Terrorism What Differentiates the Best and Worst

¶ … Terrorism

What differentiates the best and worst websites is the use of consistent navigation, focus on creating a logical structure of information, and most importantly, giving the many types of users access to the most critical information they need. Underscoring all of these factors is the need to continually deliver interesting, relevant and usable content (Sindhuja, Dastidar, 2009). Being able to align the design and operation of a website to the content is crucial for these platforms to succeed (Lee, Kozar, 2012). Add in the dimension of urgency and continued need to protect nations from terrorism and the criticality of design and usability increases significantly (Keene, 2011). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the best and worst websites that provide information to the public on how to anticipate and prepare for the effects of terrorism attacks. There is a very wide spectrum of quality levels of websites in this area, with many being simplistic HTML designs that must be incredibly time consuming to keep up. Others are very sophisticated with role-based access through just two clicks of the mouse to navigate and gain access to information needed.

Best Site - Federal Emergency Management Association

Website: http://www.ready.gov/terrorism

The FEMA sites are designed with very simplistic workflows that guide the visitor to the information they need, not wasting time with self-promotion or putting up barriers including opt-in screens. The site is designed to streamline the access of critically important information for those looking to understand the dominant forms of terrorism, in addition to prevention and safety information as well.

The FEMA Ready site is also well designed to show the hierarchy of where terrorism prevention and response fits into the overall taxonomy of how FEMA operates. This taxonomy is clearly delineated along the left column of the site. What also makes this site excellent is the generous use of white space and colors to guide navigation, a best practice many web design experts cite as critical (Lee, Kozar, 2012). The FEMA site is also the only one to have a specific section for Kids as well, and how to keep them safe during and after terrorist attacks. Overall, the FEMA site can be used for training and disaster preparedness across a wide variety of audiences and groups as well. This site was tested on an iPad and immediately wen tot a mobile site instead -- impressive performance from a government-sponsored site.

Worst Site - United Nations Action To Counter Terrorism Web Site

Website: http://www.un.org/terrorism/

Text-heavy with thousands of links and no navigation, this website is like a Yahoo was a decade ago. The documents offer little in the way of preparedness and the text itself is suited only for a very small percentage of the audience, most likely policy makers. There is little in the way of navigation, either through design or graphical display, which is a core component of excellent websites.