The New Statesman vs The Guardian - spot the difference
Redesigning websites is always a challenge. On the one hand you want to improve things and innovate. But on the other it’s a case of ‘why reinvent the wheel?’.
Why indeed? But even wheels should have their own identity. In some cases the idea of doing what works best isn’t executed with distinction.
Mirroring usability and functionality is one thing, but copying the look and feel from another website is not particularly big or clever. Especially when that website is one of the world’s larger media sites.
You be the judge...
Site review: Woolworths.co.uk
Having been one of the higher profile victims of the credit crunch, Shop Direct Group relaunched Woolworths today as an online retailer.
There is still some affection and nostalgia for the brand, so resurrecting it online seems like a smart move, but how does the Woolworths website shape up?
Zavvi.co.uk back from the dead
Having acquired the rights from the administrators last week, Zavvi.co.uk's new owners have wasted no time in relaunching it as a transactional website.
The rights to the brand, and its valuable database of customers' purchase histories, were acquired by The Hut Group, which hopes to hang on to at least half of the 1m Zavvi customers, though I'm not sure it has gone far enough in explaining this to customers on its website.
River Island finally ditching Flash site?
River Island is one of the only high street retailers which hasn't significantly improved its e-commerce offering over the past couple of years, and still retains an all-Flash website.
I have been wondering for a while when River Island would look to improve the site, and Paul Rouke of PRWD has a few answers after attending a Q&A with CEO Richard Bradbury last night.
Site review: TopGear.com
TopGear.com, the sister site to the popular BBC motoring programme, has been trumpeting its relaunch with a series of viral videos seeded on sites like YouTube and Facebook.
The look of the site has been improved, while car reviews, and more blog and video content has been added. The redesigned TopGear.com also displays new and used cars from AutoTrader. This brings it into competition with sites like Autocar and Parkers, so I've been seeing how it compares.
Ashley Friedlein talks about the new Econsultancy site
The observant among you will have realised that we launched a new website last weekend. I thought it would be a good idea to interview Econsultancy CEO Ashley Friedlein to explain more about the challenges of managing a ground-up rebuild.
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Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
