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Nathan Hissong 1/23/10 Content: The Worlds Smallest Political Quiz provides five questions concerning personal political issues and five questions about economic issues. Each question is followed my a matrix which includes whether you agree, are not sure, or disagree with the question. When you are finished with the quiz which literally take two minutes you are presented with a chart that shows where you lie on the "political map." Below the chart the site tells you where you are. For instance, mine is Liberal. Under that heading it explains what that political ideology means. The site also out lines the other political ideologies below yours Design: The design is rather modest in aesthetic appeal. However, in my opinion is appealing in the content it provides. The site that provides the quiz also has quotes from The Washington Post and USA Today hailing its legitimacy as a tool to understand the political system. In conclusion its content makes up for bland visuals. Overview: In my opinion, this site is very educational. I plan to use in my classroom. American High School students often have no idea where they stand on the political map. This quiz not only gives you questions to decide where you lie it shows you the other sides and shows you why you lie where you do. It is a good exercise to show how different the ideologies are and how extreme they are in nature. It is a valid teaching tool and is simple enough for complete naves to understand.

General Chemistry Online Overview: General Chemistry Online is a website for general chemistry students intented to help students learn general chemistry basics thought FAQ's, featured articles, tutorials, and other tools. The article included are incredibly interesting, from a chemistry standpoint, and can spark interest in chemistry. There is also a Common Compound Library that has over 800 common compound names, formulas, and structures, which could be useful past general chemistry and into organic chemistry. Overall, the site is a very valuable tool.  Content: The site's purpose is easy to determine with a quick look at the home page. The information is liberally cited when necessary, and the author is qualified to be publishing such information. The sponsor is Frostburg University, and that is clearly identifiable. The information is current, as general chemistry does not change frequently or quickly. The content of the site is well organized, and it is easy to find the information you are searching for, as the homepage is somewhat of a table of contents.  Design: The design isn't fancy or even eye-catching, however it does not need to be. The design is simple, and easy to use to find the information desired. It was designed for an older audience learning general chemistry, and bright colors or fancy graphics would get in the way of information and be distracting. All of the internal and external links are working, and each section of the site and each link serves a clear purpose. 

Ross Lindstrom - September 21, 2009 Website Evaluation #3 - Politico.com This website is a flashy, attractive website that provides news stories on the American political arena in an easily digestible and easy to navigate format. The audience is pretty vast, including anyone interested in current events in politics. The purpose is to provide newsworthy political articles as well as a forum of discussion to debate content areas such as public policy, congress, lobbying, community, etc. My impression of Politico.com is that it is a well-designed, well-written conglomerate of differing opinion covering a wide array of political topics. However, at times it tends to emphasize the gossip aspect of Washington, running articles such as "Palin emerges as Facebook Phenom". Politico.com is incredibly well designed, with coherent organization of topics and content areas, relevant information regularly at the top, and an easy platform with which to navigate the many intricacies of American politics. There is a healthy balance of information and multimedia without the multimedia being too distracting and without the information being too monotonous. Loading and downloading times are quick. Gossipy stories about Washington tend to get more emphasis on the main pages, but browsing around the site and reading a few articles will tell you Politico is a heavyweight when it comes to intelligent political analysis and debate. The information is current, and links to other useful websites are prevalent. The first look at politico effectively tells you the purpose of the website, as well as the wealth of information it contains. The authors (and their legitimacy) of the various articles are all easily identifiable. The content of the website is all interesting, well-written and fresh. The website tends to lean on the liberal side of the spectrum, but still endeavors to include all dissenting viewpoints. The multimedia section contains a vast amount of information av