Icann.org – The website for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. This is a private entity that is responsible for coordinating the ip addresses and domain names of all content on the internet with the goal of making it equally accessible to users worldwide. Pretty interesting stuff. I remember when I played around with building a website several years ago and spending a considerable amount of time coming up with what I felt was the right domain name; it must be a monumental task to maintain any kind of order when it comes to the millions of websites online today. One term I heard for the first time on this website was the term, “whois information.” I actually researched it on some other websites and I now realize that the term, pronounced “who is,” is the information linking a particular person to a particular website, and that it is important to maintain the security of this type of information. The Icann website itself had a very clean, spare look, mostly white with shades of blue for contrast, in a 3 column formart. It was very user friendly.
Internettrafficreport.com – This website displays information regarding the reliability of the internet. The site is updated every 5 minutes and lists both indexes both globally and by continent. The index is measured on a scale from 0-100 where 100 is the fastest and most reliable internet speed. One of the things I learned on this site is that the test used to measure connection speed is called a “ping.” I was interested to read an actual definition of this term because I’ve heard it used so many times when I’ve been on the phone with tech support for my high speed internet at home. The website itself was quite spare with only a few pages and a 2 column layout. No a whole lot of graphics to distract.
Internetworldstats.com – This is a REALLY information-dense site. It displays what appears to be every possible kind of information relating to internet usage, both worldwide and by country. There are also links to various other relevant sites (such as icann.com) as well as many coaching sites. Graphically, the site uses a lot of blue text and yellow accents, which I would think would be distracting (I would think with such a vast amount of information it would be preferable to stick with regular black text on white for greater ease in reading) but it actually seems to work quite well.
Caida.org – The website of The Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis. This site is dealing with internet research that is really detailed and technical. It seems clearly geared more toward someone who is not a novice with this kind of stuff. Whereas a site like internettrafficreport.com was very user-friendly and easy for me to read through and understand with even my limited technical skills, caida.org was somewhat intimidating. A lot of small text and complicated technical jargon. I don’t think I would want to go back to this site unless it was an absolute requirement.
Pewresearch.org – This site is awesome! The logo at the top of the page reads “the numbers, facts, and trends shaping your world,” and it seems to be a complete free-for-all of information that is relevant NOW. And not just in terms of internet technology, but in terms of politics, social issues, and the whole gamut of other things. I can see where a website like this would be a huge resource in terms of coming up with a website design that is filled with up to the minute appeal. The site is a 3 column design, not a whole lot in the way of graphics, with links to tons and tons of articles as well as interactive features like surveys. I will be viewing this site extensively in the future, just because of how interesting it is.
Nielsen-netratings.com – Another site offering various tools for understanding the online consumer in order to optimize the impact of your web site. Still a lot of technical information, but not as intimidating as caida.org. 3 column design, black text, lots of accents in shades of light blue. I think that made the site a little”calmer” and easier for me to look at without getting nervous about how detailed it was.
USF Web Style Guidelines – All of the information including copyright, acceptable use, etc., that we need to be aware of when designing a web site and posting the information on USF’s web space. An easy to view 2 column design on this page.