! News, which presents the electoral college map in its "Political Dashboard." The dashboard encourages users to take the map, which is pre-set with current poll data, and create their own scenarios as to how the election will play out.Just for fun, it includes the scenarios drawn up by

Tracking the candidates across the nation

2008-09-22T13:21:00.002-04:00

MSNBC.com's Decision 08 Dashboard is a Web site specifically designed to provide information about the presidential campaign using text, graphics, sound, video, and rich content. The focus of the site is on interactivity, not on in-depth news reporting, so there are plenty of visuals to attract the reader.The most interesting feature I saw was the Maps & info graphic, which shows a map of the

Vintage Political Ads from Slate V

2008-09-22T13:20:00.006-04:00

This video from Slate V features several vintage political ads. John Dickerson, Slate.com's Chief Political Correspondent, narrates the video and introduces the video by saying that because he's sick of this year's campaign commercials he visited the Museum of Moving Images to track down some of his favorite political ads from the last 60 years.While it could be argued that this video might

Politico: "where red and blue meet purple."

2008-09-22T13:19:00.003-04:00

Politico's website offers a 2008 Swing State Map that is quite informative. The map allows users to click on each of the swing states for the 2008 presidential election, and gives facts about how that state has affected each election. This map gives up-to-the-minute data at the request of the user -- something a newspaper or television would not be able to do. The data goes back to the 2000

USA Today's way of keeping score

2008-09-22T13:18:00.008-04:00

My site is USAToday.com. The story I chose was “McCain has biggest spending month in August”. A newspaper or TV broadcast could not accomplish this arrangement because the story is accompanied by both an electoral vote and campaign ad tracker. A TV broadcast does not have the time to get into the details of the story like a newspaper, yet the newspaper cannot offer the multimedia options of the

CQ Politics: Build Your Own Presidential Race

2008-09-22T13:18:00.004-04:00

The interactive presidential map on CQPolitics.com allows users to project their own scenarios of the election outcome. For example, clicking on the swing state of Colorado shows that, all other things being held equal, even if it went red Obama would still hold a lead over McCain.This multimedia type could not work in any other medium. A TV station or newspaper could provide a colorful map of

MSNBC.com users predict election outcome

2008-09-22T13:16:00.004-04:00

MSNBC has an interactive feature called iPredict, in which users can predict the outcome of the presidential election. There is one chart for " John McCain will win the U.S. presidential election", and likewise one for Barack Obama. The user selects and clicks one symbol indicating two thumbs up, one thumb up, thumbs down or sideways based on how likely they think that outcome is. Sideways means

WSJ: Interactive Graph of Pre-Election Polls

2008-09-22T13:15:00.015-04:00

Wall Street Journal's interactive graph allows users to track pre-election presidential polls taken by different news firms and polling groups in key battleground states and nationwide. John McCain and Obama are positioned vertically on the graph with the midpoint of zero representing a tie. The timeline starts in June and the media companies are color-coded.Some key states include Virginia,

The Forum on CNN.com

2008-09-22T13:15:00.014-04:00

"The Forum," an interactive part of CNN's online Election Center, is exciting to both the politically-proud and the politically uneducated. A venue for viewers of all voting types (targeting those who label themselves first time voters, political junkies, conservatives, independents and/or liberals), visitors to the site can find where they stand on issues compared to other site participants and

Pick your President on Washingtonpost.com

2008-09-22T13:15:00.013-04:00

Users can give their best guess of who is going to win the presidential election in Washingtonpost.com's Pick Your President Contest. The contest allows users to pick which candidate will win each state and automatically tally's the electoral votes. Users look at a map and click once to give a state to Obama and twice to give the state to McCain. The interactive map provides historical

New York Times' Presidential Polls

2008-09-22T13:15:00.010-04:00

The New York Times Web site has a tool which allows a user to look at the most recent data from 14 national polls -- including USAToday/Gallup and Pew -- and 10 state polls about the 2008 U.S. presidential election. The Times charts the data, showing how the polls have changed over time. Users can scroll their mouse over a point in the graph and more information: the date of the poll, the exact

See How They Run on ABC News

2008-09-22T13:14:00.016-04:00

ABCNews.com has an interesting poll tracker on their politics site. What they've done is set up a poll tracker between Obama and McCain. The tracker is interactive so you can select things like "overall", "age", or "income" to see how different people vote depending on their background. You could present the same information in a newspaper but only as a very large graph. It is much easier to use

Patchwork Nation

2008-09-22T13:14:00.014-04:00

Patchwork Nation on the Christian Science Monitor's website breaks down states counties and classifies them not only by the party for which they usually vote, but also by 11 categories (boom towns, evangelical epicenters, immigration nation, etc.). Each category has a profile with polling data, and CSM has bloggers reporting from a representative city in each category. There is no way that the

Washington Post Interactive Electoral Map and Contest

2008-09-22T13:14:00.013-04:00

The Washington Post has an interactive electoral map as well. You pick which states will go to McCain and which states will go to Obama, then enter your map into a contest. The winner gets a $500 gift certificate to Best Buy. They also have a feature called "starting picks" which helps you fill out your map. One, swing states, gives each non-competitive state to its appropriate candidate and then

Breaking News, Large Sites: NYTimes.com, Eliot Spitzer's Resignation

2008-09-15T14:22:00.000-04:00

The New York Times won the category in Large Sites for breaking news. According to The Online News Association, "The winner 'hit it out of the park.' The winner could have held the story but chose not to.”The New York Times was able to break the story with through tips and keen reporting when they learned the unusual presence of lawyers and an FBI agent in a federal district court in Manhattan.

For Breaking Online News Content, NYTimes Rings True

2008-09-15T14:17:00.000-04:00

For using web resources to break the news of Eliot Spitzer's resignation and link to a prostitution ring, The NYTimes.com won the Breaking News award for large sites as part of the Online News Association's Online Journalism Awards Sept. 13 in Washington, D.C. NYTimes.com created a superb multimedia web package devoted to all-things Spitzer when the story broke in March. It offers an

Las Vegas Sun Shines Online

2008-09-15T14:14:00.000-04:00