Assignment 1: Website Comparison and Analysis

Choose two different websites that you visit regularly. How does each of these websites establish itself as a place (a "site") to visit? Compare and contrast the ways each site uses the conventions of the web, the computer, and the material world to create its space. Which approaches are more or less successful? Why or why not?

1. Apple
The company, Apple, created this website to showcase their products, including Macintosh hardware, their operating system, OS X, Quicktime, the iPod, and other Macintosh related software. This site also includes an online store for buying hardware and software, and also a support section for any Apple related question. A user can come to this site to keep up to date with news about Apple, or to buy the new Apple mouse, or to troubleshoot a problem with an Apple product.

The website itself uses a simple and clean design for ease of use. The Apple Store is also easy to use and most people would not question the legitimacy from buying at the online Apple Store. Although there are pros and cons from buying online rather than live in a store, the Apple Store, attempts to bridge the gap by offering superior customer service, free and fast shipping, and easy payment options. The Apple website connects to the material world by allowing users to go first to a real store where you can test out the products you want to buy.

2. Xanga
Xanga is the website of a free online web log, often dubbed blog. The purpose of the site is to post journal entries on the internet. What makes Xanga different than the traditional journal is that it allows others to read your entries and even to write a comment on them. Xanga also allows you to customize your website, with your knowledge of html, to your own desire. Other features of Xanga include blogrings (a group that you belong to), Metros (useful for finding users in your area), and eProps.

The main reason people join Xanga is to have their own public journal. Some even use Xanga as their only means of communication with their friends. In a busy world, you don't have time to drive to someone's house to tell them how everything is going. Instead you write it. Xanga also exists as a community of people who share the same interests, as can be seen through the blogrings. In this phenomenon that has grown to over 31 million users, Xanga is bringing people all over the world together in an effort to create unity in diversity.