Web Site Evaluation
Web Site Evaluation
Red Hot Jazz This web site contains information on the history of jazz music before the 1930's. The site is split up in to six main links: information, bands, films, essays, musicians and search. The site is well organized and easy to navigate around. The "information" link doesnt really give much information it just lists different books that people can refer to. The "bands" and "musicians" link is an archive with a list of Jazz bands and musicians from A-Z. For free you are able to listen to some of the music of the Jazz bands if you have a real audio program; it also has their bios. The "films" link shows short jazz films if you download Vivoactive player. The "essay" link has many different essays written by different people. The essays are about different parts of jazz history before 1930. The search link makes it easier for someone to find something on the web site.

Pros: The six hyperlinks are the headings of the whole web site which makes it easy to navigate through. The URL is a catchy phrase and easy to remember.

Cons: It is not valid on W3C HTML validation website. This web site falls under one of Jakob Nielson's Top Ten Mistakes. It is a scrolling navigation page bacause of the long list of musicians and bands that you have to scroll down to see them all.
Jazz Times This is the web site for a magazine called Jazz Times. The site has articles on current jazz festivals, jazz musicians, jazz instruments, etc. The home page has the main articles on it. The rest of the articles are under the "columns and features" link. The site also has a "Jazzlinks" link that has a list of hyperlinks go to other jazz web sites, which can lead to useful information about jazz events. They also have a shopping link where you can subscribe to their magazine or order t-shirts and instruments. The web site also has a message board under the "discussion" link. Anybody can be able to send messages on the message board all you have to do is register on the site.

Pros: The web site is very current and up to date. It does not fall in any of Jakob Nielson's Top Ten Mistakes. The message board provides interaction with other people about todays jazz. This is a very informative web site for people who want to know about jazz events, news and culture. The links are always on top so you can get to any part of the web site at any time.

Cons: It is not valid on W3C HTML validation website. Other than that this is a great web site.
Jazz in America This is a jazz education web site created by Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. It is created for students to learn about the jazz curriculum. When I first saw this web site i was confused on what the text was about. It took me a while to realize how to navigate around the web site. On the bottom left of the page their is a link to help users navigate through the web site. It is filled with types of lesson plans to learn about jazz. The best thing about this web site is the jazz resource library. It is filled with a great amount of information. There you can find a jazz timeline, a large list of jazz musicians and jazz instruments with their bios, audio files of famous jazz songs, a glossary with jazz terms, images, resources and links for other jazz sites.

Pros: This is a great introductory web site for people who are just starting to learn about jazz. The "jazz resouce library" link is constructed in a very easy way so that anyone can navigate through it easily. It has a link to help users navigate through the web site in case they get confused. It also has an easy URL to remember, what i noticed that users can enter the web site as www.jazzinamerica.org or www.jazzinamerica.com it is the same site.

Cons: It is not valid on W3C HTML validation website. The web site has two of Jakob Nielson's Top Ten Mistakes .One is that some of the information may be out dated because changes haven't been made since 2000. Second is that some of the links on the home page are hard to find because of the construction of the page, this makes it difficult to navigate through.
Jazz Roots This web site is called Jazz Roots and is about African-American jazz music. This was a very easy web site to navigate through. Users will have no problem entering this site for the first time. T he home page is construsted with a cartoon drawing of a jazz musician on the left side and the links of the site on the right side. It is plain web site and easy to figure out. Users are able to subscribe to the Jazz roots mailing list. The site consists of a history of early Africa-American jazz, links to African-American jazz musicians, which users can see their bios or buy their music on the amazon web site, jazz books, and jazz quizzzes to test your knowledge on jazz music. This is a very fun web site to navigate through for people who love African-American jazz.

Pros: A simple site that is easy to navigate around. It does not fall in any one of Jakob Nielson's Top Ten Mistakes.

Cons: It is not valid on W3C HTML validation website.
NPR Jazz This web site is a jazz branch of NPR radio stations. NPR (National Public Radio) has many radio stations but this web site is devoted their jazz radio station. The web site lets users find programs on all of the NPR radio stations (even the non-jazz programs). The web site is divideded by all the NPR links are on top of the page and all the NPR jazz links are on the rest of the page. This is a good design so users know where the link will take them. The jazz site has many features; the main ones on the site are the news on todays jazz, reviews on jazz cds, and links to the different NPR jazz stations. Users are also able to listen to audio files using real audio. The web site is always up to date and has a great amount of information of jazz on the radio.

Pros:It does not fall in any one of Jakob Nielson's Top Ten Mistakes.

Cons: It is not valid on W3C HTML validation website.


Blue Note This is a web site for a chain of jazz clubs called Blue Note. The web site is designed to fit the classy jazz look. Along the left side are the hyperlinks of the web site. The first link is "News", which has news about the jazz club and any other jazz material. The "Gift shop" link lets users buy Blue Note accecories like t- shirts, cups, etc. The "Suggest Artist" link lets users suggest for different artists to perform in the club. The "Membership" link lets users join and become a Blue Note member. The "Photo Gallery" link has pictures of musicians performing in their clubs. The "About Blue Note" link has the history of the Blue Note club that made it what it is today. The "New York", "Las Vegas", and "Japan" links are the different place where they have Blue Note clubs. This link shows pictures of the clubs and says which musician will perform a certain week. The "Live Recording", and "Inter Jazz" links are links to other jazz wes sites.

Pros: It does not fall in any one of Jakob Nielson's Top Ten Mistakes. It is a very classy designed web site that gives out a smooth jazz club tone.

Cons: It is not valid on W3C HTML validation website.
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