Bigger Really Can Be Better! (bbc.co.uk)

Member Name: marandina

Product:	bbc.co.uk
Date:	04/02/06 (174 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comprehensive, very useful for young and old.

Disadvantages: Accusations of political bias

***Introduction***
One of my favourite sites on the WWW is the BBC site. With one of the highest hit counts in Europe, the BBC web site really is a virtual treasure trove of information. I’ve been visiting the site for a few years now and use it for everything from catching up with the news, to sports updates to helping the kids with their homework.

***Main Portal***
The home page is a gentle on the eyes affair with a mainly light blue and white livery to entice the viewer into the various aspects of the site. Links along the top of the page give the reader the options of Home > TV > Radio > Talk > Where I Live > A – Z index and a navigation facility in the form of a search button.

Using the traditional page template of navigable options down the left, there is a huge range of subjects to access including:

Business & Money
Business News
Children
Entertainment
Health
History
Learning
Lifestyle
Music
News/Science
Nature/Society
Culture/Arts and finally Sport.

In the central part of the portal are mainly media-related links based around news items, sports links, TV and radio whilst to the right there is a comprehensive section around weather links. The home page is mainly text based although there are plenty of gif images to support the various stories. Often, the gifs are clickable links that take the user deeper into the story itself. As this is the Beeb and Auntie is paid for by TV license payers then the site is virtually free of those annoying adverts which adds to the attractiveness of the site in my book.

***Performance and Metrics***
Whilst the main pages loads quickly enough (surprising given the size of the site although the home page is mainly text, the absence of applets etc aiding load time) using either Internet Explorer or Mozilla, depending on how much you want to extract from bbc.co.uk you may need to enable JavaScript, cookies, media plug-ins like Realplayer (now called RealOne) and/or at least version 9 of Windows Media Player. There are links on site that will take you to sites where you can download the latest plug-ins for free. I shouldn’t worry too much about the jargon as if you do click on a link and don’t have the installed software to deliver things like video and audio clips, chances are your PC will automatically direct you as to what to do next and so just follow the prompts. If you do have to download something then be prepared to re-boot (turn off and on again) your PC to enable the new installation to work properly.

Navigation is extensive with multiple options to find the same thing. This is backed up by plenty of options to search by keyword. There are options to link the site to mobile phones and PDAs, a text only option as well as a link to modify your PC settings so that the user can optimise the BBC resource. This may mean adjusting for Windows users according to which MS operating system you are using as well as similar adjustments available for Apple Mac and Linux users. Personally, I haven’t had to tinker but there are testimonials on the page from handicapped people who declare that the BBC is one of the best sites to cater for users who may be blind, partially blind, paralysed or have disabilities of other kinds. Clearly, auntie Beeb has a conscience by playing her part in a caring society.

***My experience***
As I said earlier, I use the site a lot. It goes without saying that the news section is comprehensive and you’d expect that with the BBC’s proud traditions. Often stories appear on the site before they do in other forms of media and the site is updated regularly with the latest date and time of the update noted at the top of the news main page. Reports are succinct with many supported by either video clips or audio. As mentioned above, you will need the appropriate plug ins and to make sure that any pop up blockers allow your PC access to these kind of facilities but I do find that the visual and audio supplements add to the text based stories.

I adore the sports pages. Just about every sport you can think of will be featured and I love the online score updates of matches that can be followed for sports like football, rugby and cricket. Whilst these aren’t real time and usually update every 2 minutes, if you are surfing or maybe working then it provides a natural break to be able to flick back in and out of the latest scores. During the Ashes tests of last year, the BBC sports site was inundated at my workplace with just about everyone following the Test scores when they couldn’t get time off work to watch the matches. It really did add a huge sense of excitement to the blandness of the usual working day.

BBC is a great resource for children too. I often use the schools pages to check whether I’m doing the right thing with things like maths homework for my son and a recent workshop run by his school recommended that parents use the site to encourage children to play the maths related games. Within 24 hours of attending the workshop with my lad, he was on the site, playing educational games. Kids learn so much better when they are having fun.

I also really like the weather pages. I know it sounds sad but I do. You can get a 5-day forecast for your part of the world by putting in your postcode to a search facility and this will flag up a general overview of the weather for the next 5 days.

***Other Useful Features***
The site covers just about any subject you can imagine. There is an extensive history section that will take you through most periods in history. There are useful supplements to TV and radio programmes as well as providing great background for children either studying or simply wanting to find out more because they are interested. I particularly like the history trail where the surfer can choose a period/subject in history and take a chronological walk through of events relating to that time or subject.

There is an extensive family history section that my wife finds useful for her investigation into family trees. This gives handy hints on how to research family history as well as providing links to sites outside the BBC one itself that will help.

There are plenty of online forums too if the user wants to get more involved in certain subjects. These take the shape of the customary, threaded bulletin boards according to which category you are in. I’ve been tempted to participate in the football one that supplements the Radio 5, 6-0-6 radio show but I’ve never actually taken the plunge. The threads are often active and interesting so it’s up to as to whether you want to give it a go.

***Drawbacks***
With so much available, the BBC site can be a little bewildering. The Beeb also suffers from ongoing accusations of political bias although I’ve never really picked that up when reading the news stories. If there is bias, it is so subtle as to be virtually unnoticeable unless I’m being very thick skinned. Otherwise, I can’t really see any other drawbacks for such a wonderful, free resource as this is!

***Summary***
The BBC site is a HUGE, sprawling, monolith of a resource. It caters for people from all walks of life, all colours and creeds, all ages whether young or old. Personally, I’ve been using it for as long as I can remember and for so many different things. I can only strongly recommend that you take a tour. I like the site so much that it’s my default home page when I log on. If you do decide to visit then be prepared for a long stay!

Thanks for reading.

Marandina

Useful plug-in links:

http://uk.real.com/home/

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/def ault.mspx

Summary: Overview of bbc.co.uk