Module 3 - Web 2.0

The difference between these two sites is vast, despite the fact that at the core they offer the same information; a list of links.

The blinklist website is far more useful than the plain HTML page for the following reasons:

1. Legibility - The blinklist site is much easier to read, and has a far nice layout than the HTML only page. On the HTML page the text seems to run together, and is not as easy to read at a glance.
   
2. Metadata - The blinklist website has a number of categories listed beneath each link that tell the end user what categories this link fits under. This is very useful for quickly evaluating the site for it's relevance to my current search. In addition, by clicking on any one of the categories names, it takes me to a page where only links with that category are shown. This is an excellent ecxample of metadata filtering in use, that can help to whittle down potentially hundreds of relevant links to a few targetted and specific links that address an area I am interested in.
   
3. Votes - One of the key aspects of Web 2.0 is the collaboritve nature of online interactions. The voting option enables users to vote for or against a particular link. This can then be evaluated by end users. For example if the link says "Kittens" and there is one hundred votes against this link, I would not bother looking at it even if I was looking for information on kittens. Essentially, this voting could be considered as peer-reviewed links, so other users like you are telling you their thoughts on the link, hopefully increasing the relevance of the link for a particular user.

The Blinklist format is clearly the far superior format. It has enhanced functionality, is better designed, and easier to read. All of these issues could be overcome with the HTML site by a skilled internet developer, but it would certainly take a lot longer to create than the plug and play blinklist site.