Site reviews - Week 3

http://www.icann.org/
This site is of a very basic design, most likely due to the non-profit nature of the organization, although it is a tech-based group. It was last updated February 1, which seems like a long time in cyberspace. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an organization that coordinates access to websites internationally. Their mission statement says, "The mission of ICANN is to coordinate, at the overall level, the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers, and in particular to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier systems." It was interesting to see what they do to make sure that sites are accessible from anywhere.

http://www.internettrafficreport.com/
This site was completely awesome! It was intriguing to to see how the Internet is in use across the globe in real time. The FAQ page is very useful, explaining some complicated technical concepts in understandable language. The intra-page links help the user easily find whatever they need defined without excessive scrolling. Overall, a concise and simple web site that doesn't look cheap or assault the eyes.

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
Along the same lines as the "Traffic Report," this site details more permanent statistics like total users, access penetration, and growth. They provide a variety of links to other related organizations to provide a big picture of Internet usage and related issues across the globe. Designwise, I did not like how much scrolling the welcome page involved. I think an additional page for links to other organizations would be more effective and cut down on initial page size.

http://www.caida.org/
The organization's mission statement greets you at the top of the main page. It states, "CAIDA, the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis, provides tools and analyses promoting the engineering and maintenance of a robust, scalable global Internet infrastructure." This site is a mega-mart of information, with a large database of papers and other academically valid sources. I really liked the two tier navigation system at the top of the page, directing users down from a main category into smaller ones to make the overwhelming amount of information manageable.

http://pewresearch.org/
Great site! Its design is good without being intrusive, a standard three column format which works well because it invokes the image of a newspaper. This lends itself to credence and believability. Especially in this age of distrusting the accuracy of web sites, designers can use echoes of trustworthy print sources to make users more comfortable. Graphics are used masterfully, with small pictures, graphs, charts, and other visual elements drawing the reader's attention to key articles and information. Hidden drop down menus at the top of the page provide a fantastic organizational structure for the site, allowing users to find supporting pages with less clicks. While not the most visually exciting of this week's sites, it earns my highest ranking for other outstanding design elements!

http://usfweb2.usf.edu/ur/webadmin/webguide.html
This site outlines the guidelines for website use at USF. It covers both school generated sites and user generated sites, although there are less guidelines for the latter. Legal issues are addressed, as well as general content and technical specifications. This is clearly an informational site without much thought about design, although it is not overtly unattractive.