10 Great Websites

 Shiva Shakti Mandalam is a website put together by Mike Magee who has a very working understanding of Sanskrit. He offers a number of scholarly translations of some very hard to find texts about Tantric Hinduism. This type of information is not available anywhere else on the web and the site is well put together and offers great ease of navigation

sacred-texts.org is a nonsectarian website that offers access to the various sacred texts of different religions, although some of the translations are old and iffy it provides a great resource for the type of research that I do. The site is really well organized and it is very simple and efficient to use.

Yahoo provides not only a good email server but also extremely eye catching articles. Every time i go to check my yahoo account i find myself reading one of the articles. The ability of ads or any content to distract a user from their purpose is made evident by this website for me.

Pandora is a super simple to use web application that plays music by and artists or genre that you like. I think it does a really good job of choosing the music even though it can sometimes get mixed up and not play the best songs. The design of the website is really elegant and sleek without distracting from the function.

Yogajournal.com provides a great resource of information, with the additional feature of a directory of alternative therapies and yoga teachers. the website has a simple but effective design, is easy to navigate however I enjoy it most because of its content.

EliteFTS.com is both a retailer and information provider. the website sells high quality performance training equipment and provides in depth articles on how to train. I'm usually drawn to the website for its article content but because I am constantly going there for that I feel I am much more likely to buy things from them. 

Mahrajji.com is a devotional website containing various photo's, quotes and stories about Neem Karoli Baba who was a famous saint of the modern era. the website has a huge amount of content and is really well organized and simple to use. the graphic design aspect of the website is also well done.

Wikipedia is the greatest resource for information on the web, it contains an unprecedented amount of information the is for the most part highly accurate. It is simple to use, you simply search what you are looking for and it pops up.

Google is the most powerful web search engine, it contains many other web based services and even has its own browser. the number of features and services offered by Google is huge even this blogger website operates in conjunction with a Google account.

Amazon is one of the best market websites around no matter how obscure what you are looking for is you will most likely be able to find it on amazon. amazon can sometimes be hard to find what you are looking for on simply because there are so many items under so many different categories.

Qualities of the Best Websites

1. A balance between simplicity and elegance
2. You are able to tell the purpose of the website upon accessing it
3. If selling a product the products are well displayed and visible upon accessing the site
4. The design of website reflects its purpose
5. Information is easy to access and the site is easy to use.

1/29/2013 class work overview

Today in class I created a blog for use in the class, finished up my essay and posted it to my blog. i felt i worked successfully during the class period and got the assignment done in the allotted time. woooohoooo!

Effective Web Design

Jamie Nottingham

Effective Web Design

The point of any website is to communicate some kind of message or information. Although flashy effects and appealing design can increase your chances of communicating that message but they can also distract, confuse and frustrate the viewer. Thus the primary aspect of a website is its functionality and aesthetics must be dealt with secondarily. Before you can communicate a message you must get people onto your site, this can be harder than it seems. With millions of websites it can be hard for someone to find your page even if it’s exactly what you are looking for. Search engines are the most common tool for locating the information or service that you are looking for and being listed on Google and other search engines is key to having a successful website. Processes like search engine optimization (SEO) help bring more traffic to your website through search engines. Another method of directing traffic to your site is through advertisements and links from other websites. It almost goes without saying that a good website is free

                Although the ability to communicate message is central to the function of website aesthetics play a large role in turning traffic to leads. Good design has a clear message and feel. The overall quality or feel of a website should be coherent with its message i.e. if the message is that you want people to buy a product then the website should be appealing and stimulating so the will see the product like it and then want to buy it. Websites with conflicting messages and aesthetics are confusing to viewers and don’t provide the impetus to for the viewer to do what they are on the site for. Currently many websites are overly embellished and don’t provide ease of access to information. Creativity is however a valuable tool for making your website more interesting and appealing so long as it’s not distracting.

                Websites serve a number of business and economically related purposes. The ability to actively provide access to a product or service by means of the internet is key for any modern company or business person. More and more things are only available through internet as it is not efficient for stores to stock huge numbers of specialty items. Thus the most important thing for such a website is making sure that you are able to be found by people who want to buy your product and that it is easy and simple to do so. Which is not a small order given the complications of working with code or your graphic designer’s excessive creativity. Business must choose designs that are coherent with their interest and should avoid having other interests being pushed by their website. Websites should also flow smoothly from topic to topic with and ease of navigation. People should be able to view the full range of products and services offered without going through too much trouble.

                Some websites serve as markets themselves. They allow people to buy and exchange goods and provide access to product that may not be available in a physical store. The aspects of a good website stressed earlier in this essay apply in the same ways to marketplace websites like eBay or amazon.