MY TEN FAVORITE WEBSITES

I was recently asked for a list of my ten favorite websites. I didn't hear about that job again, but this is what I said. Few websites exhibit all the qualities of usability, utility, style and great writing, but a website can be a favorite even if just one quality is especially compelling to me.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Every day or so, the graphics and colors of the home page change to reflect something going on on campus. These contributions come from all over the MIT community. Instead of saying that MIT is an active community of creative people, the site demonstrates this abundance of activity and creativity. At the same time, the navigation is stable, so you can always find what was there last time you visited. Nearly every word is a link to get you where you're going quickly.

http://web.mit.edu

2. Chain Reaction Bicycles

The design and navigation will not win any awards, but this site demonstrates that the web can be a text medium more than a visual or even interactive medium. I admired the site even before I started working for Chain Reaction for the owner's voice and perspective. The storytelling, enthusiasm for riding, and technical information sells customers on the shop before they walk through the door. Except for the historical photos to mark the 25th anniversary, there are no photos of the storefront or interior. It is unique among retail websites. It doesn't try to sell products over the web, since the owner's stated goal is to make people comfortable with the store before they visit in person. The site meets that goal well.

http://www.chainreaction.com

3. Google

Google is more famous than Chain Reaction for demonstrating the effectiveness of text on the web. Its text-based ads revolutionized Internet advertising. The clean, fast search input and results pages won over techies and enabled Google to achieve its popularity through word-of-mouth. Too many times, technology products become crammed with features to cater to the techies; Google demonstrates that this isn't always the best approach. Many tech companies stumble when they reach out for customers beyond the early adopting techies; Google didn't because their product was already simple.

http://www.google.com

4. Hiragana Megane (How to Read Japanese)

This is one of my favorites because it lets me cheat in reading Japanese. "Megane" means eyeglasses. It translates the Chinese characters used in Japanese to the phonetic characters ("hiragana") that even small children and foreign students of Japanese can read. In the English-speaking world, newspapers tend to be written at a level where the average reader can easily understand them, but Japanese newspapers use college-level vocabulary that makes them difficult for students of Japanese to handle--unless you have a useful tool like this, of course. The lively colors and bold graphics make learning Japanese seem like fun, unlike the staid, corporate look of other web-based language tools.

http://www.hiragana.jp

5. SF Gate: Weather

This site, based on the Weather Underground site, is the fastest-loading and cleanest weather site I can find in the U.S. Nearly everything you want to see quickly is on this one page. It even shows a thumbnail of the current radar, so you can tell if a more detailed look is warranted.

http://www.sfgate.com/weather

6. PollingReport.com - Public Opinion Online

This site is great for political junkies. The latest polls are highlighted with a simple graphic, and they do a very good job of choosing the most interesting results of recent polls. Behind any of the links is the history, where available, of the same question being asked over time. It also aggregates poll results from multiple sources. Everything is just a few clicks away. I wish there weren't so many "doorway" pages, but I understand why their chosen arrangement makes it easy to keep the site up-to-date, which is the most important feature.

http://www.pollingreport.com

7. BlogsNow: what blogs link to

It is what it says it is. If you want to know what bloggers are talking about, it answers that question. I don't think I would visit this site unless it were very fast and clean.

http://www.blogsnow.com

8. Recent Earthquakes for San_Francisco

This was most useful when I am in the Bay Area. It helps you to answer the question, "Was that an earthquake I just felt?" A map lets you quickly scan for quakes that are nearby. The list of quakes down below lets you check in chronological order. When a quake is large enough to be felt, it appears bold and in color. Since the U.S. Geological Survey is the source of seismic information for the news media, this site is faster than the media in reporting quakes by as much as 15 minutes. You do not have to be an expert in either geology or Bay Area geography to use this site, but if you are, it is even more useful.

http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/SF_Bay.htm

9. VirginMobile | Home

Pre-paid cellular service is just starting to catch on in the United States. It is popular among teenagers, since it's easy to control spending, and there's no bill for nosy siblings and parents to find. (It's also good for people who are only in the United States for short visits.) Virgin Mobile is the simplest of the plans. They have done a very thoughtful job of carrying this simplicity and branding aimed at youth throughout their documentation, website, and over-the-phone support lines.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com

10. The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia

You know this is the website of the New York Times. It's as black and white and stable-looking as the print edition. The article pages are clean with an optimal line length, aimed at people who like to read. The limited use of color makes the ads stand out. The layout and navigation has changed very slowly since the site debuted long ago; early planning paid off. It's let me remain logged in for a year or more, unlike other news sites that don't seem to realize that my password with them is not something I'm likely to remember.

http://www.nytimes.com

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Last updated by Brian Krause, brk@adducive.com, August 1, 2005
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