The
Web's Best City Guide:
A Comparative Analysis
Introduction
In the past we relied on word of mouth for information on far
away places. In more recent times we have relied on printed
brochures and expensive “travel consultants.” The information
age and a robust economy have presented us with new technology to
fill the void - the Internet.
Over 83 million people in the U.S. and Canada use the
Internet, and that count is rapidly growing. Most of these 83
million people are looking to go somewhere in the US and Canada
for business or pleasure.
With the advent of the Internet in such wide use, many people
are stepping forward to fill the void of the needed destination
information. Three entities have risen above the rest to lead the
way in destination information for cities in the United States on
the Internet’s World Wide Web. In this review we will take a
look at these three World Wide Web sites (or simply Web sites) to
gauge the value of each. The big three are CitySpin (www.cityspin.com),
Digitalcity (www.digitalcities.com) and Citysearch.com (www.citysearch.com).
CitySpin, from Guest Informant is a relative newcomer. The largest
Internet Service Provider in the world, America Online, operates
Digitalcity. Powerhouse Ticket Master operates Citysearch.com.
With the understanding that all three Web sites have a similar
goal, we reviewed each with the criteria set below.
How we reviewed:
- We
compared each Web site’s interface, which included the look
and feel and other aesthetics.
- We
compared ease of use and depth of content.
- We
looked at the unique features of each Web site.
Interfaces
On the World Wide Web, where there are thousands upon
thousands of Web sites competing for traffic, there are primary
goals for the user interface. The first goal is to allow users to
find what they came to find in the easiest and simplest way
possible. The next goal is to make the site aesthetically
pleasing, thus allowing the user to enjoy the experience. After
that, the user needs to be able to download the information
quickly with standard Internet connections of 28.8 kbs. All sites
performed well in this area with only Digitalcity appearing to
have difficulty delivering large pages.
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Rating
= 4
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Interface
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The CitySpin Interface
CitySpin’s homepage is clearly
laid out in a three-column structure that fits most popular screen
resolutions (640x480 and 800x600 pixels) with navigation to topic
cities on the left where users expect it. The middle column
contains images and copy to featured content such as, featured
cities and destinations, travel news, and travel tools.
The third column contains extraneous information such as
advertisements, and other links. Users will find CitySpin’s
homepage familiar and consistent, thus allowing for immediate
exploration and finding of information with the least amount of
mouse clicks. The layout is complemented by a pleasant look.
Graphics are used intelligently and tastefully in a manner that
doesn’t take away from the content, as do other sites that
contain robust graphics. The graphics seem to softly emerge out of
the background like the textures of a complex wine.
With the many positive features of CitySpin’s homepage,
clicking on to the content is much anticipated. Upon arriving to a
featured city’s page we did find a deviation, if not a
regression in design. The clear navigation in the left column of
the homepage is not carried over. Instead we find a navigation bar
made up of hard to read buttons. In addition, upon “mousing
over” the button, the text becomes even more difficult to read.
Other than the poor navigation bar on the city pages, the design
of the homepage is carried over well. Navigation and aesthetics
remain intact.
The Digitalcity Interface
|
Rating
= 3
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Interface
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Digitalcity has a two-column layout
that fits most popular screen resolutions (640x480 and 800x600
pixels) with the primary city links in the larger right hand
column. Most users would expect these links to be in the left
column. Digitalcity’s homepage does feature a clickable map of
cities featured on the site. This would be a positive feature if
the map were more interactive.
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As is, it might prove to be somewhat difficult for many people to
use. Most people are not as familiar with geography as the
weatherman. Some visitors may have difficulty in clicking on
Dallas, Texas over Houston, Texas. The biggest drawback with the
map is that it takes up a large amount of valuable real estate.
This space could be used to place helpful information for the
user. The left column is used for links to such things as dining,
arts & culture, and for extraneous information. It appears
that Digitalcity is designed to help you decide what to do and
then relate that to a city. This is Digitalcity’s major flaw and
encumbers the user.
The site’s overall appeal is good without offending the
user with “flashy things” or completely useless design
elements. There seems to be a thought-out navigation scheme even
though it is backwards to how users would expect to use the site.
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Rating
= 2
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Interface
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The CitySearch Interface
CitySearch.com and MSN Sidewalk recently became a
single entity. Ticket Master, Citysearch.com’s parent company,
paid an approximate $280 million for MSN Sidewalk. With this
business move, it seems that Citysearch.com neglected its
homepage. Perhaps the marketing strategy is to push the sub
domains (in tech-speak these are called canonical domains) such as
altlanta.citysearch.com.
Once you get to a specific city site it is very difficult to
navigate to another city. Putting this aside, the www.citysearch.com
homepage seems to be lacking in layout, design and navigation. The
homepage appears to be designed only for those using screen
resolutions of 800x600 or greater. This alienates the majority of
those who use screen resolutions of 640x480 or smaller and
excludes WebTV users altogether. The homepage presents graphics
with text down the left side of the screen that appears to be a
navigation bar. However, clicking on these graphics does not
produce any results. Some graphics are used in an attempt to add
attractiveness but appear to be clipped right out of a magazine
and ultimately cause them to lack appeal. The homepage does
feature a standard drop down menu to help users find a city guide
or an arts and entertainment guide of their choice.
The saving grace for Citysearch.com is the sub domains. The
layout, design, and navigation are clear and contain a
three-column layout similar to that of CitySpin. Graphics are used
well with an overall look and feel that approaches CitySpin.
However, the site uses very bold colors and sharp liner design
that appears stark and rigid.
Content
If a Web site’s user interface is functional, the most
important aspect becomes content. Fundamentally, sharing this
content is the primary reason for the World Wide Web’s
existence. Without content there would be no reason or desire for
people to use the Web. Some have attempted to sell their products
or services without content, but ultimately this has been a losing
game. There are other factors involved, but the fundamental rule
of thumb is “content is king.” This becomes even more
important when your commodity is information. The primary
commodity of the three Web sites in question here is information,
specifically US city travel destination information. With this in
mind, we compared the three Web sites on their total information
content for three popular US cities; Atlanta, Georgia; Miami,
Florida; and San Diego, California.
CitySpin Content
While thoroughly scrutinizing the CitySpin
Web site, we attempted to find any imperfections. For the most
part, everything a user might need or want to know is available
for the featured cities. The three cities we looked at closely
represent the site, with familiar conventions presenting each
city. Each city’s homepage features an overview, hotel listings,
popular shopping centers, dining, nightlife, arts, sports &
recreation, day trips, weather and other topics to help the user
plan a trip or activities. There are some unique features for each
city that better cover the unique features of all. As the user
might expect, the Web site offers information on booking flights
and maps to help you get where you need to go. The biggest flaw is
that CitySpin does not offer a search feature to allow a quick
search of the site for specific information that may be buried in
the site. A search engine would also be a good gauge for adding
new content.
There are specific comments in regard to each city that we
looked at closely.
Atlanta: Gathering information was quick and easy with an
abundance of information to choose from. There are some major
attractions that were completely left out or neglected. For
example, there is no information on White Water, a major water
park, at least none that we could find. Six Flags over Georgia in
only mentioned briefly. Adding a search feature would help find
information such as this.
Miami: CitySpin presents very thorough information in
Miami’s overview. The Select a Neighborhood drop down menu
allows users a more in-depth look at the different areas of the
city. Organization and readability are on target with what the
user would expect. Adding a larger variety of restaurants and
featuring more information on beaches in the area could improve
this section. The Florida Keys are neglected and could be
highlighted more or developed as a feature itself.
San Diego: Very thorough information is again presented that
is easy to find. CitySpin’s presentation of golf in the San
Diego area is unique and very helpful. Hiking and biking, a big
part of the culture in San Diego is neglected. Cafes and coffee
shops are another important aspect of the culture there and would
be a nice addition to the dining section.
Digitalcity Content
With more cities than any other site in this review,
Digitalcity has an abundance of information and resources, and
would serve the user well. However the exact information the user
might be looking for is difficult to find, but the search feature
can help in this area. Each city does share a common interface
that becomes familiar after being at the site for a short period
of time. It appears that this city guide is geared more toward
users that are already familiar with each city and offers very
little in the regard to trip planning. Each city features movies,
dining, bars, music, arts & culture, kids & family, sports
& recreation, and a visitor’s guide to help you plan
activities or trip. The visitor’s guide is quite possibly the
handiest feature of the site in planning a trip. Digitalcity does
include a wealth of information, but is presented much like a
newspaper, which makes it difficult for users to find the
information they need quickly.
Atlanta: Once again we found a wealth of information. Local
attractions and “things to do” are covered superbly. With so
much information that is unrelated to travel or the specific city,
finding what is needed becomes very difficult. However, with a
little bit of effort, a good experience can be had and activities
and trips can be planned.
Miami: Digitalcity produces very useful information on
beaches, cafes and parks. News for both Florida and Miami are
presented well, which may or may not be relevant to planning
activities. Digitalcity seems to gear all its information toward
those already familiar with the area and does not appear to
provide enough information for the tourist.
San Diego: The Digitalcity guides seem to
lack uniqueness. Once you have viewed one, you have virtually
viewed them all, with the exception of the city specific
information. Some new flaws revealed themselves after an extended
period of viewing the site, specifically some of the smaller text,
which we found to induce eye fatigue.
Citysearch.com Content
As one might expect from a Ticket Master property and a
former MSN property, Citysearch.com is very strong on live shows,
theatre and news. The user can buy tickets online and catch the
latest local, national, business, and sports news with ease. As
with the other sites, consistent categorizing and structuring is
present throughout the cities. The site features a collection of
articles and information on restaurants, shopping, music, and
movies. However, some of these categories seem incomplete and
bare. Each city does include the yellow pages, which could
possibly come in handy. There
are other extraneous categories such as singles and horoscopes
that may or may not be useful. Citysearch.com does have an
excellent search engine for each city. Travel information is at a
minimum, with most of the space used to push Ticket Master and
MSN. However, users can search the city site for the information
needed. Overall, we think Citysearch.com does not appear to be a
fully developed concept.
After spending time with Citysearch.com, we found the primary
focus of attention to be on the promotion of Ticket Master and not
enough attention on providing information on travel or specific
cities. It is difficult for a user to find airfares or hotels. We
also found that there is not much in the way of visitor
information. If one wants to find a live performance or sporting
event for a particular city, Citysearch.com is the site of choice.
However, if the user is looking for a complete guide of a city or
it’s vicinity, CitySpin or Digitalcity should be utilized.
Unique Features
All three of the sites we reviewed offered features that are
unique enough to leave their competitors far behind. CitySpin.com,
Citysearch.com, and Digitalcity.com have added extra value to
their sites and have beaten their competition to the punch.
Depending on the user’s needs, some of these unique features may
or may not be of value. However, having these distinctive
qualities demonstrates the desire to give their visitors more
information and tools than the competition.
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Rating
= 3
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Uniqueness
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CitySpin’s Uniqueness
CitySpin
is overcoming the competition and giving the user more features in
several different ways. CitySpin is the only site we reviewed that
offers a printed digest-sized guide of each city in the guide.
These are useful tools to carry along with you to the city of your
choice, thus eliminating the hassle of shuffling through stacks of
paper printed from the computer. If the digest-sized book isn’t
enough for you, you will find a link to Amazon.com where you can
purchase the desired product. CitySpin features premier cities on
the homepage that encourage the user to explore the site. CitySpin
is the only Web site that features all the tools you need to plan
and book a trip to any of the cities in the guide. CitySpin stands alone
amongst the three sites reviewed, as the only Web site that covers
all of the Hawaiian Islands. In addition, CitySpin offers
information on some of the smaller less populated areas, which is
a real plus to those looking for something “off the beaten
path”.
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Rating
= 4
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Uniqueness
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Digitalcity’s Uniqueness
Digitalcity has more things to click than any other site we
reviewed and has appears to have spent a considerable amount of
time and effort into making its site a top-notch contender.
Digitalcity has been around longer than any other guide, giving it
some advantage, but as we all know, old dogs don’t learn the
latest tricks as well as the younger pups. Digitalcity offers the
ability to search the entire site making it easier to find
specific information. Health is an extremely important topic for
many people and Digitalcity features city specific health topics.
Users will also find auctions and classifieds for the city of
their choice. With
over 50 cities, Digitalcity does have the largest list of cities
to view and also offers information on several gambling hot spots.
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Rating
= 2
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Uniqueness
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Citysearch.com’s Uniqueness
While Citysearch.com lags behind in
many areas, it does do one thing better than all the other Web
sites we reviewed. The site allows users to search a specific city
for specific information with a search engine.
This search engine feature is both powerful and easy to use. The
most strikingly unique feature is that CitySearch.com is divided
into sub- domains. This may be good or bad depending on the
perspective. Being a property of Ticket Master, a feature that is
obviously unique, is the ability to buy tickets for live events.
An additional plus for Citysearch.com is the information offered
on seven foreign countries.
1
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CitySpin
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Rating = 11
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2
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Digitalcity
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Rating
= 10
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3
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Citysearch
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Rating
= 6
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Summary
It is clear that each of these Web sites
has advantages and using all three sites in tandem would produce a
greater experience than using a single Web site. However, not many
of us would want to spend the time with three Web sites to get the
information we need, especially when finding the information is
cumbersome. It is clear that one site stands above the others,
CitySpin.
CitySpin’s site is the easiest to
navigate with the largest amount of relevant information. CitySpin
has developed a site specifically for someone planning a trip to
one of the featured cities. Digitalcity and Citysearch.com do
provide a search engine which CitySpin could take advantage of to
give the users more power over the information. While the depth of
information is good at CitySpin, the depth of information could be
improved for some cities to highlight lesser-known attractions and
some better-known attractions. While CitySpin is the easiest to
navigate, the navigation within each city is obstructed by the
hard to read navigation bar. After all, navigation is the single
most important aspect of any site that features an abundance of
information.
As the new millennium presents itself, the
technology to travel is on the heels of the desire to travel. With
the birth of the information age and the advent of CitySpin, we
can now figure out where to go.
