Written Assignment #1: Two Websites
Two websites that I visit regularly are Yahoo! and eBaum'sWorld. If you're not familiar with these sites then you've probably been living under a rock for the past 10 years. But if you haven't then you know that Yahoo!, arguably the Internet's first search engine, began as a couple of college students' bookmarks and then evolved into what it is today. On the other hand, eBaum'sWorld is a very different site. Mainly because it is a site used for entertainment purposes only. The site contains a massive archive of the funniest (and scariest/extreme/dangerous) videos ever made.
The first site, Yahoo!, establishes itself as a place to visit right from the second you type www.yahoo.com into your browser and hit Enter. There is a search box about an inch from the top of the page. Right above the search box is the Yahoo! logo plus buttons that include: Finance, Music, Fantasy Football, Mail, My Yahoo!, and Messenger. Then below the search box is a plethora of links of all kinds (I'll spare you and not list all the links). The point is, Yahoo! incorporates every possible interest they think people would want in a website. In comparison to other search engines on the Web (like Google and Altavista), I'd say that Yahoo! has the most "space." Hypothetically, anything someone would want or need to do on the Internet, Yahoo! has a service for. For example, Yahoo! offers services for the following: fantasy sports leagues, shopping, auctions, news, instant messaging (Yahoo! Messenger), directions, gossip, and the list goes on and on. This is how Yahoo! "exploits" peoples' interests and creates its online space.
The second site, eBaum'sWorld, establishes itself as a place to visit because it has a lengthy navigation bar on the left-hand side of the site that gives the user the option of visiting numerous pages. Once you go to one of these pages there's usually more navigation at the bottom (Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3...). The site exists because of the multimedia, whether it be video clips, sound bytes, games, animations, etc. If it wasn't for this media there would be no eBaum'sWorld. Thanks to this media, eBaum'sWorld is a very funny and entertaining site that successfully creates a unique "space" for itself.