It's About . . . Everything! (about.com)

Member Name: jaybee

Product:	about.com
Date:	14/01/01 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Covers loads of topics - full of information

Disadvantages: Because it's indexed by humans - some pages are better (more informative)than others.

You can’t call about.com a search engine/directory because it’s not one in the traditional sense. What it is, is a huge collection of information managed and indexed by real people and updated regularly.

Because real people maintain the pages, all of the links and searches on subjects are relevant. If you want to find out about wine, then the pages and articles will be about wine, not about wine gums or something, which some search engine results might bring back.


If you want to find out something about a specific subject or topic, then a visit to about.com is as good a place to start as any. Just about every conceivable subject is covered in some way, and although at first glance it might seem that the site has a US bias (which it has) there is also a UK specific about.com, which gives information on things in the UK.

There are 36 major categories, plus chats and forums for loads of the major and sub-categories. Some of the major categories include Arts and Humanities –All you Dooyooers interested in writing should take a look at their writing pages they are brilliant, full of interesting links and articles- Movies, Money, Teens, Hobbies, Health – just about every type of health topic, treatment or illness is covered- Small Business and loads more.

These are all divided into sub categories; at the moment there are over 700 different sub categories, covering everything from learning HTML, to tips about home decorating. Each of these sub categories has web pages where articles and information about the subjects can be found. The people, who maintain these pages have an interest in the given subject, most are experts, as are the people who write the articles that appear onsite. All the pages I’ve visited have links to other websites about the same subject, or websites that are related in some way to the topic being covered.

The site is easy to navigate as it’s laid out pretty well
, and the vast majority of the links to other sites are current, although I have come across one or two that haven’t been. The pages load quickly as there are very few advertising banners, or graphics on the about.com pages.

I’ve used this site often, sometimes just like a magazine, reading the articles on various subjects that catch my eye. It was here that I found out about free courses on the Internet covering various subjects. I took a six lesson (weekly online) basic HTML course that I found very interesting, and I’ve just applied to join a free online writing course, which sounds like fun.

If you have a hobby or pastime I’m sure it will be covered here and I’m sure you will find some information that will interest you. It would also be a great place to go if you are looking to take up a hobby, but don’t know where, or how, to go about getting started.

I’d recommend this site to anyone, whether you are researching a subject, or just wanting to find out about your favourite film star. This site will cover it.

It’s very informative and interesting too.

Summary: