I have never been one to ride the waves of Jones Beach in New York, let alone Hermosa Beach, California, but I am very good at finding some fascinating sites on the web.
The problem with the net is that there are so many quality sites, growing in artistry by the day, that it can be overwhelming. You sometimes need to get pointed to one that would tie-in well with your interests. I often use Cool Site of the Day archives as a way to explore what is out there. They get grades by those who visit each selected site, so if you choose to explore the sites that rank the highest each month, you are bound to find something worthwhile and useful. You can also scan the titles to sort out your particular interests. Plus, you get to cast you own vote for the site's daily selection.
The Webby Nominee site is another place to uncover amazing places. Just go to the 5 nominees for each category. They are all usually extremely well-done and interesting. There is a lot of competition out there. The sites that get nominated are normally excellent, and the winner is usually an especially good site to bookmark and have.
The problem with the net is that there are so many quality sites, growing in artistry by the day, that it can be overwhelming. You sometimes need to get pointed to one that would tie-in well with your interests. I often use Cool Site of the Day archives as a way to explore what is out there. They get grades by those who visit each selected site, so if you choose to explore the sites that rank the highest each month, you are bound to find something worthwhile and useful. You can also scan the titles to sort out your particular interests. Plus, you get to cast you own vote for the site's daily selection.
The Webby Nominee site is another place to uncover amazing places. Just go to the 5 nominees for each category. They are all usually extremely well-done and interesting. There is a lot of competition out there. The sites that get nominated are normally excellent, and the winner is usually an especially good site to bookmark and have.
For more superb sites, check out previous winners and nominees, going back to 1997. If you are looking at the yearly science nominees, for example, this is a way to get a roundup of the best science sites out there. Or at least the ones that look the best.
For the next week, you can actually vote for the people's choice winner (judges hand out their own award). Here is the link to the current voting. You'll need to register. I still prefer the ever-changing cool site of the day archives. They have been doing it since 1994. It is fun going year by year, to see how the web has evolved. Many of the earlier sites are no longer around, but there is a great way to view them as they were.
The site, The Internet Archive Wayback Machine, is an invaluable resource. Simply type in the url of the site, and it will give you a list of dates when they indexed the site. You can then see an exact representation of the page, the way it was. You may not have full functionality, but you get to see what the sites offered and what made them special.
My new favorite search engine index of the moment is Addictomatic.com. It has 24 categories of engines to choose from. Each of those sites.. then lists what their top 5 stories, images, or videos are.
Want to always be hip to what's the most talked about stuff on the web at any given time? Go to the 'popular' icon and click. You'll find the current top 5 in digg, mixx, Yahoo! Buzz, to name a few. You'll also see the daily top-rated photos and videos. If you would like to be part of what people flock to on the net, you will find this site unparalleled for steering you there.
The nice thing is you set the parameters. You tell the site what interests you, and it gets tailored to your tastes.
In the future, I will turn you on to some of the most interesting sites I have found, that I think you might enjoy. Expect to see some in the coming days.
Happy surfing.
No comments:
Post a Comment