Imagine Games Network, which I'm proudly a current insider of, is a site dedicated to presentation of media of all types. Originally a video game site, the network has branched into movies, music, and even comic books. The site in consistantly updated every workday and is completely organized by excellent levels of grouping. The major sites (movies, games, music) are all seperated by the consistant leftside navigator bar into channels. Those pages are then subgrouped into different approaches to the media (with the video games also being divided by system). Reviews, mail, previews, press releases, and anything that might pertain to a particular form of media are how the users can navigate through a site seamlessly. The navigator bar mentioned earlier is skewed by a particular theme depending on which channel the user is on. By doing this, the user, which is assumed to have the minimal resolution as to which channel he wants, is brought straight to second tier of groups, updated aspects of his media channel. The user is then open to the content of the editors, which is what really brings this site to life. The editors, though adhering to strict design policies, now how to add their own personal flare. Whether it be Matt Casamassina, the necessarily optimisitc editor for the GameCube site, Jeff Otto, the formally educated but somewhat tainted by ign's other staff members movie critic, or Douglas Perry, the overly cocky editor of the XBox site, the editors are editting the sites that they want to edit and their personality drives directly into it's site's content. Between the rising mediums for approaches to video games, web has taken television and print over by force. With sites operating with such endless efficiency as the Imagine Games Network, it's no wonder why.
Another website that I consistantly visit is apple's quicktime trailer collection. http://www.apple.com/trailers is a collection of movies that allow users to take excellent use of apple's software and remain updated on major movie trailers. This site operates without a main navigator page. Instead it has a main site that organizes it's media content. This happens because the content of the page is only two links deep for ANY file. The trailers are grouped by production house and exist in the middle of the page below some icon-repressented sponsered trailers at the top. This site is consistantly updated for obvious reasons (producers want people watching their advertisements) which makes it an excellent site for regular visitation. The media presented is obviously well produced, with multiple resolutions that maintain premium download speeds(5 mb a second for those with the bandwith) which is an obvious sign that those keeping the site going have no problem keeping things nice and funded.
The two sites mentioned execute extremely well. Both are consistantly updated by a paid staff, both have excellent and reliable servers, and both have a wonderfully accurate presentation of media. That being said, there are some major differences between the sites in terms of ease of use and presentation. The major problem with IGN is that users must pay to use exclusive(and often the most worthwhile) information on the site. Although this rising trend is among almost all corporate websites, there are many other locations elsewhere that can present similar information to what is presented on this site. This is a small inconvienience in the face of the problem with apple's site. Apple's site has no major navigation tools on the website. Users must rely on the back button on their browser to navigate out of trailers. This is not only a major inconvienience and a rising faux paus in the web design, it keeps users from actually finding trailers they're looking for. Especially when the users are at the whim of the date-related update of trailers! Most trailers will be on the server days or even weeks before they are either presented in their new trailer's list or are added to their production house's lists. The designers of the site need to approach their setup the way IGN has and consider how users are navigating their site. IGN knows that users are familiar with the channel they are looking for and puts them straight in the face of new news and media. Those searching for trailers rarely know what trailer they want to see and even more rarely know the production house by which to search for it. With a higher level of navigation, Apple's site might have a better shot at being the best presenter of media on the web, but, as things are, I strongly prefer Snowball's Imagine Games Network to anything else available.
September 1st, 2005