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Site Seeing
By JULES ALLEN Feel free to browse Looks almost usableWhat could be more fun than trying to compress your thoughts into 160 characters of text and preserve the flow of that thought while trying to type it on a keyboard that was never designed for text input? I don't know either, but those out-to-lunch Europeans are gaga for text messaging using their cell phones. Now that U.S. cell phone providers are opening up their gateways, I can use my AT&T or VoiceStream phone and send text messages to my family in the United Kingdom. But how I wish I had one of these phones on this site. It's got what looks like a half-decent keyboard. Carpel thumb, here I come. Headline newsI guess all the pronounceable Web site names were taken. This site is a must-have for news junkies. Like all search engines with a vertical focus, it does one thing quite well: It searches news stories for keywords. There's no comprehensive list of what it's searching but I've been using it for a few days and it's sent me off to places such as the BBC and other popular news outlets. All news is created equal, it seems, because people's Web logs and other less mainstream news sources are included. It's a welcome addition. Stay safeThis small page touts itself as a resource for students to stay safe online, but the links contained within are good advice for anybody who wants to stay away from Internet-based nastiness. Unless you have visual disabilities, of course. The site is all but useless because there's hardly any text that non-graphical browser programs can read. Education-oriented sites should be held to a higher level of usability than pure corporate greed sites, in my less than humble opinion. But anyway, once you get past the gateway, the information is why you would visit. Good for kids, parents and educators. Forms made easyUnless you are a programmer, know a programmer or are prepared to buy sometimes expensive tools, creating areas on your Web site that gather information can be tricky. Beyond creating a form and making sure you get the right information, what do you do with the data once it's submitted? An answer might be this service. After a little clicking around on the Web site, you'll have created a form in no time. The free version places advertising on your site but allows you to create up to five different input areas. Not bad at all. Screen candywww.ArtMuseum.net/Refresh/index.html What column would be complete without some totally useless link to something pretty? Here you'll find links to 22 artists who so obviously enjoy the heck out of using the computer as a canvas that they've crafted some really groovy screen savers. It's mostly Windows, with some Macintosh. These electronic artworks are free for the taking and will give your computer something to chew on when you're not playing Solitaire and avoiding work. Like any downloadable files, run them through your virus checker before installing them.
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